Many people, especially women, live by the principle “beauty requires sacrifice”, so not everyone manages to not only look great, but also have excellent health. It should be noted that in reality it often turns out that almost half of the people are afflicted by enduring myths about health and beauty. For example, glamorous girls drink only green tea, black - no, no! Business ladies start the day with diet cereals, smoke light cigarettes and go to bed on an empty stomach, so that in the morning they can transfer to an exercise bike right out of bed. Why? Because everyone does it, that's what fashion magazines advise. Often we do not think about where the rational grain is in these recommendations, and what turns out to be the real myth. So, how is it really? What is harmful and what is useful?
Myth No. 1: Late dinner leads to excess weight, eating at night is unhealthy.
One in four people in any major city works late or on the night shift, which naturally means eating late. But nutritionists believe that this does not affect the figure in any way, if you do not overeat, do not exceed the daily calorie intake, and if a late dinner is not the only meal of the day. Of great importance is what exactly we eat at night. Sometimes people save the most delicious for the evening, believing that after a working day they deserve a special treat. Basically, these are high-calorie sweets in the form of ice cream or chips with beer. So, the main thing is not when, but how much and what!
With regard to eating at night, one should be guided by the principle: it is harmful to eat less than two hours before bedtime, otherwise the food will not have time to be digested. What if you are an owl? You will have dinner at 12, and go to bed at half past three in the night - and the principle is observed, and you will not have to suffer from hunger. Although in any case, you should not have dinner with pork chop with fried potatoes - consumed even four hours before bedtime, it will attract the attention of the whole body all night; insomnia and a stale head in the morning are provided, and this is certainly harmful.
Myth #2: Sugar makes you fat, but sweeteners don't.
"Substitutes", although few, but still contain calories. And psychologically, it is very easy to “overshoot” the dose with them. In addition, artificial sweeteners increase appetite, their use in large quantities can cause diarrhea. Unless you are a diabetic, for whom the choice between sugar and "substitute" is literally a matter of life and death, it is better not to get carried away with sweeteners.
Myth #3: Live yogurts are the healthiest.
Nobody argues. The whole question is which yogurts are considered "live". Unpasteurized can be considered as such, i.e. made without heat treatment, yogurts, which can be stored only at a low temperature and no more than a week, so that the beneficial bacteria really stay alive. What stands in stores on ordinary shelves for weeks cannot be “alive” in principle.
Myth #4: Muscle turns into fat without exercise.
Those who sweat on the machines in the gym three to four times a week fear that after the end of intensive training, their muscles will begin to degenerate into body fat. Fortunately, this does not happen: muscles are one tissue, denser and more compact in structure, and fat is a completely different one. But the fact that after the cessation of training, the muscles become flabby and lethargic is a fact. By the way, the reverse process is also, alas, impossible. That is, fat does not turn into muscle tissue even under heavy loads. According to instructors, such enhanced training only contributes to pumping up muscles and more active fat burning.
Myth #5: The less we sleep, the more we lose weight.
It looks quite logical. After all, in a dream, our metabolism slows down and less energy is consumed. So, if you sleep less, the fat will disappear faster. Alas, it's just the opposite. If you think that counting calories and exercising against the background of lack of sleep can make extra pounds disappear, then you are clearly mistaken. Scientists believe that proper sleep is an absolutely necessary component of a weight loss program. Researchers from the University of Chicago studied the health status of people deprived of normal sleep, and came to the conclusion that even if we sleep an hour less than we should, this alone can lead to hormonal imbalance. In this case, the level of the hormone leptin (leptin), which signals the brain that the stomach is full, decreases, and the level of the hormone ghrelin (ghrelin), which tells us about hunger, on the contrary, increases. The conclusion is quite obvious: the more we sleep, the less we weigh!
Myth #6: Healthy food is terribly expensive and prepared according to special recipes.
