You’ve probably heard a lot of assumptions about breastfeeding:

“It’s the best way to deliver nutrients to your baby; it’s the most natural way to feed your little one; it wreaks havoc on your nipples, or it will help you lose the baby weight.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life, and then at least partially for the next six months (since you can introduce solid foods at this point).

But “ultimately, each individual mother is uniquely qualified to decide whether breastfeeding, mixed feeding, or formula feeding is ‘best’ for her individual situation,” says Alison Stuebe, M.D., distinguished scholar of infant and young child feeding at the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute, and associate professor of maternal-fetal medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

We’re not here to tell you what choices you should and shouldn’t be making. But we are here to make sure you’re accurately informed.

We talked to experts so you can better decide what’s best for you.

12 Myths About Breastfeeding

Myth: Breastfeeding helps you lose pregnancy weight

Truth: Breastfeeding does burn calories; the American Pregnancy Association recommends consuming an extra 300–500 calories a day while breastfeeding.

However, just because breastfeeding helps you burn more calories doesn’t necessarily mean you will lose weight, says Laura Gruber, international board-certified lactation consultant, registered lactation consultant, and owner of Breastfeeding Housecalls.

“Breastfeeding mothers tend to feel hungrier, which means they may snack more to make up for those extra calories burned. The choice to consume healthy or unhealthy snacks, and the quantity a mother consumes is what may ultimately drive some moms not to lose the pregnancy weight via breastfeeding alone,” Gruber says.

If you don’t know where to start, a guided nutrition program can help — Registered Dietitian Ilana Muhlstein, M.S., R.D.N. created 2B Pregnant to help moms thrive during pregnancy — and after the baby arrives.

2. Myth: You can’t breastfeed if you have breast implants

 Truth: It’s safe for mothers and for babies to breastfeed if mom has implants, Alison Stuebe reassures.

But if you have had plastic surgery, it’s important to let your doc know.

Why? Your natural breasts may affect how well you produce milk.

“If one breast was much smaller than the other, or if you had minimal breast tissue, you might make less milk, so it’s important to work closely with your baby’s provider to monitor early weight gain so that you and your baby get off to a good start,” Stuebe adds.

If you have breast implants and plan to breastfeed, you may need to supplement to ensure your baby gets enough to eat.

A review and meta-analysis of three observational studies published in the International Breastfeeding Journal revealed that women with breast implants who breastfed were less likely to feed their infants with breast milk exclusively compared to women without breast implants.

Another study published in the Annals of Plastic Surgery also reported that many women with breast implants needed to supplement their breastfeeding.

3. Myth: You must use both breasts each time you feed

Truth: It’s a good idea to offer both, Gruber says.

“Sometimes babies lose vigor and stamina at the breast because they are tired, yet not necessarily full. They can become tired from sucking on a breast that isn’t yielding as much as they need,” she explains.

Her recommendation: “Use your first breast until a baby loses vigor or stamina since this is the most accurate way of knowing if a healthy baby is getting full. Stop and burp him or her, then always offer the second breast in case baby has made room for more [after] burping.”

If your baby doesn’t want the second breast, that’s fine.

Then, you can start with the second breast at the next feed, since it will likely be fuller, she adds.

4. Myth: Modern formulas are almost the same as breast milk

 Truth: Formula makers may market their product as being almost the same as the real thing.

“Breastmilk is a living fluid. Formula is not,” Stuebe says.

To illustrate, scientists have found that human milk contains immune and stem cells, as well as bacterial community.

“A mother’s milk contains bacteria that colonize her baby’s gut, helping to grow the baby’s immune system. And while some formulas have added prebiotics and probiotics, they are fundamentally different from breast milk,” Stuebe explains.

5. Myth: Poor milk supply is caused by mom’s inadequate diet or stress

 Truth: “There are millions of women everywhere who have stressful lives and poor nutrition yet are still able to produce perfect amounts of milk for their babies,” Gruber points out.

Low milk supply is generally caused by poor breastfeeding management (such as not feeding baby frequently, or a shallow latch), hormonal issues in mom, or oral issues in the baby that would cause poor milk transfer, she explains.

6. Myth: You can’t drink alcohol while breastfeeding

Truth: This one is definitely a myth!

