UK Health Minister reveals success with low-carb eating

At Diet Doctor, we don’t venture into political debates. But we do like to highlight hopeful progress no matter where it comes from. That’s why we took notice when UK Health Minister Matt Hancock stated he supports eating low-carb in order to encourage weight loss and better health.

In 2012, Hancock lost “two stone” (28 pounds or about 13 kilos) by avoiding carbs in his diet. “I did it over three months by not eating bread, potatoes or pasta,” Hancock told The Telegraph in 2018. Then, during the 2019 election, Hancock lost around 10 pounds (4.5 kilos), again by cutting out sugar and starch, explains Dr. David Unwin, a low-carb general practitioner.

In addition to the weight-loss benefits Hancock experienced from eating low carb, medical professionals are now speculating about whether the health minister’s lower body weight may have helped him to recover from the coronavirus after he contracted it in March of 2020.

When Hancock first announced that he’d tested positive for coronavirus via Twitter, he reported only “mild” symptoms and was working from home in self-isolation. After just “a few days’” time, Hancock told BBC Radio Suffolk that he was “on the mend.”

According to Dr. Unwin, Hancock’s speedy recovery may have been a result of the weight he lost while eating low carb. Early research suggests that obesity is a risk factor for a more difficult recovery from Covid-19. That does not mean we know for sure that weight loss played a role in his speedy recovery, but it sure didn’t hurt.

Now more than ever, it’s important that we all begin to take our metabolic health more seriously — especially in the face of a pandemic.

If, like Hancock, you’d also like to attempt eating low carb for the purpose of improving your overall health and potentially losing weight, you should definitely check out our free 2-Week Get Started Keto Challenge. So far, over 1 million people have signed up. Join us.

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