Reducing Calories - the Key to Longevity

[shelley]

A wealth of experiments have been performed over the last 15 years to see how much of what we eat goes to feed us, and how much of what we eat goes to kill us. There's a saying inscribed on one of the Egyptian pyramids that was true 10,000 years ago and is doubly true today:

One-fourth of what we eat goes to feed ourselves, three-fourths goes to feed our doctors.

The first experiments were done on single-celled organisms in a Petri dish. Those that were given regular feedings lived a month. Those that were fed every-other day lived two months. It was seen that constant feeding, constantly metabolizing and eliminating foods, exhausted the mitochondria. A mitochondria is an "organelle," which is basically an organ on a cellular level, inside the cell. It is responsible for producing cellular energy, so it's pretty much the equivelent of the liver.

A forty percent reduction in caloric intake may lengthen human life span as much as twenty five years. Rats and mice fed a diet forty percent less than what they consumed if allowed to eat as much as they wanted, lived one third longer. It doesn't seem to matter whether the calories are in the form of fat, protein or carbohydrates.

The studies are assisted by the use of a new biological tool called an "Affymetrix chip" which measures aging at the cellular level. The chip monitors which genes are switched on or off. A theory of aging is that free radicals, which are a by-product of energy production, damage cells. In calorically restricted mice, the control genes are quiescent. Less energy means less damage to the cell's mitochondria.

To date it appears that even though the consumption of a healthy diet, rich in fresh fruits and vegetables is highly desirable, the real key to longevity is a reduction in food consumption overall. Does that mean we need to reduce our food intake by forty percent? Not necessarily, the experiments on mice revealed that even a ten percent reduction in food intake proved to add to the length of life.

I was listening to the audio commentary on Gosford Park, and the screenwriter, Julian Fellowes, mentioned a relative who 'took to her bed every Friday and drank or ate nothing but water. By the time she was 70 she looked not a day over 45.'

This practice is what we call dry fasting. You don't drink a lot of water or take any supplements, you just sip on water all day and leave it at that.

So not only is it important to maintain a healthy weight in order to feel good and energetic, it's also important to eat less than we think we need to exceed typical life expectancy and to remain youthful longer.

[h0ppy]

So fasting one day out of every week would be a great way to live longer?

[shelley]

Absolutely!

[h0ppy]

I've actually been doing that for quite a while. I usually do an enema in the morning and then one in the evening, because I know that it's important to rid all the toxins that accumulate in the colon when fasting. Is it safe to do enemas that often? I don't want it to cause a dependency over time...

By the way, I'm going to give that oil swishing a whirl. I mean, it's easy, cheap, and all the reasoning behind it seems valid!

[Dave]

I am currently reading a fascinating book on longevity: Fantastic Voyage by Ray Kurzweil (an accomplished inventor and futurist) and Terry Grossman (an expert in integrative medicine and longevity). It covers nutritional and other strategies for maintaining optimum health until the coming revolutions in bio- and nano-technology which the authors predict could well allow aging to be halted and even reversed in as short a timeframe as 20-30 years.

They have a website which allows the first 3 chapters to be read for free.

http://fantastic-voyage.net/

I've found the book a useful resource just for reading up on nutrition and health in general, let alone all the other interesting material on technology and how that will impact our health. A lot of their recommendations are consistent with Shelley's excellent advice.

[Dave]

I meant to say that they cover the benefits of calorie restriction in some detail - there seems to be an awful lot of research to back it up.

[h0ppy]

[shelley]

I think it's totaly safe to do two enemas in one day, one day a week.

[Invincible]

That makes so much sense. I've noticed that the older generation around me (80 year old plus), the one's that are still mobile are quite slim, almost skinny.

The head of my naturopathic college said that the optimum 2 fast days are new and full moon. Also, around both equinoxes.