“It takes about two hours for a single serving of alcohol (5 oz. of wine, 12 oz. of beer, or 1.5 oz. of liquor) to clear a woman’s bloodstream. When it clears her bloodstream, it also clears her milk,” Stuebe explains.

More alcohol does take more time to clear out, so you may need to pump and discard milk if you’ve had two or three servings.

Check this handy chart that Stuebe recommends.

7. Myth: Breastfeeding is supposed to hurt

Truth: “Breastfeeding may feel new and different, but it is not supposed to hurt,” Gruber says.

With the exception of childbirth, pain is the body’s alert system when something is wrong, so nipples that hurt mean that something is off and can be improved.

“Moms who feel nipple pain, see or feel their nipples injured, or see misshapen nipples when her baby unlatches should seek help,” she adds.

8. Myth: Breastfeeding drastically changes the shape and size of your breasts

Truth: For starters, it’s important to understand that pregnancy is what changes your body, not breastfeeding.

Your breasts will change — but only temporarily.

“Breastfeeding can drastically change the shape and size of a woman’s breasts — but only during certain seasons of nursing, such as when mom’s milk is transitioning from colostrum to mature milk,” Gruber says. “Breasts normally return back to pre-pregnancy size and shape after a woman has ended breastfeeding.”

A study published in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal reviewed the charts of 93 patients seeking consultation for aesthetic breast surgery and found that breastfeeding does not appear to have an adverse effect upon breast appearance.

9. Myth: Breastfeeding is just about getting the milk to your baby

 Truth: Nurturing your baby is about so much more than nursing.

“Breastfeeding is about fostering a biological connection between a mother her child, and a mother can nurture her baby at breast no matter how much milk she makes,” Stuebe says.

“Suckling a baby triggers the release of the hormone oxytocin, which can encourage bonding and mothering behavior. A baby who is at breast can hear mom’s heartbeat, and can focus his eyes on mom’s face.”

“Even moms who don’t provide 100 percent of their baby’s nutrition from their breasts are still able to offer them for suckling, warmth, and comfort. Being an infant’s food source is just one of the many hats that breasts wear when it comes to babies,” Gruber adds.

10. Myth: Smaller breasts may not produce enough milk to feed the baby

Truth: Bra size isn’t a reliable predictor of milk production, but some breasts do produce better than others, Stuebe says.

OK, quick biology lesson from Stuebe: An adult woman’s breasts are made up of both fatty tissue and milk-making glandular tissue.

One woman might have small breasts that are packed with glandular tissue (great for milk production), while another has very large breasts that are mostly fatty tissue (not so great).

And the shape matters, too — widely spaced or cone-shaped breasts can be associated with low milk production, Stuebe adds.

“It’s not easy to predict milk-making based on breast size, which is why it’s important that all moms and babies see a pediatric provider at three to five days after birth to check in on how breastfeeding is going,” Stuebe says.

11. Myth: You can’t get pregnant while breastfeeding

Truth: We don’t know who started this rumor, but breastfeeding is definitely not a form of birth control.

“You can absolutely get pregnant while nursing,” Gruber says.

Frequent nursing does prevent ovulation. But, if you pump and use bottles, or your baby doesn’t want to eat often, you’re going a longer time between feedings at the breast than a mom who breastfeeds every couple of hours.

“This break can cause a mom to ovulate earlier … thus sparking mom’s fertility even if that mom hasn’t had her first period yet after childbirth,” Gruber explains.

If you want to avoid pregnancy, talk to your doctor about birth control options.

Some birth controls may reduce your milk supply, so talk to your doc about what options won’t affect it.

But can contraception impact the quality of your milk?

Research draws mixed conclusions; one review revealed a negative effect on breast milk composition in moms taking birth control, while another trial showed greater weight gain in infants whose moms had an etonogestrel implant.

An article published in Clinical and Obstetrics and Gynecology found that the choice and timing of contraception — with nonhormonal methods being the “preferred choice” — may influence breastfeeding and infant growth patterns.

12. Myth: The longer you breastfeed, the healthier your baby will be in adolescence

Truth: This one’s a bit more complicated.

“There’s compelling evidence that, on a population level, longer breastfeeding is linked with better health,” Stuebe says.

A study analysis published in Maternal & Child Nutrition, of which Stuebe was a part of, found that for every 597 women who optimally breastfeed, one maternal or child death is prevented.

However, that’s on a population level.

