By Channing King
Is understanding how to eat well hard for you? You’re not alone. There are many things to consider when trying to eat the way we were designed. Last time I gave some myths and truths of dieting as listed in Dr. Ben Lerner’s book, “Body by God.” This time, I’m going to share some more truths to help you on your nutritional journey.
Did you know your body can’t be tricked? It’s designed for certain foods. A popular diet myth is that you can trick your body into thinness and better health by eliminating a food group. The truth is your body needs protein, carbohydrates and good fats. You can eliminate a food group, but this usually only leads to short-term success with weight control and health. God made all three of these food groups, so enjoy them. Instead of eliminating protein, carbs or fat, try limiting your intake to healthy choices in each of these groups, and eat them at the right time of day.
What about balance? When it comes to proteins, carbs and fat, should you eat a balanced diet of each with every meal? No. It’s a diet myth that we should eat this way. The truth is you need a varying amount of these foods with each meal. Each one digests differently and has different healthy jobs in your body. You wouldn’t want to eat too much protein or fat with carbs. The reason is protein is meant for healing and carbs for energy, so they would be conflicting with each other. Also, if you eat a lot of carbs with fat, you could be setting yourself up for weight gain unless you burn those carbs off.
The last myth and truth might surprise you a little bit. There is a myth that if a food box says low fat, reduced fat, fat free, lactose free, and/or no sugar, then it must be healthy. The truth is they are usually not. These foods are synthetic and chemically altered and far from their natural, God-given state. These foods, eaten on a regular basis, are hard to digest and eliminate. This leads to health issues and weight gain. The body is smart, so eat more natural, unprocessed, God-given foods.
I hope these myths and truths about dieting really helped. Start applying some of these truths and your health, weight and function will improve.