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Implementing any sorts of rules or restrictions into your life is of course harder than just allowing chaos. Same goes for trying to lose weight—there will always be a certain amount of struggle. However, there are some misconceptions about dieting that unfortunately can make the experience much less pleasant than it has to be for those trying to lose weight. Here are some common misunderstandings when it comes to eating healthy and losing weight:
Eating Healthy is the Same as Dieting:
The word diet has come to be understood by most people as…torture! Well, at least deprivation of tasteful foods. It has also come to be understood as leaving yourself a little bit hungry. But before dieting became such a lucrative and trendy field, the word diet simply meant a certain regiment or routine in your eating patterns. Realistically, you could be on a diet of cheeseburgers and nachos. That’s right—it’s just your routine. This misunderstanding has lead many people to believe that eating healthy means being on a diet, simply because eating healthy does generally mean cutting out certain foods. However, eating healthy does not necessarily mean attempting to lose weight. You can eat perfectly healthy, wholesome foods while feeling satisfied and maintaining your weight. So next time a friend says she is “eating healthy” that doesn’t mean she is trying to drop pounds, so you can skip on the mandatory “but you look great as you are!” comment.
Healthy Food Is Bland And Unsatisfying
Unfortunately, living in a fast-food culture, we’ve come to equate flavor with sodium and have forgotten all the incredible and dynamic flavors offered by sodium-free herbs, spices and other foods. As far as satisfaction, while a Big Mac may trigger major pleasure centers in the brain during those blissful bites, the blood sugar crash that comes after most unhealthy food is a very UNsatisfying feeling. Meanwhile, the healthiest foods tend to stabilize bloodsugar, making you feel full (aka satisfied) longer. So which would you rather have? Five minutes of satisfaction? Or 5 hours?
There is a Secret to Weight-Loss
It can’t really be a secret if it’s published in every medical and health journal out there, can it? But the word secret is very alluring, and diet pill companies know this and capitalize on this. Any diet product that works is simply making use of natural components and capabilities of foods you could buy in a grocery store. Almost every non-processed food item contains some health benefit, such as blood sugar control, appetite suppression, metabolism boosting, and fat-burning. Not to mention, many weight loss products simply don’t work at all.
You Need to Count Calories to Drop Pounds
Counting calories is great for people who aren’t yet familiar with the approximate caloric value of certain foods. It’s a good way to start to familiarize yourself with what is considered to be “healthy” and “bad,” because oftentimes it’s the healthy foods that happen to also be the lower calorie foods- like vegetables with an average of 40 calories per cup. Like using the scale to measure your weight instead of gauging your size by your clothes, some people like this way mode of measurement. It keeps them on track. But it isn’t necessary. Once you put in the energy to learn about wholesome food, you won’t need to count anymore. But if you learn which foods have major weight-loss benefits—spicy food burns fat, vinegar slows digestion—you can usually put the calculator away.
Eating Healthy is a Science
It’s really not, although many professionals in the health field would like you to think so. Eating healthy can be as easy as microwaving those frozen meals you are so fond of. Just some basic information on how to balance your meals and some simple recipes can have you on your way to being one of those “healthy eaters”.