“For an individual mother and her child, there are many, many things that contribute to her child’s health in adolescence, of which breastfeeding is just one,” Stuebe adds.

If breastfeeding is extraordinarily difficult for that mom and baby, the struggle to make it work may not be worth it.

The Bottom Line

Talk openly with your doctor to explore all of your options to find out what works best for you and your baby.

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It’s no secret that here at Eat This, Not That!, we spend a lot of time unmasking health imposters. And the truth is, the superpowers of kale, like the dangers of the Bermuda Triangle, have been highly exaggerated. Sure, it’s good for you, but the ranking of kale as our greatest green is just one of many word-of-mouth myths that drive our nutritional decision-making, often in the wrong direction. Much of what we believe about food is really just hearsay, a game of nutritional telephone handed down from science journals to newspapers to television to your aunt to your mom and then to you, with marketers in between.

Well, we went ahead and tracked down the truth. Learn how to separate fact from fiction and you might finally shed the habits that are silently sabotaging your weight loss efforts.

Here are 25 food myths that could be doing you more harm. And after you uncover these, check out the 15 Underrated Weight Loss Tips That Actually Work.

A 2014 study at William Paterson University ranked fruits and vegetables by their nutrient density, based on their levels of 17 different nutrients that have been linked to improved cardiovascular health. Not surprisingly, the top 16 were all leafy greens, which pack the most nutrition per calorie. (Coming in at #17 was red bell peppers.) But kale didn’t even make the top 10. In fact, simple spinach and even Romaine lettuce beat the alleged supergreen, as did parsley and chives. Even stuff you normally throw away—the greens atop beets—pack more nutrition.

Sugar is the master of disguise, according to research in Zero Sugar Diet. Maltodextrin, brown rice syrup, dextrose, sucrose—it’s got more alter egos than the Avengers. But it’s most well known costume is High Fructose Corn Syrup. Whether HFCS is worse than plain ol’ table sugar has long been a contentious issue. Here’s what you need to know: In a 2014 review of five studies comparing the effects of sugar and HFCS, there was no difference found in changes in blood glucose levels, lipid levels, or appetite between table sugar consumption and HFCS consumption. In other words, your body can’t tell one from the other—they’re both just sugar. HFCS’s real sin is that it’s super cheap, and as a result, it’s added to everything from cereal to ketchup to salad dressing. Is it a good idea to minimize the HFCS in your diet? Absolutely. It’s best to cut out all unnecessary sugars.

RELATED: 25 Popular Fruits—Ranked by Sugar Content 

Everyday table salt comes from a mine and contains roughly 2,300 milligrams of sodium per teaspoon. Sea salt comes from evaporated seawater, and it also contains roughly 2,300 milligrams of sodium. That makes them, well, roughly identical. Advocates point to the fact that sea salt also contains other compounds like magnesium and iron, but in truth, these minerals exist in trace amounts. To obtain a meaningful dose, you’d have to take in extremely high and potentially dangerous levels of sodium. What’s more, traditional table salt is regularly fortified with iodine, which plays an important role in regulating the hormones in your body. Sea salt, on the other hand, gives you virtually zero iodine. The bottom line is this: If switching from table salt to sea salt causes you to consume even one extra granule, then you’ve just completely snuffed out whatever elusive health boon you hope to receive. Plus you’ve wasted a few bucks.

RELATED: 25 Foods High in Sodium You Should Beware

Energy drinks like Red Bull, Monster, and Full Throttle attempt to boost your energy with a cache of B vitamins, herbal extracts, and amino acids. But what your body’s going to remember most (especially around your waistline) is the sugar in these concoctions; a 16-ounce can delivers as much as 280 calories of pure sugar, which is about 80 calories more than you’d find in a 16-ounce cup of Pepsi. What’s more, a University of Maryland study found energy drinks to be 11 percent more corrosive to your teeth than regular soda. So here’s the secret that energy drink companies don’t want you to know: The only proven, significant energy boost comes from caffeine. If you want an energy boost, save yourself the sugar spike and drink a cup of coffee. (A cup of black joe: 5 calories. Make this swap once a day and lose nearly 29 pounds this year!)

RELATED: 101 Unhealthiest Habits on the Planet

The obesity-research community is becoming increasingly aware that the artificial sweeteners used in diet soda lead to hard-to-control food urges later in the day. Try weaning yourself off by switching to carbonated water and flavoring with lemon, cucumber, and fresh herbs.

