6 Nutrition Myths We Can Leave Behind

Nutrition has a way of making very normal foods sound unnecessarily complicated. Carbs are bad. Fat makes you fat. Sugar is toxic. You need a detox after the weekend.

So, for my first post, let’s clear a few things up.

1. Carbs are bad for you

Carbs are not one single food, and treating them like they are is where this argument usually falls apart.

Fruit, lentils, oats, bread, sweets and soft drinks all contain carbohydrates, but they obviously don’t have the same nutritional profile. Rather than fearing carbs, look at the source, fiber content and overall dietary pattern.

Whole grains, fruits, vegetables and legumes are consistently part of dietary patterns associated with better cardiometabolic health.

Basically: your body can handle a potato.

Myth 2: Eating Fat Makes You Fat

Dietary fat and body fat are not the same thing.

Fat is an essential part of the diet and helps with things like cell function and absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. What matters more for cardiovascular health is the type of fat and what it replaces.

Replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats, particularly polyunsaturated fats, can lower LDL cholesterol and cardiovascular disease risk. Even switching refined carbohydrates for PUFAs and MUFA's shows significant benefits.

So no, olive oil and avocado did not single-handedly lead the obesity epidemic.

Myth 3: Detox Diets

Unless we're talking about treatment for an actual poisoning or substance dependence, you probably don't need a detox.

Your liver and kidneys are already very good at processing and eliminating substances your body doesn't need. Commercial detoxes and cleanses haven't been shown to somehow improve this process, and evidence supporting detox diets for weight management or toxin removal is poor.

Eat. Hydrate. Get some fiber. Let your organs do their jobs.

Myth 4: Processed = unhealthy

Technically, frozen vegetables, yogurt, canned beans, bread and peanut butter are all processed foods.

Processing itself doesn't tell us whether a food is nutritious. It can make food safer, more convenient, longer-lasting or even more nutritious through fortification.

There is growing evidence linking diets high in ultra-processed foods with poorer health outcomes, BUT “ultra-processed” and “processed” aren't interchangeable, and even the UPF classification has limitations.

Context matters more than whether something came in a package.

Myth 5: Supplements can replace food

Supplements can be incredibly useful when there's a reason to take them.

Vitamin B12 for someone following a vegan diet, folic acid around pregnancy, vitamin D or iron when clinically indicated-- absolutely.

But a multivitamin isn't a substitute for vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes, nuts and other nutrient-dense foods. Large randomized trials also haven't shown that routine multivitamin use is a shortcut to preventing major cardiovascular events or cancer in otherwise healthy adults.

Supplement where needed. Don't outsource your entire diet to a capsule.

Myth 6: All sugar is bad

A strawberry contains sugar. So does milk. Neither needs a warning label from me.

There's an important difference between sugars naturally present within foods and free or added sugars. Whole fruit, for example, also gives you fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals.

High intakes of added/free sugars, particularly from sugar-sweetened beverages, are associated with poorer health outcomes, which is why major health organizations recommend limiting them.

That doesn't mean you need to fear every gram of sugar (or dessert for that).

Final Thoughts

Nutrition rarely needs to be divided into good foods and bad foods.

Most of the time, the answer depends on the dose, the food it's coming from, what the rest of your diet looks like, and most importantly, you. Which is admittedly less exciting than telling you a banana is ruining your hormones.

But it's usually closer to the science.