A factoid is a questionable or spurious—unverified, incorrect, or fabricated—statement formed and asserted as a fact, but with no veracity. The word appears in the Oxford English Dictionary as “something which becomes accepted as fact, although it may not be true.” However, the word can sometimes mean, instead, an insignificant but true piece of information. (wikipedia)

Most of the claims you hear or read about in the health/fitness/diet industry are simply factoids.

In many cases they started with a misinterpretation of a scientific theory or fact and quickly turn into something completely untrue and in some cases the opposite of what the science tells us.

Finding out if a claim is a fact or a factoid takes time and effort to research where it came from and how it became popular.

Many claims in the health and fitness industry are difficult to prove in your daily life (if you gain 1 pound this week, was it muscle or fat?!)…so factoids can persist and many people get taken to the cleaners spending money on products based solely on factoids.

So here is the challenge. I want you to guess which of the following claims are facts or factoids…(re-read the definition of factoid above if you have to while you’re doing this exercise)

1. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and kickstarts your metabolism. If you skip breakfast you’ll overeat at the end of the day and you won’t perform as well at work/school.

2. Eating late at night causes you to gain fat

3. Your metabolic rate is determined by your fat free mass (all the parts of your body that aren’t fat)

4. Adding an extra pound of muscle to your body causes you to burn about 50 more calories per day

5. High Intensity Interval Training causes you to burn more calories than steady state cardio (given the same amount of work)

6. Cardio on an empty stomach in the morning causes you to burn more fat than glycogen

7. Low insulin levels are correlated with a shift to a high percentage of fat burning

8.  Working out your abs will give you a flat stomach

9.  Certain foods cause you to burn more calories digesting them than others

10. The only scientifically repeatable and proven way to lose body fat is to eat less calories than you burn

Put your answers in the comment section. If you think it’s a fact just put “F” and if you think it’s a factoid put “FT”

I’ll be taking up the answers with 10 video posts throughout the rest of this week.

And let the game begin.

John