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The secret to a long and healthy life? Eat less

bbc.com

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Re: The secret to a long and healthy life? Eat less

#81

Post by Swizec »

cyrusshepard wrote: post #37

Good overview of the benefits of calorie restriction, but doesn't touch on two of the most important schools of thought of the past couple years. 1. Calorie restriction is almost impossible for most humans to follow long term 2. Many of the same benefits of calorie restriction may be achievable through intermittent fasting, which is much easier for people to follow. I've been experimenting with a daily 16 hour fast (…

> have seen small improvements in my energy and general well-being

FWIW I have moved to eating small meals every 3 hours a few years ago and have seen huge improvements in my energy and general well-being. The most key of those meals is the midnight meal that ensures I wake up full of energy and ready to go.

Nutrition is tricky.

Re: The secret to a long and healthy life? Eat less

#82

Post by pharrlax »

louprado wrote: post #12

My father has had a low calorie diet all of his life. At 78, he is in perfect physical and mental condition. His doctor had only one concern; he is slowly losing weight each year and needs to reverse that. The doctor wanted to prescribe an appetite enhancing drug but my father explained he can not simply gain weight by eating more. It's as if his digestive system is already at a maximum threshold. I wonder if habitua…

>The doctor wanted to prescribe an appetite enhancing drug but my father explained he can not simply gain weight by eating more. It's as if his digestive system is already at a maximum threshold.

It's more likely that his weight set point has been lowered, and now his hormonal hunger indicators are defending that set point.

He needs to power through it and eat more, even though it's going to feel like he's uncomfortably full all the time. I went through the same thing. It's all mental. It has nothing to do with the digestive system.

Re: The secret to a long and healthy life? Eat less

#83

Post by dpark »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #42

A few thoughts. It seems that "calorie restriction" is a misleading term. If these funds are correct, CR should be considered the norm/ideal. That means the majority, currently, over-consume. That aside. I wonder if it's also related to modern food, and the production there of. If inflammation is the root of most disease, and CR, I presume, reduces inflammation, then what is it about our foods that trigger so much in…

> If these funds are correct, CR should be considered the norm/ideal. That means the majority, currently, over-consume.

If we found that consuming a quart of squid ink daily extended life by 20%, we wouldn't call that "the norm". The norm is what people actually do. "Ideal" is extremely subjective, as "never satiated" is a tough steady state for most people.

> If inflammation is the root of most disease

That's a pretty wild starting point. Most disease in modern nations seems pretty tightly correlated with sedentary lifestyle and obesity.

Re: The secret to a long and healthy life? Eat less

#84

Post by Cyph0n »

dpark wrote: post #76
cyrusshepard wrote: post #37

Good overview of the benefits of calorie restriction, but doesn't touch on two of the most important schools of thought of the past couple years. 1. Calorie restriction is almost impossible for most humans to follow long term 2. Many of the same benefits of calorie restriction may be achievable through intermittent fasting, which is much easier for people to follow. I've been experimenting with a daily 16 hour fast (…

> Many of the same benefits of calorie restriction may be achievable through intermittent fasting, which is much easier for people to follow. I've been experimenting with a daily 16 hour fast Citation? I can't get the NIH study to load, but the other two are wildly different from 16/8 IF. IF proponents like to look at alternate day fasting or periodic weekly fasting and claim evidence for the effectiveness of 16/8 fa…

How about skipping breakfast and lunch, as done by Muslims during Ramadan? In general, Islam recommends voluntary fasting for 2 days every week (traditionally Monday and Thursday).

Re: The secret to a long and healthy life? Eat less

#85

Post by shady-lady »

Swizec wrote: post #81
cyrusshepard wrote: post #37

Good overview of the benefits of calorie restriction, but doesn't touch on two of the most important schools of thought of the past couple years. 1. Calorie restriction is almost impossible for most humans to follow long term 2. Many of the same benefits of calorie restriction may be achievable through intermittent fasting, which is much easier for people to follow. I've been experimenting with a daily 16 hour fast (…

> have seen small improvements in my energy and general well-being FWIW I have moved to eating small meals every 3 hours a few years ago and have seen huge improvements in my energy and general well-being. The most key of those meals is the midnight meal that ensures I wake up full of energy and ready to go. Nutrition is tricky.

