{"id":7256,"date":"2022-02-22T16:35:55","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T15:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rivr.ch\/?p=7256"},"modified":"2024-06-13T18:45:18","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T16:45:18","slug":"12-food-myths-busted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rivr.ch\/en\/blog\/12-food-myths-busted\/","title":{"rendered":"12 food myths busted"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As I wrote about in my post about the trouble with nutritional science, there\u2019s a lot of misinformation around nutrition. Through years of biomedical research, nutrition studies, and personal experience, I\u2019ve become an expert at spotting food falsehoods and I\u2019m debunking a dozen of the most common misconceptions about when, what, and how to eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nutritional<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Myth 1. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to food companies wanting to push cereal consumption, most of us have been brainwashed into thinking that we can\u2019t function without breakfast. While this might be true for people with impaired glucose regulation, the rest of us don\u2019t have to worry about skipping breakfast. We might even thrive not eating first thing in the morning!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth 2. Coffee is toxic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A lot of people feel guilty about drinking coffee, but this shouldn\u2019t be the case. Only your genes can tell you if coffee is doing you any favours or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth 3. Eggs increase the risk of heart disease<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nope. It\u2019s been proven that eggs don\u2019t contribute to high cholesterol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth 4. Detoxes and cleanses are necessary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We can thank Gwyneth Paltrow and many other wellness influencers for the idea that detoxing or cleansing regularly is healthy. This practice isn\u2019t backed up by science and so-called detox plans are often expensive and hard to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time-restricted eating, which aligns your eating and fasting cycles with your circadian rhythm, is a more sustainable alternative. There\u2019s a lot less marketing behind time-restricted eating because it\u2019s practically impossible to make money off people simply limiting their eating to an 8- to 12-hour window and fasting during the remaining 12 to 16 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth 5. Red meat causes cancer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a lot of misinformation about eating meat, but, when sourced and prepared properly, meat is incredibly nutrient dense and eating it can have great health benefits. It is wise, however, to stay away from factory-farmed and heavily processed meats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the cancer scare around meat is how it\u2019s prepared. Some cooking methods, like grilling and charring, create toxic and pro-aging compounds in meat\u2014and it\u2019s the same with vegetables. French fries and potato chips, for example, contain high levels of acrylamide, a human carcinogenic compound. But a boiled potato doesn\u2019t have any acrylamide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How you cook matters. Opt for low and slow methods. Use acidic marinades, such as lemon juice or vinegar\u2014or even wine and beer!\u2014to offset the formation of these toxic compounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth 6. Salt is harmful<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Again, there\u2019s a genetic basis behind how much salt is best for your body. Appropriate salt consumption levels vary quite a lot from person to person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth 7. Carbs are bad<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no blanket rule around avoiding carbohydrates. There\u2019s a genetic basis for how well you metabolise carbs and, of course, the type of carbs fuelling your diet has a huge impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth 8. An alkaline diet is best<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are some claims that raising the alkalinity of your body reduces disease and helps you lose weight, but nothing you eat is going to substantially change the pH of your blood. Following an alkaline diet can change the pH of your urine, but that doesn\u2019t translate to increased health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth 9. Walk at least 10,000 steps a day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is a great initiative and it\u2019s wonderful if it encourages you to be active, but the \u201810,000\u2019 number was plucked out of the air by a marketing team, not determined by scientists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth 10. Eat for your blood type<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your blood type should not impact your nutrition choices. Given that genetic analysis and blood work can help you optimise your health, it\u2019s understandable to think this is based in science\u2014but we\u2019re all too unique to have just four blood type groups determine our nutritional requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth 11. Celery juice cures everything<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This craze was started by a celebrity psychic with no nutritional training. Enough said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth 12. Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How much water you need in a day depends on your diet, activity level, and bowel movements. There\u2019s no accurate research behind the magic \u20188-a-day\u2019 measurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And let\u2019s bust a bonus myth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth 13. Small, frequent meals improve metabolism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s no surprise this fallacy comes from companies selling snack food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our digestive systems need time for maintenance and repair, which is impossible if we\u2019re always eating! A good analogy is an average home office day: you have work and chores and things to get done, but people are constantly ringing the doorbell with deliveries. Instead of working, you spend most of your time receiving packages and figuring out where to put them all. That\u2019s what snacking does to your body. Your good gut bacteria deserve some well-earned rest!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digestion is also a major source of collateral inflammation. Each time we eat, our gut becomes transiently leaky (it\u2019s called intestinal permeability), which sounds alarming, but is totally normal and allows our body to absorb nutrients. This leaking causes small amounts of gut bacteria to end up in our bloodstream, which switches on a transient inflammatory response. The more often you eat, the more often this transient inflammatory response is turned on, and the larger the inflammatory burden on your body. Some of the damage can be offset by incorporating important nutrients into your meals, but staying away from grazing has a positive impact on your immunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nutrition is personal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Having busted some of the most egregious myths around food, I look forward to sharing the truth behind nutrition with you! One of the fundamental pillars is that your uniqueness is the key to optimising your health and, at Rivr, we work with you to take the guesswork out of finding your ideal nutritional strategy.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t optimize what you can\u2019t measure and our functional lab tests allow us to analyze an individualized panel of important health and longevity biomarkers in your blood. Together with a robust DNA analysis, we help you make informed decisions about your health\u2014and implement sustainable changes<\/a> to reach your goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you are interested in scientific nutritional counselling, we will gladly assist you as objective advisors. It is important to us to give you an understanding of the scope of the treatment. In a non-binding consultation, we will discuss the possibilities and approaches with you. This discussion provides you with a solid basis for deciding in principle for or against a treatment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I wrote about in my post about the trouble with nutritional science, there\u2019s a lot of misinformation around nutrition. Through years of biomedical research, nutrition studies, and personal experience, I\u2019ve become an expert at spotting food falsehoods and I\u2019m debunking a dozen of the most common misconceptions about when, what, and how to eat. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivr.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivr.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivr.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivr.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivr.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7256"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/rivr.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9851,"href":"https:\/\/rivr.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256\/revisions\/9851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivr.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivr.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivr.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7256"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivr.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=7256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}