A study in the American Journal of Public Health found that more obese adults drink diet soda than healthy-weight adults and that, among the overweight and obese adults studied, those who drank diet soda ate more calories than those who consumed sweetened/regular soda. Researchers have also linked regular diet soda consumption with decreased response to artificial sweeteners and a decreased link between sweet tastes and energy value, meaning their bodies may grow to disassociate sweetness with satiety cues, making it easier to overeat and, therefore, gain weight.

Sure, some yogurts contain beneficial bacteria that can send reinforcements to your gut when you need them. Lactobacillus acidophilus is the bacteria you want to look for, with yogurts that say “live active cultures.” But most yogurts are so high in sugar that they do more to promote unhealthy gut bacteria than anything else. (Unhealthy bacteria feed on sugar in your belly the same way they do around your teeth.)

RELATED: The Best & Worst Yogurts on the Shelves—Ranked!

As it applies to food marketing, the term “low fat” is synonymous with “loaded with salt and cheap carbohydrates.” For instance, look at Smucker’s Reduced Fat Peanut Butter. To replace the fat it skimmed out, Smucker’s added a fast-digesting carbohydrate called maltodextrin. That’s not going to help you lose weight. A 2008 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that over a 2-year span, people on low-carb diets lost 62 percent more body weight than those trying to cut fat. (Plus, the fat in peanut butter is heart-healthy monounsaturated fat—you’d be better off eating more of it, not less!)

The FDA’s guidelines allow companies to claim 0 grams of trans fat—even broadcast it on the front of their packages—as long as the food in question contains no more than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. But here’s the deal: Due to an inextricable link to heart disease, the World Health Organization advises people to keep trans fat intake as low as possible, maxing out at about 1 gram per 2,000 calories consumed. If your cupboard’s full of foods with almost half a gram per serving, you might be blowing past that number every single day. The American Journal of Health Promotion recently published an article urging the FDA to rethink its lax regulations, but until that happens, you should avoid all foods with “partially hydrogenated oil” (meaning, trans fats) on their ingredients statements. Trans fat is lurking in places you might not expect, too.

The FDA makes no serious effort to control the use of the word “natural” on nutrition labels. Case in point: 7UP boasts that it’s made with “100% Natural Flavors” when, in fact, the soda is sweetened with a decidedly un-natural dose of high fructose corn syrup. “Corn” is natural, but “high fructose corn syrup” is produced using a centrifuge and a series of chemical reactions. And the “natural advantage” Post Raisin Bran, which bathes its raisins in both sugar and corn syrup. The worst part is, you’re likely paying a premium price for common junk food.

RELATED: The easy guide to cutting back on sugar is finally here.

Egg yolks contain dietary cholesterol; this much is true. But research has proven that dietary cholesterol has almost nothing to do with serum cholesterol, the stuff in your blood. Wake Forest University researchers reviewed more than 30 egg studies and found no link between egg consumption and heart disease, and a study in Saint Louis found that eating eggs for breakfast could decrease your calorie intake for the remainder of the day.

RELATED: The Best & Worst Ways to Cook Eggs—Ranked!

Unfortunately, a half-hour trot on the treadmill isn’t going to help you lose weight if you reward yourself by downing a few slices of cake and an order of French fries. The bottom line: It’s near impossible to out-exercise a bad diet unless you plan to spend half your day in the gym. You must work out and eat smart to see results.

Without the proper fuel, you won’t be able to work out for as long or hard as you need to if you want to see a difference in your body. What’s worse, fasted workouts can cause low blood sugar and lightheadedness, which can be dangerous when you’re breaking a sweat. Plus, when you’re running on fumes, you’re going to be ravenous after your workout. That means you’ll be more apt to make poor diet decisions—like downing an entire pizza—after you get home.

It’s no shocker that Paleo is one of the most-Googled diets in recent years. Bacon and steak for weight loss? Yes, please! But the Paleo diet is indeed too good to be true. Although protein-rich diets help pounds fly off initially, eating a low-carb, high-protein diet can actually cause weight gain in the long-term, say Spanish researchers. In fact, their study findings revealed that those who follow high-protein diets have a 90 percent greater risk of gaining more than 10 percent of their body weight over time than those who don’t go heavy on the meat. To reap the weight-loss benefits of the Paleo diet—without paying for it later—nix the processed junk and oils as the diet suggests, but keep the protein in check. Take in more than the recommended amount and the excess will likely be stored as health-harming fat.

