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The secret to a long and healthy life? Eat less

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

#151

Post by adambmedia »

In addition to differences in recommended calorie intake, is there a good, scientific, international comparison that puts dietary guidelines side-by-side, nutrient guidelines, balanced meal?

It's amazingly difficult to find clear information anywhere. For instance, CDC Nutrition guidelines?! It's an example of something that, in trying to be comprehensive, results in a mess of awkwardly qualified terms and difficult to digest (couldn't help it) high-level recommendation.

USDA Food Patterns, Healthy US-Style Eating Pattern. https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/appendi...

Meat poultry and eggs in the same line? They are completely different foods with wildly varying nutrients.

[UPDATED: good start] - Pictorial Nutrition Guidelines: http://www.fremont.k12.ca.us/cms/lib04/CA01000848/Centricity...

- Comparison of International Dietary Guidelines and Food Guides in Twelve Countries across Stages of the Nutrition Transition http://www.fasebj.org/content/29/1_Supplement/898.36.short

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

#152

Post by kyle-rb »

dghughes wrote: post #67
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…

A CRON or calorie restriction optimal nutrition diet is a thing, not only eating fewer calories but what you do eat has to be absolutely perfect in nutrition. Micheal Mosley on BBC interviewed a CRON advocate he are an apple peel but threw away the inner part. I've read that a rumbling stomach is necessary for gut health without it your microbiome suffers, CR may incidentally do that.

>he ate an apple peel but threw away the inner part

I can do reduced calories, but that right there just sounds miserable.

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

#153

Post by imperialdrive »

KGIII wrote: post #103
SwellJoe wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an oversimplification. Hormone response is not well-understood enough to make blanket statements like that, as far as I know. There's been tons of research on diets. Low-carb high-protein diets certainly do work, but so do several other diets, including some of the traditional "eat less calories" diets (the research I've seen indicates those diets are on par with Atkins and keto in terms of long-term weight lo…

At the same time, I eat what I want and when I want to. I have been 172 pounds, with some exceptions, since I was about 18. I am retired and almost 60. I am active but not for the sake of fitness. The only time my weight really changes is when I am sick. My physician doesn't know, I don't know, and it is just how it is for me. I've tried to pound calories into me, but I pretty much stay at 172 pounds. Why 172? I have…

My life revolves around tech and food, so I wanted to comment on this OP but didn't see a reply that resonated until the very end... I'm in a similar position, 185 since 18, going on 36... I eat/drink even more than I want to and it doesn't change, same for generations... the good news for everyone else is this likely means there is a 'gene' for it. Otherwise, it's all the hard work and deep sleep responsible.

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

#154

Post by stevewillows »

netman21 wrote: post #86
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 18…

I find ketosis to be so interesting. Its never something I considered, but it does seem like I unknowingly tuned my diet in that direction.

Congrats on dropping that much weight already! That's awesome. 182lbs will be an excellent weight.

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

#155

Post by stevewillows »

siliconc0w wrote: post #64
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…

I've settled into a similar pattern and have found it the most sustainable out of all the diets I've tried. I also recommend a few multi day water fasts a year as a sort of 'soft-reset' of your appetite/digestive system. You learn the difference between cravings and hunger and how marvelously tuned your body is for dealing with caloric deficiencies. People get so anxious and scared of hunger when it's no big deal. Yo…

Back in 2013 when I finally made the full switch away from cigarettes and into vaping, one of the main benefits was my increase on water consumption. Vaping is naturally dehydrating (the propylene glycol in the liquid). Drinking about 2.5L or so per day really cut down on what I felt was a need to eat several times per day, like @pitaj said.

Fasting is also fantastic. Its one of the few positive habits I have left over from my days in religion. The garbage collection analogy is an excellent way to describe it.

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

#156

Post by moochachana »

exolymph wrote: post #149
pascalxus wrote: post #147

Due to social conditioning, It's not commonly known, but you don't actually need to eat every day. You could lose 10 lbs in just a couple of weeks of not eating any calories, but I would recommend eating 1 lbs of spinach and maybe a combination of other green, red and orange vegetables: that will keep your calorie count under 200 for the day. Drink lots of water. I know the hunger will drive you crazy in the first fe…

This kind of aggressive diet is usually followed by gaining back the weight.

I have to agree with this. However it's not because it's aggressive. It's because he's recommending eating at all. When you eat very little, your body's metabolism drops to match the new standard energy intake.