Manufacturers of low-calorie muesli, soy bars, protein shakes, etc. are trying to convince us of this. In fact, this is nothing more than a commercial move. The cost of the initial products is cheap (bran, cereals, honey, etc.), and the calculation is based on our laziness: it’s easier to open the packaging of the finished product than to germinate oats in the kitchen, crush nuts, and pass vegetable puree through a meat grinder three times . We pay not for special utility, but only for saving time.
Myth #7: Sport is health, the more exercise the better.
In fact, in sports, as in any business, everything is good in moderation. Exercising for more than two hours a day wears out joints and ligaments faster, can damage muscles, cause cardiovascular and gastrointestinal problems, and even menstrual irregularities. To withstand exorbitant loads is harmful to health.
Myth number 8: Morning should start with gymnastics
“Now move on to water procedures” - remember? But let's see what we expect from morning exercises? Improving physical fitness, strengthening muscles, vivacity for the whole day? Meanwhile, the brain needs a little more time for the final awakening than the body. Try squatting or jumping "without regaining consciousness" - no benefit, no pleasure. So start the day with water procedures to “turn on”, and then move on to the warm-up.
Myth #9: Running outdoors helps you get healthier.
But where do you find this air if your runs are on the sidewalk along the highway? You breathe deeply, the lungs work .., carefully absorbing all the exhaust gases. Even Americans, who until recently were all fans of jogging (jogging), have lost interest in such a “recovery”. In addition, it turned out that jogging puts too much stress on the joints and too little on the muscles. If you have already found a corner with fresh air, then it is better to either run for real, or just walk fast. So jogging in the city is more harmful than helpful.
Myth #10: Light cigarettes aren't that bad.
They really contain a little less various tars and nicotine. But after all, the body “addicted” to smoking still needs a certain dose of nicotine. The smoker will take his toll, discreetly using not three ordinary cigarettes, but five light ones, and will inhale deeper to “feel”. So "less harmful" cigarettes simply do not exist.
Myth #11: Stress is bad
That is, the news of the death of an American grandfather shortens life, and the document about his millionth inheritance prolongs it. In fact, strong positive experiences shake the body just as much as negative ones, and can lead, for example, to a heart attack. It is not without reason that yoga advises not to give in to emotions at all and treats everything philosophically.
Myth #12: A healthy lifestyle guarantees longevity.
Partly yes. But we should not forget about infections, and about our own genetics, received from our ancestors. Academician Amosov, the Soviet diet and hardening guru, for example, died of heart disease. So a healthy lifestyle is not an end in itself, and rather improves the quality of this very life than its duration.
Myth #13: Memory loss is inevitable
Many scientists believe that a person uses only 10% of the capabilities of the brain, but this is not true. The fact is that a person uses the entire brain, but this does not always happen.
It is important to train the brain. Developing like muscles, the brain forms new neural connections during training. Suitable workouts include playing a musical instrument, doing crossword puzzles, learning a foreign language, and even playing computer games. Indeed, according to new data, an hour of playing on a computer for 40 weeks “rejuvenates” the brain by 10 years.
In addition, it is necessary to dispel another "myth" - the size of the brain has nothing to do with the mental abilities of a person. A striking example of this is Einstein, whose brain size did not go beyond the average.
Myth #14: The slower your metabolism, the fatter you are.
We've all heard about how thin people allegedly won the "biological" lottery because they can eat anything they want without fear of getting fat. However, studies of thin and fat people show that people who have weight problems often have a faster metabolism than thin people. The thing is that obese people tend to have a sedentary lifestyle, which is detrimental to their health. At the same time, overweight is quite easy to deal with. Even just getting up from the table during work, you can increase metabolism by 40%.
Myth #15: Men can drink more alcohol than women.
This is true. Biologically, men are more adapted to drinking alcohol. It's not just that men are bigger, but that they have an additional enzyme in their stomach, which, detecting alcohol, immediately begins to process it. Therefore, only half of the alcohol that a man is able to drink enters the bloodstream. In women, on the contrary, there is little of this enzyme, and more alcohol enters the bloodstream, so they get drunk faster. However, do not forget that drinking alcohol is harmful to health.
Myth #16: Marijuana makes you feel hungry.
