News and Statistics

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4 weight-loss myths that are holding you back right now

In Washington, DC and everywhere else it seems as if the government, nutritionists, medical doctors and “established” organizations are hell-bent on making Americans FATTER by spewing utterly ridiculous and completely unsubstantiated advice about how to eat and lose weight. Here are some of their most popular nutrition-related weight-loss myths:

Myth #1: A calorie is a calorie

First, let me ask you a commonsense weight loss question – if you had two identical twin sisters and you put them both on very different 1,500 calories diets. The first one ate all of her calories from McDonald’s and the second one gets all of her calories from lean, healthy meats, fish, eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables, seeds, and a small amount of fresh dairy products. Do YOU think they’d look the same at the end of a year?

We have actually known that all calories are NOT created equal for at least 50 years, and we keep getting the same results over and over and over again.

Take this study for example. All participants were on hypocaloric diets (less calories than they need). All did the same amount of activity, ate the same number of calories, etc. The ONLY difference was where those calories came from. The results speak for themselves.

Group A: 1000 calories at 90% fat: lost 0.9lbs per day

Group B: 1000 calories at 90% protein: 0.6lbs per day

Group C: 1000 calories at 90% carbs – actually gained some weight (not really significant though). (1)

We keep repeating these types of studies and we keep getting the exact same results – the less starch and the more fat and protein you eat, the more fat you lose. Period. (2-6)

Why do our so-called authorities in Washington, DC keep selling us the same raft of lies? That is probably a book in and of itself, but here’s the gist: Official nutrition recommendations are political and financial decisions – who made campaign contributions (it is DC)? Who’s lobbying for what recommendations? What industry group does this scientist work for? Who paid for the research? Was it the same company that will make money off of its favorable results?

The list of questions goes on and on and on. Plus, there’s also just plain old stubbornness – people like tradition, they like to do what they’ve always done.

Rarely are official nutrition recommendations the result of years of practical experience about what works and what doesn’t, and a thorough and unbiased review of research. The people who make official recommendations do NOT usually work one-on-one with people helping them to get weight loss results. If your mortgage payment doesn’t depend on your ability to produce results, then I do not care what you have to say.

Myth #2: High protein, low carbohydrate diets are unsafe

There are at least 15 years of peer-reviewed clinical research saying that there is absolutely no risk posed to normal, healthy people from short or long-term exposure to a high-protein diet. In fact, higher protein/lower carbohydrate diets have consistently been shown to outperform low-fat/high-carb/low-protein diets for weight (fat)-loss, in the treatment of diabetes, and for heart health. (7, 2-6)

For the record, carbohydrates are NOT actually an essential nutrient. There are essential fatty acids (fats), essential amino acids (protein), and essential vitamins and minerals. BUT there is NO SUCH THING as an essential sugar (carbohydrate). You could go the rest of your life without a single gram of carbs and be perfectly healthy.

In fact, many aboriginal cultures subsist on nothing but animal products. For example, the Massai in Africa lived almost exclusively on whole milk, beef and cow’s blood until very recently.

That’s ungodly amounts of saturated fat, animal fat, and cholesterol, and no plants whatsoever. But, they don’t even know what heart disease is. No, it's not because they don’t live long enough. It's because American nutritionists are wrong about essentially everything. But, that is a book in and of itself.

Myth #3: Juice is healthy

The federal government in Washington, DC and nutritionists would have you believe that drinking a glass of juice is the same as eating a piece of fruit. Well, the fact of the matter is that a glass of juice is about as nutritious as a glass of Pepsi.

A. To make a small 8 oz. glass of OJ, you must extract all of the sugar from FIVE oranges. Ounce for ounce, OJ has the same amount of sugar as Pepsi. Is it better because it’s “natural”? NO! Cocaine is a plant extract, is it now a health food? All sugar comes from plants anyway. There is NOTHING more fattening than a bunch of sugar.

B. In the process of extracting the juice virtually ALL of the vitamins are lost due to exposure to the air and from the chemicals used to increase extraction yields from the fruits.

Conclusion: all sugar, no vitamins – not a health food. Instead of OJ, eat an actual orange. It has fiber, tastes good and it will make you feel full (unlike the juice, so it is really empty calories that your body won’t register as having eaten them). Bureaucrats in Washington, DC don’t necessarily have your best interests in mind when writing policy, sometimes they are trying to help sell more oranges because you can drink far more than you can eat.

Myth #4: Moderate drinking is healthy

Doctors love to say this one. They say it for two reasons, both of which are misleading at best:

Reason #1 is there was a large study of studies (meta analysis) that showed that people who drank moderately lived longer than those who did not drink at all. There’s a HUGE problem with this study, former alcoholics and people who were so sick that they could not drink were lumped into the group of people who CHOSE not to drink. They took the average life expectancy of all those different types of people to get their “data.”

If you’re so sick that you can’t drink alcohol, you probably don’t have long to live. And being an alcoholic is VERY hard on your body and will probably shorten your lifespan.

Reason #2 is that alcohol thins your blood. Well, so does water and fish oil, and those have ONLY positive side effects. Whereas alcohol IS a toxin, and it does stimulate both fat storage and muscle loss – that is a bad combination for weight (fat)-loss.

Conclusion: Drinking in moderation is something that you do because you like it, not because it has any health benefits whatsoever. “But red wine is healthy” you say. The good stuff in red wine comes from the grapes that it was made out of – grapes. You can just eat the grapes and rid yourself of the alcohol.

Obesity: Facts behind the fiction

All the drama-documentaries in the IF series are based on rigorous, journalism and research, here's a few facts about obesity and its effect on the health of the UK.

BBC News Tuesday, 2 March, 2004, 17:17 GMT

Anti-obesity drive to use shock tactics -
The Sunday Times November 9th 2008

Hard-hitting adverts showing the danger of fat gathering around people’s internal organs will be used in a £275m government anti-obesity campaign. Research by the Department of Health has found that the public perceives obesity to be a vanity problem and does not regard cakes, biscuits, burgers, chips and crisps as unhealthy. The research did, however, find that people were disgusted by the idea of fat building up around their organs.

Healthy Weight, Healthy lives:
A Cross-Government strategy for England - 10/11/2008

A new commissioning guide on weight management services for children and  young people is now available on the Department of Health website at  www.dh.gov.uk/obesity

The guide has been developed in consultation with a range of PCT and local  authority commissioners and other stakeholders. It complements the wider  suite of publications produced by the Cross-Government Obesity Unit to  support local implementation of the national healthy weight strategy.

It includes an introduction setting out the wider context and additional  plans to support local commissioning in this area - including the  development of a list of 'pre-qualified' providers which local areas will  be able to call off from February 2009.

Healthy weight healthy lives consumer insight
summary - 13/11/2008

Healthy weight, healthy lives: consumer insight summary. This report is a summary of the results of research carried out for the Department of Health into families' attitudes and behaviours relating to diet and activity. The research was carried out to enable interventions to promote healthy weight in children and families to be more effectively targeted and delivered. (Department of Health - publications)

This report is a summary of the results of research carried out for the Department of Health into families' attitudes and behaviours relating to diet and activity. The research was carried out to enable interventions to promote healthy weight in children and families to be more effectively targeted and delivered.