The diet industry is forever growing and feeding global public false hope daily. It is people’s jobs in this industry to lie, elevate rumours off of very little evidence and to promote products targeted at people’s laziness in hope of weight loss that, quite frankly, do nothing. Sarah Brealey reports in Heart Matters: “The big winner is the UK diet industry, which is worth an estimated £2bn a year…the UK free-from market doubled in value between 2009 and 2014 and is predicted to keep growing significantly”.
This supports the idea that the industry is expanding the more that diet culture promotes only one correct body type and diet. Over the past years of the thriving industry, many diet myths have arisen which gain belief and are suddenly perceived as true. This can clearly be hazardous as you can probably imagine. Get a clearer grip on the topic in Debunking Diets: 3 Myths You Probably Believe but Shouldn’t!
1. Diet “Less Calories, Better Results”
Possibly being the most believed myth, this isn’t exactly true. In the short term, yes, less calories will result in weight loss. However, this chain-like reaction will only develop into an unhealthy obsession with calorie counting (considered ‘disordered eating’), setting lower targets for yourself and eventually putting your body into starvation mode. In this case it’s extremely likely that one will binge eat purely because you’re malnourished and surprisingly quickly, the weight you worked so hard to lose is regained, then some! Therefore, an extreme drop in dietary calories is not a sustainable way to lose weight. The NHS mentions that “generally, the recommended daily calorie intake is 2,000 calories a day for women and 2,500 for men”.
2. A Healthy Lifestyle is More Expensive
Often people take a quick, snap judgement of healthy diets. They see the fancy packaging and the prices and immediately decide that the healthier choice isn’t for them. Healthy food choices are not all expensive; fresh fruit, veg and grains can be bought cheaply, especially when avoiding branded items. It’s often forgotten that canned fruit and vegetables count as well and methods such as batch cooking saves money and energy as well as time.
3. “Food-Favourites”
No foods can actually help you to burn fat. The important thing is the quantity of calories, rather than eating specific foods that are thought to have special properties. Sticking to a regular, balanced diet is the optimum you can do for your body. The healthiest way to lose weight, if this is the desired outcome, is to have a balance of exercise and a good diet. It’s not categorically proven that specific foods or food groups will speed this process up any further.
