photo by taminator

I love steak…chicken…fish. It all tastes good to me. I want to make sure I get enough protein to maintain and build muscle. But it begs to question, is more really better? I’m not talking about the myth of the dangers of so called high protein diets on your kindeys (if you are not even getting 1g/lb of bodyweight then you have nothing to worry about…which is most people). But now looking at ageing and longevity, I am more concerned about what is the right way to eat? I came across this study on the effects of protein oxidation in relation to ageing factors:

Protein oxidation associated with aging is reduced by dietary restriction of protein or calories

The accumulation of unrepaired oxidative damage products may be a major factor in cellular aging. Both oxidative lesions in DNA and oxidatively damaged proteins have been shown to accumulate during aging. The accumulation of oxidized proteins in Fischer 344 rats was compared for animals consuming protein-restricted and calorically restricted diets–both of which have been shown to extend lifespan. Rats were fed diets restricted in either protein (5% or 10% of the diet as compared with the normal 20% casein), or calories (25% or 40% less than normal), or total diet (40% less than normal). In addition, some of the rats fed a diet providing 5% or 20% protein were irradiated twice weekly (125 rads per exposure; 1 rad = 0.01 Gy). The level of oxidative damage to proteins (protein carbonyls) was determined in rats sacrificed at various times. The oxidative damage to proteins increased with aging and with radiation. Either protein or calorie restriction markedly inhibited the accumulation of oxidatively damaged proteins. Protein restriction reduced the accumulation of oxidatively damaged proteins during the oxidative stress of chronic irradiation.

Any type of excess oxidative damage should be avoided. Ageing and disease could just be viewed as a simple process of where the rate of damage at the cellular level exceeds the ability to repair at the cellular level. So it makes sense to stay healthy and live longer we need to reduce amounts of oxidative damage. The main thing we see in CR studies is the reduction of oxidative damage which may explain the biggest factor in how CR allows you to age slower. But how does that affect protein intake?

Protein oxidation and aging article

The importance of protein oxidation in aging is supported by the observation that levels of oxidized proteins increase with animal age. The age-related accumulation of oxidized proteins may reflect age-related increases in rates of ROS generation, decreases in antioxidant activities, or losses in the capacity to degrade oxidized proteins.

Implication of protein oxidation and diseases article:

In view of these results, the possibility that protein oxidation is implicated in various diseases, viz, arthritis, pulmonary dysfunction, and carcinogenesis deserves consideration.

But oxidation has to happen at some point if we are going to burn anything for fuel right? So what do we want to burn? Well your two top source are carbs and fat. So which is more ideal? For longevity and health you want an efficient fat burning metabolism. Why? Because it will keep you from storing fat, keep your muscle around, and perhaps slow down the overall ageing process because of reduction of factors that increase ageing with higher BF%, namely insulin resistance (and blood insulin levels).

Basal fat oxidation decreases with aging women study

These results support the theory that a decrease in fat oxidation with advancing age in healthy women is associated with a decrease in the fat-free mass and not age per se. Interventions that increase or preserve the quantity of fat-free mass (e.g., exercise training) may enhance fat oxidation and thus lessen the age-associated adiposity in women.

So what is the answer when it comes to anti-ageing and disease prevention?

• Keep intake of protein moderate (not excessively high % of your diet)
• Higher fat diets (40%+) will increase nitrogen retention (which is fancy terms for saving muscle from breakdown), therefore lessening protein oxidation (and reducing the amount of protein you would need in your diet)
• Higher fat diets (vs carbs) increase the full time ability of the body to burn fat (increased fat metabolism)
• Eat a reduced calorie diet to reduce the amount of oxidative damage through the digestive process

So I know the BIG question people will have is how much protein is too much? Well I don’t want to go by % because that will depend on how many calories are in your diet. If you look at the zone model of 30%, I would say that should be as high as you need to go. If your fat intake is high enough to keep your calorie total up, then you really don’t need a ton of protein to even build muscle. The most I would ever say is up to 1g/lb of bodyweight (assuming your BF is lean, muscle building is your top priority, and keep in mind that is still pretty high…most semi-active people who focus on general fat loss and muscle would need only 0.6-0.8g protein/lb of lean body mass). There are lots of other factors in building muscle too besides protein intake, so make sure to master those (see the Muscle Building 101 post)

So looks like another plug for and IF lifestyle that is based on a reduced calorie, mod/higher fat (healthy fat), moderate protein and low/mod carbs mainly from fruits and vegetables.

photo by wok

To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.

