We’ve all fallen prey to one or more diet myths before. And we may very well still be following some of them, without even realizing that they are truly baseless. Hey, we might even be missing out on some of our most favorite foods!

Your LeBootCamp Coach, Valerie Orsoni is here to clear the air on some of the most famous weight loss myths out there!

– A large dinner is more fattening than a large breakfast:
Myth! It all comes down to how many calories we ingest during the day versus how many we burn. Though a heavy dinner can lead to a bad night, as sleep may not come easy, it won’t be more fattening than a large lunch. Some diets maintain that we should not eat after 4pm. This approach can work as it forces us to stop eating after a certain hour, but it will not make us shed any weight if we eat the same amount of calories during the hours that precede 4pm!

– Fat-free foods are best for losing weight:
Myth! Serious studies have shown that dieters are most likely to stay on a diet if they get their fix in fat. If not, the body feels deprived, and staying on track proves very difficult to the point that dieters end up quitting. Let’s enjoy the natural, real “stuff” in moderation and we will be more likely to stay on the path to successful and permanent weight loss. Granted, if the dieter consumes a lot of high-fat foods, then switching to their fat-free alternatives might be a good heart-health choice.  However, beware: when we eat fat-free foods, we tend to think “it’s okay to have more because it’s fat-free”, and end up eating twice as much as what we would have eaten otherwise! Also, manufacturers of fat-free products tend to compensate for the lack for fat with lots of sugar. So better eat the real stuff in moderation!

– Potatoes will make you fat:
Myth! And you thought that to lose weight you had to banish potatoes from your diet? Not in the least! Potatoes, if eaten in moderation and without heaping tablespoons of melted butter on top, are diet-friendly, despite what you may read in dieting articles.  Like lemons, potatoes are acidic outside the body, but alkaline-forming when ingested (baked potatoes, with the skin, are the most alkaline-forming. However, almost all commercial, fast-food chips are acidifying). They are also rich in potassium and calcium. I am not saying you should tuck into them at every meal but if you love your roots then go for it: purple, blue, and red. Try different types to discover new tastes and get the maximum amount of antioxidants (red or blue have the highest levels). Note: because of their high glycemic index, potatoes should not be eaten boiled/steamed on an empty stomach as this will greatly impact blood sugar levels. Enjoy them in combination with a balanced meal!

– Breakfast is the most important meal of your day:
Myth! The average person is not a lumberjack who heads to the forest with his axe when he wakes up; most of us get into the car and drive to the office.  So, if you are truly hungry when you wake up, then by all means, breakfast may be your most important meal of the day (make sure it is balanced and stay away from foods high in saturated fat). That said, you may have read that eating breakfast will jump start your metabolism, but there is no time function in our body that says we should eat when we wake up, or at a certain time. Hence, if you are not hungry, listen to your body and eat when hunger first truly arrives. However, at the same time, never skip breakfast deliberately in order to lose weight, as this approach has been shown to lead to weight gain on the long term since we think we have “saved” calories in the morning and end up eating twice as much as we should towards the end of the day.

– Shrimp is a no-no for people with high cholesterol:
Myth! Followers of this myth base their belief on the fact that shrimp contains cholesterol. However, what they didn’t tell you is that shrimp also contain sterols, which have the capacity to absorb more cholesterol than shrimp contains!

Have any of the weight loss myths above been stealing the joy from your healthy eating? Now’s the time to get your pleasure back!

For more tips to healthy weight loss, join me on LeBootCamp!

Valerie Orsoni
Your LeBootCamp Coach