Most people enjoy eating and loathe dieting. It is perhaps unsurprising that given this popular activity many food and nutrition-related myths have surfaced through the ages. Here are some food facts for you to digest.
Many are fed the myth that celery has negative calories. Eat celery and you can watch TV on the sofa all day, they say. Food items labeled with negative calories mean that the ‘caloric’ cost of digesting food is greater than the food’s energy content. Some food items claimed to exhibit negative calories are celery, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, and grapefruit.
There is no scientific evidence to show any foods have a negative calorific impact. For example, a stalk of celery provides six calories, but the body expends only half of a single calorie digesting it.
My wife always reproaches me for my late-night pasta snacks in the middle of a movie marathon. Her idea (shared by many others) is that since there is little physical activity during sleep, our metabolism slows down considerably and any carbs are likely to be stored as fat. The reality is that our metabolic rate does not change significantly when we sleep compared to when we are awake. But researchers found that exercising during the day can raise our sleeping metabolic rate significantly, leading to greater fat oxidation.
For a long time I swallowed the myth that “all calories are equal”. I used to skimp on vegetable calories to buffet voraciously on burgers. Different foods have different metabolic pathways and have direct effects on fat burning and the hormones and brain centres that regulate appetite. A high protein diet, for example, can increase the metabolic rate by 80 to 100 calories per day and significantly reduce appetite.
Egg yolk contains dietary cholesterol. But research has proven that dietary cholesterol has almost nothing to do with serum cholesterol, the stuff in your blood. Researchers reviewed more than 30 egg studies and found no link between egg consumption and heart disease. I think I will celebrate that with an omelette!