AMERICUS — Every year, millions of Americans resolve to lose weight, whether on New Year’s Day, their birthday or just some morning when their mirror or the bathroom scale seems particularly unkind. And every year, many get frustrated and give up before they reach their goals. Contributing to this problem is a host of bad information about diet and exercise that circulates through gyms, workplaces, and over the Internet.

Take diet myths such as low fat equals low calorie. Or what about anything fat-free must mean it is healthy. It gets better; try skip one meal a day and calorie intake will be reduced, and the all the time favorite, eating after 8 p.m. causes weight gain. These are all myths and a part of the infamous world of fad dieting.

Some of these well intentioned diet myths can, in fact, be very harmful to not only a person’s weight loss goals, but more importantly to their overall health. From noon-1 p.m. today in the Devotions Room of the Rylander Theatre, Sumter Regional Hospital (SRH) sponsors the Lunch-n-Learn Program focusing on the topic: “Bad Diets and Diet Myths.” The speaker for the program is Julie Davis, a registered dietitian.

The Lunch-n-Learn Program began in October 2006, as a resource for the Sumter County community to educate individuals on health awareness and issues. The program began as an informative session that was held twice monthly at SRH, but since the March 1 tornado, the program is now held monthly at the Rylander.

“The purpose of the program is to provide a forum on health education,” said Karen Smith, community educator for SRH.

Smith said the program was designed to accommodate the public — many people have limited time during the latter half of the day.

“Having the sessions during the lunch hour is easier. Those who attend can bring their own lunch, meet and greet other people, all while learning vital information about health and health news,” she said.

As a registered dietitian, Davis will speak about fad diets, diet myths and why these methods of dieting do not work. In her discussion, Smith said, Davis will provide the proper methods of how to eat correctly for everyday living.

“This month’s session is to bring awareness to unhealthy eating habits and dieting. Davis will provide information that will be useful to our everyday lifestyle — methods that we can use for the rest of our lives and not just for crash dieting or fasting,” said Smith.

“My job is to educate the community about health care. This session, along with the many others to come, will do just that.”