How much things have changed: I have two books from Men's Health from 1995, only fifteen years ago. Like many books from that era they don't mention the Internet at all, despite the fact that I was waist-deep in getting the Internet up and running at that time. But what's particularly funny are bits like these:
In the process of converting carbohydrates and protein into fat-- which acts as the body's enery warehouse-- your metabolism burns off about a quarter of their calories. Compare that with dietary fat, which zips straight into storage virtually untouched.
...
Americans simply eat too much fat and not enough carbohydrates.
None of this is true. Dietary fat must still be repocessed in order to become fat cells. Carbohydrates are processed in a way that leads to higher fat deposition compared to fat or protein. Low-carb diets have proven to be highly successful, can demonstrably reverse some arteriosclerotic conditions, and are tastier, making them easier to tolerate as lifestyle diets. There is no research that actually indicates a causal relationship between dietary fat and cardiovascular disease.
Another howler: "Exercise late." Exercising before breakfast ups your metabolism and forces your body to use metabolic reserves, turning you into a more efficient burner of your own fat deposits.
And another: "Stretching is important before a workout so you don't go into it with cold, tight muscles." This is completely wrong: a brief cardio session of
two minutes is all you need to warm up enough to work out. If you stretch before your workout, you're just pre-tearing cold muscles and diminishing those muscles' strength-building reaction. Stretch after exercising to gain the yogic benefits of stretching.
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