Get High to Shed Pounds (A Weight Loss Secret from Colorado)

Dear Natural Health Solutions Reader,

Every year, Colorado crushes the other states when it comes to the slenderness of its citizens.

For five years running, they’ve had either the least or second-to-the-least number of obese Americans.

This year, a mere 20.3 percent of them were on the wrong side of the obesity scale.

Contrast this with Mississippi, whose long-suffering citizens are typically the nation’s chubbiest. In 2015, a hefty 35.8 percent of them were clinically obese.

What’s the Coloradans’ skinny secret?

“Exercise is high on our to-do lists—so much so that it’s often one of our first thoughts of the day,” declared Denver Magazine, by way of explanation.

Hmmmm.

I’ve followed these annual rankings for over a decade. In the popular press, Coloradans always trot out some variation of this boast to explain their willowy physiques.

Hey, we’re obsessive about hiking, biking, skiing, jogging, Rumba, Zumba and various other calorie burners, they (essentially) say. You folks in other states might… you know… try releasing the death grip on the remote and waddling off the couch. Just sayin’…

But consider – residents of California, Oregon and Washington are nuts for exercise as well. Yet they have been losing the battle of the bulge along with the rest of the swelling nation.

So here’s a hint at what’s really going on.

Colorado is the highest state in the U.S.

Average altitude: 6,800 feet.

Every serious mountain climber knows that one of the major challenges of high altitude is keeping weight on.

Why?

Breathing at higher elevation raises the percentage of carbon dioxide in the body.

Many people think oxygen = healthy. And carbon dioxide = toxic. But that’s a vast oversimplification that overlooks CO2’s many metabolic virtues.

As nutrition researcher Ray Peat puts it, “In conditions that permit greater carbon dioxide retention, circulation is improved and the heart works more effectively.”¹

In other words, when you have more carbon dioxide in your blood, metabolism speeds up — and weight goes down.

But there is more to be gained than an attractive shape.

Coloradans – especially those in the highest counties in the state – consistently rank among the nation’s longest-lived citizens.

As it turns out, worldwide, people who live at high altitudes have a lower incidence of both cancer² and heart disease³ than folks who live closer to sea level.

So… can you put this knowledge to use? Is there an action plan here?

Possibly.

I recognize that picking up and moving to a higher altitude location is unrealistic for many, but perhaps not for everyone reading these words.

Life is becoming more mobile by the year. And as more boomers retire, their options are more fluid than those of previous generations.

So I would suggest that – all other things being equal – you might give some consideration to moving to a higher altitude location.

Another possibility? Again, all else being equal, spend at least part of your life as far above sea level as you find comfortable.

As I write, my wife Laurie and I are at a lovely campground on the shores of Yuba Lake, Utah, well over a mile up.

We could just as easily vacation at the beach. But when we leave our low-desert home (Tempe, Ariz., elevation 1,100 feet), we always seem to gravitate to mountain sites.

Does it help with weight loss? Will it lengthen our lives?

That’s not guaranteed. But these trips always seem to raise our spirits.

We’ll take it either way.

Brad Lemley
Editor, Natural Health Solutions

Citations
1. Ray Peat. Altitude and Mortality. RayPeat.com. 2006

2. Weinberg CR, Brown KG, Hoel DG.Altitude, radiation, and mortality from cancer and heart disease. Radiat Res. Nov 1987

3. Mortimer EA Jr, Monson RR, MacMahon BN. Engl J Med Reduction in mortality from coronary heart disease in men residing at high altitude. Mar 17, 1977.