Everything You Know Is Wrong

What We All Accept:

Fruit is considered a health food. Everyone knows that instead of munching down on chocolate, we should eat a lot of fruit.

The Reality:

Fruit is actually unhealthy. It's high in sugar, which stunts fat burning.

Wait, What?!

While it's true that fruit contains vitamins and minerals that are essential for the body, such things can be gleaned from other sources, most notably vegetables. The problem with fruit is that it's high in fructose and glucose. Although glucose is essential, your body can manufacture the glucose it needs from the proteins you digest, or from stored fats. Fructose, on the other hand, is the devil. These are verifiable facts. There's tonnes of literature on this stuff.

Fruit is still okay to have, but it depends on what you want. If fat loss is your goal, no fruit. It will stunt fat loss. If you just want to look, feel and perform well, and you're happy with your body, a few servings of fruit a week should be okay.

What We All Accept:

Grains, specifically wholegrains, are an essential part of any diet! Everyone needs to eat bread, rice, pasta, corn and potato! If anything has the word "wholegrain" on it, you know it's healthy!

The Reality:

Grains are fucking killing you.

Wait, What?!

Strap yourselves in for this one. This is going to take some doing.

The human body is not adapted for eating grains of any sort. Grains are actually not happy with the fact that you eat them, and put up a defence mechanism to try and stop you. Of course it can't fucking stop you from eating it, but it won't go down without a fight. While being digested, grains release certain chemicals. These chemicals are not healthy. As a result, the grains damage your gut lining. Damaged gut lining leads to a host of autoimmune diseases, celiac disease, fucking cancer... How's your wholegrain bread looking for you now?

Here's some extra info (source):
Grains cause a litany of health issues, just a few of which I will attempt to outline here. Former Research Biochemist Robb Wolf, author of The Paleo Solution, says that grains come equipped with phytic acid, which binds to metal ions like calcium, magnesium and iron, causing deficiencies. This negatively impacts bone health and can cause iron deficiency anemia. And indeed, evidence of these deficiencies have been found in the skeletons of Neolithic (grain-eating) humans, unlike our Paleolithic ancestors. [who ate no grains]
Wolf writes that grains also contain lectins, which damage the gut lining. This damage to our intestines makes us less able to absorb nutrients. Lectins from grains can also be blamed as contributing factors of autoimmune diseases and inflammation. And in very simple terms, the high carbohydrate content of grains causes weight gain by increasing the output of insulin, which makes us fat.
[M]any people protest the news that grains are unhealthy because grains are also addictive: Wheat triggers the same opiate receptor in our brains that responds to heroine and opium.

I know, I know. People are going to tell me that they've eaten grains daily for their entire life, and have never had a problem. You're going to say that these problems can only emerge if you have faulty genes. Well, unfortunately, you're not fine. There's a good chance you're going to develop autoimmune disease at some point in your life. Now it won't happen to everyone, but do you really want to take that chance? Do you? The statistics state that one in four people will get cancer in their lifetime. Think about that.

For further reading, pick up a copy of The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf. He has a whole chapter, and he provides plenty of peer-reviewed documents which support his theories.

What We All Accept:

Dairy is healthy! Cheese, yogurt, milk... All essential parts of a healthy diet!

The Reality:

You probably shouldn't be eating dairy.

Wait, What?!

Here's the deal: calcium is the touted as the biggest benefit of drinking milk, but you can get all the calcium you need from broccoli, zucchini, etc. Furthermore, the human body barely absorbs the calcium in milk.

Dairy has so much added hormones, sugars, etc, that nullify any possible benefits you can get from it. Scientists are definitely split on whether or not you can have dairy, but it comes down to this fact: you can eat some dairy, but only because it doesn't exactly do terrible things to you. That hardly sounds like a glowing recommendation for dairy.

Dr. Loren Cordain has an expert article on the effects of dairy. If you want more evidence, Cordain has written a tonne of literature on the matter.
thepaleodiet.com/paleo-basics-2/qa-with-dr-cordain-milk

What We All Accept:

Eggs and bacon is such an unhealthy start to the day! Everyone knows such things are high in salt and cholesterol, and will give you heart disease!

The Reality:

Bacon and eggs is incredibly healthy.

Wait, What?!

Let's not get things out of proportion: if you eat like a kilo of bacon and twenty eggs for breakfast, that will kill you. But then again, if you consume a large amount of anything, it's bad for you. But if you have a few eggs and a few strips of bacon, it's fine, as long as you don't drown it in salt or put it on toast. Eggs have plenty of protein, and are rich in stuff that's healthy for the body. Eggs are basically a super-food; egg whites contain all the nutrients needed for the development of the foetus it's carrying. Bacon, meanwhile, is a form of meat, hence it has protein as well. It's a salty meat, sure, but as long as you don't overdose on bacon, your body's sodium levels will be fine.

Of course, bacon & eggs tastes so much better when you add a couple slices of toast slathered in butter, and when you drown the eggs in salt. But that's exactly where the meal's bad reputation comes from, because bread is fucking terrible for you (especially white bread, which is bleached), butter is not so good, and salt - while good in smaller doses - shouldn't be used too liberally.

What We All Accept:

Chocolate is BAD for you! Haha, look at those fatties eating all dat chocolate.

The Reality:

Milk chocolate is bad for you since it has dairy in it, but dark chocolate is not so bad. And if it's really pure, it's healthy.

Wait, What?!

Cocoa in itself is not unhealthy. It's what's mixed with it that makes chocolate bad. A chocolate biscuit is overloaded with carbs and grains. Chocolate bars have fuckloads of sugar and artificial flavouring.

If you buy a block of 85% dark chocolate, you can eat that shit as often as you want. It works like a healthy fat, like olive oil, and it has antioxidants that are healthy for you. Don't binge on the stuff, but dark chocolate is fine.