Here’s what’s on the healthspan menu today:
- The Initial Weight Loss of a Low Carb Diet
- 8 Ingredients Banned in the EU, but OK in the USA
- Dating, Marriage and Longevity
The Initial Weight Loss of a Low Carb Diet
You may know people that try a low-carb diet and lose weight very quickly. They think the low-carb diet is a miracle.
The truth is, during the first few weeks of a low-carb diet, most of the weight loss is water weight. This happens mainly because of 2 mechanisms.
The first is a lowering of insulin which also means the kidney sheds excess sodium from the body which will reduce water retention.
The second reason you lose water weight is the reduction of glycogen stores. Glycogen binds water in the muscles and liver.
Each gram of glycogen is associated with 3-4 grams of water so the less glycogen, the less water you will retain.
Is this dangerous? Not really, it’s mostly extra water and bloat that you don’t need to survive. You may even feel healthier because you are carrying less weight.
This also explains why after a day of cheat meals, those who are regularly on low-carb diets can gain a shocking amount of weight.
This occurs because your liver and muscles retain up to 4 grams of water for every gram of glycogen
8 Ingredients Banned in the EU, but OK in the USA
I thought most western “modern” countries had similar food health standards, but I was wrong.
Here are 8 common ingredients that are OK to be added in US foods, but banned in the EU.
- rBGH or Bovine Growth Hormone. Boosts milk production in cows
- Ractopamine. Increases lean muscle mass near end of animal’s life
- Potassium bromate. Makes bread fluffier and whiter
- Brominated vegetable oil. Keeps flavors from floating to the surface
- Olestra. A fat substitute with zero calories
- Azodicarbonamide. Bleaches flour quickly
- Coloring agents (Red #40, Yellow #6, Yellow #5, & Blue #1). Changes food color
- BHA and BHT. Food preservatives to increase shelf life
Here’s a good challenge. Next time you go grocery shopping, check out the food label and see how many of these ingredients you find in your foods. You might be shocked!
Dating, Marriage and Longevity
Here are some interesting stats about relationships and how they can affect your health
A study showed that married men live 2.2 years longer and their “active life expectancy”, what I would call their healthspan is 2.4 years longer.
Married women have similar stats. They lived 1.5 years longer than unmarried women and their healthspan was 2 years longer.
In another study, those who were divorced or widowed were 20% more likely to have heart disease, diabetes, cancer, or other chronic diseases.
