The Gift of THE TRUTH

WELCOME to Day 3 of the 12-Days of Holiday Joy! Each day I will share with you valuable health, fitness, nutrition and/or wellness information and give lucky winners of the draw an amazing gift!

Today I give you the gift of THE TRUTH!

With so much conflicting information in the health and fitness industry about what is healthy and good for us and what is not today I will bust some myths about various health and wellness topics.

Myth #1: Milk does a body good. North American governments will tell you that you must drink more milk or take calcium supplements but there is no scientific evidence to prove that by ingesting more of these things that you will have stronger bones. As a matter of fact, there seems to be more evidence to point to the opposite... that drinking milk and taking calcium supplements does not support bone building and in some research it even shows that populations with greater dairy consumption have a higher risk of fractures. Check out this interesting video by Dr. Gregor: http://nutritionfacts.org/video/is-milk-good-for-our-bones/

Myth #2: The chemical tryptophan in turkey makes you sleepy. As the holiday season approaches you are probably dreaming of the delightful nap you take after a delicious holiday meal. However, it's not the tryptophan that makes you sleepy. Tryptophan is an amino acid that helps you relax but researchers say that it's more likely the overindulgence of carbohydrates, fat, alcohol and the the overconsumption of food. Want to read more about this? Check out this article: http://www.livescience.com/41543-thanksgiving-myth-busted-eating-turkey-won-t-make-you-sleepy.html

Myth #3: Low carb diets are necessary to lose weight. Can a low carb diet help you lose weight? For sure! If you remove a macronutrient, like carbohydrates, you reduce your caloric intake and will lose weight. The problem is, studies show that low carb diets impair arterial function. This means that low carb diets may place you at greater risk of cardiovascular disease. Check out Dr. Gregors video on the topic: http://nutritionfacts.org/video/low-carb-diets-and-coronary-blood-flow/

Myth #4: Taking vitamins will keep you healthy. Much research has been done on the effectiveness of vitamin supplementation and the results show that they just don't work and in many cases cause more harm than good. The issue is that often vitamins are derived from synthetic and isolated ingredients that our body cannot process. Studies have shown that whole food supplements, made from real food, may be necessary to bridge the gap between the nutrients we are eating and what we actually need. Check out this website that talks about my favourite whole food supplements: http://rolsen.canada.juiceplus.com/

Myth #5: Sugar causes diabetes. Research shows that it isn't necessarily sugar that causes diabetes but actually too much saturated fat. Saturated fat has been shown to destroy beta cells in the pancreas and insulin resistance. Therefore, cutting down on saturated fat (animal fat) will reduce your risk of diabetes. Check out this video by Dr. Gregor: http://nutritionfacts.org/video/what-causes-diabetes/

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