Demythifying Nutrition Pt. 1
As a nutritionist who truly cares about your health, there’s nothing that makes me more furious than nutrition misinformation, especially when it is spread by health influencer and even health officials. (I’m looking at you, American Heart Association!) We have a lot to cover here, so let’s cut to the chase:
Nutrition lie #1: Low fat diets
For years we were told that swapping full fat food for the low-fat version equals healthier. Fast forward we can see that was not true. We have more incidence of chronic illnesses like obesity and heart disease than when people were freely spreading butter on their toast and grandmas were using fat that was rendered from the animal they just cooked. For instance, milk definitely isn’t the health food the industry made us think, but it was certainly healthier and an important source of nutrition when we used to consume it whole rather than low-fat.
If you have followed my journey for a while, you know how passionate I am about GOOD FATS.
Here are some of the amazing benefits of good fats:
Fats make our food taste better.
Fats coat our organs.
Fats are a source of energy.
Fat (cholesterol) is important for the production of sex hormones.
And last but not least
Fats protect our cells.
Cell damage = disease. It makes sense that we’re all sick and inflamed when some of us have been avoiding fat (or eating the wrong kind of fat) since we were very young.
Not only eating low fat is harmful to your health. Eating the wrong fats can be just as bad. In his book Food, Dr. Mark Hyman shares this shocking finding: “Walter Willett, the chair of Harvard’s nutrition department, estimates that the nationwide shift to trans fats caused up to 228,000 heart attacks in America every year” (pg. 150). Although trans fats were really bad, oils like canola, sunflower or grapeseed are not far behind. My take: avoid them like the plague.
If you want to learn more about fats. You can download this mini-guide I made for you!
Nutrition Lie #2 Warm water with lemon for weight loss
I am a big advocate for warm water with lemon in the morning, but the reason why that is a habit most of us would benefit from is far from what social media “health” influencers have told you. Warm water for lemon in the morning does not directly affect weight loss, but who cares?! It does have some amazing benefits!
The reason why warm water with lemon in the mornings is so good for us is that 1) It stimulates stomach acid production, and 2) it is a source of morning hydration.
Stomach acid is one of the first lines of defense of our immune system. It is important for the breakdown and disinfection of the foods we consume. When we don’t have enough stomach acid, pathogens can freely pass through the stomach causing all kinds of damage inside our bodies. Stomach acid production can be stimulated by consuming bitter foods, acid foods and foods high in zinc.
In addition to stomach acid production, warm water with lemon is a source of vitamin C and hydration in the morning. Oftentimes we wake up and go straight for that cup of coffee when our body has spent 8 hours doing important repair work. Our cells are thirsty and weak in the morning, and morning hydration is crucial for optimal health.
How to consume:
Before your morning coffee, cut one lemon into quarters or in half (depending on your tolerance to acidity) and squeeze into some warm water. Sip slowly and voila! You’re now helping your digestion AND your immune system.
Nutrition lie #3 Losing weight is all about eating less + exercising more
Don’t… get me started— ok too late. Yes, if we do math 2 - 1 = 1 and it can be a successful formula for weight loss. Ultimately, if you do want to lose weight, there needs to be a calorie deficit (meaning you burn more calories than you consume) but this is a very simplistic picture and it does not always work— “wait! I thought that math always worked!” yes but your body is not an equation, honey.
Our hormones play a more important role when it comes to weight loss/gain and overall health. When our hormones are out of whack (something can be caused by that yo-yo dieting) we might have trouble losing weight regardless of how many hours we’re spending at the gym and how many calories we’re cutting out of our diet. Not only we could have trouble losing weight, but we could also have trouble maintaining the weight.
If you have a weight loss (or weight gain) goal it’s important that we do so without compromising our hormones.
Ways to support hormonal balance + leaner body composition:
Eat a balanced diet. Not that low-fat, low carb nonsense (this is especially important for women.)
Get adequate sleep. Poor sleep = hormones out of whack. Like I mentioned earlier, important repair work (memory formation, cell regeneration, tissue repair) happens while we sleep. I trust that you’re smart enough to know that a lean body is worthless if are setting our brain up for cognitive decline.
The Thyroid gland secretes thyroid hormone and it is one of the most influential glands/hormones in body composition. The thyroid is the queen of metabolism and if she’s not in optimal condition then you may feel like you struggle a lot with maintaining a healthy weight. Support your thyroid by eating foods rich in selenium and vitamin A, like liver, seaweed, Brazil nuts, eggs and a variety of seafood.
And that’s what I’ve got for you today! If you have any questions or myths you would like me to debunk, send me an email and I’d be happy to address it in my next blog post.
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Thank you for reading!
In good health,