photo by Zavosh

This is an interesting story about a man named Luigi Cornaro who overcame his own illness and lived to the ripe old age 102. Apparently here’s a man who discovered CR back in the 14th century as a lifestyle choice for better health. Here’s a pretty good overview about Luigi from Wikipedia:

Alvise (Luigi) Cornaro (1464-1566) was a Venetian nobleman who wrote treatises on dieting, including Discorsi della Vita Sobria (Discourses on the Sober Life). Finding himself near death at the age of forty, Cornaro modified his eating habits on the advice of his doctors and began to adhere on a calorie restriction diet. Twelve ounces of solid food and fourteen ounces of wine was the daily allowance he allowed for himself initially. He later reduced his daily food intake to no more solid meat than an egg.

Let us see more about his story from this main article on his life.

Let’s look at Luigi Cornaro, a man who at age 35 was weak, sick, and dying. At the time, he consulted the medical heads of Genoa, Italy. He asked the doctors, “What can I do?” Finally, one smart doctor said, “Look, Luigi,” (Luigi was a nobleman) “cut down on your riotous living, stop the drinking, cut out the rich food, eat as little as you can, and don’t abuse your body. You can get well.”

When he died, he died in an ideal way. He was in his rocking chair. He closed his eyes, took a nap, and didn’t wake up. There was no pain or suffering, ever. His mind was clear as a bell until the very end, no senility, no memory loss. Indeed, one of the things he wrote about in his discourses was that his hearing and vision were perfect He retained all his senses. That’s something you don’t see today.

Luigi ate a little meat; he ate an egg yolk; he had panado, which was a vegetable soup with a little tomato; he had grape juice; and he had bread. He used to dip the bread in the soup. That was his diet. That’s all he ate. He didn’t want to eat fish because it didn’t agree with him, and he didn’t eat chicken. He ate a little meat. On that diet, which we natural nutritionists would call low quality, he lived to 102.

an individual who was dying at 40 years of age brought himself to a state of good health in less than one year, and through the careful exercise of self-control prolonged his life to 102 years of age with the full preservation of all his faculties to the very end. The living of each day was a joy in his life at all times.

The amount of food necessary to sustain life. Since the quantity of food needed to maintain excellent health and spirits is so small, it is rather shocking to realize that all of us, with very few exceptions, overeat and produce an endless array of miseries in our lives in both mental and physical afflictions.

Our states of mind are dependent upon our health and closely related to the amount of food we consume. Dejection and melancholy are a projection into our conscious minds from our inner environment. Exhaustion of our energies by the excessive labors involved in metabolizing excess food reflects in our minds as melancholy, depression and negativity.

The KEY to health and happiness is inextricably associated with the QUANTITY of food we consume daily.

Each morsel we consume beyond what is absolutely necessary to sustain life, wastes physical and mental energy at a fearful rate. If any single factor were to be considered as the most important for health and happiness, this would be it. Those who are compulsive overeaters should study, restudy and ponder deeply upon this question, for herein is contained the key to the solution of most of their daily problems. ……

Quite an interesting story about someone who was able to heal himself and live long without all the science, research and other medical advanatges of today. From his story there are important points to really take notice….and then see how they can apply to our lives.

