Weight Loss Myths (Part 3): Eating Less is Better? Rejecting Fat? These ideas are wrong.
**Eat as little as possible**
Many people believe that eating less will help them lose weight, so they create strict diet plans for themselves. However, many studies show that excessive dieting is detrimental to health; it not only fails to achieve weight loss but can also cause various diseases due to severe nutritional deficiencies.
Excessive dieting can lead to anorexia. Anorexia is more common in women. Initially, they may want to eat but fear gaining weight, so they meticulously calculate their food intake before each meal, always worrying about exceeding their energy limits. Under the influence of this conflicting psychology, over time, the gastrointestinal glands atrophy, digestive enzyme secretion decreases, and gastrointestinal motility weakens, leading to persistent loss of appetite and indigestion. What started as simply not daring to eat eventually becomes a complete unwillingness to eat, developing into true anorexia. As food intake decreases, weight gradually drops, followed by fatigue, depression, dry skin, generalized edema, anemia, low blood pressure, and osteoporosis.
Excessive dieting is even more harmful to adolescent girls. Insufficient total energy and protein intake affects the synthesis and secretion of gonadotropins and the maturation of sex organs, leading to delayed menarche, menstrual cycle disorders, amenorrhea, and even infertility. Furthermore, extreme nutritional deficiencies result in a severe decline in the body's immune function, making it highly susceptible to serious infections and sepsis.
"Each has her own strengths, just as spring orchids and autumn chrysanthemums each have their own fragrance." A woman's charm is not only reflected in her figure and appearance, but also in her rich inner world and elegant demeanor. Therefore, women should not place too much importance on their figure and blindly resort to dieting to lose weight.
**Reject fat when losing weight.**
This is a misconception. Weight loss involves limiting total energy intake, not just fat intake. Substances that provide energy to the body are called caloric substances, primarily including carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Fat has the highest energy content among caloric substances; 1 gram of fat provides 9 kilocalories of physiologically effective energy when burned in the body, while carbohydrates and proteins provide 4 kilocalories each. The energy ratio of these three caloric substances should be 55%–65% carbohydrates, no more than 30% fat, and 10%–15% protein. Even during weight loss, these ratios should not be drastically altered. Dietary fat plays a vital role in the body's metabolism. Besides providing energy, it also forms body tissues, provides essential fatty acids, and can inhibit insulin and glucagon secretion, promoting the body's utilization of fat. Refusing fat intake is tantamount to blocking a crucial link in the body's normal metabolism. Disrupting the body's metabolic rhythm makes dieters more susceptible to colds, mouth ulcers, and other ailments. Therefore, weight loss should involve appropriately limiting fat intake, not completely eliminating it.
**Eating vegetable oil won't make you fat.**
Some people believe that vegetable oils such as peanut oil, olive oil, tea oil, and soybean oil contain less energy than animal oils such as lard and butter, making them suitable for consumption during weight loss. However, in reality, whether vegetable or animal oil, every gram of oil contains 9 kilocalories of energy, and consuming them will lead to weight gain.
However, consuming vegetable oil is indeed healthier than consuming animal oil. Compared to animal oil, vegetable oil contains no cholesterol but is rich in unsaturated fatty acids. These fatty acids can promote the breakdown and excretion of cholesterol, thus lowering blood cholesterol levels and helping to prevent cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, among unsaturated fatty acids, linoleic acid is extremely important to the human body. It cannot be synthesized in the body and must be obtained from food; it is called an essential fatty acid. Essential fatty acids play important physiological roles in the body. They are components of cell membranes and mitochondria; they are raw materials for the synthesis of certain hormones and promote growth and development; they are related to cholesterol metabolism and help prevent coronary heart disease.
**Common Misconceptions About Losing Weight by Eating Chili Peppers**
Some reports claim that chili peppers contain capsaicin, which can promote the secretion of neurotransmitters and adrenaline. Adrenaline, through sweating and fat burning, can thus aid in weight loss. However, this "chili pepper weight loss" method lacks scientific basis. While chili peppers can cause skin redness and heat, accelerating local metabolism, this effect is unsustainable and therefore ineffective for weight loss. On the contrary, prolonged consumption of spicy food can irritate various bodily systems, potentially leading to illness if the body cannot tolerate it. Clinically, some patients who experienced stomach pain and discomfort a month after using chili peppers for weight loss have been diagnosed with stomach ulcers through gastroscopy, the cause of which is related to excessive chili consumption. Therefore, not everyone is suitable for spicy food, and chili peppers are not a magic bullet for weight loss. Don't be misled.
**Misconceptions about using vinegar for weight loss**
The vinegar diet for weight loss was once popular. In Japan and Taiwan, it was common to soak soybeans in vinegar to make pickled soybeans, claiming that eating 10-20 soybeans every morning and evening could achieve weight loss, based on the theory that vinegar could boost metabolism and prevent fat accumulation. However, nutrition experts point out that there is currently no conclusive research to support this claim.
Some nutritionists speculate that if drinking vinegar does indeed lead to weight loss, it might be because the vinegar makes one feel full, preventing them from eating other foods, or it might be because vinegar-soaked beans replace regular high-calorie snacks, thus reducing calorie intake. Therefore, replacing vinegar and vinegar products with other low-calorie, low-fat foods could achieve the same effect. Furthermore, this weight loss method is not suitable for long-term adherence; doing so could lead to nutritional deficiencies and significantly harm one's health.
**Common Misconceptions about Drinking Coffee for Weight Loss**
Coffee contains caffeine, which can stimulate the central nervous system, promote blood circulation in the brain, and temporarily improve physical and mental energy, making people feel refreshed. It can also promote metabolism, enhance heart and kidney function, and accelerate fat breakdown. Therefore, some people believe that drinking a lot of coffee can achieve weight loss.
However, medical research indicates that excessive coffee consumption not only does not help with weight loss, but can also harm one's health.
Excessive coffee consumption can increase basal metabolism, leading to chronic insomnia. Coffee has a diuretic effect; excessive consumption can cause dehydration, thus lowering resistance and immunity, making one more susceptible to various diseases. Furthermore, coffee stimulates gastric acid secretion and increases gastric acid concentration, which can aid digestion, cut through grease, and increase appetite, potentially leading to increased food intake. Drinking large amounts of coffee can also cause abnormal phenomena such as rapid heartbeat, anxiety, tinnitus, and tremors, and may even cause a temporary increase in blood pressure.
Therefore, relying on drinking large amounts of coffee to lose weight is unhealthy, and dieters must avoid this misconception.