Benjamin Franklin

I wanted to go over the most often questions I hear/read about IF and how to use it. This could also be a great starting point for someone just trying it out as well as for the more advanced people.

Q: What is CR and IF? How are the 2 related?

A: CR stand for calorie restriction where you basically eat less calories every day compared to your “normal” eating requirements. This could be as low as 30-40% less than average. IF is not the same as CR. IF is intermittent fasting where you fast from all foods (just water) for a defined period of time. On your days where you are fasting you are eating less foods in a smaller time window…..so in a sense it is a form of CR for that day (as you would probably not eat the same amount of calories in a full day of eating vs just having 6-8 hours to eat). It is not as drastic as the 30-40% lower in most cases, but does provide for an overall less calorie intake when you average your days together. IF provides all the benefits from a CR plan with the additional benefits that come from fasting (that eating all day can not, even if very little). Namely better responses in fasting blood glucose levels, fasting insulin levels, reversing insulin resistance and other cellular protective responses (heart, lungs, brain).

Q: What are all these new diet books about every other day eating?

A: Ok…this is my own personal question but you will start to see more books on the “miracle” diet of ADCR, or alternate day calorie restriction. I know of one book touted to be in major book stores soon with selling the idea of “eat anything you want one day….and then eat less the next”. Basically promising people they can eat anything while still losing weight. Although not healthiest way, but can work for the general public. But is it really sustainable,? Probably not. Here I will save you the $29-$49 for any ADCR or ADF (alternate day fasting) based book. Step 1: Eat one day, Step 2: Fast or restrict calories the next day (in the case of restricting calories they say eat healthy with fruit and vegetables), Step 3 repeat Step 1 and 2. Done. Pretty simple huh? Like I said, can work for the general public who have alot of weight to lose, but at some point weight loss will plateau and then you can not get away with it anymore. Hopefully at that point someone doesn’t get depressed and then go back to their normal eating habits and balloon back up (the inherent danger of EVERY diet book or plan). That is the problem with any diet saying you can “Eat anything”, as that is not a lifestyle plan and does not solve the basic problem. If you eat for health, you will get the weight loss and be able to create a lifestyle around it. So focus on healthy eating first, fasting or CR second.

Q: I am new, how do I IF?

A: Of course I would first say read my post on IF 101. To sum up quickly you can daily fast with a small eating window every day (my choice) or you can throw in a longer (24-36hr) fast 1-2x a week. Which is better? The one you can effectively and consistently fit into your lifestyle! People who are more active tend to do well on the weekday small IF windows, while people who are not as active may do better with adjusting to the longer fasts 1-2x a week. No matter which one you choose, I still say the #1 factor is still going to be quality foods….not doing IFOC (IF on Crap). You will not get the benefits from IF eating junk or sugar during your eating window and may even gain weight. Quality of foods first, and then IF just adds more results. Smaller meals in the IF eating window also are better than just one big meal, so break it up and make sure you are getting quality protein with every meal.

Q: So which fast is best for overall health?

A: Longer fast will have more direct impact on being able to deeply detox and rebuild at the cellular level vs doing a brief fasting window daily. While I personally like the daily IF to keep performance levels up and maintain/gain muscle while losing fat, I also plan to more routinely add in a 24-36 hr fast at least once a month for that deeper health benefit. Again there are no set rules to IF, you make what works for you and can always adjust it from week to week. The main factor is consistently, what will you consistently do in your lifestyle and still keep you happy and stress free.

Q: What about drinking a shake pwo? (post workout)

A: Short and simple, you don’t need it. Eat a whole food meal 60min after a workout of protein and carbs. Unless you are a professional athlete, train for hours everyday or have a huge volume of training and recovery needs, you are not needing that quick glycogen loading window. If you want to play with just BCAA supplementation pre , during or pwo for muscle building, then that could be of benefit. But avoid the sugar spikes. Plus around here for longevity we stress the fat metabolism for fuel, so glycogen replenishment is not as big a factor once we can adapt to a fat based metabolism. You will replenish your muscle glycogen fine over a couple of days. Avoid the insulin spike esp if fat loss is your #1 goal.

