“There is no sincerer love than the love of food.” - George Bernard Shaw

 This saying says it all. The very sight of food initiates a wonderful feeling within us which leaves our mouths watered, our hearts warm and our stomach growling. Ok, this might be a slight exaggeration but you get the point.  

Good food acts like magnet, and people get pulled towards it like iron fillings. This of course is the result of evolution and is common in almost all species. Food ensures survival and that is what all living things are programmed to do. Survive.  

But humans have taken it one step further. We don’t just eat for survival, we eat for fun, for taste. We don’t need potato chips for our survival and yet often find ourselves opening a bag or two while watching a movie.  

This has led to some adverse effects on our health though, and we often need to dial it down to keep functioning normally. We refer to this as dieting which is consciously monitoring our food intake to become more healthy and/or to lose weight. But people have a lot of misconceptions about dieting which I’m going to talk about today.  

1. You Can Eat Whatever You Like If You Exercise

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 This is one of the most common misconceptions among people. Even I was guilty of it until a few years ago. People think that if they exercise regularly, they can eat whatever they want and still remain fit and even lose weight.   

In terms of weight, it’s a simple calculation of your input and output of calories. If you are burning a fixed amount of calories, and you go about eating more than you burnt, it is obvious that you won’t lose weight.

  So that extra slice of pizza that you eat thinking that your exercise will somehow ‘take care’ of it, is wrong thinking. Exercise, along with proper diet is the only way to ensure a reduction in weight, which is the main reason most people opt for dieting anyways.   

2. Skipping Meals Makes You Lose Weight Fast 

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This one seems logical at first. If we reduce our intake, we are more than likely to reduce weight, all things remaining constant. But surprisingly, studies have shown that this has an opposite effect.  

It has been shown that skipping meals tends to make people overeat later in the day. I have tried this out myself, and it is only now I am realising that I used to do it as well. We are programmed to at least maintain what we eat everyday and so we automatically make up for the lost food intake during other meals.   

Also, your body will literally start to eat itself (using your own muscle as energy), it is always advised to not skip meals. It will lead to a decrease in muscle mass and will cause lethargy, erratic moods and an unhealthy body.  

3. You Can’t Eat Fast Food

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We tend to label all fast food under the same umbrella, named ‘unhealthy’, which is not the case whatsoever. There are all types of fast food, some are even very healthy for the body as they consist of various important nutrients that our bodies need.

  You could avoid fried food for example or food rich in fat and opt for grilled food. If you keep the serving sizes in check, you can even at McDonald’s, Subway, Taco Bell, etc. 

Fast food can be worked into your diet if you monitor your intake and see to it that you don’t let yourself have a lot of cheat days. Stay strong!

  4. All Calories Are Equal

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So, in trying to monitor their caloric intake, people often fail to consider one very important thing. In addition to the calories, we also need to watch out where those calories are coming from.  

Our bodies process different food in different ways. Fats, naturally take more time to digest while carbohydrates are easier to process.   

So, while 100 calories of candy and 100 calories of broccoli will give you the same amount of energy, their processing will be done much differently by the body. So, don’t see your daily calorie intake as ‘allowance’ that you can use in whatever way you like. Allocate more calories towards healthier options.