Inside: Some nutritional advice is wrong, misguided, or simply stupid. This encourages you to ignore these seven wise nuggets.
The world is completely decorated with nutritionists, doctors, personal trainers, bloggers, moms at bus stops, and strangers lined up at grocery stores.
Some of them are good (eat more lush greenery!). Some of it is bad (avoid the fruit, it’s too sweet!). And there’s so much of some advice given to you, no one is wondering if it actually makes sense.
Here are eight nutritional advice you can officially ignore:
1. Buy only the border.
If you shop only at the border, you will eat fruits, vegetables, fish, milk, meat, eggs and cheese. And donuts! (The bakery happens to be around my store too.) If you avoid the central aisle, you won’t buy beans, lentils, brown rice, whole grain pasta, olive oil, nuts, nut butter, oatmeal, canned tomatoes, whole grain bread, spices, frozen fruit, thick chocolate, or grains. And we never floss again.
Obviously, the intention of this advice was to encourage people to eat more raw food. But many highly processed foods live in the corridors between them, as do many healthy staples.
2. Avoid materials that cannot be pronounced.
Many people are looking for products using a simpler ingredient list. It’s all going well, but there are a lot of ingredients with long or scary names, such as acetic acid (vinegar) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C).
Sodium bicarbonate sounds like a harmful chemical, but it’s actually baking soda. Find Lactobacillus acidophilus on some yogurt labels. The name is a beneficial strain of bacteria that is suitable for the intestines. Some products also fortify nutrients that are important for health, but have confused names such as cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12) and calciferol (vitamin D).
3. Buy organic only.
Buying and eating fruits and vegetables is much more important than organic or traditional ones. Researchers have found no evidence that organic produce is either healthier in terms of nutrition or that eating organic is better for long-term health.
It is certainly known: a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is good for everyone. Even the environmental working group best known for its list of dirty dozens said, “EWG always recommends eating fruits and vegetables, even traditional cultivation, instead of processed foods and other unhealthy alternatives.” Therefore, buy produce you can afford and provide it frequently.
4. Schedule a “cheat” date.
I am not a fan of the term “cheating” when it comes to eating. The same goes for the phrase “I’m good,” “I’m bad,” or “I’m on a diet.” A diet that is restricted enough to require you to eat all the foods you are not normally allowed to have is not sustainable in the long term. It will lead you to failure. It drives you straight towards the very food you are trying to limit yourself and the very food you are trying to limit.
It’s okay to plan special meal opportunities, like a trip to an ice cream shop with your kids over the weekend. But it’s not because you’re “cheating” or “bad.”
Get more: I’ve been on a diet. This is what happened.
5. Switch to sea salt to reduce sodium.
By weight, sea salt and regular table salt contain similar amounts of sodium. Types of sea salt with large, coarse granules may contain less sodium per teaspoon, simply because you don’t get much granules in the measuring spoon. While we do it, brown eggs are not better for you than white (they are lying down by a different kind of chicken). White sugar and brown sugar (brown sugar is a simple white sugar with molasses added).
Get more: Is salt bad for you? This is the surprising truth.
6. Do not eat it white.
This seems to be what people are hearing from family doctors, and probably suggests cutting out bread and pasta to lose weight. But that’s not great advice. It is true that pigments that give color to plant foods have a quality of health protection. However, white fruits and vegetables actually contain beneficial compounds as well. Some people consider foods that are nutritionally weak, like white potatoes (which are actually high in vitamin C and fiber) and celery (there are decent amounts of vitamin C and folic acid).
And while white bread and white pasta are less nutrient-free than whole grain counterparts, they certainly don’t have any nutrients. So, if your child is stuck with white bread and pasta, don’t worry, as they are still getting nourished in the dish.
7. Do not eat processed foods.
Many advice about processed foods, such as “While avoiding those in the packaging,” is unrealistic. Just like! It’s not possible unless you live on a farm and spend the whole day in the kitchen. In fact, most foods are treated in some way, including many healthy staples, as the processing involves canning, freezing and chopping.
A more accurate and useful way to think about food is the degree of treatment they have undergone. Ultra-processed foods contain a lot of ingredients such as dyes, stabilizers, emulsifiers and free of untreated foods (such as chicken nuggets, soda, boxed cereals). They tend to be high in calories, low in nutrients, and related to some health risks. So it makes sense to eat less of them.
Get more: You don’t need to avoid processed foods. Instead, this is what to do.
