Are there any other benefits to a low carb diet other than losing weight?
One of the additional benefits of a low carb diet is that it apparently strengthens the immune system unlike a high sugar diet. Refined carbohydrates and sugars weaken the body and make it more susceptible to accelerated aging and disease. In other words, carbs and sugars depress your immunity! How do we know this? Our white blood cells are the body’s most important defenders, protecting us from pathogenic invaders. More than twenty years ago a large study demonstrated that the effects of refined carbohydrates (sweets and sugars) cause the leukocytic index to plummet. The leukocytic index measures immune function by counting how many harmful organisms one white blood cell can destroy in one hour. The average American (whose diet is not too healthy to begin with) has a Leukocytic Index of 13.9. Within 15 minutes of ingesting 100 grams of refined carbohydrates (the amount normally ingested at dinner) the leukocytic index falls to 1.4! In other words, immune function drops 90% and lasts f
