Nutrition Myths 101: Part 1

MYTH 1: Should I cut out carbs?!

One of the most common myths about nutrition is that eating carbohydrates will make you gain fat, especially when you eat them at night. Let's get this straight -when it comes to fat loss, it doesn't matter whether you eat carbs at 9am or 9pm as long as you're in a calorie deficit (we'll come back to this later). The evidence tells us that eating too many calories is what causes weight gain, not carbohydrates or when you choose to eat them. So, people who cut out carbs and lose weight only do so because they have restricted an entire food group which means they're eating less calories, resulting in them losing weight. Carbs are not inherently bad for you, they give us energy and help fuel you throughout the day.

Carbohydrates come in many forms and some are more nutrient dense than others. For example, a strawberry contains more nutrients than a Percy pig but it doesn't mean that you should never eat Percy pigs. People tend to view food in an all-or-nothing perspective and create lots of rules around food. Convincing themselves they shouldn't or can't have certain foods because they're 'bad' for them. This type of labelling is not helpful and often makes us feel restricted. I'm not here to advocate eating a diet comprised entirely of chocolate, sweets and crisps but I'm never going to tell you to exclude them either. Finding a balance of eating 80% whole, minimally processed foods like sweet potatoes and whole grains whilst including some of the foods you love is a much more sustainable approach. You're left feeling satisfied not restricted which leads to greater long term success. You can lose weight AND keep it off. Now let's look at the science and explore some of the reasons this myth came around in the first place.

When you eat carbohydrates, you also store water (roughly in a 1:3 ratio). So, for every gram of carbohydrate you eat, you store three grams of water. Now when you step on the scales the morning after eating carbs at night to find out you've gained a couple of pounds you need to understand that you've not gained fat, it's water. Look at it this way...

1 pound of fat = 3500 calories so in order to gain 1 pound of fat, you'd have to consume 3500 calories on top of your maintenance calories. To put that in perspective that's roughly 3 tubs of Ben and Jerry's Cookie dough ice cream, 62 oreos or 3.5kg's of Thai Sweet Chilli Sensations...3.5kgs!!!

So unless you went overboard on the snacks, it's very unlikely you gained fat while you slept. And even if you did, it's not the end of the world just get back to normal the next day.

Remember: no one got fat from eating one McDonald's meal, just like no one ever got the body of their dreams by eating one salad. It's what happens over a sustained period of time that counts.

Cutting out carbs is a potential strategy for fat loss but it's definitely not the only strategy. If you're an elite endurance runner and your body responds to a ketogenic diet (this is an extremely low-carb diet) then great. That's completely ok, as long as it works for you. I for one, certainly don't fancy a life without cake, pasta or crisps. So I include them in my diet but in moderation. The point here is that if you want to lose fat it's calories that matter, not carbs. My clients learn to fit in the foods they love without feeling restricted and understand that their progress isn't defined by a number on the scales. So next time someone in the office tells you they've cut out carbs and it's doing wonders for their waistline, just smile and send them the link to this article. You know it's the right thing to do.

MYTH 2: Sit up's melt stomach fat

This is one of my favourites. I'm often asked how to lose fat from a specific area like stomach, arms or thighs. People will come and tell me that their new abs blast programme is going to melt their stomach fat and see them shredded by the end of the month. It never happens, and here's why.

Sadly, you can't pick and choose where you lose fat from. I know how much this sucks but life isn't fair. To make matters worse you also can't pick what order you lose fat. This is determined by your genetics and how much fat you have stored across the rest of your body.

Doing 100 sit-ups a day might help you get stronger abdominal muscles but until you lose the fat from in front of them, no one is ever going to see that six-pack.

Now I do have a solution. The only way to lose fat is to be in a calorie (energy) deficit. This is where you consume less energy than you expend. For example, you eat 2000 calories but you burn 2500 through walking, breathing and digesting food. You're in a deficit. It's simple. The problem is that to do this effectively you need to be accurate AND consistent and unfortunately these aren't very appealing. Compared to the 14-day detox tea that is going get you the body of your dreams in two weeks, accuracy and consistency aren't very attractive. In other words, they don't sell. These basics are the foundation of a sustainable diet, yet we choose quick-fix options every time even though we know they're probably too good to be true.

We're so focused on the outcome that we forget about the process.

