There are so many theories regarding what you should eat or what you should not eat to lose weight. You will also find people vouching for certain diets that help improve your overall health and detoxify your body effectively. While some of these statements may carry weight, most of these are nothing but misconceptions and myths. Learning about health myths you should not believe can make your life easier and help you stay healthy too.

Why Is It Important to Break Health Myths?

It makes great sense to learn about claims many supplement manufacturers and so-called experts make in the health and fitness industry. If you dig deeper into the details, you will realize that most of these claims are only misinformation spread by companies that make supplements or sell special products. Sometimes, you can harm yourself by believing some of those myths. By learning more about the scientific standing of different claims, you will be in a better position to tweak your lifestyle and live a healthier life.

Health Myths You Should Not Believe

You should not readily believe what so-called experts say about changing your lifestyle or eating habits. You should first check if there is any scientific evidence supporting those claims. Here are some popular myths that you may think are true.

1. Alcohol Keeps You Warm

This is certainly among many popular health myths you should not believe. It is mainly the difference between perception and reality. What it means is that you may feel warmer after having a drink, but this does not mean your body temperature is going up as well. In reality, your blood vessels dilate when you drink alcohol, which makes warmer blood to circulate closer to your skin. This circulatory blood makes you feel warm. Interestingly, you lose body heat faster when your blood moves closer to your skin. So, do not drink just because you want to feel warm.

2. Carrots Are Great for Your Eyes

It is true that carrots provide you with a number of important nutrients. However, they may not make a great difference to your eye health. They certainly contain beta-carotene that your body uses to produce more vitamin A, which is important for healthy eyes. The problem is that your body can convert a very limited amount of beta-carotene into vitamin-A. This is the reason why eating more carrots is not going to change or correct the refractive error.

3. Bottled Water Is Better Than Tap Water

This is another health myth that many people believe, but the reality is different. You may not already know that about 50% of bottled water is just tap water. It means that bottled water is no better than tap water, or you can say that you are not going to fall ill when drinking tap water.

4. Put Ice on a Burn for Faster Healing

You may still believe this myth but you should break it right now. You have damaged skin from a burn because of the inflammatory response generated in your body. Many people think putting ice on a burn will improve healing, but it will actually make things worse. You will be better off immersing the affected area in cool water – doing this will ensure that your partial thickness burn does not turn into full thickness burn. Similarly, you should avoid applying butter to the affected area because it spreads heat and makes your burn get worse in no time.

5. Special Diets Can Detoxify Your Body

One of many health myths you should not believe is regarding your body's ability to detoxify itself. You may have heard about many diets that detoxify your body, but the truth is that no such thing works. Your body has a built-in system to protect itself from toxins. Your kidneys and liver play a role here. You just cannot eat something that would trigger that response or make your body detoxify itself in a better way. If you are eating a balanced diet, you really do not need to try any detox diets designed for colon cleansing or liver detox.

6. You Should Drink Eight Glasses of Water a Day

You should drink enough water to prevent dehydration, but the rule to drink eight glasses of water is not applicable to everybody. The best thing is to drink water when you feel thirsty. Do not force yourself to drink more than you can drink comfortably. Dehydration can certainly cause several problems, but that will happen only when you do not drink for an extended time. Just go have a glass of water if you have started feeling thirsty.

7. You Can Find Baby's Gender Based on Heart Rate

Unfortunately, that is not possible. So many factors can change the heart rate of babies. It could happen during the development of the parasympathetic or sympathetic nervous systems. Fetal movement and maternal fever can also change babies' heart rates.

8. Probiotic Supplements Can Support Weight Loss

As people seem to be more interested in losing weight, there are so many fad diets and supplements claiming to help burn fat in no time. Many supplement manufacturers claim that taking probiotic supplements can help promote weight loss. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen because taking probiotic supplements may improve digestion a little but do nothing to burn accumulated fat. It also does nothing to increase your metabolism. The only way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories and burn more through exercise.