Q: For a higher fat diet, where do I get “healthy” fats?

A: Best sources will be the healthy sat fats (steaks, eggs, butter…from 100% organic grassfed animals ideally), MCTs like Coconut Oil, and Monounsaturated fats like X-virgin Olive Oil and avocados. Other EFAs include some Polyunsaturated fats in the form of Omega 3s and 6s including Fish Oil, Nuts and Nut butters (Almonds, Walnuts….Peanuts are NOT a nut, they are a legume). You should limit the amount of Polyunsaturated fats (esp cooking in veg oils) as they are highly unstable and cause more free radical damage to the body/cells (throw away that margarine as it may increase your risks for cancer!). Trans Fats should be avoided at all costs.

Q: How does drinking lemon water (lemons which are acidic by nature) actually increase the alkaline ph of the body?

A: It’s not so much the acidity of the food in it’s natural state that matters, but it’s net effect through digestion on the body’s overall ph. In this case, citric acid (from lemons) is something that may start acidic but through digestion and utilization in the Krebs Cycle (or Citric Acid Cycle) helps to turn the body more alkaline. (Hence why lemon juice and vinegar can be healthy for you) Here’s a pretty good overall more detailed explanation. “The Citric Acid Cycle, being able to free hydrogen ions of its electron is also one of the major buffering systems of the body. “

Q: Do I shake Kombucha?

A: Ummmmm……Sure…..just make sure you do it and open while you are driving in your favorite shirt and pants!

photo by ahmed

A recent study by American researchers also concluded that detox diets do no more than the body’s own natural system to get rid of toxins. They said most modern books and detox kits serve up “empty promises”.

Scientists and dieticians argue that the benefits people feel are not due to their body getting rid of excessive toxins but are due to changing from what is likely to have been a “poor” diet.

The quotes in this article are taken from an interesting report by the BBC news here. As Detox diets become all the rage, one has to wonder if they really do anything that a healthy diet wouldn’t also do? The answer is NO. These are just fads that are used to sell books or supplements. There are some supplements that may be of benefit to rebuild detox organs (such as milk thistle for the liver) or aid in more heavy metal removal (like bentonite clay) but all the claims of special roots and herbs, or special fruit drinks that speed up detoxification are just false promises. The body already knows how to detox, and if you want the fastest detox possible do a water fast.

Most of the pills, juices, teas and oils that are sold for their detoxifying effects on the body have no scientific foundation for their claims, according to the research. People would be better off drinking tap water and having an early night.

Eating a clean diet with periods of fasting will do the same amount of detoxification than any “special plan”. So why all the detox diets? Simple…

Clearing the system by detoxing promises all kinds of results and is now a multi-million pound industry, with products and supplements to help expel unwanted toxins. But making dietary changes is at the core of most.

The BBC also did their own 10 day study on taking 2 groups and testing if special “detox” diets actually do increase the amount of toxins removed from the body. Want to guess what happened?

We took ten party animals to a country cottage retreat for ten days to see if a detox diet could recharge their internal batteries. The group was split into two and half the girls were put on a balanced diet, including red meat, alcohol, coffee and tea, pasta, bread, chocolate and crisps (in moderation), with the remainder following a strict vice-free diet.

Can a short, sharp shock really change the levels of toxicity in your body in just a week?

After testing the kidney and liver functions and measuring the antioxidant and aluminium levels in their blood we found there were no differences between the groups.

Which just goes to show, in a binge and purge culture relying on a detox isn’t the solution. Your body has its own way of regulating toxins and a week of suffering won’t change that so you are better off sticking to a balanced diet all the time.

You can see the whole show here .

In short, forget all those detox herbs and diets. The best way is still to just eat healthy whole foods, do periods of fasting, regular exercise, remove toxins from your diet and lifestyle (less coming in) and you will be doing enough to get rid of toxins and help increase they health of your body. Oh…and add some lemon to that water, your liver (your main detox organ) and whole body will appreciate it!

