Last month we looked at popular dieting myths. This month we’ll look at food and exercise myths that can also make weight management and healthy eating harder than they need to be.

Myth: Nuts are fattening and you should not eat them if you want to lose weight.

Fact: Nuts should be part of a healthy weight-loss programme. Nuts are high in calories and fat. However, nuts contain healthy fats that do not clog arteries. Nuts are also good sources of protein, dietary fibre, and minerals including magnesium and copper.

Tip: Enjoy up to 30g of nuts and seeds a day; that’s about a small handful. They are good for you.

 

Myth: “Going vegetarian” means you are sure to lose weight and be healthier.

Fact: Choosing a vegetarian eating plan may be helpful for weight loss. Research shows that people who follow a vegetarian eating plan, on average, eat fewer calories and less fat than non vegetarians. They also tend to have lower body weights relative to their heights than non vegetarians. But vegetarians—like non vegetarians—can make food choices that contribute to weight gain, like eating large amounts of high-sugar, high-calorie foods or foods with little or no nutritional value. Vegetarian diets should be as carefully planned as non vegetarian diets to make sure they are balanced. Nutrients that non vegetarians normally get from animal products, but that are not always found in a vegetarian eating plan, are iron, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B12 and zinc.  (See Ask Marilyn for more specific advice on going vegetarian.)

 

Myth: Low fat diet foods help you lose weight.

Fact: They do the opposite and may be doing you more harm than good. Pre-packaged diet foods can have a lot of sugar and trans fat. It is the quality of the fat, not the amount that makes the difference. Monounsaturated fats (found in olive oil) and the polyunsaturated variety (in nuts, soya and sunflower oils) help your cardiovascular system, improve weight loss, and are crucial for absorbing beta carotene from vegetables like carrots. Trans fats and saturated fats, on the other hand, have been linked with heart disease and even cancer.

 

In addition, many processed low-fat or fat-free foods have just as many calories as the full-fat version of the same food—or even more calories. They may contain added sugar, flour, or starch thickeners to improve flavour and texture after fat is removed. These ingredients add calories and inches to your waist line.

 

Myth: Cutting calories is the best and only way to lose weight.

Fact: Cut your calories too far—below 1,200 a day—and you’ll end up with a double whammy that quickly decreases your metabolism and muscle mass. To get the most out of the calories you do eat, choose whole foods such as produce, fresh fish and eggs, and whole grains that are as close to their natural state as possible. They have a higher nutrient density than refined foods, because they pack more vitamins and minerals into fewer calories.

 

Myth: Brown equals healthy.

Fact: There are a lot of unhealthy ‘brown’ foods out there. Just because a product is brown in colour does not mean it is whole grain. Look for labels where whole-wheat or whole-grain top the list. It’s worth the extra effort. More and more research is finding that whole grains reduce your risk of many chronic diseases, from obesity and diabetes to cardiovascular disease. The extra fibre in whole grains is the key: It makes you feel full, which means you eat less. It also helps level out the roller coaster of insulin that a meal produces.

 

Myth: The more you sweat during exercise, the more weight you lose.

False: While its true exercise helps you lose weight by burning more calories, in order to lose one pound of real fat weight during your workout, you’d need to burn 3,500 calories. Thus, heavy sweating only indicates how much temporary water weight you have lost. The fluid will quickly be replaced as you drink water to rehydrate your muscles and body.

 

Myth: Lifting weights is not good to do if you want to lose weight, because it will make you bulk up.

Fact: Lifting weights or doing strengthening activities like push-ups and crunches on a regular basis can actually help you maintain or lose weight. These activities can help you build muscle, and muscle burns more calories than body fat. So if you have more muscle, you burn more calories—even sitting still. Doing strengthening activities 2 or 3 days a week will not bulk you up. Only intense strength training can build very large muscles.

Tip: In addition to doing at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, like brisk walking for 30 minutes, on most days of the week, try to do strengthening activities 2 to 3 days a week. You can lift weights, use large rubber bands (resistance bands), do push-ups or sit-ups, or do household or garden tasks that make you lift or dig.

Exercising every day can make you seem biologically younger than those who do no exercise, say scientists. Inactivity not only leads to a greater risk of age–related diseases but also may influence the ageing process. Academics from Kings College London and in the US studied over 2,000 twins analysing telomeres which protect cells from damage. Telomeres shorten with age increasing susceptibility to cell damage which causes disease. Comparing twins who did different amounts of exercise they found that on average the telomeres were longer in more active ones.

Q: I’ve got quite a bit of weight to lose and want to know if yoga can help me?

A: Exercising frequently is the key to losing weight and maintaining your weight once the extra pounds are gone. This goes hand-in-hand with eating a healthy diet filled with fruits, veggies, proteins, and whole grains. This kind of diet not only will help contribute to losing weight, but it will give you enough energy to workout. It’s like a cycle.

 

In order to lose weight, you need to burn calories and like anything physical, doing yoga can help you achieve that goal, but it depends on what style of yoga you choose. You may want to choose vigorous Power, Vinyasa, or Ashtanga classes. These classes move quickly, and can really get your heart pumping, which can result in greater calorie burn than slower-moving gentle yoga classes. Hour and a half classes like these should be done at least 3-5 times a week to see weight loss results. This consistency will help you strengthen, lengthen, and tone your muscles.

 

It has also been suggested that hot yoga, performed in a room set to 105 degrees F (40.55 C) is excellent for weight loss. Studies do show that this type of yoga does cause temporary weight loss. As one sweats, one loses water weight. Yet this type of weight loss is not permanent, and it doesn’t necessarily burn a lot of fat.

 

Regular mat yoga, often called Hatha yoga, does cause some weight loss, over consistent practice of at least one class a day. It can also cause muscles to become more toned and flexible, a desirable benefit. A one-hour Hatha yoga class does not burn the same amount of calories as one hour of fast walking. On average, the one-hour yoga class burns about 100 calories. However, a study conducted by Alan Kristal in connection with the National Cancer Institute showed that those who practiced yoga one hour a week lost an average of 5 pounds over a four-year period. This data was compared to those who did not practice yoga and gained 14 pounds during the same time period. Thus practicing yoga, even once a week theoretically helps you shed a small amount of weight, while keeping weight gain at bay.

 

Whether or not yoga does offer huge weight loss benefits it certainly offers fitness benefits, specifically for the muscles. I highly recommend yoga if you’ve got weight to lose because not only will it help you look and feel fitter but because it also focuses on mind/body awareness. People who have greater body awareness tend to notice when they feel full and stop eating and to take greater care of their bodies and what they put into them. This suggests that it is not the exercise but the philosophy of regular yoga practice that may result in weight loss. Further, it may also encourage you to seek out cardiovascular exercise such as brisk walking, running, cycling and swimming with more proven weight loss records.