The perennial battle for our waistlines rages on, unabated, even in this digital age. With the abundance of informational material made available to us with the advent of the internet and its wonders, a plethora of pitfalls and false directions abound as well, posing a danger to the unsuspecting seekers of the flat tummy.
Below are some of the pitfalls you would do well to note:
1. The Big Bad Breakfast
If you’ve ever found yourself thinking ‘I’ll have myself a large breakfast so I don’t eat too much during the day’, then you’ve likely fallen victim to the Big Bad Breakfast fallacy. Skipping breakfast isn’t a good idea because you’ll be more likely to reach for additional morning snacks, but a large breakfast may be equally ineffective because we tend not to balance out the large start with smaller portions when we get hungry later in the day.
2. The Little Miss Daisy Plan
We’ve all heard the apparently sound reasoning- eating small portions throughout the day instead of full sit-down meals speeds up the metabolism- but does it really hold true? Nope. In reality, most people will tend to do this grazing on high-calorie foods, effectively negating the whole point.
3. The Illusionist Plan
Serving meals in small plates helps you eat less as the serving will seem much larger than it really is- sounds about right, huh? Well, maybe not. If you pile the plate sky-high or go in for second helpings you’ll sooner be pulling rabbits out of peoples’ hats than making those extra pounds disappear.
4. The Superman Plan
I can eat as much as I want, as long as I exercise later on. Yeah right. Supplementing your exercise regimen with an unbalanced diet is the equivalent of getting your daily cardio workout by running down to McDonalds- it won’t do it for you.
5. The Poison Ivy misdirection
Veganism: little understood and much maligned in some quarters, especially as it’s sometimes made out to be the magic bullet to the weight loss conundrum. In truth, vegan foods such as dark chocolate, pasta and French fries may contain empty calories, which, if not consumed in moderation, will have you blowing up: turnip-like.