• He took personal responsibility - It’s one thing to know what is healthy, it’s another to act upon it. Look around and you will find most people saying “I know it isn’t good for me…but….”. People are not really getting it, not really comprehending deep down inside that they need to drop things that are harmful. Once you come to that pure realization, then you will drop whatever harmful things you are doing to yourself. The solution is there! People just need to “see” it truly, to become aware to the fact of what is going on. Could it be the only real “cure” to obesity and disease is just personal “awareness”?
• Calorie Restriction - This should be nothing new in everything we have talked about but in the 14th century to come up with this conclusion shows just how long that wisdom has been out there.
• With excess eating comes mental decline - When do we experience depression and other serious mental conditions? Could it also be centered around excess food and lack of quality of food? The brain on a high sugar diet does not do well, nor does it perform well when eating to excess.
• He did not think he was missing anything or feel deprived, to him living daily (as he was close to death to have to learn that) was the ultimate joy in life….not food or drink - The biggest battle we face in life, is the one within….as we always have total control. He was happy with living daily, enjoyed his food and never once did he put himself in a mental state of sabatagoue. Weight loss and health are huge mental battles…..ones we MUST learn to control and win if we are looking for long term success and happiness.
• Quality of food was important - The body needs amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals….does it really care what the calorie total is? Could we sustain life on less food if they are only of higher quality? This may be why so many people say that they can eat less on IF and still maintain muscle is because their choices for food increase in quality….and therefore so does our body’s ability to use it. Quality and Quantity of food is always going to be the more important factor in our health.
• He lived long with full mental clarity, writing, pain free, no medications….far from what we see today - I wonder how long he would of lived in today’s world if doctors would of perscribed statins for a natural increase in cholesterol as he aged or other medicines (that are supposed to be there to keep us healthy). He became his own physician….and lived long in the process.
• He found Happiness and Joy daily - It took Luigi a life of excess and to the point of death to realize the ultimate happiness in living each day….don’t let it have to get that far for you. Find your happiness…let worries and fear go….stress no more….food/alcohol/drugs are not solutions to any problems (they just are short term vacations we take…and which do more harm the more we do them)…..and you will just be focused on living each moment (and live longer in the process)
• “The Two Rules for Maintaining Health and Prolonging Life: These were reduced to two things, quality and quantity. The first, namely quality, consists in not eating foods or drinking liquids harmful to the stomach.” - So avoiding things that are irritants to our body/gut are key to health, along with getting the quality nutrients our body/cells need to repair and rebuild themselves for optimal function. See more about gut irritants in the Healthy Gut Post
• “The second, which is quantity, consists in not eating or drinking more than the stomach can easily digest, which quantity and quality every man should be a perfect judge of by the time he is forty or fifty or sixty……”I felt like singing a song after my simple meals.”" - Do you “sing a song” after a meal? Or are you asleep and feeling terrible an hour later? Sounds like he mastered the art of insulin control long ago.

“To state it clearly, the inevitable conclusion was: “eat what you like, when you like and die young.”"

photo by W

You have heard “insulin” discussed here many times, I’ve said that sugar is your #1 enemy in Fat Loss 101, and I have also said that the biggest health factor that contributes to most all degenerative diseases as being insulin resistance. But really…it’s quite simple to just take control, and that is what we need to do (as we do have full control and responsibility for everything we put in our mouths). Looking at the Standard Food Pyramid above that has been taught to everyone (esp kids) as the healthy way to eat….is it any wonder our rates of obesity, diabetes, cancer and other diseases are skyrocketing?

Well below are some great takes from a lecture done by Dr Rosedale from 1999. The full (and long but very worthwhile read) transcript can be found here (and many other places). The end result is, the more we learn about insulin and how to control it, the quicker we will improve our health and help to increase prevention from degenerative diseases. Once you really understand the damaging aspects of high insulin, insulin resistance and eating sugar…why would anyone want to continue down a road of increased risks of degenerative diseases and aging? Take control back and help those around you to do the same!

There are three major centenarian studies going on around the world. They are trying to find the variable that would confer longevity among these people. Why do centenarians become centenarians? Why are they so lucky? Is it because they have low cholesterol, exercise a lot, live a healthy, clean life?

Well the longest recorded known person who has ever lived, Jean Calumet of France who died last year at 122 years, smoked all of her life and drank.

What they are finding on these major centenarian studies is that there is hardly anything in common among them. They have high cholesterol and low cholesterol, some exercise and some don’t, some smoke, some don’t. Some are nasty as can be and some nice and calm and nice. Some are ornery, but they all low sugar, relatively for their age. They all have low triglycerides for their age.

And they all have relatively low insulin. Insulin is the common denominator in everything I’ve just talked about. They way to treat cardiovascular disease and the way I treated my stepfather, the way I treated the high risk cancer patient, and osteoporosis, high blood pressure, the way to treat virtually all the so-called chronic diseases of aging is to treat insulin itself.

If there is a single marker for lifespan, as they are finding in the centenarian studies, it is insulin, specifically, insulin sensitivity.

How sensitive are your cells to insulin. When they are not sensitive, the insulin levels go up. Who has heard of the term insulin resistance?

Insulin resistance is the basis of all of the chronic diseases of aging, because the disease itself is actually aging.

We know now that aging is a disease. The other case studies that I mentioned, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes, cancer, all the so-called chronic diseases of aging, auto-immune diseases, those are symptoms.

