5 Misconceptions to avoid about Natural Diet Planning | MusclePost Fitness Guide

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Taking care of our diet prior to the workout we do, is the most essential step to body-building or any other fitness activity we do. Having a better knowledge and understanding of what we need in our food is sometimes a tricky process. Anything in our natural diet chart comes with a variety of nutritional as well as anti-nutrition factors which are to be studied on priority by a consumer in order to take care of their transformation goals.

Most of the time, newcomers in the bodybuilding sport keep their focus revolving around a 'more protein and less fat intake' diet to build muscles and lose fat for a hyper-physique, however, they ignore the other nutritional component in their food like carbs, glycogen, saturated fats, etc which if taken in an unbalanced amount, can directly affect your progress.

Similarly, there are misconceptions about several nutrition sources among the newcomers, which again is going to affect the diet, which has a much greater role in any of the sport you are involved in.  

Do check the 5 misconceptions about food listed below and if you find any contradictory statement, please propose an argument in the comment box. 

1. Peanut butter is a better protein-supplement than peanuts.

If you google about the protein value in both peanuts and peanut butter, it will be 26 grams of protein per 100 grams of peanut which is 1g more than peanut butter(25g in 100g of quantity) which is an extracted data of USDA. 

Apart from protein, peanut has low saturated fats i.e. 7 grams that peanut butter(10 grams) in a  100g quantity comparison which makes 'raw peanut' a little better choice because saturated fats are not good for your health. It is also not a better lean source of protein than peanuts because it has a greater carbohydrate value. 

More nutrients like dietary fiber, potassium, iron, etc are having a slightly larger value in raw peanuts which makes it a better choice. Also, peanut comes way cheaper than peanut butter. 

Advantage of Peanut butter: You can use it as an alternative to milk butter in order to cut a large number of unhealthy fats present in the milk butter.  

2. Carbohydrates increase fat. 

Take this very straight concept into the mind:  Carbohydrates are the main source of energy in your body which further breaks into glycogen, starch, and dietary fiber in the body. The amount of carbs intake actually depends on how much energy is being utilized by the consumer in any activity performed for the whole day. 

Talks like rice promote fat in the body is a myth because rice doesn't even contain 1 percent of any fat in it. If you're putting a good amount of work into exercising or possibly into your 9 to 5 job or anything, a good amount of carbs are essential in your diet. 

Essential to Understand: Carbohydrates will only have their reverse effects when you aren't utilizing the energy you consumed. Sitting all day long without much physical activity will lead to your carbs intake getting stored as fat.

3. Eat after 8 pm and you'll gain unwanted fat.

Talking about myself, I have a very bad habit of late-night eating and sleeping, but I never felt getting a bulked-up belly or anything that has been said about this. Moreover, it depends on an individual based on body metabolism. 

If you follow the rule of your last meal before 8 pm, that is good for you, however, the advice is misleading at a point. In actuality, what we eat has a more dominant principle than when we eat. 

A 2008 research examined that people with the habit of taking late-night meals actually tend to consume more calories than their body needs. And that is where the problems start to arise. Also, it surely depends on what you eat based on healthy and unhealthy choices. 

 

4. Skip a meal, as a weight-losing activity. 

Keeping yourself hungry and eating a lot afterward, won't help you unless you are balancing your calorie intake with the amount of burning.

Sometimes skipping a meal results in slowing down of metabolism i.e. the ability of food breakdown in the body. This may cause a person to gain weight instead of losing. It may lead to tiredness, anxiety, and other complications triggered by hunger. Instead of this, you can balance your food to a low-calorie diet in order to balance other nutrients and keep your energy level good. 

 
5. Eating Low-fat food helps you lose weight. 

Read the 2nd & 4th point again and you can reconsider your thoughts about this one. Eating extra calories or carbs without much physical activity is not going to leave any better impression on the results. Also, Fats are an essential component of your diet whether you are an athlete or a beginner.

Yes, not all fats are bad for your health. Unsaturated fats are healthy for you in moderation whereas saturated and trans fat have a poor reputation in the diet. 

Read the article about the same here: Not all Kinds of Fat are Bad For Your Health