Every other week, new research claims one food is better than another, or that some ingredient yields incredible new health benefits.
Couple that with a few old wives' tales passed down from your parents, and each time you fire up your stove or sit down to eat a
healthy gourmandia meal, it can be difficult separating food fact from fiction.
Myth 1: Never Use Wooden Cutting Boards with Meat
This rule, one that I myself have repeated, comes from the notion that using a wooden cutting board will result in tiny scratches and cuts from your knife, and if you use that cutting board with meat-especially raw meat-that all those meat juices will settle into those tiny cuts in the board, and no matter how much you scrub, those germs aren't coming out. The point has even been made by people as esteemed as Alton Brown. The solution is to use plastic cutting boards, which can be dish washed and sanitized, and therefore must be safer,
Myth 2: Adding Salt to Water Changes the Boiling Point, Cooks Food Faster
This is one of those food myths that doesn't want to die. You'll hear it repeated by home cooks and professional chefs, but any first year Chemistry student (or in my case, a Physics student taking Applied Thermodynamics) will be able to show you how little the amount of salt you would add to a pot of boiling water in your kitchen actually alters the boiling point.
Myth 3: Low Fat Foods Are Always Better For You
The high-fat/low-fat food myth is one that's been around for a long, long time. Ultimately, it's more important to flip over the food you're about to buy and read the label, see what kinds of fats are in it, and then make an educated decision instead of immediately reaching for the low-fat version of whatever it is you're planning to buy, thinking it'll be healthier. In fact, many products that are "low-fat" are low in good fats as opposed to the bad ones, or substitute in other ingredients like sugars and sodium that you don't want more of in your diet.
Myth 4: Dairy Is The Best Thing For Healthy Bones
When I asked Andy Bellatti about the most stubborn food myths he's encountered, he noted that too many people confuse "dairy" with "calcium," assume they're the same thing, and think that dairy is the best thing for healthy and strong bones. He explained, "Dairy contains calcium, but so do dark-leafy greens. Milk is fortified with vitamin D, just like all milk alternatives. Additionally, bone health goes beyond calcium and vitamin D. Vitamin K is important for bone health (dark leafy greens have it, dairy doesn't). Magnesium (present in foods like almonds, cashews, oatmeal, and potatoes, but missing in dairy products) also plays an important role in bone health."
Myth 5: Everyone Should Drink 64-Ounces or 8 Glasses of Water Every Day
This myth is a holdover from a poor attempt by a number of doctors who wanted to wage an ill-researched campaign against sodas and sugary drinks. Their hearts were in the right place, but the fact of the matter is that there's no uniform rule for how much water a person should drink in a given day. Alannah DiBona explains, "Water's been touted as the cure for all sins, and in some ways, it's true—proper hydration is necessary for just about anything body and mind-related.
Myth 6: High-Sodium Foods Taste Salty, So Avoid Salty Snacks
Andy Belatti pointed this one out when we spoke, and it's especially important for people who are managing their salt and sodium intake because they're at risk for hypertension or diabetes. While new research indicates that low-sodium diets may not be better for your heart, they definitely reduce your chances of high blood pressure or type II diabetes. The trouble with managing sodium though, is that not all high-sodium foods taste salty when you eat them.
Myth 7: Eating Eggs Will Jack Up Your Cholesterol
A number of you took me to task on this one the last time I insinuated that eggs may not be healthy, and rightfully so. Alannah Dibona cleared this one up once and for all, and notes: "More often than not, a person diagnosed with high cholesterol will go out of his or her way to avoid eggs, which is really unnecessary. The body's cholesterol levels are influenced by certain saturated and trans fats; eggs contain very little saturated fat (1.5 grams of fat per large egg) and absolutely no trans fat. Depriving yourself of an egg means foregoing 13 naturally occurring vitamins and minerals (and a really delicious breakfast option)."
Myth 8: Searing Meat Seals In Juices
19th century German chemist Justus von Liebig was one of the first people to propose that by applying very high temperatures to meat you would create a "sealed" layer of cooked meat through which liquid inside the meat couldn't escape. Ever since then, the mantra has been repeated over and over again, specifically in reference to dry heating cuts of raw meat.
Myth 9: Aluminum Foil and Cookware Is Linked to Alzheimer's Disease
If you haven't heard this one in a while, good-it was repeated often in the late 80s and through the 90s, and even though it's fallen out of fashion (largely because it's just not true) there are still a lot of people who believe it. This myth has its roots in research from the 1960s and 1970s that showed elevated levels of aluminum in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. The hyperbole alarm was subsequently sounded, and for years people were warned off of aluminum pots and pans, and even aluminum foil to store food.
Myth 10: Don't Eat After 6/7/8PM
Both Andy Belatti and Alannah DiBona called this myth out in different ways. Andy went right for its throat, noting that it is "A silly weight-loss gimmick. What matters is what you're eating throughout the day. Food eaten after 7 does not magically turn to fat. This is also a ridiculous 'tip' for someone who goes to bed at midnight or 1 AM. This tip often 'works' because people end up reducing their total caloric intake."