Myth: Vertical farming will save our food system
TRUTH: It’s official – vertical farming won’t save our food system right now. But it could in the future. This week, the country’s largest vertical, aquaponic (soil-free) farm opened in Chicago, IL. The process by which FarmedHere is growing plants (using the excrement of tilapia to create mineral-rich water that is cycled through stacked plant [...]
Myth: Detox diets remove toxins from your body
TRUTH: If you google search for “detox diet”, you’ll get a range of results from fasting to strict meal plans. Most of these use quasi-science and make extremely overblown claims touting the benefits of detoxing. So what’s the science based perspective? Here are the basics: Natural detox mainly happens in the liver (though other systems [...]
Myth: Pickleback shots prevent hangovers
TRUTH: I love a good dill pickle. But the thought of a pickleback shot, is completely disgusting to me. For those who don’t know, a pickleback is a shot of whiskey followed by a shot of pickle juice. Ew. But, the way it’s been explained to me is that it masks the flavor of terrible [...]
Myth: To optimize cardio exercise, you need a carbohydrate supplement
TRUTH: Research that looks at the ingestion of whole food carbohydrates is seriously lacking. Now that the local, organic, and whole food industries are taking off, the research is quickly following. There’s been a recent influx of information about using whole foods instead of sports drinks and chews (or goos). However, two very important studies [...]
Myth: Energy drinks boost energy
TRUTH: Most energy drinks contain a lot of caffeine or a lot of sugar (or both) – which can provide a short burst of energy, but generally isn’t worth it because you’ll crash afterwards. Depending on the drink, it may contain one or more of these other classes of ingredients: Stimulants– they stimulate the central [...]
Myth: You are very healthy
TRUTH: How can I even make such a claim?! Though this isn’t an attempt to insult your intelligence, it’s very likely that you overestimate how healthy you are. We’ve all heard the statistic that about two thirds of Americans are overweight, right? On top of that, consider the less common (but nonetheless rampant) thin but [...]
Myth: Exercising for a longer period of time is always better
TRUTH: In a recent study of 60 Danish men (who were fit but heavy), the results were clear that after a 3 month period, exercising for 60 minutes does not necessarily mean more weight loss than exercising for 30. You might be wondering why (I am too) – but there’s probably a simple answer: those [...]
Myth: Eating fats will make you fat
TRUTH: Eating fat will not make you fat. Simply not true. Eating fat is essential – we need fats to live but our bodies cannot make them without a sufficient dietary source. It’s true that fats contain more calories per gram than protein, carbohydrate, or alcohol; however, all that means is that they’re more concentrated [...]
Recipe: Creamy Beet and Green Garlic Pasta
Beets are coming into season soon and green garlic is going out! This recipe puts both to good use while the seasons overlap. Using cream cheese instead of goat cheese helps cut the fat of the dish, while keeping it creamy and sweet. This recipe is an easy meal to prepare when you have very [...]
Myth: Calorie counts are necessary to lose weight
TRUTH: We already know that the fat burning program on cardio machines doesn’t burn more fat. But, the calorie count is factual, right? No! It feels good to watch ‘calories burned’ increase during a workout, but by how much is highly variable. It could be off by 10 calories or it could be off by [...]
