Healthcast 669 - Five More Myths about Weight Loss and Your Health

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The second set of myths about weight loss involve what we have been told by our federal government through the FDA and surgeon general, that is believed by most of us, but the motivation of the government is not generally for your well-being.

Myth #7 Salt is bad for you, and you should limit your intake of salt to minimal amounts.

A large study found that eating less than 3 grams of salt a day increases one’s mortality by 25% when compared with moderate intake.  It is a fact that salt is vital to life, this contradicts the AHA who preaches that a low salt diet is what is required for health.

Myth #8. Replacing hormones at menopause, estradiol and testosterone, will cause women to gain weight.

The advent of menopause changes a woman’s metabolism and makes every woman in industrialized nations insulin resistant which slows their metabolism and causes women to gain fat and lose muscle which lowers the metabolic rate even lower because muscle mass burns 90% of our calories, and as it shrinks the Basic metabolic rate drops.

The only way to counteract this cataclysmic change is to replace estradiol and testosterone in a bio-identical and non-oral delivery system (pellets, patches, topical applications and vaginal tabs.  Even with sex hormone replacement, insulin resistance is

Still a factor in weight gain, so a low carb, high protein diet and medical treatment with Metformin, or Wegovy or Mounjaro may be necessary to regain ideal weight after menopause.

Myth #9 Milk products are bad for you, and you should take them out of your diet.

Milk is not metabolized in the same way and does not have the same metabolic effects as milk products like yogurt, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and all cheeses. The majority of Americans can tolerate, and even need milk products as a valuable source of protein.  There is a small minority of people who cannot tolerate milk products, and even fewer who respond to milk products with inflammation. If you do not have GI symptoms, or joint aches when you eat milk products then you are not necessarily healthier to cut them out of your diet.

Not only is milk good for most Americans, but it has been proven to decrease oxidative stress and inflammation….the very things it is accused of increasing!

Myth #10 Skim milk is better for everyone than whole milk, and those people on a diet should opt for skim milk.

This myth is born from the myth that we should eat low fat diets to lose weight. It is a fact that Whole milk has more fat than skim milk, but skim milk is higher in carbohydrate, is generally consumed in larger amounts and is not as satisfying as whole milk.

Skim milk is 55% carbohydrate/43%protein/5% fat while whole milk is 50% fat/20% protein and 30% carbohydrate. Unfortunately, the processes we use to make milk safe to drink (Pasturization and Homogenation) remove the necessary enzymes (Lipases, and Lactase) that help humans tolerate lactose sugar in milk.  The process of skimming milk removes the Vitamin D and A that are in unprocessed milk.

If you can drink milk, choose smaller volumes of whole milk, not skimmed, if you like milk products like listed above, then add them to your high protein diet.  A 64 million person- year study recently revealed that whole milk drinkers, milk product eater had a significant decrease in all-cause mortality. Skim milk drinkers did not have a decrease in all cause mortality.

Myth #11 Cutting animal products in your diet will decrease your cholesterol and therefore prevent heart attacks.

So why do we follow fads? I believe it is because we are human and we look for the easiest path to a goal, and easy diets appeal to most of us who want to lose weight, however losing weight is complex and involves a good medical based plan and a change in your lifestyle. Your plan should start with seeking the right kind of medical advice that fits the diet to your blood work, medical history and in some cases your genetics.