There are multiple factors that can influence fat loss but being able to shift your focus from the outcome to the process can be a game changer. Take your focus from getting a toned stomach and getting bigger biceps to having a high protein diet, getting a good night's sleep and doing regular resistance training. This way you build habits that last, get the outcome you want and you enjoy the whole process at lot more. My clients don't go from 0 sit-ups a day to 100 a day, we focus on getting 1% better every day.

MYTH 3: You need to eat 6 meals a day to speed up your metabolism

This is a super common myth but it also isn't true. This one contains a lot more science, so listen up.

The idea behind this one is that by eating smaller meals more frequently the number of calories you burn through the thermic effect of food (TEF) increases. TEF is one of four things that contribute to your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). This is how much energy you use each day and it's made up of these 4 things:

1. Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

2. Thermic Effect of Food (TEF)

3. Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)

4. Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT)

BMR: This is the minimum amount of calories it takes for your body to accomplish its most basic functions at rest. This includes things like cell production, breathing and circulation. Not to be confused with resting metabolic rate (RMR) which is the number of calories your body burns while at rest.

TEF: This is the calories it takes for your body to digest the food you eat. This can make up 10% of your total daily energy expenditure each day. Protein requires more energy to be broken down than any other macronutrient (carbs, fat, alcohol) which is just one of the reasons it's so useful when you're trying to lose fat.

NEAT: This is the number of calories you expend through non-exercise activities. It includes activities like walking, sitting at a desk etc. This is another great way to increase your daily energy expenditure total and can contribute up to 20%. Walking is the accessible, cheap and I encourage all of my clients to make full use of this.

EAT: This is the number of calories you burn through purposeful exercise. This might be a game of football with the lads, a gym session or a zumba class. Exercise is a great mood booster and including something you enjoy is super important.

It has been suggested that by eating more meals you increase the amount of calories you burn through TEF. However, it is actually your total daily calorie intake that influences how many calories you burn through TEF so it doesn't matter if you eat 2 meals or 6, if you consume the same amount of calories, TEF will be the same. Here's an example...

Let's say we have Tom and Jane who both eat 3000 calories a day. Now Tom thinks eating four meals is going to burn more calories so he splits his meals up. TEF is still 10%. Total daily calories is still 3000.

Jane doesn't have the time for that. She has a busy life, skips breakfast and eats a big lunch and dinner to make up for it. She still has 3000 calories but in two meals of 1500. TEF is still 10%. Total calories is still 3000.

The number of meals you have doesn't influence the calories you burn through TEF if your calories are the same. You can relax now, the science lesson is over.

Remember, optimal nutrition is individual nutrition. What works for you won't necessarily work for someone else. Maybe you're like Tom, you might be retired, have loads of time to prep and cook 4 meals a day. Maybe you're like Jane, you might have a busy job, kids to look after and only have time to grab a snack in between meetings. The point is, it doesn't matter what your diet looks like, as long as it works for you.

MYTH 4: Eating egg yolks will give you high cholesterol

This is false. Eggs are a great source of protein, fats and other nutrients when consumed as part of a balanced diet. The media likes to scare us away from perfectly healthy foods and using trigger words like 'cholesterol' has that exact effect. So before we judge it let's take a closer look at exactly what cholesterol does in our body.

Cholesterol is a fatty substance that gets transported in our blood stream. It's often given a bad rep because some studies have linked high levels to heart disease and early death. Although, this is still debated.

The reality is that cholesterol is important. It is used in the production of hormones like testosterone, oestrogen and cortisol. It is needed by every cell membrane in the body for its structural components. Without it, we'd be pretty lost and our bodies have complex systems in place to ensure we never run too low.

Your liver is responsible for producing cholesterol, just in case we don't get enough through the food we eat. However, if we eat lots of high cholesterol foods then the liver adapts and reduces the amount it produces. So our cholesterol levels rarely change that drastically, what changes is the source. Diet or liver.

Researchers have failed to find an increase in cholesterol in people who regularly eat eggs (thats the whole egg INCLUDING the yolk) or at least the type of cholesterol you need to be worried about. See it comes in two forms...

• High-density lipids (HDL) - commonly referred to as "good" cholesterol

• Low-density lipids (LDL) - commonly referred to as "bad" cholesterol

Studies divided people into two groups -one ate 1-3 eggs a day, the others ate an egg substitute. They found that:

• LDL levels in 70% of participants didn't really change, and in the remaining 30% there was a slight increase.

• HDL increased in nearly all participants

These results suggested that your response to eating eggs is individual, much like everything else when it comes to nutrition. But unless you were a "hyper -responder" - one of the 30% - there is clear evidence to suggest you are perfectly safe to eat up to 3 whole eggs a day as part of a healthy, balanced diet. However, I'm not a doctor so if you're worried about your cholesterol then make sure to get checked out by a professional.

