Tag: muscle

Diet Myths that has Nothing to do with Reality

We get it, you are trying to loose weight and get your swagger back but there’s just so many conflicting advice out there on the wild internet. So we decided to list 4 Myths that you should completely ignore coz they were never based on science.

1. Eating Fat makes you Fat (or gives you high cholesterol)

bacon

This is probably one of the biggest misconception out there. You are what you eat they say so eating fat will put layers of fat on you. Although fat is a very nutrient dense type of food, it suppress later food intake when present in the small intestine of both humans and animals on multiple study, i.e. fat helps makes you feel fuller longer. Not only that, but lots of vital nutrients can only be absorbed in conjunction with fat. Hence long term low fat diet leads to vitamin deficiency! Last but not least, Dariush Mozaffarian, renowed Harvard researcher, already published a landmark study  published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that  showed increased consumption of saturated fats slowed down the progression of atherosclerosis in the studied group of postmenopausal women. Excess consumption of sugar leads to cholesterol, not fat.

Having said that, fat is still very energy dense and you can only loose weight by having total energy deficit. So we are not exactly recommending you to gorge on those wagyu beef.

2. Eating past 6 PM (or 8 PM) will make you fat!

dinner

This is yet another popular myth on the circle and another variation is not to eat any carbs past a certain hour. Yes, its true that post-workout sugar consumption helps muscle recovery and when you are almost off to bed, you don’t do much activity. However, maintaining a stable blood glucose level is the key. Hence why eating complex carbs (brown rice, sweet potatoes) is much better than simple carbs (white bread, soda). Fact is, if your last meal is at 6 and you are off to bed at 11 or 12, your body will probably learn how to store some energy for that long bout of starvation, i.e. low metabolism or increased fat storage.

So why do some people swear off getting result with no-carbs diet after 6 PM? Probably because it led to decrease in total carb consumption compared to their pre-diet days.

3. Vegans Can’t Build Muscle

Patrick Baboumian called, and u won’t believe how strong he is. Having said that, most of vegetarian source of protein are incomplete, i.e. it doesn’t contain all the essential proteins your body needs. An exception is soy in which some people claim that their high level of estrogen can affect your body. So one of the alternative would be to either ferment the soy first, say like Japanese edamame and Indonesian Tempeh, or eat a combination of different sources of protein, such as grains (rice, wheat, barley) with peas (beans, chickpeas).

What’s most important is doing enough workout, eating enough nutrition, and rest.

4. Supplements will help get me ripped

supplements

Oh God, no. Regardless what GNC says, if you are a desk jockey with no workout, chugging those whey protein might even lead to kidney disease. Same thing with growth hormone, CLA, BCAA, and any other alphabet combination you can think of. Heck, even if you take steroid shots, if you don’t work out, you will never ended up like Arnold. So lay down the supplements and go to the iron temple!

Just Diet to Get 6pack?

It’s becoming more of a trend these days to emphasize diet over exercise these days. New York Times made their arguments (To Lose Weight, Eating Less Is Far More Important Than Exercising More) while CBS took a stab at it (Which is more important for weight loss: Dieting or exercising?) as being the best return for your effort.

So with the majority of the US population actually decreasing their collective consumption of refined carbs and junk food from 2004 to 2012 as shown by University of North Carolina study (Americans are finally eating less: Calorie consumption down dramatically since 2003 as people now drink 25 per cent less soda), you would expect the US obese population to go down right? Well, apparently according to the latest study published by JAMA Internal Medicine you can read (Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in the United States, 2007-2012), the number of Obese people in US has actually increased.

So what’s going on here? Shouldn’t we all be loosing weight due to our better diet? How come its the exact opposite that is actually happening?

Well, apparently, based on the latest study funded by the Mayo clinic (Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in the United States, 2007-2012), US population has also continue to become even less sedentary over the past decade. And as any meathead worthy of his pecs can attest, your muscles burns calories even at rest. i.e. sleeping gym rats burns more calories by the hour than a scrawny nerd mashing his keyboard. Heck, when Adelle was asked about her weight loss, she credits it both on her personal trainer and her diet.

So there you go guys, good diet is important. But big biceps are importaner.[:zh]It’s becoming more of a trend these days to emphasize diet over exercise these days. New York Times made their arguments (To Lose Weight, Eating Less Is Far More Important Than Exercising More) while CBS took a stab at it (Which is more important for weight loss: Dieting or exercising?) as being the best return for your effort.

So with the majority of the US population actually decreasing their collective consumption of refined carbs and junk food from 2004 to 2012 as shown by University of North Carolina study (Americans are finally eating less: Calorie consumption down dramatically since 2003 as people now drink 25 per cent less soda), you would expect the US obese population to go down right? Well, apparently according to the latest study published by JAMA Internal Medicine you can read (Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in the United States, 2007-2012), the number of Obese people in US has actually increased.

So what’s going on here? Shouldn’t we all be loosing weight due to our better diet? How come its the exact opposite that is actually happening?

Well, apparently, based on the latest study funded by the Mayo clinic (Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in the United States, 2007-2012), US population has also continue to become even less sedentary over the past decade. And as any meathead worthy of his pecs can attest, your muscles burns calories even at rest. i.e. sleeping gym rats burns more calories by the hour than a scrawny nerd mashing his keyboard. Heck, when Adelle was asked about her weight loss, she credits it both on her personal trainer and her diet.

So there you go guys, good diet is important. But big biceps are importaner.