‘Fasting has no place at all in controlling weight or quality of nutrition for our body.’
IN today’s health-oriented world, the four major players — diet, exercise, smoking and alcohol abuse — are in the spotlight. Diet weighs heavily on this equation and has also been the subject of a lot of pervasive myths and misinformation. Today, we shall review some of the most popular misconceptions about diet.
Fasting is the best way to start
Fasting is the wrong way to start, or even “punctuate,” your dieting schedule. Fasting has no place at all in controlling weight or the quality of nutrition for our body. The temporary weight loss resulting from fasting is through water loss (dehydration). The best way to maintain your weight is to burn the calories you take in daily (for example: if you take in 2000 calories, you should exercise off about the same calories that day). It is a matter of intake and output, an obvious common sense approach. If one is overweight and wants to lose weight, then the calories burned should be higher than the calories ingested until the goal is reached…and at that point, the maintenance intake and output formula should prevail. Those who want to gain weight to reach the ideal weight should have more intake than output of calories.
Diet pills are safe
False. There have been medical reports of severe complications and side effects, a few leading to deaths, among those who took diet pills. The same is true with “energy drinks” loaded with high levels of caffeine. The best way to maintain good body weight and health is through eating a healthy, well-portioned diet, daily exercise, abstinence from tobacco and limiting alcohol intake to no more than one drink a day.
Low carb-high protein diet is best
Not true. Those on low carbohydrate and high protein diets (meats, eggs, etc.) had good initial weight loss, but regained the weight after six to 12 months, as shown by some studies. They fared better than those on a low-fat diet, which is healthier as far as cardiovascular diseases, metabolic illnesses, and cancers are concerned. However, a low-carb diet, combined with a low-fat diet and exercise, is the best regimen. This means the diet mainly consists of fish 3-4 times a week (chicken, minimal or no red meat), beans, grains, and nuts (as the main source of protein and oil) and a lot of green leafy and other vegetables, and fruits. Among diabetics, fruits should be included in the calculation of the total daily restricted calorie intake.
Enemas aid in dieting
False! This is a myth that is unhealthy. Enemas for cleansing “to get rid of toxins in our body” is not medically accepted as a means of detoxification and weight control. To detoxify our body, the best way is to abstain from smoking, minimize alcohol intake and exposure to other toxic agents, eat a lot of vegetables, nuts, some fruits, and exercise daily. There have been reports of deaths with frequent self-prescribed enemas. They could lead to diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, electrolyte imbalance, heartbeat irregularity, and bowel perforation. The so-called designer coffee enema for colon cleansing is not only expensive but also useless and very dangerous.
Eating late at night leads to more weight gain
This is not truer than the news that Elvis Presley is alive. Of course, it is best not to have a full stomach close to bedtime. Going to bed four hours after a meal is fine. The calories taken at night have the same effect as those taken during the daytime. While you burn fewer calories while sleeping, you lose these when you get up in the morning and start your daily routine, especially if you exercise every day.
‘Slimming Tea’ works
This is a myth. “Slimming Tea,” or other drinks that are advertised as effective for weight reduction, are per se, useless and a waste of money. Any beverage, so long as they are zero-calorie drinks, can help in weight reduction, if taken instead of a ton of calories. And, I repeat, instead of. Not together with thousands of calories. If you drink them and still eat more calories than you burn, then you will gain weight, regardless of what fluid you drink.
No beverage on the market will lead to weight reduction per se. There is no easy solution to being overweight; it takes education, discipline, determination and hard work. But the dividends are worth the sacrifices.
Eating grapefruit will burn fats
A caveat to remember: there is no food known to man today that can burn or “melt” body fats, or that can reduce weight without proper dieting. Eating grapefruit is good if done (again) instead of eating tons of calories. Grapefruits, like many fruits and multi-colored and green leafy vegetables, are loaded with good anti-oxidants that protect our body from the ravages caused by free radicals. So, eating them daily is healthy for us, but for fat and weight reduction, the only guaranteed formula is our basic common sense principle: output must be equal to intake (calories taken in equals calories burned) to maintain a certain weight. And you can extrapolate from there to suit your personal goal.
Soft drinks: Toxic!
True and scary! Soft drinks, regular or diet, cola or uncola, caffeinated or not, are not only unhealthy but toxic to the body, especially for children. They increase the risk of the development of metabolic syndrome, the number one killer among diseases. Let’s stop “killing” our children…with this “poison.”
Diet without exercise
While dieting or watching our diet, pushing ourselves away from the dining table less than full to maintain a healthy weight, body, and mind, is a great disciplined strategy. Adding exercise to this healthy lifestyle regimen, more than triples its beneficial effects as far as boosting our immune system, our physiology, disease prevention, and overall well-being for health and longevity are concerned.
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Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, a cardiac surgeon emeritus based in Northwest Indiana and Las Vegas, Nevada, is an international medical lecturer/author, health advocate, newspaper columnist, and Chairman of the Filipino United Network-USA, a 501(c)3 humanitarian foundation in the United States. He is a decorated recipient of the Indiana Sagamore of the Wabash Award in 1995, presented by then Indiana Governor, US senator, and later presidential candidate Evan Bayh. Other past Sagamore awardees include President Harry Truman, President George HW Bush, Muhammad Ali, Astronaut Gus Grissom, educators, and leaders (Wikipedia). Websites: FUN8888.com, Today.SPSAtoday.com, and philipSchua.com Email: scalpelpen@gmail.com