The Food Myths you Shouldn't Believe

Nowadays, dietary tips can be found anywhere and everywhere. However, how much of this is actually good advice or not? 

© Can Stock Photo / monticello

Facts and research change all the time - one-day red wine is good for you, the next it’s not that great - which is why it is so hard to know what we we should be believing.

Well, now it is finally time to put some of those myths behind us, give ourselves a little bit of a reality check and understand which common food myths to completely ignore.

Eating carrots helps you see in the dark

This is a myth our parents always used to encourage us to eat more veggies as a kid - after all, what child doesn’t want the power to see at night?

This carrot tale dates back years with so many of us believing it to this day. Although carrots have nutrients and vitamins in them to help boost eye health, they won’t give you night vision.

Carbs after 6pm make you fat

The belief that eating carbs at night is a fast route towards gaining weight is one that just won’t budge.

This is made on the assumption that our resting metabolism rate slows down during sleep, therefore energy is getting stored as fat.

Although our energy usage does decrease during our early stages of sleep, it then increases significantly at night - therefore your body is burning more fat.

Fat-free isn’t always better for you

When you give something up, in most cases you have to supplement it with something else and the same applies to fat-free foods.

Having a diet that is low in bad fat is essential but, these foods are often made low-fat by replacing it with carbohydrates.

This is because fat is a flavour and when it is removed, the flavour goes with it and manufacturers then have to add the flavour back with sugars and salts.

This adds to the carbohydrate count and makes these foods anything but good for you - putting pressure on your liver and pancreas as they become overwhelmed trying to process all the carbs.

Fresh is always better than frozen

Although we would like to eat fresh produce all the time, this just isn’t always possible.

Many of us have been led to believe that fresh produce is always better than frozen, but this isn’t always true.

Scientists have explained that freezing food straight away actually preserves the nutrients and it has been proven that the nutritional content of fresh and frozen is very similar.

That means all that veg you have stocked in your freezer is just as good as what you picked up from the fruit and vegetable aisle and will last longer.

White meat is healthier than dark meat

While it’s true that dark meat has more calories in it than white, the difference is very small per serving, therefore it shouldn’t be affecting your food choices.

Dark meat is also full of more iron, zinc and other vitamins that white meat doesn’t have - it’s also tastier, as it retains flavour and moistness.

It’s better to eat many small meals throughout the day to increase your metabolism.

Believing that people enjoy eating lots of small meals throughout the day instead of your main three meals a day - breakfast, lunch and tea - isn’t wholly correct.

Eating 2-3 times a day has exactly the same effect on how many calories you burn when eating 5-6 smaller meals.

Salad is the healthiest option

In theory, salads should be the healthy option, they are full of vitamins, minerals and all that good stuff that your body needs.

However, this isn’t always the truth when you’re adding those creamy bottled dressings, cheese, bacon, croutons and so much more.

To make sure your salad is the healthiest you need to be looking for ones that feature leafy greens with lean protein, a small serving of fat and an oil-based dressing on the side.

There you have it, a handful of myths that are simply not true and can lead many people to change their diets when it is not needed at all.

Disclosure: I did not receive any form of payment for this post; I just believe it's something my readers would be interested in.