Marek Morozov: clearing up nutrition myths

Marek Morozov tackles the old nutrition myths that still circulate at the gym, in the office and around the family dinner table. Here’s a straightforward guide to what’s true, what’s exaggerated and what you needn’t feel guilty about eating.

Marek Morozov on common food myths

Potatoes don’t make you gain weight in themselves. Yes, potatoes provide energy and contain mainly carbohydrates, but it’s very difficult to overeat on potatoes alone. For comparison, 100 grams of dry grains or grain products, such as rice, oats, buckwheat or pasta, contain roughly the same amount of carbohydrate as 300 grams of potatoes.

The same goes for frozen vegetables. They’re sometimes seen as nutritionally inferior, but they’re often harvested and frozen in season, when their vitamin content is high. Cleaning and trimming them also produces less waste than preparing fresh vegetables at home.

Eggs aren’t the enemy. Egg yolks contain cholesterol, but the overall quality of the fat in your diet, particularly saturated fat, has a greater effect on blood cholesterol levels. Eggs provide vitamins, and egg protein has high nutritional value. A sensible amount fits well into most people’s diets.

The same balanced approach applies to pork. Eating fatty pork and white pork fat frequently can increase body weight and cardiovascular risk. Lean cuts of pork, such as tenderloin, however, are a good source of iron and protein. The difference lies in the cut, the portion size and what you serve alongside the meat.

Marek Morozov explains how body weight works

Being “big-boned” doesn’t explain being substantially overweight. The difference in bone weight between men of the same height usually doesn’t exceed 500 grams. So your bones can account for about half a kilo, not several extra clothing sizes.

Eating in the evening isn’t automatically a problem either. Eating after 6-7 pm doesn’t make you gain weight simply because it’s late. You can eat at 10 pm too, provided your portions and food choices are sensible. You gain weight when the energy you get from food and drink exceeds the energy you expend.

Grapefruit, green tea and pepper don’t burn fat away. Caffeine may briefly speed up your metabolism, but the effect is short-lived. Fat loss still comes down to your body using more energy over time than it gets from food.

You don’t need to fear fats. Your body needs fat to absorb essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins. The main ones to limit are saturated fatty acids, which tend to be solid at room temperature and are abundant in animal-based foods. For everyday use, it makes sense to favor plant-based fats and oils.

What do nutrition myths obscure about your workouts?

Exercise doesn’t give you a free pass to eat anything you like. Training increases energy expenditure, but it can also increase your appetite. If the food and drink you have after a workout provide more energy than you used, your weight won’t move in the direction you want.

Sweating doesn’t tell you how much fat you’re burning. In a sauna, you lose fluid that you later replace by drinking. The same applies to a very sweaty workout: your weight may drop briefly, but that doesn’t mean you’ve lost fat. According to the original advice, the rule of thumb for an appropriate training load is 0.6–0.7 x (220 – age), and you should train at this heart rate continuously for at least 30 minutes. You should still be able to talk at that pace.

Fasting isn’t a smart way to “cleanse” your body. During starvation, your body starts using its own tissues. Your brain needs glucose, and your body’s stores last less than a day. As those stores decline, your body starts producing glucose from amino acids, breaking down proteins in your muscles and liver, among other tissues.

The promises made about fat burners also deserve scrutiny. The claim that weight-loss products can help you lose 10- 15 kg a month isn’t physiologically plausible. It isn’t possible to “burn” more than 100 grams of fat a day. If your body weight drops by more than 3 kilos a month, you usually lose muscle mass too, and the risk to your health increases.

Marek Morozov: what should you drink and what should you believe?

Soft drinks can affect your weight in a very straightforward way. Drinking 1.5 liters of a soft drink on a warm summer’s day can provide around 150 g of sugar and nearly 600 kcal of energy. If you aren’t very active, it’s easy to gain weight. Water is still the best thirst quencher.

Drinking water doesn’t need to be a competition. The claim that everyone must drink at least 3 liters of water a day is too broad. In our climate, an adult with a low level of physical activity needs around 2 – 2.5 liters of fluid a day, some of which comes from food, soup, tea, coffee, fruit and vegetables.

Carbonated water doesn’t make you gain weight, because plain water provides no energy. Flavored water is a different matter: it may contain sugar and therefore energy. The label will give you the answer faster than an advertisement.

Drinking large amounts of distilled water doesn’t cleanse your body. It may actually put your health at risk because distilled water contains no minerals and can disrupt the fluid balance in your cells. Packaged juices aren’t automatically health foods either: they may contain plenty of sugar and preservatives but very few vitamins.

FAQ

Is brown sugar healthier than white sugar?

Not particularly. Brown sugar is often made by adding molasses to white sugar crystals. It may contain slightly more minerals, but the health impact is negligible. The flavor differs, but its basic effect on your body does not.

Do light products help you lose weight quickly?

Light products alone are not enough. Your overall diet needs to be balanced. A completely fat-free diet can actually harm your health and disrupt your body’s hormonal balance.

Does eating sugar cause diabetes?

If you do not have diabetes, eating sugar alone will not cause it. Being overweight increases your risk, regardless of which foods the excess energy came from. If you have diabetes, you need to monitor both sugar and other carbohydrates.

Author: Marek Morozov

Source:Turg.Fitness.ee

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