Nutrition Fact


	Dairy products are high in fat and should be avoided.
	Truth: Wrong! Avoiding milk and other dairy products is very, very dangerous. The dairy group is our main source of calcium, which is part of our bone composition. During puberty, calcium is necessary in the blood stream, and is necessary for optimal bone health. If a teen does not ingest enough calcium, the body will take calcium from the bones and use them in the bloodstream, decreasing the bone density over time. This is why many older women get osteoporosis, decomposition of the bone. And dairy products are not necessarily fattening. Skim milk is not fattening, yet it still provides calcium. Low-fat yogurt has almost no fat, and it provides enough calcium.

	If extra protein is ingested, more muscles will be developed.
	Truth: Yes, extra protein is good for muscle development. When a person does weight training, the muscles need more protein to build themselves up. But, the ingestion of the protein by itself does nothing. And if excess protein is ingested, it will be deposited as fat. The more protein you eat, the more you will have to work out to make use of it. Otherwise, you will become more obese instead of stronger.

	A vegetarian would be much more healthy than a meat-eating individual, with lower body fat, caloric intake, and cholesterol.
	Truth: Vegetarian diets, which contain absolutely no animal products, are very low in vitamin B12 and, unless carefully planned, may be deficient in vitamin B6, riboflavin, calcium, iron, and zinc. Strict macrobiotic diets, which include everything except grains, are extremely hazardous. More moderate vegetarian diets that include milk and eggs and perhaps fish, and/or poultry, meet the nutritional needs of grown.

	It is not a problem to overeat and become fat during puberty, because adolescents grow into their weight.
	Truth: This myth is very, very dangerous, and may decide if you go through yo-yo dieting all your life, or if you become a consistently thin adult. Adolescents only grow into their weight before their main growth spurt. If they are past their main growth spurt, they will not grow into their weight. If a 15 year-old, almost fully developed, decides that he'll just grow into his weight, and eats heavily, he'll become obese. During adolescence, the number of adipose cells, which hold fat, become set in stone. If you have five trillion cells while maturing, you will have five trillion for the rest of your life. This is why the odds against an obese teen becoming a normal-weight adult is 28 to 1. It is possible, but it is very, very difficult. Adolescence is not a good time to put on weight.

	Overweight people are overweight because they eat a lot.
	Truth: This is generally true, but there are many, many exceptions. Obese teens may actually have a LOWER caloric intake than their thin counterparts. A common occurance is the cycle of obesity. When teens are obese, they are often embarrased of their appearance and tire easily, so they exercise much less than normal teens. Even if their caloric intake is very low, they still would not lose any weight. Some overweight teens do eat little, but because they do not exercise at all, they remain obese.

	Fasting is a quick way to lose weight.
	Truth: There are nutrient requirements that must be met, and if you fast for too long, your body will just shut down. Yes, fasting would result in weight loss, but muscle would be burned as well as fat, and muscle is much harder to develop than fat. The only true way to lose weight without hurting yourself is to combine a mild diet with adequate exercise. Fasting is a quick way to die, not to lose weight.

	Beer drinkers do not become alcoholics because beer contains so little alcohol (as compared to hard liquor).
	Truth: This is a very believable myth, but alas, it is also false. Susceptibility to alcohol in any concentration, not how much alcohol is taken in, that causes alcoholism. In other words, quantity of alcohol is not what hooks you, what hooks you is the fact that you are taking in alcohol at all.

	Beer is nutritious.
	Truth: This is an absolutely untrue myth. Beer is not nutritious. Beer is a poison that destroys your body. Yes, it has trace amounts of nutrients, but that does not make it nutritious. Carpet has trace amounts of nutrients, but we do not call carpet nutritious. Beer contains some niacin and some protein, but very little. To reach an adult male's niacin needs, a six-pack of beer would have to be drank, and to meed the protein needs, NINE six-packs would be required. There are no nutritional advantages to drinking alcohol, only additional health risks.

	Vitamins give you energy.
	Truth: There are no (0) "calories" in vitamins! Vitamins are essential, non-caloric organic nutrients needed by the body in tiny amounts. Energy is measured by the unit called "calories". Calories are found in Carbohydrates, Protein and Fat, not Vitamins. Vitamins help drive cell processes. Vitamins help other nutrients to be absorbed, digested and metabolized. Vitamins are classified two ways: Fat-Soluble-A, D, E, K and Water-Soluble-B Vitamins: Thiamin (B!), Riboflavin Niacin (B3) Folate, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B6, Biotin, Panthothenic Acid. Excess intake of water-soluble vitamins are excreted in the urine. One physician stated to me, "it's just expensive urine when you take excess water-soluble vitamins". Excess intake of fat-soluble vitamins are stored in the liver and fatty tissue.

	Carbohydrates are fattening.
	Truth: Carbohydrates provide 4 kcal/gm. Fat provides 9 kcal/gm. Carbohydrates are found in: bread, cereal, rice, pasta, vegetables (mainly starchy vegetables (i.e. potatoes and corn) and fruits. What we put on bread, rice or pasta makes it fattening (i.e. sour cream on the backed potato, butter or margarine on the bread). Glucose from carbohydrate is the preferred fuel for most body functions.

	Processed food is less nutritious than raw food.
	Truth: While fresh apples and crisp green salads are a delight to eat, the idea that all raw foods are implicitly healthier than processed food is not so. Food which is canned, dried, frozen or cooked is not necessarily lower in nutritional value. In fact these processes help to extend shelf life, make food safer and in some cases can actually improve its nutritional quality. For example, the beta-carotene in canned carrots is more available to the body than that fresh ones and fresh peas, which have been harvested and frozen immediately, have more vitamin C than peas that have been stored at room temperature for a few days before consumption.

	Sugar causes diabetes.
	Truth: When sugar is consumed the hormone insulin is required to bring blood sugar levels back down to normal. Diabetes is caused through a lack of insulin, not an excess of sugar in the diet. Once someone has diabetes it is important to manage the frequency and amount of eating and the types of carbohydrate, including sugar, consumed to allow the body to maintain good blood sugar control.

	Missing meals helps you lose weight.
	Truth: Research shows that missing meals can actually lead to an over-compensation and increased food consumption at the next meal. The result can be a gain, not loss in weight. Not only that, when a meal is missed, the body makes up for lost energy by conserving what you have already eaten and slowing up your metabolism.

	Preservatives are bad.
	Truth: Without preservatives our food chain would be not be as safe as it is today. Nitrates and nitrites used in processed meats protect against the deadly Clostridium botulinum, bacteria while mould inhibitors used in cereals help to stop the growth of potential carcinogens that could otherwise lead to stomach cancer.

	It is bad to eat between meals.
	Truth: Most people feel like eating something every 3 - 4 hours to avoid becoming too hungry. Dividing your calories into three meals and two or three snacks instead of three large meals can help to keep you well fuelled throughout the day and lessen the chances of over eating when meal times come around. Depending on what you choose, snacks can also make significant contributions to the day’s total intake of vital vitamins and minerals.

	You can not digest more than one type of food at a time.
	Truth: There is no scientific proof that the human body needs to separate out protein and carbohydrate foods at different meals because it can not cope with digesting them together. This idea of ‘food combining’ came originally from work at the end of the 1800’s by Dr William Hay and has been popularised through various food combining diet books published over the last ten years. Humans have one stomach and a medium-length gut which makes us omnivores and quite capable of handling for example, a steak (protein and fat) and potatoes (carbohydrate) at the same meal.