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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Health "facts" that you believe to be myths and why. See if you can change my mind.

433 replies

TattyDevine · 26/02/2015 12:53

Anyone got any? I've got a couple.

First one is this bullshit that you have to drink a certain amount of water a day that isn't dictated by your body's thirst or cues, but by some arbitrary amount.

Why the hell would your body not tell you if it needed water? How have we evolved this far not realising we needed to be drinking double or triple the amount of water we feel we need to? Thirsty, have a drink. Not thirsty, don't. Like food. Hungry, eat. Not hungry? Shouldn't eat. What terrible fate will befall us if we don't drink 2 litres of water a day? And how did we evolve for thousands and thousands of years before this bit of knowledge was bestowed upon us?

2nd one - don't eat at night because you won't burn it and it will be stored as fat, but if you eat the same amount but during the day you will burn it.

Well, surely if you have done the same level of activity in a day and had the same amount of food within that day it will even out? Over a 24 hour period, I've taken in x amount of energy and burned y amount. If I took most of it in at night it makes up for the deficit in the morning. If I take it evenly over the day there was no deficit to make up for but I've still taken in the same amount and burned up the same amount.

3rd one - coffee and tea dehydrates you because it is a mild diuretic. Okay so its a mild diuretic but you are still more hydrated drinking it because it doesn't make you piss out more than what you took in in terms of extra fluid by drinking it in the first place. So it still counts as a drink. (In fact my GP surgery has a poster saying about taking plenty of fluids if you have a cold, and that it doesn't have to be water but a cup of tea or coffee is just as good). When I read that, I was so revived by the no nonsense common sense approach I had to restrain myself from licking the poster with delight.

Yours please, and try and convince me otherwise with non bullshitty science if you think I'm wrong (which I'm happy to be with a proper science-boffiny cut-down)

OP posts:
Strokethefurrywall · 26/02/2015 20:28

I live in a hot country so most people here drink stupid amounts of water (except me apparently) but I was astounded at how many people were toting around bottles of water in the depths of winter when I went back to the UK in December for a week.

Watching people meander around a market town bundled up, stopping to chug a massive bottle of water whilst window shopping. It really baffled me! My mum is guilty of this too, she can't leave the house without her bottle of water, and frets if she's forgotten it. This obsession with water is so weird!

And the panic about children not being allowed in the sun without factor 50 sunblock and hats. Come on people, its England! Sensible protection in the sun please but slathering sunblock on kids once it hits 17oc is utterly ridiculous!

Jessica147 · 26/02/2015 20:32

I am gonna hold my hands up to being over the top about sunblock though. I'm not scared of cancer though - I'm scared of wrinkles!

HippoPottyMouth · 26/02/2015 20:33

The thing about different parts of your tongue being able to taste different things, ie you have a salty zone, a sweet zone etc. Utterly untrue, yet still taught in primary schools across the country.

Jessica147 · 26/02/2015 20:34

unlucky did you give up buying the shampoo anyway, if plain water got just as much dirt out?

Lweji · 26/02/2015 20:34

"cows milk is food for baby cows not adult humans" stuff is bollocks - as a Northern European I've demonstrably evolved specifically to drink the milk of other mammals.

Nobody has evolved specifically to drink milk...

Certain groups have a higher rate of a mutation that allows them to tolerate milk as adults. It occurs in Europe, but also in some African groups.
Milk is not exactly a desirable food, but in some circumstances over human history it may have made the difference between starvation and survival, which is why the mutation spread in those groups.

celineybeanie · 26/02/2015 20:40

"If you don't eat enough your body will go into starvation mode and store all food as fat"
What utter rubbish!!!! If you burn more calories than you consume you will lose body weight. End of.

PigletJohn · 26/02/2015 20:40

Memory of water, Jessica, as any Homeopath will tell you. The cells in the body can recognise water that has recently been in a tap.

Unfortunately water usually carries an overwhelming memory of having recently been in a glass container, overlaying the memory of copper and plastic pipe and concrete or plastic storage tanks.

Lweji · 26/02/2015 20:45

Bollocks, and I don't usually say it.

Jessica147 · 26/02/2015 20:46

Of course, john, I had totally forgotten about the memory of water. Maybe that's why we need 8 glasses each day - so we get enough of the cheerful water which has happy memories and is thus more readily welcomed by the cells. They are mean little gits those cells, they just can't be doing with any water arriving with ishoos.

Jessica147 · 26/02/2015 20:48

Lweji, I don't think John was being serious. I hope not, anyway!

Lweji · 26/02/2015 20:50

I hoped it, and I hope, actually. But then it didn't seem like it.

Balaboosta · 26/02/2015 20:51

That vaccination causes autism. Total bollocks that just won't ho away.

TalkinPeace · 26/02/2015 20:58

Jessica
PigletJohn is a plumber - his understanding of the memory of water involves valves and stopcocks Wink

EarSlaps · 26/02/2015 20:58

No one seems to have mentioned the cholesterol in food yet. Mil won't eat eggs or prawns now as she has high cholesterol, but cholesterol is made by the body and the cholesterol in food doesn't affect the levels in our bodies.

TattyDevine · 26/02/2015 21:01

Oh yeah cholesterol. I think there's a lot yet to learn about cholesterol.

OP posts:
YouTheCat · 26/02/2015 21:02

When I had a camera inserted in my urethra a few years ago, the consultant said I should drink plenty of fluids to make sure I flushed my tubes out due to the procedure. He did qualify this by saying that beer and wine counted as fluids so I took his medical advice and acted on it. Grin

PigletJohn · 26/02/2015 21:02

you'll be telling me next you don't believe in astrology as a way to help the NHS

How would we have landed on the moon without all those astrol-physicists?

Lweji · 26/02/2015 21:05

Astrology is different. Sigh

PigletJohn · 26/02/2015 21:10

hooked again! Grin

ARoomWithoutAView · 26/02/2015 21:10

The one I hate is; An apple a day keeps the doctor away

What rubbish. My Aunt had an orchard and used to make her own cider. One day she was sampling her brew a bit too frequently, got a bit tipsy, fell over and spent a week in hospital with her leg in plaster. The saying is complete nonsense.

Rjae · 26/02/2015 21:11

If I worry myself sick over something health wise I won't get it.

Jessica147 · 26/02/2015 21:13

I've been teaching all about energy today - I forgot to mention about right-side brain energy! Do you think I need to check the birth charts to see whether any of my kids need this knowledge for their futures or shall I do the sensible thing and just reteach all the work again properly next week?!

His quotes are hilarious! Or they would be if he wasn't an actual mp.

Lweji · 26/02/2015 21:21

I was playing along, Piglet. I can play the game too, you know, just got slightly distracted earlier. Blush

TalkinPeace · 26/02/2015 21:21

"Learning styles" - auditory, visual, kinaesthetic = utter bilge

BreakfastAtStephanies · 26/02/2015 21:35

Artificial sweeteners are a good thing - no they are not ! A friend of mine is an industrial chemist and won't consume anything containing Aspartame etc because it is a carcinogen.
Exercise is very important when trying to lose weight. No, it is all about eating less. It entirely depends on how much you eat.

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