The path to a a long and healthy life is more than just externally looking good but also ensuring we are as healthy as we can be internally as well. A healthy heart starts with maintaining and active lifestyle and more importantly a healthy diet.
Research was conducted to determine the best diet to facilitate a healthy heart. Participants were split into one of 3 groups. They followed the diets assigned to them for 20 weeks. Each of the 3 diets contained 20% protein but differing amounts of carbs and fat.
Study participants received fully prepared, customized meals that they could either eat in the cafeteria or take to go.
Here is how the diets broke down:
Low-carb: 20% carbohydrate, 21% fat
Moderate-carb: 40% carbohydrate, 14% fat
High-carb: 60% carbohydrate, 7% fat
At the end of the 20 weeks, the stunning results revealed:
“A low-carbohydrate diet, high in saturated fat, improved insulin-resistant dyslipoproteinemia and lipoprotein(a), without adverse effect on LDL cholesterol. Carbohydrate restriction might lower CVD (cardiovascular disease) risk independently of body weight, a possibility that warrants study in major multi-centered trials powered on hard outcomes.”
In conclusion what the researchers found was that the people eating the low-carb, high fat diet had better improvements in triglycerides, adiponectin (a fat-derived hormone that appears to play a crucial role in protecting against insulin resistance/diabetes and atherosclerosis), blood pressure and lipoprotein(a) than those on the moderate or high carb diets. Lipoprotein(a) is a type of protein that transports cholesterol in the blood and can cause LDL cholesterol to form plaques on blood vessel walls, leading to the narrowing or blocking of blood vessels and hardening of arteries. The high saturated fat did not have any negative impact on cholesterol or cardiovascular markers.
A unique result that goes contrary to what we typically consider healthy. Ultimately it depends on the source of that fat and how your unique metabolic makeup responds to saturated fat.
This diet is worth considering but not an outright necessity. How do you feel about considering a low-carb, high saturated fat diet?
Health Life Fitness 