1. Myth: Make sure your cholesterol levels stay low so you are healthy.
We are told that cholesterol is bad for our health and body. However, that is not true. Not ALL cholesterol is bad for you. Doctors keep saying that there are two types of it and that it is important to note how much of each type ( LDL – the bad type and HDL – the good type) you consume. The total number is not as important as the amount of each of them.
There needs to be a balance and the HDL cholesterol helps regulate and keep in check the LDL one, so even if your total cholesterol number is high, if you have more HDL you are fine and there’s nothing to worry about. Furthermore, over the years the total number that is considered safe keeps changing, so what was healthy 5 years ago can suddenly end up being deemed unhealthy.
Do not stress over the total number, keep an eye on the little ones, and do not listen to people who tell you this old myth.
2. Myth: If you are overweight, you are unhealthy.
There has always been a trend to equate how big someone is with their health. However, studies have shown that this is more related to stigma than it is to medical studies. While it is true that weighing too much can be dangerous to your health, especially if it is gained in rapid succession, that is not true for all cases.
When you see someone that weighs more, you should not jump to the conclusion that they are unhealthy and sick. Everyone is built differently, genetic predisposition and other potential diseases can impact someone’s weight and make them bigger. Yet, that does not mean that they are unhealthy. If they eat well and are active, yet still not looking like what the media portrays as healthy, then chances are they are just predisposed to being bigger and they are still healthy.
We should stop the stigma against overweight people as this is affecting their mental health and puts them at a bigger risk for other illnesses that have nothing to do with their weight.
3. Myth: Before starting a new diet you should do a “detox” to help you lose more weight.
The idea that you need to do a detox before you start on a new diet so it leads to more weight loss has been proven a hoax by multiple nutritionists. Unless you have problems with your kidneys or your liver, this detox will likely not do much for you. In fact, the so-called health benefits of these types of cleanses are very little and in reality, they do not do much.
You can observe weight loss after doing a detox diet, but it is not so much due to flushing out the toxins in your body, but rather because a lot of these diets will cause you to lose water. It is possible to get dehydrated and some of them cause some form of diarrhea, which will make you lose water and thus seem like you lost weight.
Nutritionists recommend you make sure you stay hydrated by drinking water and introducing more veggies in your regular diet instead of going on a detox.
