You likely hear different tips and tricks to lose weight all the time. Cut out carbs, eat low sugar, or stick with raw foods are just some of the tips we come across daily.
Some of these tips are indeed good for managing your diabetes, but others are flat out wrong. Here are the top five that you should be wary of:
1. A low carb diet is good for you.
Listen, carbs are in virtually everything. A low carb diet is not good for you and, in fact, would be detrimental to your overall health. Our bodies depend on carbs for energy and without energy, it cannot perform its basic functions.
What this ‘tip’ actually means is that a diet low in refined carbohydrates is good for you. Skip the pastries, the crackers, the breads, and the excessive pasta in order to reap the benefits of a “low carb” diet. Otherwise, eat heaps of fruits and vegetables, which are carbohydrates too.
2. Detox to clean your body.
The idea that we can ‘detox’ our bodies is not a new one. However, a week-long juice fast is not the way to do it. Instead, consider a lifestyle change your own personal detox. Rid your diet of food that doesn’t directly benefit you and switch to water. These two moves, alone, will provide you with the greatest detox of all. And it will last long term, unlike the trendy juice detox.
3. Fat is bad for you.
Wait, what? Fat is most definitely not bad for you. In fact, we need fat in order to function! Fat is what makes our brains work faster and our hearts pump more smoothly. Fat is what lubes up our insides and gets things moving.
Saturated fat and trans fats are the culprits behind this myth. Not sure how to avoid these ‘bad’ fats? Stick with whole foods, such as plants, to get your daily fat needs. Avoid anything fried, fake, or animal-based. Stick with avocados, nuts and seeds, and healthy oils.
4. Sugar is bad for you.
Sugar is not inherently bad for you, but excessive sugar can be. Sugar that is naturally in food, such as with fruits and vegetables, serves as a great source of natural plant-based energy. It comes with lots of fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins and minerals.
Strip your fruits and vegetables of all that good stuff, as is the case with bottled juice, and then sugar becomes problematic. Same with processed sugar, packaged goods, and sweets: this kind of sugar is bad for you.
5. Artificial sweetener is good for you.
Because many people think that sugar is bad for them, they turn to artificial sweeteners. The problem? Those are worse than even sugar!
Artificial sweeteners trick your brain into thinking that you have consumed sugar, so your body gains weight and becomes insensitive to insulin. Ironically, this is what also happens when natural sugar is consumed in excess. Stick to natural sugar instead, just in moderate amounts.
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Belfast Telegraph. URL Link. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
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