Posted on August 13, 2021 by Kate Halsall

A couple of Friday’s ago, the personal training team got together for their first staff training session since the gym reopened. We like to use these sessions for open discussions about…well….anything fitness related really! On this occasion we looked at nutrition. Everything from recommended portion sizes, how much protein we should be eating, to food labels. Not only have we started the creation of some pretty cool infographics as a result (stay tuned for those), but we also collaborated with this nutritional myths blog – read on!

Gluten prevents fat loss and “gluten free” is healthier.

People report feeling better when they cut out gluten, but they have also cut out a lot of convenient, highly palatable foods (cakes, bread, pizza) and therefore have reduced their calories and salt intake – which is one of the reasons they lose weight! But by removing gluten, it could mean removing an essential fibre (which could lead to worsening of bowel problems if an individual is already suffering) ​and a micronutrient source.

Read more in one of our previous blogs here.

Organic food is healthier/contains more nutrients​.

There is no strong evidence to support this​. In fact, whilst some vitamins are higher in organic, others are higher in non-organic.  BUT studies do show that organic foods do contain 30% lower pesticide residues, which is one of the reasons we like to use organic produce here at motive8!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day

Is it really important to eat breakfast? How many times have you heard someone say:

  • “Eating breakfast will help you lose weight​”
  • “Breakfast kickstarts the metabolism​”
  • “You’ll eat less during the day if you eat breakfast​”
  • “Everyone should eat breakfast”

Would it surprise you if we said that much of the evidence supporting breakfast claims are biased, having been sponsored by breakfast companies? That said, most cereals these days are fortified, so eating a highly sugary cereal is in fact better than another junk food with same macronutrient profile!

Skipping breakfast could actually be a way of reducing an eating window i.e. a type of intermittent fasting which could help with fat loss. Evidence shows that skipping breakfast does cause a reduction in calories with but with NO impact on metabolic rates.​

We also discussed too much protein and kidney damage, sweeteners vs sugar and so much more – but we’ll save them for another blog!

K.