We’ve known for many years that sugar depresses the immune system.

We have known that for decades. It was only in the 70’s that they found out that vitamin C was needed by white blood cells so that they could phagocytize bacteria and viruses. White blood cells require a fifty times higher concentration at least inside the cell as outside so they have to accumulate vitamin C.

There is something called a phagocytic index which tells you how rapidly a particular macrophage or lymphocyte can gobble up a virus, bacteria, or cancer cell. It was in the 70’s that Linus Pauling knew that white blood cells needed a high dose of vitamin C and that is when he came up with his theory that you need high doses of vitamin C to combat the common cold.

But if we know that vitamin C and glucose have similar chemical structure, what happens when the sugar levels go up? They compete for one another upon entering the cells. And the thing that mediates the entry of vitamin C into the cells is the same thing that mediates the entry of glucose into the cells. If there is more glucose around there is going to be less vitamin C allowed into the cell and it doesn’t take much. A blood sugar value of 120 reduces the phagocytic index seventy-five percent.

What is the purpose of insulin in humans? If you ask your doctor, they will say that it’s to lower blood sugar and I will tell you right now, that is a trivial side effect. Insulin’s evolutionary purpose, among others at least known right now, we are looking at others, is to store excess nutrients.

We come from a time of feast and famine and if we couldn’t store the excess energy during times of feasting, we would all not be here, because we all have had ancestors that encountered famine. So we are only here because our ancestors were able to store nutrients, and they were able to store nutrients because they were able to elevate their insulin in response to any elevation in energy that the organism encountered.

When your body notices that the sugar is elevated, it is a sign that you’ve got more than you need right now, you are not burning it so it is accumulating in your blood. So insulin will be released to take that sugar and store it.

Once you fill up your glycogen stores how is that sugar is stored, as what particular kind of triglyceride, or fatty acid? Palmitic acid. Saturated fat, ninety-eight percent of which is palmitic acid.

So the idea of the medical profession to go on a high complex carbohydrate, low saturated-fat diet is an absolute oxymoron, because those high complex carbohydrate diets are nothing but a high glucose diet, or a high sugar diet, and your body is just going to store it as saturated fat. The body makes it into saturated fat quite readily.

What is one of magnesium’s major roles?

To relax muscles. Intracellular magnesium relaxes muscles. What happens when you can’t store magnesium because the cell is resistant? You lose magnesium and your blood vessels constrict, what does that do?

Increases blood pressure, and reduces energy since intracellular magnesium is required for all energy producing reactions that take place in the cell. But most importantly, magnesium is also necessary for the action of insulin. It is also necessary for the manufacture of insulin.

So then you raise your insulin, you lose magnesium, and the cells become even more insulin resistant. Blood vessels constrict, glucose and insulin can’t get to the tissues, which makes them more insulin resistant, so the insulin levels go up and you lose more magnesium. This is the vicious cycle that goes on from before you were born.

Insulin also causes the retention of sodium, which causes the retention of fluid, which causes high blood pressure and fluid retention: congestive heart failure.

One of the strongest stimulants of the sympathetic nervous system is high levels of insulin.

What does all of this do to the heart? Not very good things.

There was a study done a couple of years ago, a good, down to earth nicely conducted study that showed that heart attacks are two to three times more likely to happen after a high carbohydrate meal. They said specifically NOT after a high fat meal.

Why is that?

Because the immediate effects of raising your blood sugar from a high carbohydrate meal is to raise insulin and that immediately triggers the sympathetic nervous system which will cause arterial spasm, constriction of the arteries. If you take anybody prone to a heart attack and that is when they are going to get it.

Cells become insulin resistant because they are trying to protect themselves from the toxic effects of high insulin. They down regulate their receptor activity and number of receptors so that they don’t have to listen to that noxious stimuli all the time. It is like having this loud, disgusting rap music played and you want to turn the volume down.

This is the same thing with insulin resistance. What happens is that if your cells are exposed to insulin at all they get a little bit more resistant to it. So the pancreas just puts out more insulin. I saw a patient today, her blood sugar was 102 and her insulin was 90! She wasn’t sure if she was fasting or not, but I’ve seen other patients where their blood sugar was under 100 and their fasting insulin has been over 90.