A much preferable recommendation would be to simply water fast for the same time. Lose even more weight (mostly water weight), then eat normally. Much more natural in the context of evolution. Periods of eating, periods of fasting. The practice is as old as time itself.

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

#157

Post by YeGoblynQueenne »

There's an old joke about eating etc habits and longevity, it goes like this:

- Doctor, if I don't eat any sugar or salt, don't smoke, don't drink, don't have any sex, will I live a hundred years?

- Well, even if you don't, it will sure feel like a hundred.

Meaning: food is one of the pleasures of life. What the hell is the point of living to a ripe old age if your life is going to simply suck for longer?

And then of course you read some interview with a super-centenarian who goes "my secret is that I drink a small glass of wine after lunch and smoke a cigarette before going to bed" and realise that it really doesn't matter what you do, you just won't live forever, so enjoying your limited time on the earth is a much more realistic goal.

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

#158

Post by tarsinge »

jm2721 wrote: post #143
tarsinge wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite the contrary, you can't go against basic physics. Even common wisdom from a lot of Keto diet practitioners (low carb/insulin, see /r/keto and /r/ketoscience) is that for the weight loss aspect it only helps by regulating hunger, studies showed that for the same restricted caloric input, macronutients (low-carb or high-carb) made very little differences (which is expected of course). The "insulin is the root of…

Every time I hear the 'basic physics' or 'first law of thermodynamics' argument in favor of CICO I can't help but remember the joke about 'spherical cows': "Milk production at a dairy farm was low, so a farmer wrote to the local university to ask for help. A multidisciplinary team of professors was assembled, headed by a theoretical physicist, and two weeks of intensive on-site investigation took place. The scholars…

I'm not saying eating 1500 calories of sucrose is not dangerous, but from an energy point of view yes it's the same as eating 1500 calories of cheese. At the end of the day if your energy expenditure is 2000cal your body will have to burn 500cal. Macronutrients in this case make a small but negligible difference.

It's anecdotic but as an hobbyist bodybuilder tracking calories everyday I can confirm that my weight follows exactly my caloric input (there can be some latency but it's water retention mostly), in line with the experience of a lot of people like in /r/bodybuilding or /r/ketogains. Playing with macronutrients and insulin is interesting for muscle gain or breakdown prevention and energy and hunger management but not really for pure weight loss.

I agree with your last paragraph, macronutrients are very important for health and body composition, and sure I would recommend a low carb diet for losing weight in the long term, in part because fat and proteins are more dense and keep hunger low

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

#159

Post by KGIII »

imperialdrive wrote: post #153
KGIII wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the same time, I eat what I want and when I want to. I have been 172 pounds, with some exceptions, since I was about 18. I am retired and almost 60. I am active but not for the sake of fitness. The only time my weight really changes is when I am sick. My physician doesn't know, I don't know, and it is just how it is for me. I've tried to pound calories into me, but I pretty much stay at 172 pounds. Why 172? I have…

My life revolves around tech and food, so I wanted to comment on this OP but didn't see a reply that resonated until the very end... I'm in a similar position, 185 since 18, going on 36... I eat/drink even more than I want to and it doesn't change, same for generations... the good news for everyone else is this likely means there is a 'gene' for it. Otherwise, it's all the hard work and deep sleep responsible.

I don't even sleep well, I never have. Unless I did it to myself, I've pretty much always had great health. I'm 59 and never even had a cavity. I do wear glasses, now.

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

#160

Post by rukuu001 »

kyle-rb wrote: post #152
dghughes wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A CRON or calorie restriction optimal nutrition diet is a thing, not only eating fewer calories but what you do eat has to be absolutely perfect in nutrition. Micheal Mosley on BBC interviewed a CRON advocate he are an apple peel but threw away the inner part. I've read that a rumbling stomach is necessary for gut health without it your microbiome suffers, CR may incidentally do that.

>he ate an apple peel but threw away the inner part I can do reduced calories, but that right there just sounds miserable.

I saw the program, the guy actually had a giant bowl of fruit, mostly frozen berries(!), and yes, apple peel. He seemed pretty cheerful, and it didn't look like privation.

I do remember reading the blog of some guy way back around 2007 or so who was on a 1000 calorie per day diet. One of the most miserable things I ever read. The highlight of his week was 1 square of 100% cacao chocolate.

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