Want to lose weight? Your in the right place!
 There is no shortage of myths, fables, hearsay, and outright lies in the world of diets and health-related marketing. Even though they are repeated thousands of times over, they will never be necessarily true. For instance, how many times have you heard that it is a good idea to completely ban all sugars from your diet? How many people have advocated completely eliminating all fat from your diet? However these myths are spun, at one point or another they may seem to be fairly astute pieces of advice for someone that isn’t intimately familiar with the workings of the human body such as a physician or other medical professional. And that can make them even more dangerous, especially when the source of the lie is perpetrated by a member of the medical community, which appears to be the case with many companies touting their products.
In any diet, the intake must not exceed the outgoing for the person to lose weight. This means that you must find a way to burn more calories than you are taking in. But a careful balance must be struck, as your diet must also contain the protein and nutrients that you need in order to be healthy. So the oversimplified method of outright banning certain food items from your diet is never a good idea. However, limiting them and ingesting them in moderation can have its benefits.
Meal replacement powder, bars, and drinks have exploded in popularity lately. Companies that tout these products include, Myoplex, Eat-Smart, and Slimfast. While they do contain low fat and high amounts of protein, they are no substitute for “real” food and should be incorporated into your diet sparingly, if at all. Completely cutting calories out of your diet for a prolonged period of time can, in fact, cause much more damage than being overweight would. Some people have substituted food with meal-replacement products in order to “shock” their system into losing further weight and then picked up a healthy diet from then on with great success. However, this should be done only moderately and never fro a prolonged period of time.
Diets that suggest that a person live off of low-to-no carbohydrates and nearly nothing but protein are potentially harmful as well. It is no secret that many of Hollywood’s elite are on some form or fashion of this diet. However, this is not a long-term solution for weight loss, as it does not give the body the proper nourishment that it needs to perform its functions in every day life. Over time, people that use this kind of diet for too long can develop problems with their internal organs, as they lose too much water from their bodies.
Additionally, modern diets have made many people scared to eat potatoes, pastas and breads. While limiting these forms of carbohydrates to healthy levels can be productive, completely eliminating them from your diet is not necessary. Carbohydrates are responsible for giving you that sense of fullness after you eat so eating them in moderation can keep you from overeating. Additionally, as long as you don’t smother them in sauces and bitter these foods are actually very good for you. There are some ways that you do want to avoid preparing these foods, however. French fries are a good example of this.
Finally, many people think that all fats are absolutely horrible for you. This is absolutely false, however. To the contrary, the body needs fats to stay alive. The fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, and K need fat in order to be properly absorbed into the body. Additionally, essential fatty acids such as omega-3 and omega-6 are notoriously low in the typical American diet. They cannot be synthesized within the body and so must be ingested from other sources. So no matter who says that all fats are bad, take comfort in knowing that the recommended daily allowance of good fats is 35%.
Even the not-so-good fats are quickly burned away through regular exercise and a non-sedentary lifestyle. Exercise is the single most important way to keep the body moving and burn extra calories that can be stored as fat.
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