4 Diet Myths Dispelled

So, you’re on course for a new you to go with the new year? That’s great! Positive change at any time of the year should always be embraced. However, if you’re to get the kind of results you dream of it’s going to be a marathon rather than a sprint.

In our endless quest for a quick fix, we’ve fallen into some bad habits as a society and embraced more than a few potentially damaging dietary myths.

Celebrity endorsed fad diets have seen us abandon logic for quick and easy results. But the kind of change that lasts, the kind of change that matters does not come quickly or easily.

If you’re to make 2019 the year of better eating habits, you’ll need to dispel these persistent diet myths that could wind up doing you much more harm than good…  

1. What you eat has nothing to do with your digestive health

Your digestive health is extremely important. Your gut health in particular, has a knock-on effect on the health of the rest of your body.

Without a healthy digestive system you cannot hope to achieve the results you crave.

After all, the ability to correctly process nutrients is surely one of the most important cornerstones of our health right?

How frustrating it is, then, when it is overlooked. While smoking, stress and illnesses like Crohn’s disease can all play a part in your digestive health, it’s a fallacy to assume that the food you eat doesn’t also play a part.

Check out Erbology for a range of snacks, powders and oils designed to promote healthy digestive function.

2. The fewer calories the better

The new year is here and so are the spurious detoxes and cleanses. It’s right there in the bible folks, “man shall not live by tea alone!”.

These cleanses tend to get dramatic results because they require a colossal drop in caloric intake… But the results they achieve are simply not sustainable.

How long do you really think you can get by on 1000 calories a day?

Starving ourselves in this way can actually slow our metabolisms and prove counterproductive in the long run. Healthy eating should never mean starving yourself.

3. Artificial sweeteners will make everything better

By now it’s hopefully common knowledge that fat does not make you fat. Indeed, healthy fats like the polyunsaturated fats found in nuts, seeds, olive and avocado oils are an integral part of a healthy diet.

What makes us fat? Sugar! And the trouble is that sugar is everywhere!

It’s in our bread, our breakfast cereals, our pasta sauces and anywhere else it can be snuck in.

Sugar is instant energy and when we take in more than we can burn off we store it as fat.

But if you think that switching to artificial sweeteners will make everything better, think again!

There’s actually evidence to suggest that our bodies respond to artificial sweeteners in much the same way as they do to sugar, even when the sweeteners themselves have 0 calories.

4. Gluten free is healthier

Finally, unless you have Celiac’s disease, there’s really no need to rid your diet of gluten.

Cutting this protein out of your diet will not help you lose weight any faster, however obsessed we may have become with it.

What other Diet Myths do you think should be included in this article? Please let me know by leaving a comment below.

Disclaimer: This is a collaborative post