Recently, it seems that people are obsessed with healthy eating. From all the shelves in the store, we wink at products with a low content of salt, sugar, and cholesterol. These products are fortified and grown on an organic farm exclusively by Slavs without slash-and-burn agriculture. Also check The Cultureur A Luxury Travel and Lifestyle Blog
Food, unlike clothes or gadgets, can be sold every day. Therefore, it is not surprising that modern production flooded us with food. Consumer potential here is endless. Advertising tempts us with delicious delicacies and delicacies that can no longer be eaten for satiety but for pleasure. As a result, we usually consume more than we need.
1. Eat breakfast yourself, give dinner to the enemy
Professor Spector describes a tribe of savages in Australia who live according to this principle: they have a light snack in the morning, and quite late, at ten o’clock, when they are already awake for several hours, but they have a hearty supper and do it just before bedtime.
It turns out that mandatory breakfasts are just part of our current culture. The professor believes that companies producing cornflakes and breakfast cereals have begun to actively promote it. And most of these breakfasts consist almost entirely of sugar. You must tray in breakfast as a health eating myth. So it turns out that in the United States, for example, more than one generation has grown up. This generation is used to sugar flakes first thing in the morning.
It is not surprising that they also introduced coffee with sugar syrups and whipped cream into everyday life. This now replaces breakfast for many.
2 Red meat causes cancer
About ten years ago, WHO published a loud statement. In one large-scale study, red meat and sausage were classified as carcinogens.
Meanwhile, Professor Spector argues that not everything is simple. First, that very study was conducted by a group of ideological vegetarians who did not take into account many third-party factors (for example, what else those who ate meat ate and drank). A more recent study has shown that red meat alone increases cancer risk by 1%, which is negligible. And there is evidence that meat eaters are less likely to suffer from cardiovascular diseases.
3. Coffee is bad for the heart.
Another great news! Studies have not confirmed that coffee overloads our cardiovascular system. What’s more, drinking up to three cups of this drink a day actually reduces heart disease risk.
Coffee also reduces Alzheimer’s disease and depression risk. True, especially for sensitive people, it can cause problems with sleep, as it blocks the action of a relaxing substance called adenosine in our body.
However, coffee’s effect disappears in a maximum of 7 hours, so if you drink coffee before heading to bed, you will suffer until the morning.
4. Sweeteners are better than sugar
Well, the war on sugar began long before the appearance of Professor Spector’s book. Even soda makers have already admitted that they may be overdoing sugar in their drinks.
As a result, “diet” versions of almost all known sodas appeared, as well as chocolate and pastries with the designation “Sugar-Free”.
Professor Spector reminds us that many sweeteners were banned because they caused cancer in rats, but their carcinogenic effects on humans have not been proven, so they are allowed again.
In addition, the most popular sweetener today, sucralose, reduces insulin sensitivity and disrupts metabolism. When eaten with carbohydrates (like put in cookies), it causes the same spike in blood sugar levels as sugar.
5. Burnt food is harmful.
A very popular myth that makes fried crust lovers shudder. Professor Spector says it is based on experiments with laboratory animals injected with acrylamide (a substance formed in burnt foods) at doses significantly higher than natural ones. Humans have not carried out such experiments.
The same applies to barbecues and barbecues. The myth that the oldest method of cooking meat over an open fire causes cancer arose from a study of the lungs of firefighters who spent a long time in industrial smoke. Nevertheless, the smoke from natural wood is completely different from that from burning plastic, which can be found in modern apartments.
So you can safely eat barbecued and fried potatoes with a crust.
6. High-calorie food is bad.
Does Coughing Make You Higher. One of the major modern neuroses is calorie counting. Food labels brag about the low-calorie content. Citizens are trying to reach the desired 2,000 calories for women and 2,500 for men, but feel terribly hungry.
Everything is explained simply. The fact is that foods with calories listed on them are usually highly processed foods. They are low in natural vitamins, fibre, micronutrients, and nutrients for the bacteria that live in our digestive tract. But in such products, they add a lot of artificial refined fats, salt, and sugar, which are excellent preservatives.
And if you, for example, eat a chocolate-covered waffle, then theoretically you will get as many calories as from a handful of nuts. However, in the first case, your body will first experience “sugar euphoria”, and then it will be cruelly deceived by “empty” calories. But the energy of nuts will be slowly released over several hours.
In the same way, high-calorie olive oil or natural cheese actually creates a feeling of satiety for a long time and nourishes our microbiome.
Professor Spector calls for fear not of high-calorie food, but of highly processed food.
7. Physical activity helps you lose weight
Professor Spector is just some kind of holiday for our editors! Not only were we allowed meat and coffee, but it was not necessary to run at all. Well, at least to lose weight.
Professor Spector devoted much of his life to the study of twins. It is on them that experiments can be carried out on the impact of a particular lifestyle. After all, twins have an almost identical genetic profile and almost the same childhood, so the influence of one or another factor at a more mature age is perfectly visible.
Well, several pairs of twins in the doctor’s study took radically different approaches to fitness. One exercised, the other did not. The results were bewitching. Those who did not go to the gym weighed only 1-2 kilograms less than their couch potatoes. It is clear that they were leaner and more muscular and that in general, the muscles weigh more … But in general, our weight does not greatly depend on whether we exercise or not.
Spector believes that the promotion of exercise, again, was invented by giant corporations that produce junk food. This was done to divert the attention of the population from what really contributes to obesity.
It’s so easy to make fat people feel guilty by blaming them for sitting on the couch while athletes drink the same Coke and don’t get fat (actually they don’t).
8. Salt-white death
This is where Professor Spector comes in as quickly as he can: not a single modern study confirms the harm of excessive salt intake. Most likely, previous data diagnosed the harm of highly processed foods, which do contain a large amount of salt, because it emphasizes the taste of sugar. Everyone blamed it on salt, but in fact, sugar and hydrogenated fats were to blame.
Salt is such a cheap product that all troubles can be safely blamed on it, the industry will not suffer from this. And if you blame artificial fats, the whole confectionery industry will be covered.
In fact, there are conflicting studies. Diabetics on a low-salt diet died earlier than those on a normal diet. It turns out that salt deficiency causes insulin resistance and metabolic problems.
