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10 Food Myths That Have Been Making The Rounds

10 Food Myths That Have Been Making The Rounds

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From myths about nutrition to rumors that a new health item is tasty (when you know some celebrity must have just been paid to endorse it), here are 10 food myths that have been making the rounds lately.

skinnymom.com
skinnymom.com

Spaghetti squash is an apt substitute for real spaghetti

No matter how great at presentation someone is, long, curly “noodles” of squash that look just like pasta – a vegetable – will never taste like that magical combination of flour, eggs and water. Spaghetti squash breaks apart at the touch of a fork, cannot be twirled onto a fork, and comes with an unwanted sweet flavor when we all know pasta should be more like a blank canvas.

00-wine-classes

Red wine must be served at room temperature

Maybe the $5 cabernet you grab by check out at the grocery store should be kept at room temperature, but plenty of wines can actually benefit from a little chilling. For example, sparkling red wine should be served cold and can taste unbearably sweet if left at room temperature, and most pinot noirs taste best after 40 minutes in the fridge, cooled down to under 65 degrees.

greekfoodorigins.com
greekfoodorigins.com

Truffle oil will work when you don’t way to pay for truffles

Real truffles can be difficult, if not impossible, to come by. And they’re always expensive, which can lead you to grabbing a pretty bottle of truffle oil instead for making truffle fries. But you’re ruining the recipe! Here’s how you get truffle oil: a synthetic compound called 2,4-dithiapentane is added to olive oil or grapeseed oil. 2,4-Dithiapentane is only one of the compounds in real truffles which lend them that pungent aroma. So when you use the oil, you’re only getting one of the many aromatic profiles of a real truffle.

cookinglight.com
cookinglight.com

Quinoa can be your new base for any recipe

Health foodies are singing the praises of protein-loaded superfood quinoa. Vegans swear by it as their filling base to any dish. But the truth is it does not (as rumored) have more protein than oats, beans or meat. So unless you’re gorging on it, you will be left hungry after a meal if you’re replacing your beans, meat or fish with quinoa.

asgoodasgluten.blogspot.com
asgoodasgluten.blogspot.com

Gluten-free bread tastes, feels and functions just like real bread

Understandably, there are individuals with digestive issues or allergies who have to choose gluten-free bread. We feel for you. But for the rest of you just jumping on the bandwagon to look health-conscious, you’re robbing yourself of one of the greatest comforts on earth: real, fluffy yet sturdy bread. Most gluten free bread is made from rice or quinoa and crumbles the instant you apply a little pressure to it, like a knife spreading peanut butter, or even a few heavy slices of turkey. It can make for a messy, or just broken, sandwich.

orderstart.com
orderstart.com

 

Dairy and seafood shouldn’t go together

Um…whoever is peddling this lie, saying it’s a wretched flavor combination, or even that it will give you a stomach ache, clearly hasn’t had a tuna melt, a lobster roll, lobster mac and cheese, cheesy crab dip, or salmon eggs benedict.

raleys.com
raleys.com

 

Soy, almond or coconut milk tastes just like real milk

Just as a disclaimer, these are all tasty in their own right, have far fewer calories than regular dairy milk and don’t leave you with some of the digestive issues that downing a glass of milk can. But you don’t deserve to believe that dunking an Oreo in any of these will yield you the same, heavenly experience of dipping one into real milk. Oh and when you pour most of these into coffee, it curdles a little.

mommypalooza.com
mommypalooza.com

Leaving the pit in the guacamole keeps it fresh

If you’ve been awkwardly shoving giant pits around with your chip, trying to get some dip in the name of keeping the guac fresh, you’re struggling for nothing. This myth has only survived because the tiny portion of the guacamole that actually touches the submerged pit stays green, and that’s because just that portion is being kept from air exposure. The rest of the guacamole will still go brown. To keep it from doing so, simply add lime juice.

simplyrecipes.com
simplyrecipes.com

Your body won’t get the protein from beans unless you eat them with rice

You’ve probably heard the term “complete protein” applied to a bowl of rice and beans, implying that something is incomplete about either item when served alone. Our proteins are made of 20 amino acids. Our bodies can only create 11 of these, and the other nine we must get from food. Animal-based protein-rich foods have all nine amino acids, but plant-based foods tend to lack one. Experts used to believe that in order to complete the chain, you needed to pair plant-based protein foods with another set of amino acids, like rice. But they’ve since discovered so long as you have a variety of foods with different sets of amino acids throughout the day, you don’t need to have them all in each meal.

news.asiantown.net
news.asiantown.net

 

Calories eaten at night are more fattening than those eaten during the day

It’s nice to think you can eat all you want at breakfast and lunch and so long as you have a salad for dinner, you’ll stay thin. But that’s simply not true. Nutritionists say that it doesn’t matter when your calories are consumed, simply how many are consumed throughout the day.