Fitness and Nutrition Myths

With so many fitness and nutrition myths out there it's almost impossible to separate fact from fiction. A lot of these myths are ones that all of us think to be true. So this article is an attempt to make sure you have the right facts, that's beneficial to both yourself and others in general. Here are some of the most popular ones you might have come across:

Myth 1: A lot of people buy into this myth - that if you see the label "Fat free" on something it's a free pass, you can eat all you want. For the last few decades manufacturers have realized that consumers don't want to consume too much fat, so they have tried their best to reduce fat content in their products. However what most people don't realize is that they have replaced that with sugar and carbohydrate calories, so if a product is labeled fat free, you may be getting more calories per servings than a normal product. So these products are just fat free, and not calorie free.

Myth 2: Healthy food is too expensive: This could be a myth as well as a matter of perspective. People view spending money on food as a nuisance, an expense rather than as an investment. So when we think food as an expense we think that paying less is better rather than paying more for high quality. Quality food doesn't have to break the bank; it's a bit too much to expect higher quality nutritious food to be available at junk food prices. You can save in a couple of ways, by buying fruits and vegetables from local growers and only in season in comparison to buying apples that are shipped from abroad. You can also use leftover soups and vegetables to stretch the food dollar further. It's important to understand that if there is something that we value, most people don't have a problem making a little bit of investment in it, but if we view healthy food as an expense rather than an investment we are going to give up the money grudgingly.

Myth 3: This next myth has some heartened supporters - vegetarianism is the healthiest way to eat. Why is this notion? Vegetarianism can be a great way to eat, but the problem is when people jump on it right away without doing much research at first and not understanding on really how to combine certain food stuffs to get all the nutrients needed to maintain health. Vegetarianism is a great way to eat but you have to know what you're doing and do a little bit of research before you jump into it. Just cutting out your meat intake is not going to help.

Myth 4: Are Yoga, Qi Gong and Tai Chi the only mind body exercises: If you look at what mind body exercise really mean, it's centered around any activity that would help to develop a better sense of being in your own physical self and a better connection and awareness of what is going on in your body - listening to your heartbeat, feeling your blood flow, understanding how your body is moving through space. So if you do anything that develops a better sense of your body, that's by definition, is a mind body exercise. But too often people feel that they have to do Yoga, Qi Gong and Tai Chi because they are the only form of mind body exercise and the other forms of exercise like cycling, hiking, jogging or even something like chopping wood isn't mind-body exercise. If people derive greater awareness of their physical self from any of the other activities that I have mentioned, that's by definition, is a mind-body exercise. If you do things you enjoy, you're naturally drawn to it and you find a greater sense of enjoyment and happiness when you do them, and in many cases this facilitates a greater mind body connection. Developing mind-body connection is really done by connecting your mind with your body. Focusing on what's going on inside you internally as opposed to letting your mind focus on all the external stimuli that are overwhelming you.

Myth 5: This myth has a lot to do with the often maligned part of our body, the stomach, with some people trying to reduce it with spot reducing crunches. Most people wonder, why in spite of doing Abs exercises all the time they still don't get their six pack abs, so what's going on. Actually Abs building has a lot to do with the nutrition factor. If you can get your body fat percentage low enough then you can see some change in the mid section. It's important that you maintain your workout regime by doing some crunches and some core work which are critical components of Abs development, but don't do it every day because you need to give the muscle some rest to recover, just like any other muscle in the body. So the real magic lies on the nutritional side.

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