Lower-Carb May Not Be As Good As A Low-Carb Diet For Improving Health Markers

Filed under: Health — jimmy @ 11:47 pm

How can this beautiful face be anything but healthy?

When most people talk about the low-carb lifestyle, the subject usually centers around weight loss. And naturally so! After all, books like Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution, which totally changed my life forever for the better in 2004 when I lost a total of 180 pounds that year, are marketed as “diet” books. And bookstore shelves are absolutely LOADED with author after author touting this plan and that plan to help you lose the blubber.

But when we talk about “diet” in the full context of what that word really means, we’re not just referring to weight loss. The simplest definition of a “diet” in my mind refers to “the way you eat.” That’s it! So, for people on any of the various low-carb diets like Atkins, Protein Power, South Beach, or The Zone, for example, the focus is on the mechanism that happens inside the body when you reduce your carbohydrate intake. And that is what produces the ever-elusive weight loss.

Yes, eating low-carb does indeed result in some rather spectacular weight loss. But the thing that amazed me more than anything about livin’ la vida low-carb when I first started on it were the massive improvements in my health. I was taking prescription medications for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and breathing problems. Within nine months of my low-carb way of eating, I no longer needed those prescription drugs. And I’ve never taken another pill from a pharmacist since.

People e-mail me all the time wanting to know why they haven’t lost weight on low-carb because the scale hasn’t moved as fast as they were hoping. My response back to them is usually to remind them that at least they are losing weight and that their first and foremost priority when livin’ la vida low-carb is NOT weight loss, but rather it should be their health. This is perhaps the most overlooked aspect of the low-carb life that is simply ignored by people who don’t think it’s necessarily something they need for their life.

Take, for example, a normal weight person. Most people would look at that individual and conclude that a low-carb diet is unnecessary for them because they’re not overweight or obese and, thus, are healthy, right? Welllllll, not necessarily. And the same goes for an overweight or obese person. Just because they are carrying around a few extra pounds doesn’t automatically mean they are unhealthy. Of course, the extra weight can lead to health issues in the long run, but it’s not a perfect indicator of current health problems.

With that said, I wanted to share with you some rather startling results from a recent physical that my dear wife Christine had at her doctor. It’s an anomaly of sorts and I welcome your feedback about it. Find out what happened to one aspect of her health after reducing her carbs only slightly that has us all puzzled by clicking here.