It is true that marijuana increases appetite, especially the desire for sweet, quickly digestible foods. The fact is that the drug chemically affects the brain in such a way that interest in food increases. In principle, if marijuana causes hunger, then there is a substance that has the opposite effect, suppressing hunger. In the US, for example, research is underway on a substance called rimonabant, which blocks the same hunger receptors that marijuana stimulates.
Myth #17: A sunscreen will completely protect against skin cancer.
The claim that a powerful sunscreen is all you need for complete sun protection is a myth. So, a level 30 cream will indeed provide sufficient protection, but this protection is only against one type of rays - UVB. UVB are short ultraviolet rays that cause most burns. However, there are other, long rays - UVA, which penetrate deeper under the skin. They lead to the formation of wrinkles and can also cause cancer. Many manufacturers claim that their creams protect against both UVB and UVA. However, due to the lack of clear criteria for evaluating effectiveness, it is difficult to verify this. There are a number of substances that provide effective UVA protection. The three most common are zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, and avobenzone. It is recommended to use products containing the first two substances.
Myth #18: Cholesterol is the main cause of heart disease.
This common statement is absolutely false. The level of cholesterol in the blood is important, but it cannot be used to tell whether a person will have a heart attack. In this sense, primacy belongs to hypertension. Blood pressure can cause holes to form in the arteries. The body repairs these damages with cholesterol. If the cholesterol is healthy, then the holes clog smoothly. However, if the cholesterol is harmful, then a kind of crust forms on the wall of the vessel, which eventually clogs the vessel. This leads to a heart attack. The optimal pressure is 115 to 75, but if it is higher than 140 to 90, then you are already at risk.
Paulo Ubiratan, despite his advanced age and long practice as a doctor, called into question the established opinions about the benefits of maintaining, proper nutrition, exercise and other things that the “Healthy Lifestyle Witnesses” lead ..
Sports are bad for health
In our heart, in the muscles of this organ, a certain supply of contractions is already laid. And by doing the exercises, we harm ourselves, because we waste this reserve in vain. He compares this to the warranty on a car that was driven more than it should be, and when the car no longer starts, it means that it's gone. So it is with man. He also added that professional sports will not lead to anything good for a person.
Do whatever you want
The philosophy of this doctor is as simple as the simplest organism - live for your own pleasure. Chew what you want, drink what you want, make love more often, do not exercise - in general, live in a high and seize the moment. He even gave "iron" arguments, against which it is difficult to object. For example, why do turtles live for 500 years and are so slow at the same time? Why are hares constantly on the move, jumping and running, but live up to 15 years? Or why are killer whales constantly swimming, eating fish and drinking water so fat? And finally, why are postmen not immortal if they constantly go?
Ubiratan is also against vegetarianism and believes that there is nothing criminal in chocolate. If only because chocolate is cocoa, cocoa is useful, because hormones of happiness are produced. He also says that you should not limit yourself to alcohol. His argument: wine is grapes, beer is cereals, brandy is distilled wine (when the liquid from the grapes is removed). This means that it is more beneficial in moderate doses.
But here it is up to you to decide whether to follow his advice or not. The main thing you need to understand is that everything needs a golden mean.
JoInfoMedia journalist Marina Korneva recalls that scientists have found life expectancy depends.
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neurologist, top blogger LJ
A familiar fitness trainer complains that part of his job has become a regular absolution of "dietary sins." Then the clients beg him to allow a chocolate after a workout, as if his wards are three years old and he is their dad. They are begging to “give blessings” to intuitive eating on vacation and not counting proteins, fats and carbohydrates in an all-inclusive hotel. Then they ask to forgive the "sinner" for an accidental extra 20 grams of sugar in the diet. The gym has ceased to be a pleasure, the coach complains. It has become a source of guilt and shame. Some people seem to have lost the feeling that their body belongs only to them, and are only waiting for the moment to transfer responsibility for their diet and level of physical activity into the hands of a specialist. Although the task of the coach is not power over the thoughts of the client, but support, training and maybe a little inspiration.
