Top Nutrition Myths (Part 2️⃣)

July 26, 2021

Top 3 Nutrition Myths Part 2:

Salt is bad for you
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day
Eggs are bad for you

First Myth: Salt

Salt is bad for you

Some myths contain a ‘grain of truth’… pun intended! There are a lot of issues with salt especially excessive amounts of it. You’ve got high blood pressure, kidney damage and there’s also a risk of declining mental health. But salt in your diet is an essential mineral.

You need salt for a lot of your bodily functions. If problems occur, that just means you’ve consumed too much sodium. If you’re eating out all the time or buying take out, they usually load these with a lot of salt (not to mention the other stuff like fat and MSG). But salt itself is not unhealthy.

Debunking: Salt is bad for you

As a matter of fact, you can get some minerals with salt. In my case, because I don’t typically eat too high of a sodium diet, I actually have to supplement salt into my water to help me hydrate especially when I’m fasting.

There are different types of salt: Himalayan pink salt, sea salt, etc. that have things like iron in it that can help you. There are many different types of salts that have different minerals. And this is what you actually need salt for… the minerals!

It is just excessive amounts of it that’s bad for you. If you’re already eating tons of processed foods, takeout or anything like that, that’s when it’s bad for you. I want to debunk this myth, salt is NOT bad for you… It’s excessive salt consumption that’s bad for you!

Second Myth: Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day

When people initially work with us, we try to make sure we get in three whole meals and two snacks a day just to not rock the boat too much. But breakfast itself is not necessarily something that you need to always have.

As you focus a little bit more on your health and fitness, it will eventually get to the point wherein breakfast just becomes a meal. It’s literally a feeding. The reason why we recommend people early on in their weight loss journey to have breakfast is because it gives them a good level of calories throughout the day but not too many spikes.

What ends up happening for most people, when they skip breakfast, is that they get super hungry. They have a huge lunch or get a take out because they didn’t get to prepare their meal beforehand, then get a super spike in sugar and insulin levels and get super tired after. This causes issues. After that they don’t eat anything until dinner and end up super starving again… then the cycle continues.

Those are the things we want to avoid. That’s why we usually recommend breakfast when people start off their program. But eventually, breakfast just becomes a meal. It’s just feeding and it’s only there to support your goals.

Debunking: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day (You shouldn’t skip breakfast)

Initially, the goal is to restrict calories to get a deficit. We eventually get to look at things like proteins, carbs, fats, and then at meal timing. This is one tool that we use. If we compress them to an eating window, you can get better results. Some people do well on a time restricted eating window.

You should have breakfast when you’re just starting out. But you don’t necessarily have to have breakfast in the long run. In fact, I haven’t had breakfast in 8 or 9 months now because I like to ‘time restrict eating’. I like to be in a 6-hour eating window. I fast for 18 hours and eat within 6 hours. But if I want to gain weight, I have to eat breakfast because it gives me more time to get in all the calories I need.

Third Myth: Eggs

Eggs are bad for you

I remember I saw a Simpsons episode where they had an egg mascot and it would run away because people always say “Hey! Eggs are bad for you! Eggs are bad for you!”. A lot of it came from the media. People saw that eggs have cholesterol in it and then they vilified cholesterol as the cause why people are getting fat. But eggs are one of the most perfect foods in terms of nutritional value.

Debunking: Eggs are bad for you.

You can get fats, proteins and carbs from eggs. Eggs are really essential. A good way to have eggs is for example: hard boiled eggs. If you’re on the go or on a picnic, you can just have hard boiled egg with some salt and pepper. Again, it’s one of the most perfect foods you can have. It’s better than grabbing takeout or McDonald’s because it has a great source of protein, fats and tons of other nutrients as well.

The problem is if you are eating excessive calories. Eggs then are not good because the egg yolk adds in the extra fat and cholesterol that could cause issues for you. So, eggs are not bad for you. They’re really good and one of my favourite whole foods to eat.