That is a fasting insulin. I’m not sure how many people are familiar with seeing fasting insulins. But if I drank all the glucose I could possibly drink my insulin would never go above probably 40. So she was extremely insulin resistant.

All of those sugars are as bad or worse for you than glucose. You can’t just go by so-called blood sugar which is just blood glucose, because we just don’t measure blood fructose or blood galactose, but they are all bad for you. Why are they bad, well number one we know that it provokes insulin and every time you provoke insulin it exposes yourself to more insulin and just like walking in a smelly room it is going to become more resistant to insulin.

So every time you have a surge of sugar and you have a surge of insulin, you get more and more insulin resistant and all of the problems we’ve talked about.

Diet really becomes pretty simple. Carbohydrates we started talking about. You’ve got fiber and non-fiber and that’s real clear-cut. Fiber is good, non-fiber is bad. Fibrous carbs, like vegetables and broccoli, those are great. What is a potato? A potato is a big lump of sugar. That’s all it is. You chew a potato, what are you swallowing? Glucose. You may not remember, but you learned that in eighth grade, but the medical profession still hasn’t learned that.

You know you need to breathe oxygen. It gives us life and it kills us. Same with glucose. Certain tissues require some glucose. We wouldn’t be here if there were no glucose, it gives us life and it kills us. We know that we have essential amino acids and we have essential fatty acids. They are essential for life, we better take them in as building blocks or we die. So what he did is he took all the essential nutrients that are known to man and plugged it in to this computer data bank and he asked the computer what are the top ten foods that contain each nutrient that is required by the human body. Each of the fifty-three or fifty-four, depending on who you talk to, essential nutrients that there are were plugged in, and did you know that grains did not come up in the top ten on any one. What is the minimum daily requirement for carbohydrates? ZERO.

In an active day you would die if you had to rely one-hundred percent on sugar.

Why doesn’t your body store more sugar if it is so needed? Sugar was never meant to be your primary energy source.

It is a turbo charger, a very hot burning fuel, if you need fuel over and above what fat can provide you will dig into your glycogen and burn sugar. But your primary energy source as we are here right now should be almost all fat.

If you eat sugar your body will burn it and you stop burning fat.

We only have one hormone that lowers sugar, and that’s insulin. Its primary use was never to lower sugar. We’ve got a bunch of hormones that raise sugar, cortisone being one and growth hormone another, and epinephrine, and glucagon.

Our primary evolutionary problem was to raise blood sugar to give your brain enough and your nerves enough and primarily red blood cells, which require glucose. So from an evolutionary sense if something is important we have redundant mechanisms. The fact that we only have one hormone that lowers sugar tells us that it was never something important in the past.

The biggest stress on your body is eating a big glucose load.

You can increase sensitivity by diet, that is one of the major reasons you want to take Omega 3 oils. We think of circulation as that which flows through arteries and veins, and that is not a minor part of our circulation, but it might not even be the major part. The major part of circulation is what goes in and out of the cell.

The cell membrane is a fluid mosaic. The major part of our circulation is determined by what goes in and out. It doesn’t make any difference what gets to that cell if it can’t get into the cell. We know that one of the major ways that you can affect cellular circulation is by modulating the kinds of fatty acids that you eat. So you can increase receptor sensitivity by increasing the fluidity of the cell membrane, which means increasing the omega 3 content, because most people are very deficient.

To store energy and not burn it. I see a fair amount of athletes and this is what I tell them, you want everybody, athletes especially, to be able to burn fat efficiently. So when they train, they are on a very low carbohydrate diet. The night before their event, they can stock up on sugar and load their glycogen if they would like.

They are not going to become insulin resistant in one day. Just enough to make sure, it has been shown that if you eat a big carbohydrate meal that you will increase your glycogen stores, that is true and that is what you want. But you don’t want to train that way because if you do you won’t be able to burn fat, you can only burn sugar, and if you are an athlete you want to be able to burn both.

It is a high protein diet that will increase an acid load in the body, but not necessarily a high fat diet. Vegetables and greens are alkalinizing, so if you are eating a lot of vegetables along with your protein it equalizes the acidifying effect of the protein. I don’t recommend a high protein diet. I recommend an adequate protein diet. I would go 20% of calories from carbs. Depending on the size of the person, 25 to 30% of calories from protein, and 60-65% from fat.

