These days it feels very much like fad diets and strict rules regarding the consumption of food are all the rage.
Most people have a certain goal in mind when they decide to drastically alter their eating habits. Perhaps it’s to gain or lose weight, maybe it’s to live healthier, maybe it’s just because their morals don’t align with the diet they currently follow.
I think it’s safe to say that most of us have opted to cut things out of our diets in the past. I think it’s also safe to say that very few of us have ever undertaken a challenge quite like a man named Dr. Nick Norwitz.
A researcher-educator whose website describes his mission as being to “Make Metabolic Health Mainstream,” Dr. Norwitz found internet fame recently through his YouTube channel, where he documented his journey after deciding to consume 700 eggs in month to see what would happen to his body.
That’s right… 700 eggs! For those wondering, that amounts to two cartons of eggs every day for 30 days. Or, as the doctor puts it, one egg per hour. A challenge not for the faint of heart, I’m sure we can agree.
In order to reach the required levels, Dr. Norwitz had to consume an impressive 24 eggs a day. His reason for undertaking what most of us would probably describe as a daunting and extreme food regime? He wanted to prove his hypothesis that such an extreme intake of cholesterol-rich eggs would not significantly impact his cholesterol levels, specifically his LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol.
Chances are you’ve heard of cholesterol, almost universally believed to pose risks to the heart when at consistently elevated levels.
When I was young we were taught that cholesterol was undeniably bad for you, and that consuming cholesterol-rich foods every day would set an individual on a path that would spell serious trouble in the future.
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24 eggs a day
Times change, of course, and so does the general consensus of health experts. These days there are those who argue that cholesterol isn’t as dangerous as previously advertised. Since I’m not a doctor I won’t sit here and tell you it’s perfectly fine to ingest 24 eggs a day (don’t try it at home, please), but in fairness to Dr. Norwitz, his experiment revealed some interesting data.
As per the good doctor’s YouTube channel, his cholesterol levels did not exhibit the expected spike after he had consumed a whopping 720 eggs in just one month.
Instead, he claimed to have observed the opposite – his LDL cholesterol levels not only remained stable but progressively decreased. In the first two weeks, Dr. Norwitz’s LDL cholesterol dropped by two percent, but would go on to drop by 18 percent in the two weeks that followed.
Delving into the science behind the results, Dr. Norwitz explained that the regulation of cholesterol synthesis by the liver is influenced by dietary intake, and that after he introduced additional carbs to his diet, his LDL levels appeared to balance out.
“The extra dose of carbs dominated over the insane amounts of cholesterol I was consuming,” he explained, as per the New York Post.
Norwitz then chose fruits such as blueberries, bananas and strawberries, to eat in the final two weeks of his experiment, resulting in the aforementioned dramatic drop.
Have you ever taken on a crazy food challenge or tried a new diet? Let us know in the comments.
