War on your Waistline: Five Diet Myths Debunked

PHILADELPHIA (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Do you eat after 8:00 p.m.? Do carbs make you fat? How much does exercise help? There are a lot of questions out there when it comes to dieting, but which ones are worth asking?

More than 70 million Americans are currently on a diet, but are we doing it right? One dieting question is whether you should not eat after 8:00 p.m. According to Gary Foster, Ph.D., an obesity researcher at Temple University's Health Sciences Center in Philadelphia, calories don't know time. Dr. Foster says, "There's nothing magical or mysterious about when calories go into the body, how they process them. It's really about how much energy goes in over 24 hours and how much energy is burned over 24 hours."

Eating a big breakfast to jump-start metabolism is another dieting myth. Dr. Foster debunks this one too by saying it may help, but not much. He says, "It tends to be a very small increase and a very short-lived one." But eat a small breakfast and often enough so you don't overindulge. Dr. Foster advises, "Keep your tank between about a quarter full and three-quarters full."

The third dieting myth is carbs make you fat. It's calories that make you fat, whether they are from carbs, fat or protein. You also don't get fiber from most processed carbs, like white instead of whole grain pasta, so you may not feel as full.

Myth number four is to ignore the scale. Research shows people who weigh themselves daily do better at keeping the pounds off.

The fifth myth is if you exercise, you can eat whatever you want. You actually need to burn 3,500 calories to lose just one pound of fat. Dr. Foster adds, "It's important to note that exercise is the single best predictor of who keeps weight off and who doesn't."

If you cut 500 calories out a day you'll lose a pound a week. To lose weight men typically need to eat between 1,600 and 1,800 calories a day. Women need between 1,400 and 1,600 calories.

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For More Information, Contact:

 Temple University Health Sciences Center
 Center for Obesity Research & Education
 (215) 707-8640
 http://www.temple.edu/medicine/CORE