I can not put it any better myself. I highly recommend reading the full article as he goes into much more depth and details esp with certain diseases and treatments. In the end, the best thing you can do is:

• Eat a lower carb diet (it doesn’t have to be 30g a day, but even 100g a day is quite low in comparison). Since everyone is different with their insulin resistance, activity levels, recovery needs and hypoglycemia variables, you have to tweak to your condition (always work with your physician especially if you are diabetic or on medicine). A diabetic may get more benefit from a low 50g a day while an active person may be fine at 100+g/day. Again if you have any real concerns you should always work with a professional physician to help monitor.
• A higher whole food carb meal (along with protein) is best timed at peak insulin sensitivity, aka the post workout window when they will most likely go into muscle glycogen.
• Eat moderate protein and moderate/high fat (healthy) - Eat protein to slow down the gastric emptying with every meal (controls insulin) and increase fat intake to keep your calories high enough not to be in starvation response and to fuel your body’s energy needs. Fat does not effect insulin levels, so eating a higher fat diet has a completely (and better) insulin response than a higher carb diet.
• Avoid sugar and eat only whole natural foods (not processed). Things like Fruits, while healthy can also have sugar (in the form of fructose). Depending on your starting point, you may want to limit or avoid fruit for a while. Those that are more active or have increased insulin sensitivity may do fine with higher fruit intake (esp if you time them around your workouts). Again, starting points in health will vary by person.
• Exercise! Yep. Resistance/strength training is the best way to help those muscle cells to become more insulin sensitive and suck up higher floating blood glucose levels. So get out and do some pushups, lift something heavy and do some sprints (or what you can).
• Periods of Fasting also can help lower insulin resistance/increase insulin sensitivity/decrease fasting insulin levels. If you are going deaf, how do you improve your hearing quicker…by turning down the music a little or having periods of complete silence? Hence why you see IF have a greater impact on fasting insulin levels than a CR diet.
• Supplement with some Fish Oil, as it will help increase and repair those insulin receptors on the cells while also helping to lower overall inflammation.

In the end, if you are doing a Lower carb/higher fat/mod protein “Paleo” food like diet with occasional higher pwo whole food (not sugary drinks) carbs after resistance/weight training, that is a pretty solid healthy plan (esp if you add in the fact you are probably only doing 3 workouts a week and other factors like IF and Fish Oil). Add in grass fed meats/eggs and not grain fed and you are going to be in pretty good health and do wonders for decreasing insulin resistance (and inflammation) and slowing down/reversing any risks for degenerative diseases (aging)! Not too mention the great results you will get for fat loss, muscle and increased performance!

photo by JessicaDeWinter

Ok a while back we talked about the longevity genes associated with the CR and IF studies as being Sirt1 gene expression (see the Longevity Gene post here). So now we come across a compound from grapes that may be able to express the longevity gene without needing CR or IF, this compound known as Resvertol. But is it really all it is claimed to be….let’s look into it:

Red Wine Ingredient — Resveratrol — Fights Diabetes In Mice

Even relatively low doses of resveratrol–a chemical found in the skins of red grapes and in red wine–can improve the sensitivity of mice to the hormone insulin, according to a new report. As insulin resistance is often characterized as the most critical factor contributing to the development of type 2 diabetes, the findings “provide a potential new therapeutic approach for preventing or treating” both conditions, the researchers said.

The research group also confirmed that increased levels of an enzyme called SIRT1, which earlier studies had linked to longevity, DNA repair, and insulin secretion, improve insulin sensitivity in mice. Resveratrol is known to activate the SIRT1 enzyme.

Researchers Discover That A Protein In Grape Skins Can Kill Cancer Cells

It’s well known that drinking red wine in moderation can have some health benefits, mainly attributed to a compound called resveratrol. Now, scientists at the University of Virginia Health System have discovered how.

They found how resveratrol helps to starve cancer cells by inhibiting the action of a key protein that feeds them. Mayo said that the resveratrol in one glasses of wine three or four times a week is the right amount to block the protein from feeding cancer cells. Drinking much more than that, however, could stop this affect and, in fact, lead to a greater risk of cancer, he said.

