Like many young people in Hong Kong, Lesley wants to lose weight. She stopped eating eggs and carbohydrates（碳水化合物）, drinks eight glasses of water a day and only eats low-fat snacks. The food myth she does not know is that her “healthy” eating habits might not be good for her health.

Eggs are the enemy

Many people believe that egg yolks are bad for their heart. But this is only partly true. Though eggs contain a small amount of saturated fat（饱和脂肪）, they provide us with 13 types of natural vitamins（维生素）and minerals（矿物质）. You might not get some of these nutrients（营养物质）from other foods. So instead of avoiding eggs completely, it’s a good idea to keep them in your diet.

Carbohydrates make you fat

When people think about carbohydrates, they think white bread, rice and pasta are fattening. However, there are also “good-carbs”, such as beans, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and bananas. We need carbohydrates to give us energy.

“Low-fat” is always better

Like carbohydrates, some fats are good for you and others are not. Without good fats, the human body cannot get enough nutrients. The problem with low-fat products is that they are low in all fats including the good ones.   

Drink eight glasses of water every day

Eight glasses is not always the right amount of water to drink for everyone because different people need different amounts of water. In addition, some people forget there is also water in food like fruits and vegetables. This means you really don’t need to only drink water to stay hydrated（含水的）. Drinking water is important, but taking in too much water can be harmful. In serious cases, it can lead to water poisoning.

Snack Rules

Probably you grew up with a stop-snacking mom. That is a mom who tells her kids that snacks are bad. They will make you fat. They will hurt your teeth.

Well, Mom may be right about most things, but she isn’t right about all snacks. There is actually a healthy way to snack. 【小题1】 The right snacks can keep you from eating too much at dinner and keep you from getting fat.

The first rule about snacking is to make your own. 【小题2】 Most of those snacks have too much sugar and salt in them.

【小题3】 Things like bread and crackers are processed quickly by your body. Have some cheese or yogurt to go along with some bread, and you’ve got a winning snack.

The third rule about snacking is to remember water. Especially when you are working, it is easy to mistake being tired for being hungry. 【小题4】 Your body might just be trying to tell you to drink some water. Have a bottle of water before you pull out another snack. That might be all you really need.

With one or two snack breaks during your day, you will probably find that you eat less at lunch and dinner. Smaller meals will help you cut down the amount of food you eat during your day. And eating less is a great way to start losing weight.

【小题5】

People all over the world eat eggs. Most of the eggs we eat come from hens. Eggs are easy to cook. They can be cooked in lots of ways, such as fried or boiled. Eggs can be used with other things to make cakes and ice cream.

◇Shell: The shell protects the egg. Shells can be brown or white.

◇White（蛋清）: The egg white is mostly water, protein and some minerals. Before the white is cooked, it is not white, it is clear.

◇Yolk（蛋黄）：The yolk has most of the egg’s vitamins and minerals. The yolk can be yellow to dark orange. The color depends on what the hens eats.