Myths: Nutrition
1. You Have To Eat 7-8 Times a Day and Every 2 Hours!
You would be better off 4-5 meals every 4-5 hours instead of 7-10 meals and eating every 2-3 hours.
A study found that consuming a balanced meal rich in protein, carbs, and fats prolongs the duration of protein synthesis (to about 3 hours).
Further studies have also shown that the duration of protein synthesis stays at about 2-3 hours even if the level of amino acids stays high for 6 hours. This means it doesn’t make sense to eat another meal and try and promote a rise in amino acids for protein synthesis again.
There is no set amount of protein one should consume at each meal.
Everyone’s body is different and if you have specific goals, your protein intake could vary.
Try to consume your body weight (lbs) in grams of protein daily.
Studies show that maximizing skeletal muscle protein synthesis requires approximately 15g of essential amino acids. The amino acid leucine is largely responsible for muscle protein synthesis and 15g of EAA would contain 3.2g of leucine.
In summary, the maximum benefit level for protein at a meal depends on the source of protein and the leucine content at each meal.
3. Salt Causes High Blood Pressure and Should Be Avoided
The Science:
Large-scale scientific reviews have determined there’s no reason for people with normal blood pressure to restrict their sodium intake for blood pressure reasons.
However, if you already have high blood pressure, you may be more sensitive to salt. and reducing the amount of salt you eat could be helpful.
It’s been known for the past 20 years that people with high blood pressure who don’t want to lower their salt intake can simply consume more potassium.
Dutch researchers determined that a low potassium intake has the same impact on your blood pressure as high salt consumption does.
Conclusion:
Strive for a potassium-rich diet with a variety of fruits, vegetables, and legumes (spinach, broccoli, bananas, white potatoes, and most types of beans). Though cutting back on salt will never hurt.
4. High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) Is More Fattening Than Regular Sugar
The Science:
Both HFCS and sucrose (table sugar) contain similar amounts of fructose.
There is no evidence to show any differences in these two types of sugar and both will cause weight gain when consumed in excess.
Conclusion:
HFCS and regular sugar are empty-calorie carbohydrates that should be consumed in limited amounts by keeping soft drinks, sweetened fruit juices, and prepackaged desserts to a minimum.
5. Red Meat Causes Cancer
The Science:
No study has found a direct cause-and-effect relationship between red-meat consumption and cancer.
Conclusion:
Meat lovers who are worried about the supposed risks of grilled meat don’t need to avoid burgers and steak; rather, they should just trim off the burned or overcooked sections of the meat before eating.
If still worried you can grill on a low slow heat, boil or roast the meats to avoid overcooking.
6. Sweet Potatoes Are Better For You Than White Potatoes
The Science:
White potatoes and sweet potatoes have nutritional differences; one isn’t necessarily better than the other.
Sweet potatoes have more fiber and vitamin A, but white potatoes are higher in iron, magnesium, and potassium.
As for the glycemic index, sweet potatoes are lower on the scale.
Conclusion:
Both have their benefits and should be in your diet; it is more important to focus on eating them in an unprocessed natural form.
7. High Protein Intake is Harmful To Your Kidneys
The Science:
Dutch researchers found that while a protein-rich meal boosted GFR (think about how much work your kidneys have to do/filter), it didn’t have an adverse effect on overall kidney function.
Conclusion:
Eat your target weight (in lbs) in grams per day. (You want to weigh 150 lbs, therefore eat 150g of protein throughout the day)
8. Dietary Fat Is Bad
We believe the premise behind this is quite straight forward.
However the main fats you want to avoid are trans fats, some others are actually beneficial. Trans fats cause muscles to break down, whereas a small amount (around 10% of total calorie intake) of saturated fats promote testosterone levels.
In total, 30% of your total calories should come from fats to make sure testosterone levels don’t decrease.
Obviously you should limit saturated fats too, and so most of your fat intake should be from monounsaturated or omega-3 fats. These fats help burn fat and are easily burnt off.
9. You Can Only Digest Xg Protein Per Meal
This is clearly true. However what is that XYZ?
There are many factors that change how much protein you can digest:
Gastrointestinal tract’s absorption and digestion abilities, how much recovery is required, how much you’ve eaten recently, how many calories you get from other sources (fats, carbohydrates) and other genetic factors.
With this ambiguity it is advised to eat around 1-1.5g of protein per pound of bodyweight over six or seven meals per day.
10. Sugar Is Bad
There is almost unanimous belief that sugar is bad for you. It spikes insulin level, which encourages fat storage and discourages fat loss.
However immediately after your workout, sugar can help recovery by forcing your muscles to refuel.
11. Don’t Eat Late At Night
This belief has been around for a long time, yet our belief is that it is a rule that should be broken.
When you’re sleeping, your body has no nutritional intake, causing it to use whatever is currently in the body as fuel. Generally speaking muscle is the easiest and thus first to be broken down, everybody’s worst nightmare.
This is why it is greatly recommended that before bed, slow digesting protein (casein protein/protein shakes with milk/cottage cheese) should be ingested.
12. Eggs Are Bad For You
This is false, eggs do not cause harmful effects to cholesterol as you may have been taught to believe. To learn more on cholesterol see here
It is true the yolk of the egg contains a lot of cholesterol (and the whites close to nothing), but it is important to understand that it is the TYPE of cholesterol transporter that is important. The yolk of the egg contains the cholesterol and it is important to remember cholesterol is essential for life.
There are also many other benefits to eating egg yolks. They contain 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, pantothenic acid and B12 of the egg and all of the fat-soluble components, such as vitamins A, D, E and omega-3 fatty acids.
Eggs are also rich in choline which is essential for cardiovascular and brain function (eating more of it may mean less inflammation, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimers, etc) as well as lutein and zeaxanthin which are the major antioxidants in eggs. They protect the eyes by filtering harmful light wavelengths and lowering risk of macular degeneration.