Resveratrol is an antioxidant found in a number of plants, including grape skins, raspberries, mulberries and peanuts. Its job in nature is to fight fungus during the rainy season, and it is especially prevalent in grapes used in making red wine.

Small Molecule Increases Lifespan and “Healthspan” of Obese Mice

Researchers have used a single compound to increase the lifespan of obese mice, and found that the drug reversed nearly all of the changes in gene expression patterns found in mice on high calorie diets–some of which are associated with diabetes, heart disease, and other significant diseases related to obesity. The research, led by investigators at Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging, is the first time that the small molecule resveratrol has been shown to offer survival benefits in a mammal.

“The “healthspan” benefits we saw in the obese mice treated with resveratrol, such as increased insulin sensitivity, decreased glucose levels, healthier heart and liver tissues, are positive clinical indicators and may mean we can stave off in humans age-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, but only time and more research will tell,” says Sinclair

Investigators identified resveratrol while looking for compounds that activate Sir2, an enzyme linked to lifespan extension in yeast and other lower organisms. For the last 70 years, scientists have been able to increase the lifespan of a variety of species by reducing their normal food consumption by 30 to 40 percent - a diet known as calorie restriction. Through this research, scientists identified Sir2 as a key contributor to life extension. Without Sir2, for example, fruit flies see none of the benefits from either calorie restriction or treatment by resveratrol. The mammalian version of the Sir2 gene is SIRT1, which has the same enzymatic activity as Sir2, but modifies a wider variety of molecules throughout cells. Indicators in this study show that resveratrol might also be activating SIRT1 in mice, as well as other known longevity pathways.

A Low Dose of Dietary Resveratrol Partially Mimics Caloric Restriction and Retards Aging Parameters in Mice

Our studies suggest that dietary consumption of a low dose of resveratrol partially mimics CR and inhibits some aspects of the aging process. In long lived rodent strains and in humans, lifespan is often limited by spontaneous tumorigenesis. Studies have determined that the ability of CR to inhibit spontaneous tumorigenesis is linked to the CR-mediated reduction in circulating IGF-1 [28], and in the case of mammary carcinogenesis can be reversed by the administration of IGF-1 to CR animals [29]. Our study design involved the use of a long-lived F1 hybrid mouse strain, and sacrificing mice at 30-months of age, therefore we were unable to evaluate effects of resveratrol on average or maximum lifespan. We note that unlike CR, resveratrol did not reduce circulating IGF-1 levels (Figure 2B), and there was also no decrease in spontaneous tumors at the time of sacrifice (Supplemental Table S2). In particular, spontaneous liver tumors were abundant in mice fed the control diet or resveratrol, but rare in CR mice. Thus, although a low dose of resveratrol can improve quality of life by retarding aging parameters such as cardiac dysfunction, a nutritional or pharmaceutical strategy to also increase lifespan in mice will likely require blockage of the IGF-1 axis or its targets.

from Chris over at Conditioning Research I found this study as well:

Low Sirt1 expression, which is upregulated by fasting, in human adipose tissue from obese women.

Likewise, lean women (n=12) had more than twofold higher Sirt1 expression in subcutaneous adipose tissue compared to obese women (n=12; 0.33-0.73 arbitrary units, P<0.05). Sirt1 was equally expressed in the stroma-vascular fraction and the isolated adipocyte fraction. Finally, in vitro, we demonstrated that resveratrol (a Sirt1 activator) significantly enhanced the lipolytic effect of epinephrine in human adipose tissue (P<0.05)

and from Mark at Marks Daily Apple we have this tidbit:

The ingredient in question is resveratol, a naturally occurring substance in wine, that stimulates a gene known as SIRT1. In previous studies, the SIRT1 gene has been found to increase the lifespan of rodents, but this is the first study to test the theory in humans.

For the study, researchers assigned 67 diabetic patients to receive doses of a proprietary form of the resveratol drug known as SRT501 in either 2,500 or 5,000 milligram (huge amounts) liquid doses. At the end of the 28 day study period, the researchers reported that SRT501 “significantly reduced blood sugar in 67 diabetic patients as compared with a placebo group.” In addition to the positive outcomes, the groups experienced no adverse effects.

