Whether it’s online or offline, we ladies have become surrounded by all sorts of recommended practices on health and nutrition. On the bright side, this must mean that there’s now a far greater level of interest in wellness amongst us than there was not so long ago. However, this surge of information also means that the amount of nonsense that we’re subjected to has increased by multiple folds. As a qualified practitioner in Egypt, I am really pleased to set the record straight about the 5 most common health misconceptions!
If You Eat Well, You Don’t Need Dietary Supplements…
Several factors affect the quality of nutrients in the food we consume. These include soil quality, transport, storage, and cooking – all of which compromise the quality and nutrient density of the food. There are other factors that can also affect nutrient absorption. Factors such as gut health and lifestyle habits such as smoking, pollution, or lack of sunshine.
To get our bodies to function at optimal capacity; we need to complement our balanced diets with high-quality supplements to help make up for any potential low intake of nutrients.
If You Exercise Regularly, You Don’t Really Need to Stay Active
Lifestyle and the environment have contributed to making us less active, especially during periods of hot weather. Accordingly, the time we spend walking is replaced with sitting in cars or on sofas. It is important to exercise regularly. You should congratulate yourself on being committed to doing so. But remember that this in no way means that you should stay still the rest of the day.
Keep track of your steps, get into the habit of going on evening walks when the weather is cooler, and take the stairs instead of elevators when possible. Make a conscious effort to just keep moving throughout the day.
There’s No Such Thing as Too Much Exercise
Yes – there is. Intense daily workouts are becoming more and more common. To be clear, over-exercising can lead to more harm than good. It causes the stress hormone, cortisol, to rise and the body to get into constant “fight or flight mode”. On the long run, this affects hormone balance, joints, and injury susceptibility, which can cause inflammation.
We need adequate rest, sleep, and recovery to stay healthy. It is important that we listen to our bodies when they try to find ways to let us know that we’ve exercised enough. You want to be able to continue to exercise as you grow older, so make sure to treat your body well now, so that it helps you to age gracefully!
Fat Makes You Fat
Fat is necessary for healthy skin, joints, and aging. It helps to reduce inflammation and produce key hormones. What we need to pay attention to is the type of fat we’re consuming. Fat from fried food or trans-fat in biscuits and cookies with long shelf life should be avoided. However, unsaturated fat from salmon, avocados, olive oil, nuts, and olives are good when consumed in the right amounts.
Weight loss plans are ‘one size fits all’
This is one of the most common health misconceptions! It is simply wrong for friends to share diet plans from dietitians or to recommend fad diets such as keto or intermittent fasting. Even if it appears to work at first, it is not sustainable on the long run because for long-term weight loss requires finding what is suitable for YOU.
No two individuals are alike. We each have a different biology and DNA and we have very different lifestyles, exercise routines, likes and dislikes. For optimal results, you will need to factor all these differences into consideration to reach a plan that works for you and is sustainable on the long run.
