We all have heard them a thousand times, but does that make them true? What should we believe? Is banning sugar from your diet really a great idea? How about abstainingdiet myths from fat and alcohol for the rest of your life? Goodness, aren't we just setting ourselves up to fail?



There are very few people can actually swear off particular foods forever and stick to that self-made promise. The rest of us need a little treat every now and then. Of course, there's absolutely not a thing wrong with indulging in a treat on occasion, the trick is to make sure that the treat doesn't happen on a daily basis.

For any diet to be successful, the basic idea is to take in fewer calories than your body needs on a daily basis to maintain its current weight. This method forces the body to use of stored fat in order to make up for the energy it doesn't get from food. But in order to be successful, a diet also has to be delicious and nutritionally sound.

Simply banning certain types of foods and ingredients is not a long term solution since after awhile everyone will begin to crave those banned items and a break in the resolve is certainly inevitable.

People should also learn not to put their faith into meal replacements, such as Mypoplex, Slimfast or Eat-Smart.

These combinations of low-fat and high-protein substances cannot substitute a proper diet. Meal replacements should never be used for more a consecutive month. Calories are essential to the body and no one can live for long without them.

Cutting calories out of the long-term nutritional plan is a critical mistake because the internal organs and muscles need calories to function. It is fine to use a meal replacements for a week or even two, as a form of shocking your body into a reality check, but coming to depend on them for long than a month is simple depriving your body of the needed life sustaining nutrients found in food. The same goes for diets consisting of certain foods, like the cabbage soup or grapefruit diet, because they too are based on the same idea.

Another rampant myth is the idea that the best approach to weight loss is a low-carb, high-protein diet. Boy this one has gained such a following!

Hollywood led this myth as stars tout one weight loss method or another in most interviews. But a diet low in carbohydrates and calories forces the body to use existing carbs located in the liver and the muscles. In time, this diet leads to weight loss mainly from water stored in the body, instead of fat, which is not really the goal of dieting. This diet also puts pressure on the internal organs.

Also, we should not be so fearful of potatoes, bread and pasta, the leading sources of carbohydrates. Carbs are actually good for you because they help to squash the feeling of hunger without loading you up with too many calories. So in moderation potatoes, bread and pasta are good for you as long as you do not drown them in cream laden sauces which are laded with fat.

It is also important to remember to pay attention to how these particular foods are prepared. Deep fat frying hardly counts as a healthy alternative. Still, a high-carb, low-fat diet is definitely better than banning potatoes and bread from your daily diet, plus it sure is whole lot easier to stick with!

Drinking water every day is also good idea because it keeps you hydrated and water is known to fill up the stomach.

Water also keeps the intestines healthy by encouraging the movements of undigested food to the exit point. However, it is important to remember that just drinking water does not trigger weight loss. There is just one way to lose weight and that is to burn up existing fat and water does not burn fat.

Nor should a diet be judged just by how much weight you lose in one week. Often people claim that a diet is considered to be working effective if you have lost two pounds that week. Actually two pounds lost in one week is significant and with that much weight there's no way all of that is fat, you must realize that some of the weight loss at that pace is also lean tissue that makes up muscles.

Another myth claims that fat is absolutely bad for you. In fact the truth is, the body requires some fat in order to get the important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K circulating through the cardiovascular system.

Fat also brings into the body the essential fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6 that cannot be synthesized in the body. The word ?essential? means that these fatty acids simply have to be present in your daily food since they play an important role in your health. The recommended dose of fat is 35 percent of your daily calories.

One of the biggest myths of all is that dieting alone is enough to lose weight. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Healthy and lower calorie eating must be coupled with exercising. It is clear that exercising is the most effective way of burning up the extra calories stored as fat. Simply sitting at your desk all day long is not going to do the trick, regardless of what diet you're on.

Remember it is much less stressful to your body if you pair healthy eating with basic exercise in order to encourage weight loss. Don't go to extremes, but find the best diet that works for you and then get moving. Stop being a couch potato!