Diet Myths

There are a lot of diet myths that can easily sabotage your best-laid diet plans. Knowledge is power when it comes to knowing what diet advice to listen to and what to cast aside. Here's a look at some of the most popular diet myths and the corresponding realities.

Crash Diets are Helpful When You Want to Lose Weight Fast

This is one of the oldest and biggest diet myths out there. Crash diets are never a good idea. These sorts of quick weight loss diets usually are centered on deprivation, often including an element of fasting or eating only one type of food for a long period of time.

Virtually anyone can lose weight with this kind of serious deprivation, or when eating only one type of food because you are apt to get so sick of that food that you stop eating altogether. But crash diets often end with an ugly crash when you go off the diet: you are susceptible to quickly gaining back all the weight you lost, and maybe more, to make up for the deprivation you suffered on the diet.

It is always a better course of action to plan your weight loss goals with an adequate timeline built in that allows you to lose weight in a healthier way.

Eating Fat Makes You Gain Weight Quickly

If you weigh more on the scale after a big meal than before you ate the meal, it's not because you ate a lot of fat. Weight naturally fluctuates throughout the day, and if you're weighing more after a big meal, it's probably because of the fluids and undigested food in your body.

The truth is, it takes 3,500 extra calories to gain a pound of weight. Likewise, you have to burn or eat less calories to equal a 3,500 calorie deficit to lose a pound of weight. It takes time to gain weight just as it takes time to lose it.

This is good news because it means one day of unhealthy behavior doesn't ruin us for the long term. Rather, it means we need to refocus on eating better and exercising more to make up for the extra calories we consumed.

Low Fat, Low Sugar or "Diet" Foods Help You Lose Weight

If you're diet seems too good to be true, it's probably a diet myth.

This is one of those diet myths that might actually be partly true. If you replace full-fat, high-sugar foods with their diet counterparts, it can help you lose weight. However, you have to know what you're getting into before you take your first bite or sip.

Many people think that diet foods are automatically healthy foods; they aren't. Low-fat doesn't mean calorie free, and if you eat more of a food because you think it's good for you, it could eliminate all the good that the lower-fat product might have given.

If you think you have more self-control than that, think again. Studies have shown that people actually consume more calories if they think a food is healthy, even when it isn't. Swapping full-calorie soda for the calorie-free diet variety is a good step in the right direction, but if you're eating twice as many low-fat chips as you would full-fat chips, you've lost the benefit.

All Fat and Cholesterol is Bad

Our bodies need both fat and cholesterol in order to function properly. Cholesterol helps build cells and make hormones in the body. Fat is necessary for proper development, hormone production, blood clotting and controlling blood pressure, among other functions.

Even when you're trying to lose weight, it's important to get about 30 percent of your calories from fat. You might want to look at the sources of fat in your diet and try to eat healthier fats in addition to getting fewer calories from fat.

Trans fat has been in the news lately because it is in so many products and is quite harmful to the body. Eating a lot of trans fat increases your risk of heart disease, and it's not a fat that your body needs for functioning. Cut out trans fats, which are found in fried foods and many prepared foods, especially baked goods, whenever possible.

Saturated fat is another kind of fat that most people get too much of. That's the kind of fat in meats, cheeses and dairy products that gunks up your arteries and raises bad cholesterol levels. These kinds of fats should be replaced whenever possible with unsaturated fats, sometimes also referred to as "good fats" like those in olive oil, avocados, and other plant-based foods.

It's Possible to Lose Weight Eating Whatever You Want

This is the diet myth everyone wishes were true, but those who have successfully lost weight know you often have to give something up in order to get the results you want. Or if you're not completely eliminating a certain kind of food (like ice cream), you probably have to cut the portion sizes in order to meet your weight loss goals.

This is a myth that's perpetuated by the herbal and diet pill companies who want you to believe that, with the help of their products, you can eat whatever you want and lose weight with ease. It just isn't true.

In reality, the best way to lose weight for life is to eat fewer calories than you burn. You can use any kind of diet and exercise plan you want (except for those crash diets, of course) but if you're following the plan of eating less and moving more consistently, you're sure to win your weight-loss battle, and that's no myth.