1: You can lose weight by keeping a number of calories close to your energy expenditure
True. After 3 or 4 months, we lose as much weight as with a restrictive diet, very low in calories. In the long term, we will lose more weight by preserving more lean mass and reducing the risk of recovery.
“On the other hand, low-calorie diets, not personalized according to morphology, professional and sporting activity, energy expenditure and individual tastes lead to a weakening of basal metabolism, an increase in the risk of deficiency,” a dietary imbalance and a disturbance in eating behavior ”explains Nathalie Négro, dietician and head of the Brides-les-Bains thermal baths nutritional center.
2: There is no food ban when you want to lose weight
True. “There are no foods that make you fat or lose weight: it’s all about the quantities and frequency of consumption of certain foods and our eating habits. “For example, certain sweeter fruits (bananas, grapes, figs, cherries …) can be eaten, even as part of weight loss. It will simply be necessary to ensure that the quantities corresponding to a portion of fruit are respected, ”recalls Nathalie Négro.
The main thing is to keep a balanced diet and not to exceed the caloric rate which allows you to draw on your fat reserves.
“It is quite possible to maintain a healthy diet without giving up the pleasure that certain fatty and / or sweet foods bring us. To do this, it is important to personalize the weight-loss diet, ”explains Nathalie Négro.
3: You can eat certain foods without any restriction
False. First of all, all foods provide calories and we are sometimes far from imagining what they correspond to. For example, 500g of cottage cheese at 0% fat = 220 Kcal = 1.2 croissants.
“In addition, eating without moderation, whatever the food can lead to digestive disorders, can cause deficiencies and can cause eating disorders, such as bulimia”, recalls Nathalie Negro.
4: A vegetarian diet is more balanced than a diet that includes meat
False. Vegetarian food is neither more nor less balanced than a traditional diet. But, as part of a vegetarian diet, be careful to consume legumes and vegetables on a daily basis. cereals. Only two foods of plant origin are an exception because they contain all the essential amino acids, soya and quinoa.
“The nuance between vegetarian diet and vegan is important. In the vegetarian diet, certain products of animal origin are consumed: eggs and dairy products and often also fish and other seafood. This is not the case in the vegan diet, where no food of animal origin is introduced. Vegans run the risk of protein, vitamin B12, zinc, calcium and iron deficiencies, to name only the most obvious, ”recalls Nathalie Négro.
5: It is not recommended to consume fruit at certain times of the day
False. Fruits (2 to 4 per day) can be eaten at any time of the day, whether at the end of a meal, at the beginning or as a snack.
It happens that some people have difficulty digestion with fruit at the end of a meal, but this is rare and should not be generalized.
“This misconception dates from dietetics practiced between the 13th and 18th century: at that time, it was thought that the role of the stomach was to cook food by the internal heat of the body. Since fruit was considered cold food, it took a long time to cook. In order not to disturb their cooking, they should be eaten away from meals and without any other food, or even at the start of a meal (which allowed them to cook longer than other foods). Otherwise, eaten at the end of the meal, they did not have time to cook and came out of the stomach raw. However, we thought at that time that raw vegetables were the source of many diseases, ”explains Nathalie Négro.
6: walking is not physical activity
False. Any muscle movement that increases energy expenditure is considered physical activity. Walking, like gardening or DIY are to be integrated as sports. “From 10 consecutive minutes of walking per day, it helps reduce blood pressure, limit the increase in weight and abdominal perimeter. It also plays a role in the prevention of osteoporosis. To optimize these effects, we recommend 30 minutes of daily practice at a “good” pace, ie at a speed of 5 km / h. The purchase of a pedometer can facilitate the achievement of these objectives ”, explains Nathalie Négro, dietitian and head of the Brides-les-Bains thermal baths nutritional center.
Good daily recommendations are
– Never less than 1,500 steps per day.
– 6,000 steps: so as not to gain weight (for a person who has never put on weight)
– 8,000 steps: so as not to gain weight (for a person who has lost weight)
– 10,000 steps: to help weight loss.
“To increase the number of daily steps, consider taking the stairs rather than the elevator, getting off a bus or metro stop before the one planned, avoiding parking the car just in front of the workplace but a little further and finish walking, walk the dog for 5 more minutes, ”recalls Nathalie Négro.
7: A 33 cl can of soda contains 7 lumps of sugar
True. All sodas are very high in sugar.
“Be careful with Schweppes or Gini type sodas in particular, their bitter flavor is deceptive. They contain the same amount of sugar as the others, even if we don’t feel it the same way! », Recalls Nathalie Négro.
It is recommended not to consume them daily or to eliminate them altogether from our diet. But, for people who really cannot do without them, prefer light sodas: they are sweetened with sucralose, rebaudioside A (extract of the Stevia plant) or with mixtures of different non-caloric sweeteners.
8: Green olives are much lower in calories than black olives
True. The color of the olives depends on their degree of maturity: “black olives are ripe olives with a higher fat concentration than green olives and a lower water concentration” explains Nathalie Négro.
As a result, at equal weight, black olives have more calories:
100 g of green olives = 118 Kcal
100 g of black olives = 293 Kcal.
“Be careful, green olives remain rich in energy and are salty most of the time. This stimulates the appetite, which makes it difficult to manage the quantities ingested, and causes thirst, which is generally not quenched with water but rather with caloric drinks during the aperitif, ”recalls the dietician.
9: You should reduce your water consumption in case of water retention in the tissues
False.
The lack ofwater can promote water retention (the body’s defense mechanism, which will fight against dehydration). In this case, it is therefore necessary to drink regularly and in normal quantities (approximately 1.5 liters, in the form of water, tea, coffee, infusion, etc.).
Physical activity, lymphatic drainage, and eating a low salt diet can help in this situation.
10: Some oils are fatter than others
False. All oils contain 100% fat.
On the other hand, they are distinguished by their vitamin E content (antioxidant: fight against cell aging …) and by fatty acids that compose them. “In order to provide our body with all the fatty acids it needs, it is recommended to vary the oils: olive, walnut, rapeseed, possibly a mixture of oils such as Isio 4 (mixture of 4 oils: rapeseed, seed grape, oleisol, sunflower), ”recalls Nathalie Négro.
Read also:
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