Eating a large amount of carrots can cause your skin to turn orange (FACT/MYTH)

Answer: This is a fact. Carrots contain beta carotene, and consuming large amounts of beta carotene has been known to cause your skin to turn a yellowish-orange. Don’t worry though, it’s completely harmless and you would have to consume an extremely large quantity of carrots for this to happen.

Consuming a meal right before bedtime is a sure-fire way to gain body fat (FACT/MYTH)

Answer: This is a myth. Eating the right meal before bedtime can actually be very beneficial for fat loss. Before bed, it’s important to consume slow digesting proteins such as yogurt or cottage cheese. This will keep your metabolism revving throughout the night, store your muscle, and help to burn additional fat.

Muscle turns to fat if you stop working out (FACT/MYTH)

Answer: This is a myth. Muscle does not turn into fat! Muscle and fat are made from completely different types of cells. When someone stops working out, they tend to consume the same amount of calories that they consumed when they were active. Unfortunately, they aren’t burning as many calories in a given day, so these additional calories store as fat.

The number of calories burned on cardio equipment is accurate (FACT/MYTH)

Answer: This is a myth. This number is just an estimate of how many calories you have burned in a given time period. Every individual is different when it comes to burning calories. This is due to many factors. One major factor being the percentage of body fat you have. A woman with 40% body fat is going to burn fewer calories than a woman with 20% body fat if they both run on a treadmill for the same period of time.

Listening to music while working out can improve your performance (FACT/MYTH)

Answer: This is a fact. When you listen to music, you can lose focus of the effort you are putting in to your workout and the amount of fatigue you are feeling. It is a great way of distracting the mind. This is one of the major reasons why Zumba is so effective and popular. It’s difficult to focus on the chore of working out when you are dancing and listening to upbeat music.

1 out of 3 kids in the United States are considered overweight or obese (FACT/MYTH)

Answer: This is unfortunately a fact. Some of the major reasons for this include lack of physical activity, too much time spent on technology (television, internet, video games), and greater availability of sugary drinks and calorie-dense foods. Not only is this damaging the childrens’ health now, but it will create serious health problems down the road as they become adults.

Send us a comment and let us know how many you got correct. Are you a random health fact genius? Remember, no cheating!!

-Tom