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Carbohydrates cause weight gain There’s no better place to start than with carbohydrates, which have taken a beating over recent years for being the cause of weight gain. As you’re going to learn later, the key to weight loss/gain is calories and if one consumes greater calories than they burn, they will gain weight. So where do carbs come into this? When we think about carbohydrates, our mind instantly jumps to pasta, bread, biscuits, and pizza. These foods are incredibly moorish and hold minimal nutritional value. They are not a ‘good choice’ for weight loss because they are easy to overeat and have low nutritional density. I’m not saying that we must never eat these foods, hell, we all need to live a little, but they should make up no more than 20% of your diet. When people tell you that they are ‘cutting out carbs’ they likely mean these foods. Great, because this will naturally encourage greater nutritional value whilst naturally reducing overall calories and sugars. That said, for most, cutting them out completely is unlikely sustainable. But that is a conversation for later. It is, however, unlikely that they are really cutting out carbs, or at least I sincerely hope they are not, because on the list of carbohydrates also lives; all fruit and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seed and a whole host of other foods that are packed full of nutritional value!
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Eating healthy is too expensive There is a small amount of weight to the argument that it is more expensive to eat healthy, because if we’re talking eating optimal we may want to consider grass fed meats and all organic foods, but if that makes eating healthy seem out of reach, it’s no reason to simply stick to your old ways. Supermarket meats and fresh produce can be very inexpensive, especially if you ensure no waste. This, however, is often a very frustrating conversation to have. Many people who raise this argument are in fact basing their diet on processed and packaged foods, ready meals and regular take away meals. Trust me, eating fresh is a significantly cheaper option. If cost is an issue, simple focus on natural, unprocessed foods - more on this later.
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Detox to lose weight This is one of my favourites. The good old detox diet. First, the body doesn’t need a ‘cleanse diet’. Our liver and kidneys do a fine job. If you want to help your body to do its job more efficiently, focus on eating whole foods, removing highly processed foods from your diet and drinking plenty of water. But can a cleanse diet assist your weight loss? Well, yes, if the diet dictates that you eat less food. But it’s just yet another way of encouraging a calorie deficit, something that we’re going to look at more later. In fact, what you’ll notice with all diets is that they sell you in with something sexy; cutting out a food type, taking a daily drink with a fancy name and many other things to draw you in, but when you unpick these diets they all have one thing in common, what’s that? A calorie deficit. So, shall we just focus on that?!