Interesting stuff to ponder. So will we see more studies? Yes. Will there be more compounds to come along that also are found to increase Sirt1 activity? Possibly. Because we are now dealing with something that can be “manufactured” and “sold” by the big pharma/supplement companies we will see more research and more trials on it. Is it the magic fountain of youth pill? I don’t think so. Could you get the same results from a clean and healthy lifestyle of good foods, CR/IF and exercise? Quite possibly. Is a glass of red wine several times a week going to give you the same protection and benefits? It could. While something like this may be good to help those already sick with diseases like diabetes, I am also not a fan of a pill coming along to “replace” a healthy lifestyle of activity and eating the right foods, it should only compliment it. My rule with any supplement, only take it after you have adopted a healthy lifestyle of eating/rest/exercise and are seeing some results….never use it to replace it.

So when we come down to it, could it really be something to compliment an already healthy lifestyle and increase longevity? Who knows…..that’s the best part about a longevity pill…..the only way to know if it is working, is that you are still living. Funny huh? Should be interesting to keep an eye on this though and see what else comes from it.

Photo by Landersz

Ok, well the IF challenge officially begins on Monday. I will be launching a new free IF intro e-book to everyone who is signed up for email or RSS subscription (so make sure not to miss out!). In the meantime this is just a little IF reveiw and follow up on many things.

Q: What’s the difference between IF and CR

A: IF is NOT about excessively restricting your calories when you are eating. IF however has been shown to give all the benefits associated with CR (see resources for all studies) PLUS has none of the drawbacks to CR and allows you to not be hungry all the time, shown better retention of muscle mass while decreasing fat loss and does a better job to decrease insulin resistance factors (which are important to all disease prevention plans)

Q: Which is better? 15-18h hours daily fasting or 24hour fasts a few times week.

A: Honestly there are so many variables when it comes to IF such as what you are eating, macro nutrient ratios, meal timing, your activity level, your state of health (insulin resistance, inflammation and other health /hormonal factors), your long term goals, etc. BOTH can work greatly! The key to anything that is going to get you results is how effective is this long term? So you have to find the plan that works the best for your lifestyle, energy levels and goals. Both can work, and there are still many factors involved that one can change along the way. Don’t think of IF as just another diet, it’s a lifestyle choice! It has to be in order for it to really work (as we know diets don’t work longterm). 24 hour fasts may improve some disease symptoms quicker, but smaller daily fast can also. Smaller daily fasts may just seem easier to do and therefore you keep up with it longer than trying to do 24hr fasts. Again, what are you going to do consistently? So start one way, tweak as you go and pretty soon you have a lifestyle plan that works for you!

Q: When doesn’t IF work?

A: Again, there are many factors and some people may not respond well to IF. Here’s some common misconceptions that can prove to be disasterous in the long run:

• “More is better when it comes to fasting” - Wrong!! If you fast too much/too often…you can compromise healthy thyroid/adrenal output and create an environment that may actually lead to more health issues.

• “I can eat anything I want on IF” - While this may seem like a saving grace for some people just starting off and having alot of weight to lose, like any quick weight loss you may see at first, it will plateau off. Then it becomes a question of the quality of foods that need to be used to continue down the road of health. Quality of foods is just as important in any eating plan for real long term health and success

Q: What are the most common mistakes people do when trying IF

A: Like mentioned above, here are some of the most common mistakes:

• Fasting too often/too long

• Not eating enough when you are supposed to eat (remember this is not about serious calorie restriction, you will still need some calorie deficit average for weight loss but we are not starving ourselves in the process)

• Not eating the right foods (binging on sweets and sugar will lead to more insulin resistance and other diseases down the road, like diabetes). We still have to eat right and healthy, when in doubt no sugars and whole food sources. When in doubt, sugar is bad and if it wasn’t around 1000 years ago, chances are you don’t need it!
• Trying to eat all the calories in one serving. This is not a good idea as your body can still raise up insulin levels after big meals, therefore creating more fat storage. Smaller and more frequent (to a certain extent…don’t need 6x a day…3 works fine…see below) meals is the best way to go.

Q: What about people who say eating 6x a day is the key to weight loss and keeping the metabolism strong?

