Misconception madness

Fads come and go, but facts don’t. There’s always going to be health trends supported by celebrities, social media and tabloids, but not all of them are actually true. Lucky for you, I am here to debunk a couple of misconceptions to steer you away from false advertisements and expensive products.

1. Coconut oil is the holy grail

This is going to be one of those that has two sides to the story, a good side and a bad one. Although coconut oil is great for moisturizing and revitalizing hair and skin, it’s not good for consumption. According to a Harvard Health Publishing article, coconut oil is made up of  about 90 percent saturated fat, butter is made up of about 64 percent saturated fat, beef fat and lard are about 40 percent. In this same article, they mention that saturated fats raise “bad” LDL cholesterol levels so it would seem like coconut oil is terrible for you. However, it has always been proven that it actually raises the “good” HDL cholesterol and contains lots of antioxidants.

Most of the studies done have mainly focused on short-term effects, so I would hold back from completely transitioning to only using coconut oil in your diet.

2. All fats are bad

Let me start off by saying that you 10000 percent need fats to live. However, there is some truth to fats not being good for you. So, there are saturated fats and there are unsaturated fats and inside of these two categories that are many more. Unsaturated fats are the good ones, these include polyunsaturated fatty acids and monounsaturated fats.  Both of these unsaturated fats can help to lower cholesterol level and reduce the risk of heart disease. Some ways to get unsaturated fats are by eating flaxseeds, nuts and sunflower seeds.

Now onto the bad fats, the saturated ones. Saturated fats and trans fatty acids are usually liquid at room temperature and should be consumed in small amounts. These are usually found in animal products, like meat, poultry skin, dairy and eggs, and coconut and palm oil. It has also been studied that consuming too much saturated fat increases chances of colon and prostate cancer.

All in all, try your best to stay away from saturated fats and stick to the unsaturated ones.

3. Protein is the most important thing you need to survive.

It seems like everything is about protein these days. Protein shakes, protein bars, protein powders, protein, protein, protein, protein. The first thing people ask me when I tell them I’m vegan is “where do you get your protein?” I have to really hold back my tongue to not say something snarky like “I don’t, vegans don’t need protein.” The reason that this is such an irritating questions is because it is very silly to me to know that people think you can only get protein from meat. Plants, nuts and grains have great amounts of protein, some even more than meat. Protein, in today’s world, has become code for “healthy.” To be healthy, you need lots of protein. That is is so false, but don’t feel guilty, it’s not your fault for thinking that. Actually, $3.8 billion of food products that are labeled as “an excellent source of protein” were sold from October 2015 to October 2016. Americans, on average, are consuming almost double as much protein as the actual recommended amount. The latest guidelines say that men need to consume 56 grams of protein a day while woman need 46 grams. Instead of eating fruits, veggies and whole grains, people are focusing on consuming as much protein as possible and not getting enough vitamins and minerals. Instead of solely focusing on the protein you’re getting from that bar or smoothie, make sure to check ingredients, sugar and carbohydrate levels. Sometimes, the amount of protein you’re getting isn’t worth all the bad stuff that comes with it.

So the moral of the story is, research before you believe in the things celebrities, tabloids and social media has to say. Scientific facts are so much more reliable than trends.