It’s pretty ironic that a quote about the truth falling behind a lie is attributed to the wrong person, but I guess it’s not very surprising! This kind of thing happens in every aspect of life, but something about the health industry has it perpetuated with myths and in some cases just blatant lies. There’s a reason behind both.

Firstly, the human body is a pretty complex organism, there multiple branches of science that dive into trying to understand just singular aspects. There are even non-human aspects to the human body that make it more complex like gut-bacteria, which is another rabbit hole to fall into. It’s not unusual for someone to read some research on a certain topic, talk or create a post about it, and from there on its a game of internet Chinese Whispers, over time, this leads to an overly simplified version of the original piece of information, as well as lacking context and the evidence no longer supporting the claims.

A good example of this is body types. Ectomorph, Mesomorph and Endomorph – the idea sounds promising, that there are specific differences between these body types that will have an effect on training and diet. The thing is, these were originally proposed by a psychologist and his research was deemed incorrect following peer review and thrown out. The idea of Somatotypes found its way into the health and fitness industry instead as a way to label body types. The actual usefulness of these labels is completely lacking, as they are simply a category and not a set point, someone described as an Ectomorph (thin build), can over time become a Mesomorph (medium build), and the reverse is also true. They have zero influence on training and diet protocols.

So, information can be misinterpreted innocently, following some studies it can be deemed useful / not useful and left aside or applied. Following on from this leads to snake-oil marketing tactics, a popular one currently is taking the above concept of Somatotypes and asking building to take a body type quiz, after going through this quiz, they are sold a “body type” training programme that will work specifically for them. This is not unusual to see with supplements as well, where they are sold with substantial claims like magic fat burning properties from strangely named plants, in some cases these may be backed by “research” – studies conducted by the supplement company, or genuine research, but the sold dosage is so low it will have zero benefit. 

Let’s get on to some myths!

• Carbs or more accurately, insulin causes fat gain. – Nope… There’s a current proposed theory called the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model, the idea behind is that eating a high amount of carbohydrates leads to an increase in stored fat. The issue with this is that there is zero scientific evidence to support it, as well as plenty of evidence to disprove it. The main issue with this idea is that recently, while sugar intake has decreased, the obesity trend has not, ruling out insulin fairies as the main driver of obesity.

• High Protein diets are bad for your kidneys. – This is true unless you have normal functioning kidneys… then it’s not. Higher protein intake is correlated with a lower weight, better meal satiety (feeling full), more muscle mass and greater bone density.

• Eating fat will make you fat. – If this were true it would be a huge issue, individual macronutrients get a bad name, but without eating an excess of calories, you won’t magically gain fat.

• Don’t let your knees go past your toes when you squat. – I’m not entirely sure where this originated, but it’s wrong on so many levels it’s painful. You can test it by standing in front of a wall, placing your toes right up to the wall and trying to squat, once your knees hit the wall, you’ll be stuck for range. This is the point where your knees do in fact travel over your toes, its both necessary and safe, not doing it is more likely to cause an injury.

• You can target where you lose fat. As nice as that would be, it’s a myth and often a marketing tactic. Your body can’t specifically target fat anywhere, it’s gradually broken down based on genetic/gender distribution.

• Cardio for weight loss. – Cardio can supplement weight loss, but the vast majority of people would benefit from fixing their nutrition and doing some weight training before ever looking into cardio.

That’s the list for today! Have you ever heard one of these? Let me know on facebook!