Warm lemon water serves as the perfect good morning drink, as it aids the digestive system and makes the process of eliminating the waste products from the body easier. It prevents the problem of constipation and diarrhea from taking place, by ensuring smooth bowel functions. Lemon, a fruit popular for its therapeutic properties, helps promote your immune system and thus, protects you from the clutches of most types of infections. It also plays the role of blood purifier. Lemon is a fabulous antiseptic bestowed on us by Mother Nature.

photo by carf

I remember many years ago watching a training DVD from a well known trainer talking about his approach to weight loss. At one part he shows a picture of a bodybuilder guy in very great shape saying “He can still eat 5000 cal a day and lose fat! Don’t you want that?”. Ummmm…..No actually. It really struck me to start thinking about my own eating habits and realizing that I don’t want to eat all day, I want to have a life outside of working out and food preparation and so did any client that came to me looking for fat loss. Only people who are bodybuilders full time want to eat all day to maintain an unrealistic look that can not be maintained in normal everyday life. My other thing was thinking, can this even be healthy? 5000 cal a day and hours of exercise? Well according to research….it may not be.

The study further strengthens the theory that the faster an animal’s metabolism, the shorter its life, and vice versa, said Mario Pinto, the study’s lead author. The thyroid releases hormones that regulate metabolic rate. “Thyroid hormones are key regulators of metabolism and have been widely implicated to influence longevity,”

from study of Longer Lived Rodent Have Lower Levels of Thyroid Hormone

Of course for those doing IF this makes alot of sense. Many people have noticed that their metabolism may slow down a bit mainly due to the fact that their daily calorie intake is lower than before. There is no loss of muscle, there is an increase in fat loss, they have plenty of energy, and now can survive on less food daily….sounds like a great way to increase longevity. The old days of “You have to eat your breakfast” or “You need to eat 6x a day and eat more food to speed up your metabolism” are really showing no positive impact in long term health. What is the real difference in a slower metabolism if you are still able to eat enough calories to maintain muscle, get enough nutrients (not malnutrition) and still live in calorie deficit that allow you to burn fat all day long without hours of cardio? It is important to note that we are NOT talking about impaired normal thyroid output, 500 cal a day and dropping the metabolism to affect the immune system and other vital functions. We are still getting enough calories in, do not suffer from malnutrition, but still eating much less than 3000-4000 cal a day. If your goal is weight loss long term, there are simple ways to keep your metabolism strong, but not overly active.

• Build and Keep Muscle - Muscle is an active tissue (always wanting things like amino acids and other nutrients) and will require more energy vs fat tissue that sits there and basically does nothing.
• Exercise - Burning calories through physical activity is another way to increase the overall metabolism. Best way is strength training and just living an active lifestyle. Overdoing cardio is NOT a good thing (more on that below)
• Eating Whole Foods - Including all sorts of vegetables and fruits for all the good vitamins, minerals, enzymes and other life giving nutrients. Also eating whole food proteins (along with providing necessary nutrients) will take up more energy to digest fully. (also known as the Thermic Effect of Food)

On the other side of the equation we also can have very low thyroid output or impaired function. This is not healthy. Many people suffer from what is known as hypothyroidism (”Low” thyroid output). Symptoms include fatigue, depression, loss of hair, brittle nails, get sick easily, swollen arms/legs, dry skin, high blood pressure, memory loss, hearing loss, feeling cold, and weight gain. So too low is not good either. We need a healthy thyroid output to support a healthy body, yet not overdo it to accelerate ageing…..so how is this done? By doing the following:

