In honor of the spookiest time of the year, let's talk about what scares us! Zombies? Vampires? Werewolves? How about carbs? Or maybe eggs? While it’s always fun to get a little spooky for Halloween, most of us know that zombies, vampires, and werewolves aren’t real and don’t wander the streets like they do in The Walking Dead and Twilight. But did you know that carbs and eggs should not be feared either? In this article we want to tackle some common health myths and help put your mind at ease when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle.
1. Carbs Should Be Avoided
When trying to lose or maintain weight you’ve probably heard at one point or another that carbs are bad and should be avoided. Carbs are the vampires and werewolves roaming around the world of healthy eating. They’re scary right? Wrong! Carbs are responsible for fueling your body. Similar to how your car needs gas to drive, your body and brain need carbs to function properly. Have you ever tried to cut carbs out of your diet and experienced brain fog or even headaches? That right there shows you the importance of carbs for brain function.
It is also important to include carbs in your diet because they prevent the breakdown of proteins for energy. Your body uses protein to build and repair tissues. Protein is also important for the growth and maintenance of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood. If your body is running low on carbs it will begin to break down protein and use it for energy instead. It’s nice that your body has a backup when the carbs are lacking, but when protein is being used up for energy it is not able to do its original job for your muscles and tissues.
Carbs are unavoidable. They’re found in fruits, vegetables, desserts, nuts, seeds, dairy, sauces, legumes...the list goes on! We suggest consuming complex carbs, they are nutrient dense and will keep you fuller for longer.
2. Snacking Is a Bad Habit
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “snacking?” A bag of chips? Boredom? Or maybe snacking is what’s getting in the way of you staying on track with your healthy eating. If your snacking consists of a bag of chips everyday or you’re snacking purely out of boredom...sure, it can potentially get scary. But when snacking is done right and in a healthy way, it can actually be beneficial to weight loss and living a healthy lifestyle.
Choosing healthy snacks can help manage your blood sugar levels, increase energy levels, curb cravings, manage your meal portions, and even promote better sleep. When snacking healthfully, focus on balance, quality, and convenience to make snacking less scary and more helpful. Check out these 4 Tips to Snack Healthfully.
3. Eating Less Is an Effective Way To Lose Weight
If you eat less you lose weight, true. But what makes this myth so scary is that not eating enough can actually cause more harm than good to your body, which does not make under eating a long term effective weight loss strategy.
Fatigue, trouble concentrating, getting sick more often, hair loss, intense cravings and moodiness are some symptoms that you may experience if you are not eating enough. Everyday your body needs a certain amount of vitamins, minerals, carbs, protein, and fat to properly function and stay healthy. If you're not providing your body with adequate amounts of these nutrients you can’t expect to look or feel your best.
So how do you know how much food you should be consuming for your weight loss, weight gain or weight maintenance goals? Take a couple minutes to calculate your needs with our Daily Calorie Calculator.
4. Eggs Are Bad For Your Cholesterol
Eggs get a bad reputation and are left out of many people’s diets because they are higher in cholesterol. Which is unfortunate because eggs are extremely nutritious! They’re an inexpensive high quality protein that contain important vitamins and nutrients such as: selenium, vitamin D, vitamins B6 and B12, zinc, iron, vitamins A, D, E, K and lecithin.
Depending on the size, one egg can contain about 180-215 mg of cholesterol, which is a lot compared to other foods. But did you know that your liver produces cholesterol every day? The amount produced depends on how much cholesterol you eat. If you eat cholesterol-rich foods a healthy liver will produce less cholesterol.
Obviously if you’re at risk for or have high cholesterol and/or heart disease, you’ll want to consult your doctor and monitor your cholesterol intake. But the reality is, an egg a day will have a very minimal effect on your cholesterol levels. So the next time you’re craving some eggs, try our Egg and Cheese Enchiladas or our Turkey, Eggs and Potatoes.
5. If It’s Not Organic It's Not Healthy
It’s already hard enough to walk through the grocery store and pick the very best fresh produce, meats, and dairy products that you can. But grocery shopping gets a little scarier when you have to choose between buying organic or not.
Organic foods are produced through farming practices that use only natural resources. Organic foods have become extremely popular over the last decade and it is no secret that they are not the cheapest. So how do you eat healthy quality food without breaking the bank? Easy, just eat real food. Opt for foods that are limited in preservatives, artificial flavors and colors, refined sugars, hormones and antibiotics. Check nutrition labels, read the ingredient list, and research grocery stores to find a place you can trust.
Picking out healthy quality food can be a challenge for some. Thankfully here at fit-flavors this is exactly what we believe in! All of our food is hormone and antibiotic free, we incorporate slow digesting carbohydrates and healthy fats into our meals, and we locally source our ingredients whenever possible. Good quality food does not have to be organic.
Hopefully I left you with just enough scare to still enjoy the spookiness of Halloween while debunking these scary health myths.