RELATED: The Difference Between Paleo and Keto

Eating 300 calories of chicken is not the same as eating 300 calories of cake. The body uses and stores calories differently depending on the nutrients each food is comprised of. Corn and beans, for example, contain something called resistant starch, a type of carb that is really hard to digest. In turn, the body isn’t able to absorb as many of the calories or as much of the glucose—a nutrient that’s stored as fat if it’s not burned off. It’s a similar story with lean-protein sources like turkey, chicken, and fish. In addition to boosting satiety, protein also has a high thermogenic effect compared to fats and carbs. In turn, your body burns off a fair percentage of the meat’s calories during the digesting process, and post-meal calorie burn spikes by as much as 35 percent! Your favorite cookies can’t make that same claim. In fact, since the majority of sweet treats’ calories come from sugar, getting too many of your calories from desserts can leave you hungry, fat, and–you guessed it–frustrated.

Eating too many calories throughout the day, not nighttime munching, causes weight gain. In fact, “eating the right type of bedtime snack actually boosts metabolism and aids weight loss—not the opposite!” explains Cassie Bjork, RD, LD of Healthy Simple Life. “When you don’t eat before bed, blood sugar levels dip so you don’t sleep as well. In turn, you crave more sugar- and carb-laden food the next day. If this happens often enough, it can cause weight gain. On the flip side, eating the right snack can help keep blood sugars stable so the fat-burning hormone glucagon can do its job.” So what should you be eating? “I suggest pairing a natural carb with a healthy fat.” Apple slices and almond butter, berries with heavy cream, and carrots with guacamole all fit the bill.

Avocados, oatmeal, nuts, and their creamy, delicious butters are indeed healthy, but low in calories they are not. Sure, you’re better off eating 200 calories of oatmeal than 200 calories of sugar-spiked cookies made with the grain, but that doesn’t give you free rein to eat as much of the stuff as you want. The bottom line: Nutritious or not, portion size counts with every food. If you find that you have trouble sticking to reasonable portion sizes for some of the more caloric healthy foods in your diet, look for portion-controlled packages. Buying mini sizes in lieu of bigger tubs of food helps keep calories in check and teaches you what a proper serving looks like.

Although packaged protein products can be a part of an all-around healthy diet, they aren’t any better than a sit-down meal comprised of similar nutrients. However, depending on which bars and shakes you pick up, you could actually be putting your health at risk. Many popular products are filled with bloat-causing additives like carrageenan and whey in addition to caramel coloring, which has been shown to cause cancer in humans. A number of the pumped-up foods also use artificial sweeteners in lieu of sugar, which can increase cravings for sweet treats and cause weight gain over time. Our advice: If you want to include bars and shakes in your diet, opt for one of our Best Nutrition Bars for Weight Loss and whip up your own protein shakes at home using fresh fruits, veggies, milk or water, and a low-sugar vegan protein powder. Also, be sure you’re substituting your shake or bar for a snack or a meal—not consuming them in addition to your regular diet. This can cause weight gain, not loss.

RELATED: We Tasted 9 Protein Powders & This Was the Best 

While chugging water and running to and from the bathroom go hand in hand, chugging water and weight loss do not. “Drinking water does not guarantee weight loss—especially if you’re still eating an unhealthy, high-calorie diet,” says Lisa Moskovitz, R.D., founder of Manhattan-based private practice, The NY Nutrition Group. But that doesn’t mean you should stop running to the water cooler. “Staying hydrated throughout the day is a great habit to maintain for good health, it’s just not the only change you’ll need to make for permanent weight loss,” Moskovitz adds.

“Nuts have gotten a bad reputation for their total fat content, but nutrition science suggests that the quality—not quantity—of fat is what is most important to our health,” says Jackie Newgent, RDN, and author of The All-Natural Diabetes Cookbook.

“In fact, the FDA recently announced they are reevaluating the term ‘healthy’ as it applies to foods with good-for-you fats, like pistachios,” Newgent continues. “What’s more, foods like in-shell pistachios may help you fool yourself into feeling full because the leftover shells may provide a visual cue for portions, potentially helping to curb intake.”