Andersen, C. J., Lee, J. Y., Blesso, C. N., Carr, T. P., & Fernandez, M. L. (2014). Egg intake during carbohydrate restriction alters peripheral blood mononuclear cell inflammation and cholesterol homeostasis in metabolic syndrome.Nutrients,6(7), 2650–2667. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu6072650

MYTH 5: Eating fat makes you gain fat

This makes sense right? Eat fat, get fat?

Before low-carb was a thing, low-fat was the go-to diet to lose weight. However, as we've discovered above, total caloric intake is what dictates whether you gain weight or lose weight, not your ratio of dietary carbs, protein or fats. Now with that being said, it is clear to see why in theory people may be lead to believe that eating fat makes them fat. So let's take a closer look...

First of all, per gram, fat is more calorie dense than any other macronutrient. It contains 9kcals per gram versus 4kcals for protein and carbs. This high-caloric density makes it less satiating, so we end up eating more of it and feeling less full compared to eating something high in fibre or with a high water content.

Secondly, your body converts fat from your diet into body fat much more easily than any other macronutrient. If we think of this in terms of efficiency, fat is around 90-95% efficient compared to carbs which are much lower at 75-85% efficient. So it is a lot easier for our body to store fat. If that wasn't enough, out of all three macronutrients fat takes the least amount of energy to digest. It has a thermic effect of between 0-3%, which relative to the amount of energy it provides is pretty low (protein can be as high as 30%).

When you eat carbs your body has lots of options, it can:

• burn them for energy

• store them as glycogen

• use them to produce heat

• or as a last resort, store them as fat

When you eat protein your body has loads of option here too, it can:

• use it for protein synthesis (important for muscle repair)

• use it for metabolic processes

• or as a last resort, convert it to carbs or fat

However, when you eat fat your body has limited options. It can either:

• use it for energy

• store it as fat

Now this is an issue because the body prefers to use carbs as its main source of energy. So it will only use fat for energy if neither carbs or excess protein is available which for most of us, is not very often. So if you over eat and exceed your caloric intake through carbs or protein, it may not translate as fat gain. However, if you do exceed your total caloric intake through fats then the likelihood is it will be stored as body fat.

Low fat diets aren't all they're cracked up to be

Now given all that I've just said about fats, you could be forgiven for thinking low-fat diets are the way to go but hear me out, it's worth it!

Research has shown us that when we control our overall calories and protein intake, low-fat and low-carb diets both produce similar results in weight loss. These diets work because participants are restricting their overall caloric intake, not because they cut out carbs or fat. This reduction in calories from fat/carbs also normally means people eat more protein as a result which is known to be more satiating so people naturally eat less on a higher protein diet.

While reducing the amount of fat in your diet may be useful for reducing caloric intake, removing it completely may have negative effects on your health. The body needs dietary fat to allow it to produce essential fatty acids and aid in the absorption of certain vitamins. These processes would not be possible without fat.

Now that's not an excuse to start eating butter right out the tub, because not all fats are created equal. Healthier sources of fats come in the form of unsaturated fats. Your body needs some of these. You'd find them in food like:

• avocado

• salmon

• nuts

• flaxseeds

On the other hand, trans fats are to be avoided as much as you can. These are normally packed into heavily processed foods like margarines, oils, fast foods etc. Multiple studies have linked the consumption of trans fats to coronary heart disease and have shown that it can be detrimental to your health.

The bottom line is if you eat too many calories, a low-fat or low-carb diet isn't going to help you. You don't need to restrict or cut out anything to achieve your goals and any coach who tells you to, is probably just looking to take your money.

If you want to know more about how I can help you then send me a message at nourishnutritionuk@gmail.com and we can get started today.

Gardner, C. D., Trepanowski, J. F., Del Gobbo, L. C., Hauser, M. E., Rigdon, J., Ioannidis, J., Desai, M., & King, A. C. (2018). Effect of Low-Fat vs Low-Carbohydrate Diet on 12-Month Weight Loss in Overweight Adults and the Association With Genotype Pattern or Insulin Secretion: The DIETFITS Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA,319(7), 667–679. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.0245

Tappy L. (1996). Thermic effect of food and sympathetic nervous system activity in humans.Reproduction, nutrition, development,36(4), 391–397. https://doi.org/10.1051/rnd:19960405