No matter you are a life-quality pursuer or not, we bet you are no stranger to numerous "experts' advice" on how to lead a healthy life, like "Don't skip breakfast" and "Sugar is bad". Pervalent as they are, many of them are de facto rumors, which will do more harm than good. Fortunately, we have three experts here, who will look into some of them and bust the myths for us.
MYTH #1: Skipping meals is bad for you.
Crystyl: In fact, the healthier your insulin response and overall metabolism, the longer you can go between meals without feeling a drop in your energy. You can improve your resilience by optimizing your diet, healing your gut and sleeping well. Intermittent fasting (eating all your meals in a six to eight hour period of a day), has myriad benefits including resetting your hormones, neurogenesis, muscle growth, fat loss and lowering triglycerides.
MYTH #2: Take multivitamins to maintain your health.
Crystyl: Multivitamins are generally made from low-quality ingredients and certainly the ratios are not tailored to your specific bio-individual needs. There's a great Bulletproof Top 10 list of recommended vitamins based on what most people lack, but even better is to get a functional medicine test to find out what you actually lack and take just those. It's an investment up front (although some insurance companies cover these tests), but you won't be wasting money on random supplements that don’t really improve your health in the long-run.
MYTH #3: Eating (several servings of) fruit is necessary every day.
Bianca: We gain more nutrition by eating vegetables and quality cuts of fatty meat. In fact, some fruits like bananas and mangos can be very high in sugar and can cause blood sugar dysregulation, particularly in people who are struggling with health issues. Then again, fruit is still a better option than added-sugar snacks.
MYTH #4: Milk (and dairy food) is good for you.
Bianca: Milk used to be a great source of nutrition and was readily consumed. However, today’s dairy on the market is full of chemicals and hormones. The commonly used pasteurizing and homogenizing processes also reduce the nutrition in milk. If you struggle to find a raw and unprocessed source, sugar-free nut or coconut milk can be a good replacement.
MYTH #5: Fat makes you fat.
Bianca: Sugar and carbohydrates make you fat. Our bodies are designed to use fat for energy, storage of fat commonly occurs when a person overconsumes foods high in sugar and refined carbohydrates.
MYTH #6: Consume less salt.
Iza: Adequate salt not only balances your hormones but also makes food taste so much better. Let your salt craving and desire for seasoning dictate how much salt to consume.
MYTH #7: Soy milk makes a healthy alternative to milk.
Iza: Soy is extremely high in phytoestrogens, which means it can disrupt your hormones. Switch to raw full-fat organic milk, or non-dairy options such as coconut, almond and cashew milk.
MYTH #8: Whole grains are healthy.
Iza: Whole grains are not particularly nutrient-dense and consuming them may harm your metabolism. They contain toxic and inflammatory lectins which can lead to leaky gut and food allergies. The anti-nutrients in whole grains can also prevent human bodies from absorbing nutrients.
