Top Diet Myths: Lies You Can Eat

Zero Calorie Sodas. Really, now, people. It's not true. Or, it is true, that they have no calories? The devil is in the details; zero-calorie drinks are often loaded down with aspartame, sorbitol, sucralose, acesulfame-K, high fructose corn syrup, phosphoric acid, and any number of other assorted nasties that would do more harm than good. Many of the ingredients in zero-calorie sodas actually promote water retention, the pissing away of vitamins and minerals (literally.), and, though they have no calories, you might be better off drinking the real soda--calories and all.

Protein bars: flavored bars that promise lots of protein, but, in fact, are usually fairly high in sugar, and offer reasonable amounts of protein. The catch is that in a lot of cases, the protein provided isn't a whole protein; in effect: it's protein, but your body won't be able to use all of it, because it's all the same kind of protein. It all goes down to the construction of the protein from amino acids, but that's another story.

Catch two: they're often pretty expensive. After passing through my local reputable health shop, the cheapest protein bar was 2 bucks, and it looked like it would've taken me a whole two bites to eat it. If I want protein, I'll go eat some eggs or beans or nuts, or something. At least those things don't have not-so-nice additives in them.

White bread that claims to be enriched with nutrients really does make me laugh sometimes. The fact of the matter is this: white bread has been denatured and is essentially fluffy sugar. When white bread stays in your mouth for a while, you'll notice it tastes very sweet. This is because it reduces to sugar very quickly.

White bread can not deliver the nutrients promised to you by that deceptive nutrition facts label on the back of the loaf, because those nutrients were the nutrients in the grains before they were sucked out, the grain was bleached, and then the nutrients were put back in halphazardly. Stick with whole grain breads, wheat breads, please. Rye is nice with a little honey-mustard and turkey. Just a tip.

Companies that produce fat loss pills love to suggest that they can make your body shed pound after pound with little or no work on your part. They often don't come right out and say that, though. The truth is, the way these pills often work is by either giving you an (oftentimes negligible) energy boost in the form of caffeine or some other stimulant such as ephedrine. This slightly spikes your metabolism which can make you burn more calories. But do you know what is as effective as many of these pills, and is absolutely free? Doing a few jumping jacks.

It is of vital importance that everyone knows that they are, on a daily basis, the target of advertising from companies that would like you to believe lots of things that aren't true, just so they can make money.

This is the ugly side of capitalism, my friends. Don't fall for it.