Nutrition facts that should be common sense, but aren’t
- You don’t need to eat every two to three hours
- Take news headlines with a grain of salt
- Eggs are super healthy
- Sugary drinks are the most fattening product in modern diet
- Artificial trans fats are unsuitable for human consumption
- Meat doesn’t rot your colon
- Low-fat doesn’t mean healthy
- Fruit juices aren’t great
- It’s important to feed your gut bacteria
- Organic or gluten-free doesn’t mean healthy
- Cholesterol isn’t the bad guy
- Weight loss supplements rarely work
- Junk food can be addictive
- Be cautious with the scale
- You don’t need to count calories
- People with type 2 diabetes shouldn’t follow a high-carb diet
- Never trust health claims on packaging
- Neither fat nor carbs make you fat
- Avoid certain vegetable oils
- Don’t blame new health problems on old foods
- Cereal is sugar in milk
- Health is about more than your weight
- If the food you are eating was made in a factory, it’s usually not good for you
- You can’t out-exercise a bad diet
- If you’re trying to lose weight, stop weighing yourself and start measuring your body fat
- There is no miracle food
- Crash dieting isn’t the answer
- There is such a thing as “skinny fat”
- Cooking with spices can help you get healthier
- There is no one-size-fits-all diet

Due to social media and a large amount of self-proclaimed health “experts,” there is a plethora of information regarding nutrition available to us nowadays. Unfortunately, it’s often confusing, contradictory, or even just plain wrong.
It can be frustrating and discouraging to filter through all of this information, resulting in some people just giving up. Sadly, a lot of reliable facts about nutrition have been forgotten due to the large influx of inaccurate facts. So, to help you figure out what’s actually true, here are 30 nutrition facts that should be common sense, but aren’t.
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You don’t need to eat every two to three hours
Some people believe that having smaller, more frequent meals may help them lose weight. However, some studies suggest that meal size and frequency have no effect on body weight. Therefore, it’s better to simply eat when you’re hungry.

Take news headlines with a grain of salt
Mainstream media is one of the reasons behind many circulating nutrition myths and confusions. These stories often get a lot of attention, but when looking closely you’ll see that they’re often taken out of context from higher-quality studies.
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Eggs are super healthy
Eggs are one of the healthiest and most nutritious foods you can eat. Often getting a bad rep for the yolk’s high cholesterol, eggs have no proven effect on heart disease in otherwise healthy individuals.

Sugary drinks are the most fattening product in modern diet
Excess added sugar in sugary drinks can be detrimental to our health. The problem with liquid sugar is that the brain doesn’t compensate for the calories by eating less of other foods. This means your brain doesn’t register these calories, making you eat more.
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Artificial trans fats are unsuitable for human consumption
The production of trans fats involves high pressure, heat, and hydrogen gas in the presence of a metal catalyst. They’re unhealthy and linked to a drastic increase in heart disease risk.

Meat doesn’t rot your colon
Your body is well-equipped to digest and absorb all the important nutrients found in meat. The protein gets broken down in your stomach by stomach acids. Then, digestive enzymes break down the rest in your small intestine.
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Low-fat doesn’t mean healthy
Several studies suggest that it neither works for weight loss nor disease prevention. Foods that are naturally low-fat, like fruits and vegetables, are great. But processed foods that are labeled low-fat are usually loaded with unhealthy ingredients.

Fruit juices aren’t great
Many people believe that fruit juices are healthy, as they come from fruit. And while fresh fruit juice may provide some of the antioxidants found in fruit, it actually contains just as much sugar as soft drinks. This is because juice offers no chewing resistance and fibers.
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It’s important to feed your gut bacteria
Known as your gut flora, the bacteria in your intestine affect everything from body weight to brain function. Therefore, it’s important to include plenty of fiber in your diet to feed the beneficial bacteria in your intestine.

Organic or gluten-free doesn’t mean healthy
Just because something is organic or gluten-free, doesn’t mean that it’s healthy. For example, you can make junk foods from organic ingredients just as well as non-organic ones.
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Cholesterol isn’t the bad guy
When people talk about bad and good cholesterol, they’re really referring to the proteins that carry cholesterol around in your blood. Bottom line is, cholesterol isn’t the enemy on its own.