To my question "Why?" The answer was unequivocal: social networks. His clients improve their bodies and fanatically choke on chicken breasts solely for the positive assessments of others.
I was reminded of Ben Elton's dystopia Blind Faith. This novel tells about the world of the future, where there is no privacy. Each step is recorded for social networks, there is no person’s personality, but there is only an image for likes, and there is no adequate self-esteem, because it depends solely on someone else’s approval. It seems as if Elton's book was prophetic and its plot is starting to become reality. And this happens under the banner of a healthy lifestyle.
What is the well-known social network worth, whose members write down their diet to the crumbs, weigh themselves at least twice a day and endlessly post photos of their not very appetizing diet meals for public evaluation: bran balls in a puddle of sugar-free applesauce, a block of fat-free cottage cheese with parsley leaf... All data and personal records of users are available to other participants, and no one is in a hurry to change the settings towards greater privacy, on the contrary, most of those who lose weight regularly and publicly repent of the sin of gluttony (“I ate one and a half apples instead of one, the level of carbohydrates for today is catastrophically exceeded , I'm a weak-willed rag”), as well as in the sin of idleness and laziness (“The third week of a liquid diet, I can’t get out of bed and go to Pilates, help!”).
“I have terribly thick legs. How to make the legs go away? - another cry from the brotherhood of those who are always losing weight, who lose weight for so long that they have long forgotten, and what, in fact, was the purpose of all this torment on a diet and in the gym. Let those fat legs go away for good, let them not exist, but the number on the scales will become smaller - this is how the unfortunate girl thinks, and you can’t call these thoughts healthy.
We are accustomed to what changes consciousness. Changes, yes only. Fitness not only brings up good habits and trains willpower. Sometimes a healthy lifestyle nurtures a sense of guilt, cultivates an unhealthy relationship with food and sports, subjugates a person's life, although it should have made it easier and more comfortable. It seems that the mirror neurons that are responsible for empathy and make us copy the strategies of the behavior of others - those that the brain considered useful for itself, played a bad joke on us. A healthy lifestyle has become a goal instead of a tool. And the reaction of others, their value judgments about the harmony, athleticism and success of other people support the "neurosis of a healthy lifestyle."
Here are some neurotic attitudes that, instead of being healthy, can lead to eating disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, and physical illness.
Happiness and muscle mass
One fitness guru once said: “Stop fixing on how much energy you expended in one workout!” Oh, thank God, I thought. At least someone in the fitness industry is promoting an anti-neurotic approach. But the guru continued: “You don’t need to fixate on how much you ate, because physical activity is not needed in order to increase energy expenditure: minus 250 kcal per workout will not make the weather. You need strength training to build muscle mass, and careful accounting of what you eat to melt fat!”
The approach "Sport is for suffering" or "Move to be beautiful" leads nowhere. Because physical activity is not needed in order to “tweak” something in your appearance and get better in the photo in the gym. You need to move for joy. Not the circumference of the biceps, not the number on the scales and not the percentage of adipose tissue in the body are indicators that you are doing everything right. Joy is the beacon that you should always focus on.
Positive emotions are a sign that you have a positive dopamine reward, which means that you have enough motivation to come to class tomorrow and the day after tomorrow (or whenever you want, you don’t have to exhaust yourself with sports every day). And motivation will help build muscle mass and make the body stronger and more agile.
Muscle mass is great. With age, the amount of muscle tissue begins to decrease, and sport helps to stop this sad process. And at the same time to establish a hormonal background, reduce the risk of fractures against the background of osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases. However, you should not turn muscle mass into the goal of your life. It will appear by itself if you give the body the opportunity to move freely and in the way it likes.
calorie counting
The trend "Diet of 800 kilocalories per day" has been replaced by a new trend - acceleration of metabolism. To this end, it is recommended to gradually increase the caloric content of the diet and weigh yourself several times a day, so that a controlled increase in the nutritional value of food does not turn into a "glut". The unfortunate thin people, who are tired of being forever hungry and seeing weight gain after each carelessly eaten carrot (because it contains a lot of sugar, and, as you know, terrible swelling from carbohydrates), rushed to “accelerate” the metabolism. When I came across the recommendation “Increase your diet by 30 kilocalories every week,” I wanted to cry.
