5 Mistaken Beliefs, Part 2

In the previous post, the Bountiful Bite exposed the first three of 5 mistaken beliefs about eating better and losing weight.  I nabbed the headlines from Forbes.com’s 5 Mistaken Business Leader’s Beliefs, and magically applied them to your own business of shedding unwanted body fat or slimming down and getting in better shape. 

 These last two "Mistaken Beliefs" are ingrained beliefs we all struggle with. We get duped by force of habit. Why shouldn’t you

1.      4.  Believe That Because Everybody has always Done it This Way, It is the Best Way of Doing Things?

­Forbes gave a business example. Do you know why newspapers were always printed on large tabloid paper? Because in 1712 England, newspapers were taxed by the number of pages. But it wasn’t until about 2005 that American newspapers started cutting down their paper size.  For 300 years newspaper printers did what had always been done, even though it was costly and cumbersome.

Why do we order a big bacon, egg, and muffin breakfast at the hotel? Why do we have ice-cream every night in the summer? Sure, it tastes good, but we know it makes us fat. Yet, your neighbors eat this way, the server at the restaurant encourages it, your grandma always served it, and colonial farmers ate bacon with a big breakfast. Never mind that the colonials burned thousands of calories farming, building houses, and keeping warm, the server gets a bigger tip the more food he sells you, and grandma has heart disease.

Sometimes the standard way is not the best way.

2.      5.   Believe the Customer?

Forbes: “these people are already your customer; sure they are going to be satisfied with you.” They suggested business marketers talk to people who aren’t already customers.

You may be your own worst customer! I know I’m guilty of this. I love to drink coffee, and when I hear something beneficial about caffeine, I feel vindicated. When I hear something negative about caffeine, I tend to dismiss it as “pseudo-science” or consider myself immune to the negative effects. It took numerous messages to convince me to ever ask for decaf.

So, be a little a skeptical about your own dietary mythology. We’d all like to continue consuming what we’re used to, ignoring warnings about pesticide build-up in our bodies. We’d like to believe that the diet that lets us eat our favorite food (or junk calories) every day is the one that really works and makes us healthy. But we are the gasoline customer and the car. And when we fuel our engines with sodas, toxins and non-nourishing food, they’re going to sputter and break down.  It’s helpful to reach beyond the “customer” within you.

Read the Forbes business post here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/freekvermeulen/2011/05/30/five-mistaken-beliefs-business-leaders-have-about-innovation/

Are breakfast eaters really slimmer?

You've seen the commercials... healthy breakfast... start to a healthy day, yada yada... but what could be wrong with skipping the morning meal when trying to lose weight, right? A lot, as it turns out. Healthcastle.com says that: Studies showed that athletes who consumed breakfast performed better in competition; kids who ate breakfast were able to concentrate more in class; adults who ate breakfast were able to control weight better than those who did not eat breakfast.

Wait.... WEIGHT?

Yes, avoiding the morning meal may be dampening your best efforts to stay slim. Breakfast, a word meaning "break the fast", kick-starts your metabolism in the morning. Also, people who eat a high-fiber breakfast are less likely to load up on higher calories in the evening, when your metabolism naturally slows down.

I was at a hotel breakfast bar recently, watching two XXL teens load up on biscuits, gravy, eggs, sausage, and orange juice. Let's take a look at this typical nutrition breakdown for biscuits and sausage gravy. While having a decent amount of protein, the "price" in calories, fat, and sodium per gram of protein is exorbitant.


Serving Size 1 biscuit with gravy

Amount Per Serving
Calories 508
Calories from Fat 285
Total Fat 31.65g 49%
Saturated Fat 7.249g 36%
Sodium 1461mg 61%

Nutrition Values are based on USDA Nutrient Database SR18


So obviously, that meal is not the breakfast of champions. But you don't have to love organic 100% bran flakes to get a productive jump on the day, and your BMI. Look for cereals, muffins and breads, and even berries, that have at least 5% fiber per serving. Not all muffins are created equal, and FIBER is the key. (Read labels for sugar calories, it's not always obvious by the taste.) On the weekend, eggs or whole-grain pancakes with blueberries also count as excellent choices for healthy weight control.

Oh, and what's that syrup you're pouring over your pancakes? If it says "syrup" check the label...uh oh, there it is: HIGH FRUCTOSE corn syrup, a product that I'll go into later. Let's just say for now, it doesn't belong on a healthy eater's table. Applesauce makes a nice substitute for syrup on pancakes.

The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) of over 16-thousand teens and young adults* revealed that the people who nearly always skipped breakfast had 4.5 times the risk of obesity as the subjects who did eat breakfast regularly. I mean, that's a 16,000 member clue. I'm taking the hint.

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* Mota, J., Fidalgo, F., Silva R., et al. Relationships Between Physical Activity, Obesity and Meal Frequency in Adolescents. Annals of Human Biology, 2008; 35(1): 1-10.