• Do Strength Training - Building active muscles that are Type II (fast twitch) fibers with resistance training to keep your metabolism healthy. (not low) and allow your body to burn fat for the long run. (we have already seen the impact on the effect of Type II muscle fibers and ageing)
• Don’t Eat Excess Calories - CR(calorie restriction) research has already been shown how it increases longevity but now we see how it could do it through the thyroid output. This is NOT starving yourself on too low calories, as that will just bring you into hypothyroid state and make you worse off. This is less calories compared to eating 3000-4000 cal a day (IF anyone?). The goals is to maintain and build muscle, burn fat, get enough nutrients and not compromise your immune system in the process.
• Get Less Caffeine - Caffeine is a stimulant and directly effects the Thyroid. Excess will cause damage and lower the output of the thyroid long term. So keep it to a cup of coffee or less a day (and not the 32oz cups either!)…or switch up to tea which has 10x less caffeine.
• Get Your Vitamins and Minerals - Zinc, Calcium, Magnesium, Iodine, Vit A, D and B have an effect on the thyroid. Make sure you are eating plenty of vegetables and getting some sunshine (best source of Vit D!). Steak and eggs are high in Zinc too.
• Avoid Sugar and Alcohol
• Drink More Water
• Do Not do Excessive Cardio Exercise - More is NOT better. Look at many professional athletes who we think are in great shape, only to die of ageing diseases like heart disease and cancer in their 40s and 50s. Why? Could it be that this is due to the excessive stress of doing hours of exercise that burn and need 5000-8000+cal a day to just maintain performance and muscle? This is not ideal for long term health. So unless you are a professional athlete who makes a living on this, you have a choice on how to exercise. Hence why I believe the push for marathons to “find a cure” do more harm than good. Awareness of a disease or ill health inorder for people to focus on prevention is one thing, using something that does more damage than health to raise money for a “cure” without focus on prevention (which would include NOT doing the event that they want you to partake in) is just blind greed (won’t even get into how little of that money actually goes into research, or if just 10% of that was used in public campain for prevention how it could save millions). Running a 5k once in a while is one thing, running 26 miles and training for it for months and months is not in the best interest of long term health. More is not better and can be shortening our lifespan in the process. Mark from MDA has a great article on the dangers of excess cardio.

So there you have it with the simple take home message, Eat and Exercise the right way to keep a Healthy Thyroid…..but don’t do Excessive Eating and Exercise to shorten our lifespan.

photo by waiti

When we talk about health, it is important to also know that stress is a major part (or stress management) of the equation. If you ask anyone what their biggest stress is, most everyone will tell you money or debt. Why all this stress over a little piece of paper? Well, the good news is that it is all in our heads how we deal with money or debt. We have a choice whether to have a plan of attack that allows us the freedom to not worry about it, or we can just give up all power and let small little things take our health in the wrong direction. Here’s a great post that goes over some of the things we can start doing today:

Below is a guest post from Leo over at Zen Habbits on his Top 20 Money Hacks (great site and I definitely recommend his new ebook The Zen Habbits Handbook for Life for only $6.95).