Weight loss supplements rarely work
There are many different weight loss supplements on the market, and they almost never work. In the end, the best way to lose weight, and keep it off, is to adopt a healthy lifestyle change.
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Junk food can be addictive
Through clever manipulation of the chemistry, taste, and texture of foods, food scientists have been able to make food so rewarding that your brain gets flooded with dopamine. For this reason, some people can completely lose control over junk food.

Be cautious with the scale
The number isn’t a reflection of your health. Your weight can fluctuate wildly, even in the course of a single day, and only gives you a small part of the picture.
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You don’t need to count calories
While calories are important, you don’t need to monitor everything that enters your body and track them. For example, eating more protein has been shown to lead to significant weight loss, without restricting calories.

People with type 2 diabetes shouldn’t follow a high-carb diet
People with type two diabetes are resistant to insulin, and any carbs they eat will cause a big rise in blood sugar levels. If anyone benefits from a low-carb diet, it is people with diabetes.
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Never trust health claims on packaging
Food companies make some pretty incredible claims on their packages. You can find many unhealthy junk foods with these health claims, such as “whole-grain” or “low-fat.” These labels are used to trick people into thinking that they’re making the right choice, so don’t buy into it.

Neither fat nor carbs make you fat
As with almost everything in nutrition science, the issue depends on the context. Both fat and carbs can be fattening, but it all depends on the rest of your diet and your lifestyle.
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Avoid certain vegetable oils
Certain vegetable oils, like sunflower, soybean, and corn oil, contain large amounts of omega-6 fatty acids. A high intake of these increases low-grade inflammation in your body. They also contribute to oxidative stress, which can potentially lead to heart disease.

Don’t blame new health problems on old foods
When the obesity epidemic started around 1980, some scientists started blaming foods like red meat, eggs, and butter. But these foods had been a part of the human diet for centuries. Therefore, it’s more sensible to suspect new foods, such as processed foods, trans fat, added sugar, refined grains, and vegetable oils.
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Cereal is sugar in milk
Cereal should be treated more like a dessert than a breakfast meal. Cutting it out may be one of the healthiest things you can do for your body.

Health is about more than your weight
Health goes way beyond weight gain or loss. Many obese people are metabolically healthy, while many normal-weight people have the same metabolic problems associated with obesity.
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If the food you are eating was made in a factory, it’s usually not good for you
Many people struggle to understand what foods are actually healthy for them. One strategy is to think: if the food was made in a factory, try to avoid it.

You can’t out-exercise a bad diet
No matter how much you exercise, you simply can’t out-exercise a bad diet. Exercise is still very important, but you have to include a good diet if you want to see any changes and remain healthy.
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If you’re trying to lose weight, stop weighing yourself and start measuring your body fat
Measuring your body weight is a notoriously inaccurate way to measure fat loss. Once you start losing fat mass from exercise and dietary changes, your body compensates by increasing muscle mass. For this reason, you need to measure your body fat percentage.

There is no miracle food
There is no one food that will solve all your problems or instantly achieve all your goals. A healthy diet has a variety of foods from the different food groups.
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Crash dieting isn’t the answer
A crash diet highly restricts intake and is designed to get dramatic results quickly. However, people often return right back to their old eating habits as soon as the program ends.

There is such a thing as “skinny fat”
Skinny fat refers to a condition where people can have all the metabolic problems that overweight people have, while still having a normal BMI or weight. This is why you can’t assume someone is healthy just based on their weight.
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Cooking with spices can help you get healthier
There are many healthy spices, for example turmeric has been shown to reduce inflammation and prevent diabetes.

There is no one-size-fits-all diet
Each person is different regarding where they store fat, how easily they build muscles, and so much more. With so many differences at the biochemical level, it’s no wonder that the same type of diets don’t work for everyone.
Sources: (Healthline 1 and 2)
See also: Health mistakes you didn’t know you’re making
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