While beer consumption doesn’t tend to help shrink your waist, a beer belly isn’t necessarily caused by beer; it’s more likely caused by consuming too many empty calories.

“Although, if you enjoy guzzling six-packs on a regular basis, then you do need to reconsider your beer-drinking habits,” cautions Newgent.

A bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich on a cold winter’s day. A big spoonful of mac and cheese when you’re down on your luck. Comfort food just makes you feel better, doesn’t it?

Actually, it doesn’t. In a 2014 study in the journal Health Psychology, aptly titled “The Myth of Comfort Food,” researchers showed participants depressing films to “induce a negative effect.” Then they gave them either comfort food, foods that weren’t considered comfort foods, or no food at all. Result: The subjects got over their bad moods in equal time, regardless of whether or not they ate. Is feeling bad a good excuse for eating bad? Turns out, it’s not.

In its best form, peanut butter actually is a health food. That’s because peanuts are packed with monounsaturated fats, the heart-healthy fat that actually helps you lose weight. Here’s what the ingredients of a healthy jar of peanut butter should read:

Peanuts.

But most peanut butter doesn’t look like that. Most peanut butters are highly processed and loaded with sugars and trans-fatty oils, and contain less of the healthy monounsaturated fats that you truly need. “Peanut butter spread” is even worse. The word “spread” indicates that it’s at least 10 percent additives. Look for “natural” peanut butter and don’t be fooled by any low-fat promises.

Wait a minute—isn’t “multi-grain” one of the biggest buzzwords in nutrition? And haven’t we been trained to pick the wheat bread over the white at every turn? Yes, but unfortunately those labels are about as credible as your local congressman’s campaign promises. “Wheat bread” is generally white bread with caramel or molasses added to make it look dark and healthy. “Multi-grain” just means that different kinds of junky refined grains may have been used. Always look for the words “100 percent whole wheat” or “100 percent whole grain” on the package.

Those skinny little wraps are so flimsy, so delicate, so fusion-cuisine friendly. How can they not be better than the average lump of bread? Well, consider Subway’s wrap, for one. It packs 310 calories—before you even add the first whiff of meat or sauce. The reason is that, in order for the tortilla to wrap around like that, it needs added fat, often in the form of soybean oil and hydrogenated oils. (In fact, when ordering Mexican food, you’re usually better off with a hard taco than a soft, for the same reason.)

Once the proud spud stud of the American dinner plate, potatoes have been downgraded in recent years to a status not seen since the Irish blight. But unlike the commentators on cable news, the common taters in your kitchen actually have something worth chewing on. A USDA study of potatoes found levels of phytochemicals such as flavonoids and kukoamines that rival the amounts found in broccoli, spinach, and Brussels sprouts. Kukoamines? You haven’t heard of them because they were previously believed to exist only in Chinese medicinal plants, but they have been shown to lower blood pressure by decreasing free-radical damage and inflammation.

Read more:

60+ Healthy Fish Recipes for Weight Loss

70+ Healthy Chicken Recipes That Are Easy to Make

43 High Fiber Foods to Include in Your Diet

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To err is human. We all have our secret meltdowns, like munching junk food or stealing ice cream straight from the freezer. Bad habits such as eating amnesia, after-dinner treats, drinking without thinking, skipping breakfast, and portion distortion induces weight gain among all sections of the population. But the lifestyle habits causing your weight gain aren’t always obvious. Obesity leads to non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, & coronary heart disease.

There are times when we feel a sudden urge to lose weight. Although your weight may influence how you think about yourself and even how others view you – body image is a small part of it. Weight management is the key to lead a happy and healthy life. Therefore, your journey to weight loss should be gradual, and a well-informed one.

Most people would agree that not eating before bed, limiting carbohydrates, and sticking to small meals are part of a sound weight loss strategy. But most people are also simply wrong about such techniques and methods. Some ‘diet facts’ are heresy. In a digital era, there is a plethora of content available on the internet that makes us think that we know everything there is to know about fat, carbs and hunger. Unfortunately, in the process, we do wrong things to ourselves.

