7 Food Myths Busted
Heard the one about the negative calories in celery? Or what about the three second rule? Thought as much, so I’ve decided to have a look at some of these food myths and see what’s true and what’s a load of fake news!
1. CELERY IS A NEGATIVE CALORIE FOOD
Absolute rubbish! If it were true, losing weight would be as simple as eating nothing but celery a couple times a week and no one would struggle with excess kilos – except maybe for the celery haters! A regular size stalk of celery is about 10 calories (42 kilojoules) so is low cost if you are counting calories. You do use energy to digest your food but that only comes in at about 10% of the calories consumed which means it still adds a positive number to calorie consumption. Celery provides dietary fibre which boosts digestion so add it to your salad, soup, stew and you are doing good stuff for your body.
2. THE THREE SECOND RULE
The myth is that if you drop food on the ground, you have about three seconds to retrieve it making it safe to eat. Complete nonsense! The reality is that the minute you drop ANYTHING on the floor, bacteria will be doing its contamination job in milliseconds. That’s a no thank you from me.
3. EGGS INCREASE YOUR CHOLESTEROL
Not true. It was a strong belief in the past that eggs were a huge culprit when it came to increasing a person’s bad cholesterol levels, but this amazing thing called science has determined it to be a fallacy. Which is great because eggs are little powerhouses of goodness and make great snacks or can be a meal on their own. Feel the 3pm hunger pains coming on – reach for a boiled egg instead of a packet of chips. You’ll thank yourself.
4. NO SWIMMING WITHIN AN HOUR OF EATING
Who remembers the trauma of having to wait an hour after eating a sandwich to get back in the pool? It was better to say you weren’t hungry than to miss all that good swimming time! The thought was that digestion drew blood to your stomach meaning your other muscles were more likely to cramp and you were at increased risk of drowning as a result. NOPE. No evidence to support this misconception so feel free to have a snack and then jump straight in the pool and get some laps in or float about relaxing. You’ll be fine.
5. CLEAN YOUR SYSTEM WITH A JUICE FAST
Juice is tasty but your body will do a better job of self cleansing if you eat whole foods. The reason being that juicing removes all the digestion aiding fibre from the fruits and vegies. Eat the whole apple, banana or add baby spinach to your salad and get ALL of the goodness that these amazing foods provide to our bodies.
6. NATURAL SUGAR SUCH AS HONEY IS BETTER FOR YOU THAN PROCESS SUGAR
Sugar is sugar and it doesn’t matter if a bee made, it comes from coconuts, is sourced from a maple tree in Canada or if it was processed from sugar cane. The effect on your body is essentially the same in terms of blood sugar spikes. You are better off making yourself aware as to the amount of sugar in your foods and choosing the option with less or no sugar added whenever possible!
7. EATING CARROTS GIVES YOU BETTER EYESIGHT
This myth is thought to have been started as propaganda by the British during World War 2. The suggestion is that they wanted everyone to believe their bomber pilots had superior night vision that they used for tracking and shooting down German pilots. But in reality, they were keeping a secret about the existence and use of radar technology. Carrots do contain vitamin A which is good for the health of your eyes, but you won’t be able to throw away your glasses just because you eat a stack of them every day!
In the cold hard spotlight of good research and scientific evidence, we know that many of these food myths are baloney but it’s fun to look at them and think about what has become part of our mainstream thinking.
When it comes to food, the key thing to remember is to choose whole, unprocessed options whenever possible. Go the chicken breast instead of the crumbed chicken schnitzel. Select the whole baked potato instead of the mash. Eat the banana instead of drinking the smoothie. Whole foods are best and that is no myth!