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7 most popular myths about food

These popular myths pass, as they say, from mouth to mouth, forcing many people to change their eating habits incorrectly. That is why they need to be dispelled.

1. Low-fat foods help you lose weight

If you are watching your figure, then most likely you prefer to buy products with a low fat content: for example, “light” sauces and mayonnaise or diet cookies. However, such products do not always help to get rid of excess weight.

The fact is that manufacturers of “dietary” products often sin by replacing fats with a large amount of sugar in order to improve the taste of such food. And as you know, excess sugar contributes to the appearance of excess weight. So it’s better for people on a diet to stay away from sugar and sweeteners. And instead of “light” mayonnaise, give preference to ordinary oils — it’s better to have a little natural fat than a lot of “dietary”.

2. All the useful substances of potatoes are in its peel

Some people prefer to cook or bake potatoes “in uniform” allegedly because of the nutrients contained in the peel. However, in fact, it contains only 20% of useful trace elements.

The peel of an average potato contains 920 milligrams of potassium and 3.6 grams of fiber, while the pulp contains about 676 milligrams of potassium and 2.6 grams of fiber. But besides them, potato pulp also contains vitamins C, K and B6, B3 and thiamine, as well as magnesium, phosphorus, copper, manganese, zinc, riboflavin and folic acid.

3. Carrots improve vision

Children are often advised to chew carrots in order to grow faster and improve their eyesight, especially at night. However, this is a myth, it was invented during the Second World War.

Image by Couleur from Pixabay

The story of carrots improving night vision was invented and spread by the British government, which wanted to hide its new military technologies from opponents. British pilots used a new type of radar, which helped to successfully shoot down German drones in the dark. But you can’t openly declare that the UK has special means — it’s better to come up with a legend that pilots just eat a lot of carrots. As a result, even British civilians began to eat more carrots in order to better navigate in space during a blackout, and later the myth of carrots improving eyesight made its way to other countries.

However, the British were not completely lying, claiming the beneficial properties of the vegetable — carrots are rich in beta-carotene, a component of vitamin A, which is necessary for vision. However, this substance is unlikely to improve night vision.

4. Sea salt is healthier than regular salt

Black, pink, gray or red sea salt differs in taste, color and texture. It is obtained by evaporation of seawater, due to which irregular salt stones containing calcium, magnesium and potassium are formed. While table salt is extracted from salt deposits, and after that it is heavily processed to get rid of pollutants and mineral residues. Most often, this processing involves drying at high temperatures. Because of this, sea salt is considered more useful, because it supposedly contains more useful substances.

Sea salt may indeed contain impurities of potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, but they occupy only up to 5% in the composition, and the remaining 95% is ordinary sodium chloride. And in the purified sea salt, which has been recrystallized and dried, there are even fewer valuable minerals — 3%. Iodine, contrary to stereotypes, is even less in sea salt. For the production of seasoning, seawater is poured into special pools, and in the process of evaporation, most of the natural iodine is lost. But in ordinary table salt, as you know, iodine is specially added — this is evidenced by the inscriptions on the labels: iodized.

So there is no special difference between sea salt and table salt. The main thing is to use any of them in moderation.

Image by Sabine Schulte from Pixabay

5. Fiber is useful in any form

Fiber is found in many foods that we eat: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes. Eating natural fiber is beneficial — it prevents constipation, reduces the risk of diabetes and heart disease, and even helps to control weight.

At the same time, products that artificially add fiber, for example, yoghurts, ice cream or even water, suddenly appear on store shelves. But such fiber can not be compared with natural.

Foods such as oatmeal contain complex fiber — unlike foods enriched with fiber. For example, synthesized fibers are added to white bread — they help you feel full faster, but they are usually not enough to affect your health. For example, ordinary fiber is able to stimulate intestinal peristalsis, while synthesized fiber is not. So it is better to give preference to natural sources of this trace element.

6. Chicken skin is harmful

In baked or fried chicken, one of the most delicious parts is the skin. However, many people intentionally get rid of it during cooking, because they consider it too harmful.

However, chicken skin is not as bad as we used to think about it. A 340 gram boneless chicken breast with skin will contain 50 extra calories and 2.5 grams of extra saturated fat. At the same time, 55% of the fat in chicken skin is made up of monounsaturated fats that are useful for the heart. So sometimes you can pamper yourself, if you don’t overdo it.

And of course, a breast cooked without skin will taste drier and fresher. However, if you still prefer to eat chicken without skin, then you can use a simple life hack: cook chicken with skin, and take it off before eating. The fact is that bones and skin play an important role in the process of cooking chicken. Bones help to evenly distribute heat during heat treatment, and the skin does not allow the meat to dry out.

7. Eggs increase cholesterol levels in the blood

By themselves, eggs cannot contribute to an increase in cholesterol levels in the blood. Recent scientific studies have proved that the problem of increasing cholesterol is not in the eggs themselves, but in their improper use — a combination of eggs with other products.

Cholesterol plaques, which can frighten many people, are formed due to the deposition of low-density lipoproteins (“bad” cholesterol) on the walls of blood vessels. So this “bad” cholesterol is formed if there are eggs together with sausage products, cream (melted) butter, cottage cheese with a fat content of more than 5%, hard and processed cheeses, as well as together with offal and duck, goose and pig meat. So you will have to give up the usual scrambled eggs with sausage and cheese for breakfast if you are worried about your cholesterol level. But boiled eggs can be eaten — up to two pieces a day.


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