Find out the absolute truth about these common diet myths

Diet Myth 1: Detox diets are great

The first dietary myth is that doing one to three days or even a week of detox will lead to one to two kgs of weight loss. It is a myth. It might be true in the short term; however, it might come back to bite you as you’re most likely to gain those kilos back. Doing a one-day detox might give your organs a well-needed rest with a reduction in water weight. However, it will not lead to body fat loss, which is what we are after. 

Now, to reduce body fat loss, you need to ensure you have a balanced meal. It should consist of protein, good quality fats, fibre, complex carbs, and a good intake of vitamins and minerals.

Diet Myth 2: Supplements help in weight loss

People believe that supplements in powdered form, shake, and liquid fillers can help you lose weight. It is a myth; supplements might give you a boost of energy at that needed time, for example, a pre or post-workout. But you cannot solely depend on these for weight loss. 

The weight loss supplement industry is massive. The primary reason why supplements might work for some people is the placebo effect. People fall for the marketing tactics and want the supplements to help them lose weight. Don’t forget to consult a nutritionist before choosing your supplements.

Diet Myth 3: Cut carbohydrates to lose weight

Carbohydrates have earned a bad reputation in the commercial world of health and nutrition, and they seem like weight inducers. But carbohydrates are essential macronutrients needed to sustain life. They supply energy to the brain and body. But we need to know the difference between good carbs and bad carbs. 

Bad carbs are processed and refined like white bread, refined grains, cakes, biscuits, etc. These carbs contribute to your weight gain. 

Good carbs, on the other hand, are the ones rich in fibre. Brown rice, wholewheat bread, legumes, beans, and whole wheat pasta are examples of good carbs. They have a wonderful husk, and the time taken to digest them is longer. So you feel fuller for longer, and you don’t overeat.

Diet Myth 4: All fats are bad

Just like carbs, fats are considered unhealthy and one of the main culprits for weight gain. But, like carbs, fats can also be clubbed as good fats and bad fats. Good fats are essential for overall health. They help our nervous system, boost our skin health and build our cell walls. Avocado, walnuts, homemade ghee, coconut oil contain good fats. Eaten in moderation they are excellent for weight loss. They may be high on calories, but they are not empty; they are dense in nutrients, and if you feel full, you would naturally binge less.

Diet Myth 5: Starving and skipping meals helps in weight loss

It is an absolute myth that starving and skipping meals may speed up your weight loss journey. No matter what fad diets may claim, starving and skipping meals is not a sustainable weight-loss strategy. You can keep yourself away from food only to a certain extent. Once you break, you tend to eat anything and everything that comes your way in a greater quantity. That leads to a calorie overload. So instead, do eat at regular intervals. This way, you remain satiated for more extended periods, and you keep a safe distance from those fried and fattening foods.

Now, while you’re at it, make sure you’re practising portion control and ensuring a thorough check on the kind of food you’re eating. If you’re even slightly wary of the ingredients used, don’t have it. Instead, grab a fruit or some nuts, and another great way of ensuring you are within your calorie limit is by tracking your calories through an app.

Diet Myth 6: Workout on an empty stomach for weight loss

Working out on an empty stomach may lead to dizziness. It is because your blood sugar levels reduce, leading to muscle loss as protein is extracted from the muscle. Hence, it is best to tuck into something light and nutritious before setting out for the drill. In addition, you should have some easily digestible carbs before an intense session. 

You can try some pre-workout snacks, a small Kela or banana, or a bowl of oats with roughly chopped almonds and figs with a teaspoon of raw organic honey. You can even have a beetroot ginger-lime smoothie. That will do the trick.

Diet Myth 7: Cut out on all snacks

Snacking is not a problem. However, it is the kind of snack you pick that could affect your weight loss regimen in a big way. Snacking on heavily fried or sugary, or ultra-processed food generates copious amounts of empty calories that get stored as fats. Meanwhile, healthy snacking may help you shed a pound or two. For example, think fruits, nutty trail mix oats or even a protein shake. Having small portions of these healthy snacks throughout the day is known to keep your metabolism soaring.

Conclusion

Losing weight carries innumerable benefits. However, you should tread this path carefully. While the market is brimming with supplements and meal replacement plans, it is wiser to consult a nutritionist, health professional, and physical instructor before taking further steps. In addition, claiming to ensure rapid weight loss, some products lack credibility and consuming them can be hazardous. Finally, talking to the right person and having a support group of friends and families will help you healthily lose weight without affecting your overall well being.

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