> small meals every 3 hours

I can't imagine what food combinations would constitute a small meal that would be eaten 5/6 times a day. Sample menu for a full day?

Re: The secret to a long and healthy life? Eat less

#86

Post by netman21 »

stevewillows wrote: post #41

About five years ago I switched to one large meal per day (dinner) with a snack or two. Prior to this I lost nearly 40lbs by shifting my diet toward dominant protein and smaller portions. I also added in a good 30+ minutes of walking per day. Nothing fancy. I also dropped almost all of my sugar intake. I drink about 3L of water per day and have one cup of coffee in the morning. I've been able to maintain a healthy we…

If you think about it, a ketogenic diet may be a form of continuous fasting since one tends to go into ketosis when one fasts. I had already given up gluten and alcohol, in an attempt to lose weight. Things really accelerated three weeks ago when I went full keto. Off one stone already. So called keto-flu was minor and easily addressed with a quarter teaspoon of salt. I am an inch shorter than you and shooting for 182 lbs.

Re: The secret to a long and healthy life? Eat less

#87

Post by Swizec »

shady-lady wrote: post #85
Swizec wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> have seen small improvements in my energy and general well-being FWIW I have moved to eating small meals every 3 hours a few years ago and have seen huge improvements in my energy and general well-being. The most key of those meals is the midnight meal that ensures I wake up full of energy and ready to go. Nutrition is tricky.

> small meals every 3 hours I can't imagine what food combinations would constitute a small meal that would be eaten 5/6 times a day. Sample menu for a full day?

Here is a relatively typical day https://imgur.com/a/WQeAr

I tend to increase my intake right before and after gym sessions. That's why 2nd lunch and Dinner are bigger than the others.

And on this particular day I felt like having candy after dinner because I was low on carbs, so midnight meal was slightly smaller than usual.

Re: The secret to a long and healthy life? Eat less

#88

Post by notadoc »

louprado wrote: post #12

My father has had a low calorie diet all of his life. At 78, he is in perfect physical and mental condition. His doctor had only one concern; he is slowly losing weight each year and needs to reverse that. The doctor wanted to prescribe an appetite enhancing drug but my father explained he can not simply gain weight by eating more. It's as if his digestive system is already at a maximum threshold. I wonder if habitua…

> I wonder if habitual CR inevitably trains the body to stabilize its weight

This would not surprise me too much, in the same way that being overweight and habitually overeating basically trains the body to always want to be fat, always be hungry, etc

Re: The secret to a long and healthy life? Eat less

#89

Post by dpark »

oh_sigh wrote: post #54
vlasev wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if you skip breakfast, but if you do, you are missing a strong signal to your circadian rhythm. What happens is you end up sleeping later and waking up later as the rhythm shifts towards your first meal of the day.

Do you have any source of proof of any of this? I have no problem waking up at 630am after 7 hours of sleep and not eating anything until after noon. Thinking to premodern humans, do you think they would frequently have food waiting for them as soon as they awoke? Some days maybe, but then other days probably not.

> Do you have any source of proof of any of this?

Of course not. There's never been any significant evidence of health benefits from breakfast.

Re: The secret to a long and healthy life? Eat less

#90

Post by dpark »

Cyph0n wrote: post #84
dpark wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Many of the same benefits of calorie restriction may be achievable through intermittent fasting, which is much easier for people to follow. I've been experimenting with a daily 16 hour fast Citation? I can't get the NIH study to load, but the other two are wildly different from 16/8 IF. IF proponents like to look at alternate day fasting or periodic weekly fasting and claim evidence for the effectiveness of 16/8 fa…

How about skipping breakfast and lunch, as done by Muslims during Ramadan? In general, Islam recommends voluntary fasting for 2 days every week (traditionally Monday and Thursday).

What about it?
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