This latest article looks at some diet myths and hopefully clear up some confusion that you may have.  The following list is 5 myths and reasons why they are not always true:

1. Carbs are bad – Carbohydrates are not necessarily bad for you.  A lot of people have lost weight when eliminating carbs from their diets, but it was not necessarily from eliminating carbs.  It was from the calorie reduction from not eating the foods.  Carbohydrates contain nutrients that your body needs, so you need them.  The key is to balance your calories out.  Carbs are not bad if your calories are not too high.

2. Eat 5-6 Times Per Day – This rule is often abused.  It is important to space out your meals.  This keeps your metabolism active and running through out the day, but the problem is when people use this rule to eat more calories than they should.  It is more important to eat less calories spread out through 3 meals in a day than it is to eat more calories spread out through 6 meals in a day.  The key is to get your calorie count lowered, and when you do this, then you should concentrate on balancing your caloric intake with 3-5 meals or snacks throughout the day.

3. Don’t Eat at Night or Before Bed – It is not so much when you eat, it is how much you eat.  What is most important is lowering your daily caloric intake.  It is ok to eat at night and go to sleep.  You can burn calories the next day.  If you are more happy by eating at night, then balance your calories out throughout the day so you can eat some at night.  Remember, you have to be happy for dieting to work!

4.  Take lots of Vitamin Supplements – This is a problem for a lot of people. Vitamin supplements are not the answer to your health problems.  Whole-food nutrition is.  Vitamins supplements are poorly absorbed in the body and many studies are showing that they are not only ineffective, but that they can also be detrimental to you health.

 5.  Fat Free Means it’s Healthy – This is a tough one.  You want to choose fat free and low fat foods because this will lower your fat and calorie intake, but be careful when choosing them, especially when it comes to sweets.  Often times, a food will say “fat-free” on the package and it may not have any fat grams, but it will be loaded with calories and sugar.  Remember, a food can be fat-free, but still be a “fattening” food.