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Reduced- calorie diet shows signs of slowing ageing in people

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Re: Reduced-calorie diet shows signs of slowing ageing in people

#21

So far in 2018 I have had one ~1300-1500 calorie meal per day for all except maybe ten days (where I have gone out for drinks or have extra food late in the evening with friends). The strangest thing so far is how much my body has adapted to this - I skip breakfast and lunch every day, yet don't feel particularly restricted (save socially), hungry, or weak. I am just one person, but I now intuitively feel that whatev…

You must either be quite short or female. The average healthy male would be losing weight very quickly at such a large deficit.

I am 5’8, and if you are familiar with studies of someone similar doing the same thing, I would love to see them. :)

Re: Reduced-calorie diet shows signs of slowing ageing in people

#22

That’s great and all, but you cannot build muscle unless you’re on a caloric surplus. Good bye resistance weight training with the goal of having more muscle. The irony is that having more muscle would also increase the amount of calories you need to maintain (not get bigger/fatter, not get smaller). What I’m trying to say is that a “deficit” completely depends on what your current lean body mass is. If I want to go…

IANA scientist, but the article claims new evidence that a reduced calorie diet can slow metabolism, which would impact the “surplus” side of that equation.

Re: Reduced-calorie diet shows signs of slowing ageing in people

#23
post #11

So far in 2018 I have had one ~1300-1500 calorie meal per day for all except maybe ten days (where I have gone out for drinks or have extra food late in the evening with friends). The strangest thing so far is how much my body has adapted to this - I skip breakfast and lunch every day, yet don't feel particularly restricted (save socially), hungry, or weak. I am just one person, but I now intuitively feel that whatev…

How do you even deal with that? I'm on the lower end of BMI (still in the normal/healthy range). I am constantly in a state of starvation. My body burns through food like it's nothing. I have to eat 2 main meals per day to even sustain myself properly. The thing about low calorie intake increasing your lifespan freaks me out.

Relax. Exercise will do more for you than restricting you diet will. Eat healthy (whole grain, lots of fiber, and greens, and drink water) and don't skip exercise for a long period.

Re: Reduced-calorie diet shows signs of slowing ageing in people

#24

So far in 2018 I have had one ~1300-1500 calorie meal per day for all except maybe ten days (where I have gone out for drinks or have extra food late in the evening with friends). The strangest thing so far is how much my body has adapted to this - I skip breakfast and lunch every day, yet don't feel particularly restricted (save socially), hungry, or weak. I am just one person, but I now intuitively feel that whatev…

I had a same experience... decided at the start of January to cut out almost all sugar (and the nutritionally empty foods that delivered it).

Once I decided that, it was surprisingly easy to say 'no danish mid-morning, KitKat after lunch, or candy mid-afternoon'. When the hunger pangs came, I'd go for a 5 minute walk or head up to the work gym for a quick 30 minute session. Then in the evenings, I found I was still much less hungry. Dinner was 2/3 the size as before, and no desire for dessert afterwards.

I was surprised how my body felt this new routine was perfectly fine!

I lost a steady 2 lbs a week through January and February, and am now back to the weight I had 25 years ago.

Whether or not this qualifies as a "reduced-calorie diet", it feels great!

Re: Reduced-calorie diet shows signs of slowing ageing in people

#25
IIRC the big problem with calorie restriction is that it brings along a greater susceptibility to infectious disease. After all if it were a cost-free win, a gradient-descending (is that the right term?) optimization process like evolution would have implemented it already.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2009/jul/14/ageing-...

Regarding suggestions made in another comment that calorie restriction represents the preindustrial norm, I don't think this is something modern nutritional science would have missed, considering the amount of research performed into the diets of extant nomadic and otherwise primitive cultures.

Re: Reduced-calorie diet shows signs of slowing ageing in people

#26
When I was young(er) I did CR for a few years. The first 10kg was easy, the next 5kg hard, and the last 5kg a total struggle. What really got to me is that all I thought and dreamed about was food - I still remember some of my food dreams from this time and this was 20 years ago.

Re: Reduced-calorie diet shows signs of slowing ageing in people

#28

I cannot find it right now, but I am quite sure that in last few weeks there was a post on HN with roughly the same statement, but for high protein diet.

No, the evidence for high protein is the opposite - shortening life by increasing cancer risk:

"study cohort aged 50–65 reporting high protein intake had a 75% increase in overall mortality and a 4-fold increase in cancer death risk during the following 18 years"

Levine ME, Suarez JA, Brandhorst S, et al.: "Low protein intake is associated with a major reduction in IGF-1, cancer, and overall mortality in the 65 and younger but not older population" Cell Metab. 2014;19(3):407-417. https://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/journal/2014-05/high-...

In my opinion it is likely that the higher mortality is not entirely caused by protein intake itself (although there is some evidence that high-protein enviroments are mutagenic in yeasts), but is due to either the increased cancer risk from processed meat (nitrosamines) and/or red meat intake.

Re: Reduced-calorie diet shows signs of slowing ageing in people

#29

So far in 2018 I have had one ~1300-1500 calorie meal per day for all except maybe ten days (where I have gone out for drinks or have extra food late in the evening with friends). The strangest thing so far is how much my body has adapted to this - I skip breakfast and lunch every day, yet don't feel particularly restricted (save socially), hungry, or weak. I am just one person, but I now intuitively feel that whatev…

In India, there are monks who live without any food (and water as well) for more than a month or so. Initially, I did not believe but then I confirmed from many people and it was true. They basically do meditation during that period and gain their energy from nature.

Re: Reduced-calorie diet shows signs of slowing ageing in people

#30

So far in 2018 I have had one ~1300-1500 calorie meal per day for all except maybe ten days (where I have gone out for drinks or have extra food late in the evening with friends). The strangest thing so far is how much my body has adapted to this - I skip breakfast and lunch every day, yet don't feel particularly restricted (save socially), hungry, or weak. I am just one person, but I now intuitively feel that whatev…

In India, there are monks who live without any food (and water as well) for more than a month or so. Initially, I did not believe but then I confirmed from many people and it was true. They basically do meditation during that period and gain their energy from nature.

> gain their energy from nature.

lol

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