The body is not an ideal thermodynamic system, and even a sausage of the same brand, eaten at different times by the same person, cannot be regarded as a product with a stable energy value, because energy consumption depends on the emotional state, activity level, time of day, hormonal background, ambient temperature and much more
And the unfortunate losing weight is invited to take care of counting calories to such an extent that each cucumber eaten is taken into account up to a gram. In addition, you need to constantly keep the protein norm in your head and strictly follow it, because if less protein is eaten, then all mathematical efforts near the kitchen scale come to naught. The result is the transformation of a neurotic into a superneurotic who, at the end of the day, panickedly nibbles on a bunch of parsley in order to get the right calories, but at the same time remain within the framework of “proper nutrition”.
Probably, counting calories can only be useful as an experiment to find out the approximate rate and find out how balanced the diet is. And when finding out the energy value of half a gingerbread, a teaspoon of milk or a pinch of salt turns into an obsessive thought that relentlessly pursues a person day and night, this is an alarming signal that it is time to put the kitchen and floor scales aside.
Another sign of psychological problems is the choice between hunger and calorie tablets in the application in favor of the latter. In other words, as soon as a person finds that they have exhausted their calorie allowance for today, but is clearly hungry and decides not to eat anything until the next day, this is a sign that a healthy lifestyle is no longer so healthy.
Unhappy personal life
Another common story is the effort to build a "new" body in the name of love. Many women come to the gym, to a nutritionist and even to a neurologist with one complaint: the husband began to laugh at being overweight, teasing the “fat woman”. In the saddest cases, a man threatens to take a mistress for the reason that the lawful wife has ceased to meet his standards of beauty. At the gym, the poor things are asking for a harder load, the nutritionist is expected to indulge in a diet of two cabbage leaves and a protein shake, and they want to get a prescription for an antidepressant from a neurologist - firstly, to moderate their appetite, and secondly, to stop crying. Because they cry almost all the time, feel guilty, unloved and ugly.
Can trainers, nutritionists or neurologists help here? Of course no. Because inconsistency with someone's ideas about beauty is not a sign of ill health. But the desire to adjust your body to the desired standard in accordance with the requirements of a partner is a sign of psychological problems. And an obvious (to the doctor, not to the patient) reason for contacting a psychotherapist. And perhaps, to an endocrinologist and a therapist: to undergo simple examinations, improve your health, in order to put out your ossified partner with things from home with renewed vigor and try to live for your own pleasure - all these things are undoubtedly useful for women's health.
Some get carried away in pursuit of the ideal. And they do not notice how a healthy lifestyle, one of the most effective tools for improving the quality of life, turns into a real punishment, provokes mental and physical illnesses. A nasty protein shake instead of a coveted blueberry muffin might make you thinner. But you probably won't be happier. Sport is able to give joy, even mood, euphoria after training and peace after, as well as sound and good sleep, but only on condition that success in the gym is not given at the cost of work through pain, fatigue and a desperate desire to relax. A healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of many diseases, which means more years of happiness. But even if you have perfect muscle relief, inhuman stamina and thousands of followers on Instagram, this is not at all a guarantee of a loving and tender partner.
Happiness is well felt in contrasts. That is why the same blueberry muffin is so tasty after a simple oatmeal for breakfast and a vegetable salad with chicken fillet for lunch. That is why it is so nice sometimes to break the usual routine of training for the sake of a date. That is why it is worth following a healthy lifestyle not too fanatically in order to more clearly feel other joys of life.
Good day, dear readers! A healthy lifestyle is actively promoted by the media. Beautiful and healthy people attract attention, are a symbol of success in life. It's hard to argue with that.
According to statistics, a slender person is more successful in job interviews. It is easier for him to find a partner for a relationship. Good health and the absence of addictions increase the quality of life and save the budget.