A: That is just a myth, as there is no proven research to say that eating 6x a day is any better than having 3 meals a day (one meal a day can be a negative thing though…see below). Fat loss comes down to 2 main things, daily calorie intake and insulin control. Your metabolism will not drop if you skip breakfast, that is quite ridiculous to think your metabolism and body responds so quickly like that. If you starve yourself for a couple weeks, then yes…it will drop the metabolism, but nothing will happen in the same day, never mind a week. (A trick is to use weekends to eat up, signal there is no starvation going on if your weekly calories are too low…highly recommended for everyone doing IF, of course we are talking healthy calories…but you don’t have to deprive yourself 100% either if you want to go enjoy a nice meal out with friends once a week…remember weight loss is still about calories, so don’t get too crazy).

Q: So why is IF such a great choice?

A: For me it was a personal decision after spending decades of trying different eating plans. Now I can: gain muscle and lose fat while eating less food overall. I am not obsesssed about meal timings during the day. I can eat as much as I want provided the choices are mostly healthy. I take a day off on the weekend and just eat whatever I like. I can go out with friends and not feel like I am depriving myself. I know how food effects me and how to control what I eat. I feel better all day long with more constant energy levels. I have less inflammation issues from old injuries. I rarely get sick (if I do it doesn’t last 24hours and can count the number of times from the last 5 years on one hand..that and is usually due to me not recovering properly from playing sports). I have no digestive issues. I feel fine exercising in a fasted state, and enjoy it more. I am no longer paranoid about “losing muscle” because I didn’t have a protein shake during the middle of the night or during the day every 2 hours. It’s a simple and easy way to live life as things can always change daily. It makes sense from an evolutionary perspective of how the body was designed for periods of feast and famine, how the body can heal itself if you give it time, and protect itself better when exposed to small doses of stress. That and what it can do for disease prevention and longevity makes it a logical choice on how I want to live my life as I get older. But hey…that’s just my opinion.

So to sum up, how do we begin to IF?

• Start slow at first, more is not better in most all cases. (Start with 16-18hr weekday daily fasts or if you want to do 24 hr fasts try them only 1-2x a week….see how your body responds, how you feel, how your energy is and more importantly what works best in your lifestyle) Note: remember 24hr is NOT skipping a whole day, it’s stopping at say 6pm one day and eating again 6pm the next.

• You should be able to eat enough healthy foods as you want in your eating windows (no real restrictions needed…only when sugar and processed foods come in do we need to control the portions).

• Best results hands down for weight loss, muscle gain, reduced inflammation and increased longevity and disease prevention are seen with eating lower carb, moderate protein and higher healthy fats. That will signal all the right hormones needed for muscle growth, muscle retention, fat burning, anti-inflammation and disease prevention.

• Eating smaller meals during your feeding window is better than 1 big meal. For starters you just won’t get enough healthy calories in that window, and most people may take it as a pass to eat anything they want….which will just lead to weight gain. So try and aim for in your eating window 2 smaller meals if you are doing 24hr IFs or 3 meals equally spaced apart if you are doing a daily IF. Break up the calories and eat as much healthy food choices as you want. If you do only fit in one…then don’t use it as a pass to jump face first into the dessert buffet…try starting off with a salad first…and then eating your main meal a little while later. Keep control of your cravings!

• Take the weekends off from fasting schedules, keep your metabolism strong by letting your body get in enough calories (especially if you think you are not eating enough during the week)

• Know that you can adjust as you go. Nothing is set in stone, just what you make of it. Outlined above are the ways to get great results but you have to do them consistently to make it work. So if something feels wrong, take a look back at what you are doing and then move forward with a new plan.

Look out internet! This is just a special announcement that I have setup a group on Facebook for the IF Life people to discuss all things health, fitness, IF, simplicity, happiness or whatever topic is related. I admit, I am a Facebook newbie as I just signed up this morning. To be honest I am not a fan of becomming addicted to online things, but I do believe that this can be a great additional social interaction tool to use in small doses. I’ll figure out how it all works soon enough and will join in on the conversations and community. So if you are on facebook (or want to join for free like I did this morning), go ahead and join the group and invite others to do so also! I am excited to see where it goes, as I really have no idea how facebook works but seems like a great place to connect and talk with people even further. (You will also see the logo on the main menu and link, if the link is not working for some reason please let me know…it’s my first attempt at getting it setup.) Thoughts and feedback on this are appreciated. Spreading the truth on health and fitness one blog post at a time! (and cutting out all the other BS that passes for so called information and expert advice out there)