Weight Loss Myths

....how food packaging and labels can be deceptive


The big Food Corporations are spending billions of dollars every year
trying to get their products into the market and get you to buy them. So, they will pretty much do everything possible to convince you of something, whether it’s true or false, but if it gets you to buy the product they are going to go as far into the gray areas of food laws as humanly possible.

For example, most of your not so healthy foods are going to be at eye level on the store shelves and the reason is, they’re higher profit margins because they’re easier to make with simple cheap ingredients. And these foods are packed with high-fat-high-calorie ingredients. So of course they are going to put these items right in your line of sight so that you easily grab them. And that’s just a simple example. Here are some more:

1. Fat Free Foods
If you remove all the fat from something there has to be something that replaces that ingredient and processed foods taste good because they’re either loaded with sugar, fat and/or sodium, so if you remove one you’re going to have to increase another to continue to make that food taste good and obviously, fat-free doesn’t mean calorie-free as everyone learned with the whole SnackWell craze. People were eating half the box of SnackWell cookies because they were fat free. Well, they were also half a box of pretty much pure sugars so you’re still talking possibly twice as many calories as normal, which is going to lead to fat gain! Besides what your body needs is good fat, which is actually necessary for energy production, production of hormones, promotes healthy skin and hair and assists in absorption of soluble vitamins.


You need fat in your body to be able to function efficiently and it helps if you feel fuller sooner and longer. Not that you want to eat a lot of fat, but you need to have some good healthy fat in your body so that it can function efficiently. And if you chose things that are fat-free, something has to replace that, and it’s usually going to be sugar, which is also a very high calorie substitute and mentally people think it’s fat free, “I can eat more of this”. But actually you should probably eat less. You are actually worse off eating more sugar than more fat when it comes to just packing on the pounds.



2. Sugar
How does sugar make us fat? I think logically it makes sense to people, “Okay, well if I eat fat, I’m going to get fat.” I mean it’s fat, but how does sugar makes us fat?
Well sugar, like I mentioned before, is a high calorie ingredient so when you consume it, obviously, more than what you burn, those calories tend to be stored as fat. Another more important reason on how sugar can make you fat is sugar will cause your body to send out a lot of insulin to try to get that sugar out of the blood stream so that your body can return to a normal balance in regards to the amount of sugar that it usually has in its bloodstream. Well your body has to do something with that sugar. Once that insulin goes out and grabs the sugar, it needs to do something with it. So, it either burns it for energy or it’s going to store it as fat to be used at a later time. Since there’s only so much energy to be burned for a typical person then the alternative is obviously to store it as fat. That’s how too much sugar leads to weight gain because you’re causing your body to have to store more calories as fat calories.
Another problem with fat free (sugar filled) foods is that you get hungry faster and you typically crave those same kind of foods because sugar gets processed and digested pretty quickly and when you get blood sugar spikes (and in response your body sends out insulin to store those sugars) your blood sugar then drops significantly and you would think that is ok. Instead what happens when your blood sugar gets low is your body gives off signals saying “Hey we need some energy. We need some food.” So, all of a sudden you think, “Oh, I’m hungry again.” Well, not really – you’ve caused this out of whack scenario where you spiked your blood sugars and then let them drop really fast and now your body’s confused thinking you’re hungry and you’re not. Most of the time when this happens people eat a candy bar or something real sugary and again filled with fat and packed with calories, this blood sugar spike occurs again and then you get hungry again and the cycle continues in search for instant energy.
So the food companies give you these foods filled with sugar and then your body craves more of them. I mean literally craves more of the same type of unhealthy foods that are very easily ingested so you end up consuming too many calories and that’s how you pack on the pounds. Simple, simple, simple.

3. Low-Carb/No-Carb Foods
These foods are usually high calorie/high fat foods so although fat does have a place in your meal plan you can’t just eat endless high fat foods because there’s a mark that you hit and when you go over that mark, as far as the number of calories you need in a day, whether it’s coming from protein, fat or carbs, your body still only needs a certain number of calories or fuel in a day. So, when you surpass that number your body’s going to have to do something with the surplus of calories. Most people think they can just eat fried foods and high fat meats etc. to stay on a low-carb diet but they end up overeating, just too many calories. Regardless if it’s just protein and fat – if you’re body is only supposed to burn 2000 calories a day and you’re eating 4000, well those 2000 extra calories are going to have to be stored somehow. So, the whole no-carb or low-carb all the time craze, leads people to eat too much and still gain weight.

In response the food companies and diet industries have jumped all over this and started making these processed nutrient dead foods to fill the demand. Foods with high fat ingredients as well as lots of sugar alcohol, which tends to trick the body into thinking that it’s not full yet so you just keep eating. And gaining weight. Simple, simple.


4. Processed nutrient dead foods
So, basically the middle aisles of a store are where most of the processed foods are kept, anything in a box or a can. And with these 100 calorie packs on the market today, you’re just getting the 100 calories of junk. If you’ve ever eaten one of those, you eat one and then about ten minutes later you think, “I’m going to have another one. It’s only 100 calories.” You start doing this form of thinking and before you know it you might as well just have had a Snickers Bar because you’re putting in 200-400 calories. So remember anything in the center aisles of the grocery store like that are just high profit foods for the manufacturer and the stores.

And don’t be fooled by the drinks sold in those middle aisles either. The waters that are out there that have vitamins and minerals are also loaded with sugar. Plus Diet Coke Plus and other sodas that say they have vitamins in them have such a miniscule amount that you’d have to drink about ten of them to have any real beneficial effect.
If you want to strip fat off your belly, or your butt, or your thighs, or your hips or wherever, you’re much better off drinking plain old fashioned water.

5. High fructose corn syrup
Another way food companies hide the fact that there’s lots of sugar in their products is the addition of high fructose corn syrup. It’s one of those ingredients that your body doesn’t recognize, so it doesn’t know when you are full. It’s also one of those that actually helps you feel good – by releasing endorphins which make you feel good and then your body’s unable to sense that you’re overeating so you gradually keep eating more and more. In other words it’s kind of addictive. And it’s a very cheap ingredient so again, if it makes the product taste good and it’s cheap to make, they’re going to use it regardless of the health benefits of lack of health benefits.


6. The good old-fashioned salad.
People like to go on diets and they love to eat salad. But beware of the fast food places that say they are adding salads to their menus to address all the obesity problems that are going on in our country. What happens is they slap on a couple of ounces of mayo or ranch dressing or blue cheese on top and all of a sudden your salad went to hell in a basket! Not to mention that you can add cheese and eggs and meat and nuts on to the top and those are really just higher calorie condiments. So your healthy salad can jump to 800-900 calories really fast. A lot of times you are better off getting an entrée of seasoned chicken with some vegetables on the side. You can have a healthy salad, just be careful what you put on top.


So, write down these six things and keep them with you when you go to the grocery store. Never shop on an empty stomach and stick to the outside aisles. Try to buy whole foods as well as plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and you will be on your way to a healthier YOU!

Happy Shopping!

Linda and Rachel