5 Myths About Healthy Eating

By Brett Blumenthal, excerpted from “Get Real and STOP Dieting!”

Recently, I was having a discussion with my friend who claimed that eating healthy and dieting are the same thing. Ouch! If that is true, then I must have been on a diet my whole life! How awful! The fact of the matter is, that healthy eating and dieting are two very different things. But, this conversation made me realize that healthy eating is really misunderstood and there’s a chance most people have acquired some preconceived ideas about healthy eating and what it actually entails. As a result, I was inspired to address some misconceptions and put them to rest.

Misconception 1: If you eat healthy, you must be on a diet. This one never fails to amaze me! Too often, the word “diet” is confused with the concept of dieting. Most people equate dieting with deprivation, especially as related to foods they love. Whether you are at your ideal weight or trying to lose weight, eating healthy is NOT dieting. It IS eating a healthy diet, however, which is a proactive lifestyle choice. If you want to eat healthy, you are choosing to do so. You choose to optimize the way you eat to look and feel your best.

Misconception 2: Eating healthy is boring, tastes awful and is never satisfying. Truth be told, eating healthy can taste better…can be wonderfully varied…and can fill you up for longer periods of time than food that is unhealthy. Many individuals who make a long-term switch to a healthier diet swear that they don’t miss the unhealthy foods they once ate. Some actually find them distasteful and unsatisfying! As you eat higher quality foods, your cravings for those that are bad for you and lack nutritional value will diminish.

Misconception 3: There is a secret to weight loss. There is absolutely no secret, no magic pill and no trick to losing weight. You are an individual with individual needs. As a result, fad diets and “secret weight-loss programs” may work for some, but not necessarily for others. Even still, those that find that these fad diets work…only do in the short term. Anything that seems too good to be true, often is.

Next: 2 more myths about healthy eating