Top tips you definitely don’t want to follow…

Dodgy diet and fatuous fitness advice busted.

"January, sick and tired, you've been hanging on me
You make me sad with your eyes
You're telling me lies"

Last night I was having dinner with a mate of mine, he was telling me about the great advice his wife received from a colleague at work, it was this: any time you eat something naughty (a doughnut, in this case) just have a glass of water after and it cancels all the badness out.

Great. That’s me out of a job then. Nutrition problems solved.

Or maybe not.

This got me thinking about all the bad advice you get and further to my 10 fat loss tips post yesterday, here’s 10 tips I have found around the web that you would be a fool to follow…..

1. Drink 5 liters or more of water each day – this helps flush your body of fat.

WHAT THE F…?!

Hear me now: This. Is. A. Lie.

Hydration is of course important but 1) too much water is not good for you and 2) no,  it won’t flush out the fat from your body. It simply won’t.

2. Just eat fruit for fat loss

Right, this and any extreme diet is not going to work. Sorry. Yes, you may loose some weight but no, you won’t keep it off and in the long run these crash, fad or extreme diets don’t work. You end up fatter than when you started.

3. Skip the weight training, it will bulk you up and when you stop it will turn to fat.

Ladies: you won’t get huge weight training, you will speed up your metabolic rate, using up more calories and potentially burning a lot more fat, you will also improve many many facets of your health like bone density.

Gents: just lift, it’s good for you but remember to squat – ladies don’t like the lightbulb look.

Oh and the biochemical pathway from muscle (protein) to fat only really works on paper. That muscle it won’t turn to fat, I did a biochem degree, I guarantee it.

4. Decrease your fat intake – try for no more than 20 grams per day.

Oh please! ‘The 1970′s are on the phone, they want their dietary recommendations back’ Fat doesn’t make you fat, eating the wrong things makes you fat. Fats are very important for health but concentrate on your whole diet and getting plenty of omega three fats and monounsaturated fats.

5. Concentrate on long steady cardio

Exercise, any exercise will help burn calories but long easy cycles or walks are an incredibly round about way to lose fat, they simply aren’t effective given the time they consume. Weight training, intervals etc. are all very effective for fat loss, more so that long stead (boring) cardio.

6. Consume lots of whole grain based foods

This – like the ‘reduce the fat’ tip – is a little out-dated and also ignores the whole diet. Too much of any calorie containing food will lead to you gaining weight.

7. Don’t eat that late night snack – Try not to eat for at least 2 hours before going to bed.

Unless it effects your sleep then it really doesn’t matter. You MAY want to reduce or eliminate the carbohydrate content of late night meals due to the changes in insulin sensitivity through the day but veggies, lean meats and a little healthy fat is still on the menu if you wish.

8. Listen to your body – your body will tell you when it is full, hungry, stressed, tired. Learn the signs and obey what your body is telling you.

Unfortunately, though this sounds nice in a -  spiritual/natural/primal/fill in the blank – type way, the effect of food processing (e.g. loss of fibre) and also modern life with all the stress and time issues that go with it means that our bodies either don’t or can’t send us the correct signals, or if they do we don’t listen. Cut the stress (exercise, meditate, draw up a to-do list and sleep) and eat the right foods (whole foods rich in nutrients and fibre) and then you might be getting closer.

9. Do 1000 sit-ups every day for that 6 pack

No, this isn’t going to a) give you a 6-pack and b) make you slimmer. It might damage your back, it certainly will be a waste of time. Fat loss is a whole body issue: diet, exercise, lifestyle.

10. Cleanse and detoxify. ‘Rid your body of harmful toxins and chemicals, while allowing it to function normally with this detox kit, only £29.99′.

Do I even have to talk about this? Your liver and kidneys have evolved over millions of years to handle this job. They are much much more effective than any detox kits or detox diet products humans can come up with. Oh, the hubris…

Anyway, support their proper function by ensuring your health and make their life a little easier by not ‘toxing up’ in the first place. How? The answer to both parts is the same: eat whole foods, drink water, exercise and relax.

There you have it, tips to ignore and the reasons why. Remember there’s a lot of so-called experts on the web trying to push their view but take it with a pinch of salt and always look for reasons behind the information.