Here’s what’s on the healthspan menu today:
- Eat veggies & protein before carbs
- Book reading and longevity
Eat veggies & protein before carbs
Let’s say for dinner your meal consisted of ciabatta bread, orange juice, chicken breast, tomato salad, and steamed broccoli with butter. Do you think it matters the order in which you eat this food?
If your goal is to reduce your blood sugar levels and lower insulin then the order is clear. You should eat your vegetables and protein first before any carbohydrates.
Researchers used this exact meal and studied 2 groups of type 2 diabetic patients.
The first group ate the ciabatta bread and orange juice, the carbs, first, and then veggies and protein afterward.
The second group did the opposite and ate veggies and protein before the carbs.
Researchers then measured their glucose levels 30, 60, and 120 minutes after their meal.
They found for the second group, who ate veggies and protein first, that their glucose levels were 29%, 37%, and 17% lower for each of those time intervals.
Remember, both groups ate the exact same meal. The only difference was the order in which they ate their foods.
So the next time you eat carbs with your meal, eat your meat and veggies first and you’ll lower your blood sugar and insulin levels.
Book reading and longevity
In a 2016 study of more than 3500 people 50 years and older, researchers discovered that people who read books lived 23-months longer compared to non-book readers.
That’s right! Reading books correlated to almost 2 more years of living!
Here are some other interesting findings.
Those who read more than 3.5 hours a week were 23% less likely to die. Those who read up to 3.5 hours a week were 17% less likely to die. Based on that, the more they read the longer they seemed to live.
Surprisingly, they found many of the longevity benefits came from reading books and not from reading magazines or newspapers.
The theory for why books are better is that books require more cognitive engagement and can promote empathy, social perception, and emotional intelligence.
If you aren’t reading books consistently it’s never too late to start. You’ll learn more, be entertained, improve your focus and potentially live longer.
It’s easy to get started. Find something you’re interested in and start with a few minutes a day.
