Common myths relating to dieting/food.

Okay, so, a bit off the beaten path here, but I'm really big into fitness and dietary science, and have been since college (the little piece of paper collecting dust in my closet attests to the fact that at one time I had an avid interest in biochemistry.) Either way, I've run across a lot of myths recently about food, dieting, weight loss products, etc, and thought I would take some time to discuss them.

1) Drinking water helps, fact or fiction?

Drinking water does help, and the 8 glasses a day you're supposed to drink (otherwise known as a gallon), have numerous benefits. Many people seem to think you can burn a lot of calories through drinking water. In reality, you only burn what are measurable calories by drinking *cold* water, at and about 40f.

Anyone who has taken a high school class in physics or chemistry can probably tell you that calories are a unit of heat energy. It takes roughly 1 calorie of energy to bring 1gram of water from 40f to room temperature.

That being said, you might burn a grand total of 70 calories (kcal) a day drinking cold water. The real benefit is in staving off the effects of dehydration, which most people suffer from without even knowing it. Also bear in mind that to avoid dehydration, you need to make allowances for any diuretics or hydrophyllic substances that may be in your diet. Superhydration is a very very good thing, and is essential for athletes, figure atheletes, and people losing to lose weight, as well as anyone else concerned about their health.

2) Weight loss drugs

People swear by them, swear at them, or ignore them all together. I can, however, say that most all 'weight loss drugs' are complete and utter bullshit.

Stacker Complexes: These are random mixtures of herbs and a primary stimulant, usually ephedra, but if not, something more common is generally used. They give you energy, but more than anything they act as a mild diuretic, and any weight loss you see is purely water weight.

Slimming Teas: Yes, the miracle from china. Caffeine = diuretic, so once again, water weight. However, teas are a good source of nutrients, and 3 glasses of *hot* tea a day can burn upwards of 200 calories. That being said, it doesn't have to be green tea, chai tea, ulong, or any other scrabble addict word of the day, hell, it doesn't even have to be tea. It's the inverse concept of drinking cold liquids, your body has to work to cool it, and it just so happens it takes more energy to cool your body than it does to heat it. There's some other substances in herbal teas like... flourine, but you'll find that in greater quantities straight out of the tap than you will in tea.

Hydroxy-inserthere: Caffeine and... caffeine. That's the only active ingredient, by now you should be seeing a trend.

Special note*: Ephedra is a term used for something most all of us are very familiar with, and have been using since we were children, pseudoephedrine, aka, sudafed. That's right, this miraculous stimulant + decongestant has been curing your cold for decades, and now helps you lose weight too! Well, not really, 'ephedra' (which is really a plant species), is present in such small quantities in the above mentioned products that you get little out of it aside from extra trips to the bathroom.

3) Acai Berry

Ok, this gets its own special place. I'm sure you've all received spam by now about the miraculous Acai berry, once known only to the perpetually skinny people of the amazonian rainforest. Brilliant logical conclusion that it helps them stay skinny, couldn't possibly be that they're all starving and malnourished*coughmovingon/endsoapbox*.

.. Anyways, it's a scam, don't bother.

4) Multivitamins

Multivitamins are fantastic. Especially if you have the diet of a person who lives off fast food, prepackaged meals and carbs, or are a vegetarian or vegan who can't seem to actually get a balanced diet out of meals. For most of us, you'll find that if you really look at what you're eating, you have your daily allowances. 2000 calories is a lot of food, so the quantities they give you are well over what you need.

Many people who take multivitamins experience bloating, fatigue, weight *gain*, and overall poorer health. Taking a multivitamin when you're low on 2 or 3 specific things, is like trading in your car because it needs to be cleaned. Keep track of your diet, know what you're low on, and take those specific things, for most people, this falls into the range of vitamin d, zinc, iron and omega-3, all of which can be had in a 6 month supply for less than 20 dollars.

If you're over the age of 60, bodybuild at a professional or near professional level, or are a professional athlete, multivitamins are for you. Otherwise, caveat emptor.

5) Colon Cleansers

I'll preface this by saying that they are fantastic, but moreso for your kidneys and liver. What they accomplish in a week for your colon, a colonic irrigation can take care of in about 10 minutes. If you drink a lot of water, watch your diet, and stay good on fiber, you'll never need them, they have absolutely no effect on weight loss or gain, one way or the other.

6) Antioxidants are good for you!

This is absolutely true. However, be picky about where you get your antioxidants from. Many people buy juices and other sugary things, and invariably kill their diets in the process. Two of the absolute best substances you can get antioxidants from are coffee and asparagus. Also bear in mind that you can have too much of a good thing.

7) MSG

An oldie but a goodie. Some of you may remember the days when it was all over the news, with people claiming it was the worst thing ever, it caused cancer, raped babies and had poor table manners when eating with guests.

The reality: A few chinese restaraunts were caught using it to make rotten meat taste good, which it *is* very good for. It was also implicated at the very same time of being a commonly accessable ingredient in a hot button narcotic that was making the rounds in homebrew form, phencyclidine, better known as PCP.

To put it simply, MSG is a large glutamate molecule that happens to have attracted the loving attention of a single sodium atom. It's actually better for you than salt is, but like salt, should not be used in excessive quantities (not going into what a real daily allowance of salt should be as there are about 40 schools of thought). It does not cause cancer, it does not rape babies, and it would charm the pants off Emily Post. This poor little compound was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time and it's high time it was let out of jail. (oh and if someone brings up the 'berkeley carcinogen test, that is about as logical as a witch trial. Put 900 times what a human would take of *anything* in a rat and bad things are *bound* to happen)

8) Organic

Oh this is a hot button with me. Every veggie or vegan or soccer mom with a television is all hot about organic food. Supposedly it's healthier, happier and far more brady bunch than evil 'non-organic food.' Just for myself I hate the term, because I'm not generally in the habit of eating large quantities of mineral food, but that's me just being snarky.

So, anywho, Organic. The FDA standards that allow you stamp 'Organic' on a package are ludicrously lax. Essentially, you don't give the cow in the giant industrialized dairy processing facility a slap on the ass every morning and you get rubber stamp approval. Organic foods are also *not* prohibited from using pesticides, just certain pesticides. You can always tell which ones are truly 'organic' because they're the ones with the bug holes in them and the undesirable colour.

If you want organic, join a CSA, buy from local growers, or better yet, learn about gardening! A single hydroponic bed will cost you about 40 USD and grow more lettuce or pretty much any non-tuber vegetable you want than you could possibly eat. Add dirt and you can grow tubers too! I adore pesto, and I have several of them dedicated to just growing basil, year round, and as an added benefit, it freshens (read: recycles) the air in your house naturally. All it costs me in upkeep is a bucket of miracle gro every quarter and the cost to run a flourescent lightbulb (I went extra ritzy a few years back and bought the low-energy, long life ones, and have yet to actually replace any of them.

Personal note: It's all about balance. Humans are omnivores, and whatever your partciular function or dysfuntion for food happens to be, you need to make sure you watch what is in your food, and know what you're eating. Personally, I'm a pescatarian. Not because I have anything against red meat, chicken, etc, it just gave me an excuse to consume copious amounts of seafood =3.

Personal note 2: It may seem like I have a real problem with diurectics. I don't, they're just a fact of life. I also monitor my preservative intake, blood sugar, hormone balance, and anything else I can test with my Kitty's First Home Bloodwork Centrifuge and Analysis Kit. *Disclaimer: Don't try this at home! *smacks with paper*