But is this lifestyle really that healthy? When is a healthy lifestyle dangerous for the body? And with what efforts these external successes, visible to the eye, are achieved.
strict diets
Rigid diets have been and remain the most popular among those who want to adjust their weight. This is due to the fact that they allow you to quickly, in just a few days, get rid of extra pounds.
Such diets include mono-diets, protein, fat-free, carbohydrate-free, etc. Those. This is nutrition when certain foods or elements are completely or partially excluded from the diet.
You need to understand that for the full functioning of the processes in the body, all the elements are necessary: proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.
- Protein is the main component for the construction and formation of the body and internal organs.
- Carbohydrates give the body energy to work.
- Lack of fat leads to inability to absorb vitamins, for example, A and C. The result of a lack of fat can be dry skin, changes in hair quality and hair loss, susceptibility to cold and reduced immunity.
Thus, the exclusion of any element during the diet leads to a deterioration in the state of the body. Especially if such a diet is used for a long time.
Nutritionists do not advise living on a strict diet for more than three days. It is acceptable to use such diets when you need to lose weight quickly, for example, for an important event.
The body during a strict diet is in a state of, and starts, the so-called economical mode, i.e. begins to use the available stocks of elements very carefully. In this case, a person loses weight, but weight loss occurs due to the loss of water and protein. The consumption of fat, on the contrary, slows down significantly.
As a result, there is an imbalance of the necessary elements in the body, which leads to general poor health, and can also adversely affect the functioning of internal organs.
Too much fitness
By itself, it is not something negative. We are only interested in cases where the love of fitness becomes manic. In the weather for the owners of slender forms, smiling on the covers of magazines and from the TV screen, people work hard in the gym without sparing themselves.
Of course, it's good when a person can set goals and achieve them. But sometimes achieving a goal becomes a mania, and we forget that in addition to a relief body, you need to have a healthy body.
You need to load yourself in the gym under the guidance of an experienced trainer and after the approval of a doctor. This is especially important for beginners who decide to change their lives and buy a subscription to the gym.
Separately, it must be said about sports nutrition. After a person got into the gym and realized that now sport is his life, two roads open before him.
The first is years of fitness, nutrition, and after a while become like a star from the cover.
Or the second way is to quickly get the desired results and change your appearance, taking advantage of the achievements of the chemical industry.
After research, scientists came to the conclusion that sports nutrition does more harm than good to the body. But the desire for quick results and trust in brands and large manufacturers make the quiet voice of scientists inaudible.
A person who has just thought about the use of special food has a question. If these products are unhealthy, then why are they being sold? The answer is simple.
This business brings large corporations too much income. In addition, both in our country and abroad, the sports nutrition market is not regulated by the state, and big business here can do whatever it wants.
Therefore, everyone should be aware of the possible consequences after using such products.
Increased cleanliness
Washing hands with soap, after coming from the street or before eating, these are the norms that we have become accustomed to since childhood.
But some hobbyists believe that the more often they wash their bodies and hands, the better they will protect themselves from harmful bacteria and germs. The fear of getting infected with something becomes a daily struggle for clean hands for such people.
We will not discuss the social aspect of this phenomenon, how others look at such eccentrics when, after shaking hands, antiseptic wipes are taken out of the pocket.
In this article, we are more concerned about the issue of health. Showering with soap several times a day leaves the body without the necessary bacteria that have a protective function. Also, excessive cleanliness can lead to allergies and sometimes asthma.
Many scientists generally believe that mild illnesses: a mild cold, a slight runny nose, are more beneficial to the body than harm. Since they allow the body to strengthen its protective functions and get used to bacteria and viruses.
How do you feel about healthy lifestyle trends?
Despite the abundance of advice and the popularity of a healthy lifestyle. Despite regularly appearing new diets and trends in fitness. In the end, we still come to a conclusion that has been known for many centuries.
To be healthy, you need to know everything in moderation: eat balanced, do not abuse bad habits and move more. See you soon!