1. Use cash. Instead of charging things to credit cards or debit cards, use cash for non-bill spending such as eating out, gas, groceries. Spending cash makes the spending more real, and there’s an added advantage of knowing when you’re out of cash, instead of spending more than you
2. Small weekly savings transfers. I got this idea from my friend Trent at The Simple Dollar, who automatically deducts $20 a week from his check to savings. I decided that I could live with $40/week without really feeling it — it’s a relatively small transfer that I barely notice, and I save about $2,000 a year on top of my larger bi-weekly savings transfers.
3. Stay home. Going out makes you more likely to spend unnecessarily. You eat at restaurants, go to the mall, stop at the gas station for snacks. It’s hard to avoid spending when you’re on the road. Instead, stay home, and find free entertainment. It’s also a great way to bond with your family.
4. Don’t get catalogs. Or emailed announcements from companies trying to sell you stuff. Their announcements of sales or cool new products make it very tempting to buy something you don’t need. Instead, stop the catalogs and emails from ever getting to you in the first place, and you’ll spend less.
5. Keep a 30-day list. If you have an impulse to buy something you don’t absolutely need, put it on a 30-day list. You can’t buy anything but necessities — everything else goes on the list, with the date that it’s added to the list. When the 30 days are up, you can buy it — but most likely, the strong urge to buy it will be gone, and you can evaluate it more calmly.
6. Cook at home. I know, it seems more difficult than eating out. But it doesn’t have to be hard. Throw together a quick stir-fry with frozen veggies and either boneless chicken or (my favorite) tofu with soy sauce or tamari. Make home-made pizza with a ready-made crust, some sauce, cheese and veggies. Put some spices on something and throw it in the oven while you cook some brown rice. Not only is this much cheaper than eating out, but it’s healthier.
7. Exercise. Staying healthy is the best way to avoid costly medical bills later.
8. Use the envelope system. It’s the same idea as using cash for spending, but in addition you use envelopes to split your spending cash into categories. My non-bills categories are groceries, gas and miscellaneous spending. Three envelopes, and when they’re empty, I’ve spent my allotment.
9. Talk with your SO weekly. It’s important that you and your significant other be on the same page. You should have the same financial goals, and from there you should agree on a general spending plan and a policy for impulse buying that won’t have either of you wanting to choke the other. Make sure you both know what bills have been paid, what your balances are, etc. A weekly meeting of just 20 minutes accomplishes that. Communication is key.
10. The spreadsheet tracker hack. There are expensive programs like MS Money, Quicken, and the like that will do amazing things with your financial information. There are even free ones, on your desktop or online, that can do all kinds of things. Trouble is, I don’t need all that. All I want is a way to track my money easily, with no other bells and whistles, and a way to access that online so that I can view it from anywhere. The best way I found to do that is through Google Docs and Spreadsheets. I created a simple spreadsheet to track my bank accounts, that does everything I used to do with MS Money. It has the date of each transaction, the title and amount, a little field for memos, and a running balance. What more do I need? Keep it simple. Update: View a sample I put online here.
11. Pay savings and debt first. When you sit down to pay your bills (I do them all online), make the first bills you pay be your savings transfer and your debt payments. If not, if you pay them last … you’ll often end up shortchanging them. But if you pay them first, you’ll make sure you still pay your rent or mortgage, utilities, groceries and gas … so you’ll just cut back on other spending.
12. Exercise at home. Some of you will disagree with me on this, which is OK — everyone should do what works for them. But I’ve saved a lot of money that I used to spend on gyms by just running at the local track or on the roads in my neighborhood, and buying some simple weights and a chin-up bar. I do a lot of body-weight exercises (pushups, Hindu squats, lunges, pullups, dips, etc.) and I don’t need a gym for those things.
13. Cut out cable TV. I’m not saying I don’t watch TV — I watch DVDs, so that I’m sure that what I’m watching is something great, rather than the useless stuff you find on TV most of the time. And there’s a lot of it online for free if you look. Not a huge savings, but it adds up.
14. Declutter. By getting rid of all the excess stuff in your home, you not only make your life much simpler and more peaceful, but you make it harder to buy stuff that will just clutter things up again. Once you’ve simplified your home, you won’t want to go back.
15. Lend and borrow. Give books and clothes and toys you don’t need anymore to your friends and family. If you need something, send out an email asking if anyone has it. Chances are, they’ll give it to you for free if they don’t use it anymore.
16. Barter. It’s a lost art, but lots of people will take your services or goods instead of money, especially if you’re friends or at least know each other. Get into the habit of offering to barter, and you’ll find yourself saving a lot of money. My website design was done through the barter system, so I saved well over $1,000 there, for example.
17. Use online savings. I use Emigrant Direct, but ING Direct is also popular, as are a bunch of other online banks. Not only do you earn like twice the interest of a normal bank savings account, but if you don’t get the ATM account it’s not as easy to withdraw money … making it less likely that you’ll get money out on an impulse.
18. Try frugal gift-giving. Giving people gifts is one of the most wonderful traditions, as it shows generosity and caring. Until it becomes commercialized. Then it’s just really really expensive. Instead, try giving the gift of spending time with someone. Try giving them something you baked or made yourself. Try giving them services they’d appreciate. It doesn’t have to cost a lot to be generous.
19. Teach your kids about advertising, saving, earning, and gift-giving. If you have kids, educating them about money will save you a lot of money in the long run. If they know about how advertising influences them in tricky ways, they’ll be less likely to demand (OK, beg and plead for) the latest fad toys. If they know about saving and earning money, they’ll respect the money that you earn, and that you are trying to save. If they know that gift-giving doesn’t have to be about spending a lot of money (see above), they won’t necessarily want expensive stuff.
20. Find happiness in life, not spending. Many times people buy stuff because they think (subconsciously perhaps) that it will bring them happiness. They just HAVE to have the latest gadget or shoes or cars. It’s so fun! And yet, you buy that stuff, and you’re only happy for a day or two at most. Then you just need to buy more. It’s a never-ending cycle. Instead, learn to love life. Find joy in nature! In the people around you! In doing something you love! In exercise and meditation! There’s so much in life to make us happy, there’s no need to find it in spending.