Think you know everything there is to know about diet and exercise? Test your wellness IQ by choosin...

1. Wellness Quiz: Test Your Health IQ
Think you know everything there is to know about diet and exercise? Test your wellness IQ by
choosing true or false to the statements below. Then go to the next page to see if you answered
correctly. Dr. Tim Johnson explains which is a myth and why.
1. Your muscle turns to fat when you stop working out.
2. You must stretch before exercise.
3. Crunches will flatten your stomach.
4. Drinking alcohol helps you sleep.
5. Skipping meals helps you lose weight.
6. Low-fat food means low-calorie.
7. Diet soda is healthier than regular soda.
8. Liposuction is a way to lose significant weight.
Click here for the answers.
Click here for more wellness myths.
Answers from Dr. Tim Johnson.
1. Your muscle turns to fat when you stop working out.
Myth. It's a myth, but many see people who stopped working out and then several years later,
instead of a muscular frame, they now have a doughy one. But this is not because the muscle cells
have turned into fat cells. Rather, it is often because they are no longer burning calories as rapidly,
but they have not adjusted their caloric intake. So, instead of building muscle, they begin building
fat.
However, in some rare circumstances, muscle can turn into fat. According to Dr. Sherwin Ho, an
orthopedic surgeon at the University of Chicago, in some people who experience a complete muscle
tear -- in which they are unable to move a muscle at all -- such a muscle-to-fat conversion can take
place.
2. You must stretch before exercise.
Myth. Doctors have been going back and forth on this for years, but the current recommendation is
that stretching before working out will not prevent injury. Instead, a slower-paced version of the
exercise you will be doing is recommended as a warmup.

2. Ho noted that for certain patients with a history of injury, he would recommend stretching
beforehand in affected areas to help avoid injury. As with most new workout regimens, he
recommended talking to your doctor first. Stretching after a workout is still important, as it helps
develop the body's flexibility.
3. Crunches will flatten your stomach.
Myth. Spot-reduction is a popular goal, whether it be around the stomach, thighs or other parts of
the body, but it isn't a practical reality. Instead, aerobic exercise is needed to get rid of fat. Genetics
will typically determine where that fat is lost first, and then the area can be toned. The only reason
crunches might help flatten a stomach is because of the aerobic activity they provide, although they
are not the best means of getting that activity.
4. Drinking alcohol helps you sleep.
True, but not recommended. Alcohol will help you fall asleep; however, it's not recommended as a
sleep agent for several reasons, in addition to the fact that it can be abused.
You may wake up in the middle of sleep as the sedative benefit that alcohol provides wears off when
it is metabolized; alcohol disrupts REM sleep, which typically occurs in the latter part of the sleep
cycles; and alcohol may http://www.slideshare.net/lethalrascal8571/business-wire-37899479 not
keep you up, but it could keep your sleep partner awake as it tends to loosen the upper airway
muscle, increasing the potential for "floppy" tissue that might be prone to vibrate and result in
snoring.
5. Skipping meals helps you lose weight.