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Longevity Diet

Admin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:47:52 GMT

Starvation diet is very different from longevity diet. You'll still rip the benefits at any age, and also will benefit more even if you did not exercise.

Low-calorie longevity: the anti-aging diet

Want to live longer? How does 120 or more sound? That's realistic, say many anti-aging researchers. But at present, you'd have to switch to what longevity researchers call a "calorie-restricted" diet.

It sounds like dieting, but it isn't. Dieting has the short-term goal of weight loss. But caloric restriction--or CR--represents a lifelong approach to food consumption.

CR, however, doesn't mean starvation. In fact, the objective is to consume fewer calories without sacrificing nutrition.

Through good food choices and supplements, a CR diet is fortified generously with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants to provide the same nutrients as an unrestricted diet--but with substantially fewer calories.

While calorie restriction sounds, well, restrictive, scientists say it's more aptly called the "anti-aging" diet or the "high/low" diet--high in good nutrients, low in bad. That's why half-starved people in famine areas derive no longevity benefit: their low-calorie intake lacks nutrient density.

Caloric restriction isn't a new idea. Since the first experiment in 1935 at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, researchers have collected over 2,000 studies concluding that CR can extend animal lives drastically and delay the onset of age-related illnesses. And according to US government scientists writing in the mid-1999 edition of the Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, "The well-known effects of CR on lifespan, disease and aging processes may be generalizable to all species."

In fact, caloric restriction is the only strategy to date that has been scientifically proven to extend the "maximum life span"--the term for the technical limit to life, different in each species.

In humans, the maximum life span runs about 110-120 years. You can inherit great genes, eat well, exercise and always buckle your seat belt, but you just can't rise above that ceiling. Or at least you can't without a CR diet.

Meanwhile, CR needn't mean a Spartan and hungry existence. The degree of restriction is your choice, and it's not an all-or-nothing phenomenon. Even a 10 percent restriction in calories has a measurable, beneficial effect. Just cutting out fatty foods or skipping lunch could be enough.

Because sudden caloric reductions may be harmful, scientists suggest gradually transitioning to a CR diet over one to two years--a hardly noticeable shift in calories. Some may opt for periodic fasting instead.

Sixty percent of Americans--and one billion people worldwide--are overweight. Most want to be thinner anyway; but the idea of living a lot longer adds a powerful incentive to eat less.

Walford's research indicates that if you exercise the calories away, you don't get the same longevity benefit.

It's not your weight that counts, but how many calories you consume. If you want to live substantially longer, you've got to reduce your caloric intake by 10, 20 or even 30 percent.

However, women should never try CR during pregnancy, and CR is not for children. Also, never reduce calories to 50 percent of normal intake.

Won't smaller portions mean constant hunger? Not for long. Those practicing CR, including 78-year-old Walford, report that hunger stops a few weeks into the program. Eventually, most people find it difficult to exceed the new calorie limit.

But does CR diminish energy and alertness?

From mice to humans, tests show that the extra CR life span is comprised of prolonged youth, not simply additional time spent crippled, achy or senile. In a host of studies, calorie-restricted animals--and humans--have been shown to be physically, sexually and mentally active for much longer, and they need less sleep. CR also delays age-related immune dysfunction.

Diseases such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis and Alzheimer's are either avoided or forestalled.

People who lack the will to exercise might find CR a more forgiving alternative. Work by John Holloszy, MD, of Washington University in St. Louis, suggests that those on a calorie-limited diet actually benefit from not exercising. Studies indicate that the average and maximum life spans--arranged from longest to shortest--are: sedentary CR (longest-lived); active CR; active non-CR; and sedentary non-CR (shortest-lived).

For centuries, humans have fantasized about a fountain of youth, becoming cynical in the process. But for those eager to postpone the daily ravages of aging, a scientifically sound fountain of youth appears to have been near at hand all along--and deceptively simple at that: smaller portions.

Better Nutrition, Dec, 2002 by Michael Downey

See how Dr. Lewis does vegan diet.

Admin — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:14:39 GMT

This is how Dr. Lewis does vegan diet

Like I said he is an authority in this subject.

This is how Dr. Lewis does Vegan Raw Foodism

My menu is very straightforward.

I eat about 75-80% raw now. Most of my meals are smoothies that I make in the blender. I eat 3-4 of these per day. I put them in 1 liter bottles and bring to the office with me. This is the general recipe that I use for my smoothies:

½ cup of water
¼ cup of almond, hazel nut, soy, or rice milk (protein, unsaturated fats, and flavonoids in the soy). I actually haven't been using any of these milks lately. I just use water now, but it doesn't hurt to use one of the nut milks.

1 bunch or large leaf of kale, red kale, chard, bok choi, collard green, mustard green, dandelion, or any other green of your choosing (You need the greens for the calcium, magnesium, iron, protein, chlorophyll, and other good things they provide.) I don’t recommend spinach because of the taste.

1 apple, pear, banana, or peach (a little bulk, fiber, and other nutrients)
1 cup of a combination or mix of blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, pineapple, mango, or cherries (the majority of your antioxidants, phytonutrients, carotenoids, glyconutrients, and vitamins and minerals)

I also add a ¼ cup of either pumpkin seeds, walnuts, chia seeds, Brazil nuts, and/or flax seed for omega III FAs.
I also sometimes add something else like goji berries or mulberries as a change in taste.

The key for me is to mix fruit with something green and walnuts, chia seeds, or flax seed to get the omega IIIs. This really is nature’s perfect meal for humans. It’s high in nutrition, low to moderate in calories, and tastes great. If you buy some of the fruit frozen, then you’ll have an even more “smoothie” feel to it. Anything green will also be our best source of protein as well.

Other things that I eat are brown rice, sweet potatoes, spinach, occasionally some white beans, and salads of romaine lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers, carrots, shallots, garlic, and celery. I try to eat as simply as possible, as nature intended for us to eat. If it looks like it came out of the ground or off the tree, then that’s how we’ll best metabolize it. If it looks like something else, then it’s not food that we’ll process very well.

Will that work for you?

Vegan For The Economy

susanpier@hotmail.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:04:56 GMT

I have tried vegan diet before, I lost a lot of weight, felt good, energetic, and with good skin condition. With the way the economy is going, I hope also to save money this time.

Vegetarian eating habit feel good

mymichelle237@gmail.com — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:05:41 GMT

I've eaten vegetarian since I was 12-13 years old. I stopped eating pork, realized I didn't miss it, and then stepped every other meat out of my diet. For a few years I ate vegan, but I couldn't afford the real food I needed then to eat healthy vegan and my parents were nonsupportive. This resulted in me being severely deficient in my formative years, resulting in tooth loss and lower lumbar degenerative arthritis.

I only mention such a negative to make you all aware that if done incorrectly any diet will fail you. Now more than a decade later, I eat close to vegan, (excepting the occasional piece of cheese when eating out) always abstain from meat, fried foods, etc. I have tons of energy when I eat right, have had no major health problems stem from my diet since my younger days, and definitely support anyone who chooses to try this lifestyle.

I have great recipe combos, tips, etc...if anyone is new to vegetarianism please talk to me and I'd be happy to pass along my personal experience and advice!:D

Is it healthier to eat frozen, canned or fresh vegetables and fruits if I can't get fresh stuff?

Admin — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:00:34 GMT

This is from ABC news

Is It Healthier To Eat Frozen Or Canned Fruits Or Vegetables If I Can't Get Fresh Stuff?

Elisabetta Politi, R.D., CDE, Nutrition Director, Duke Diet and Fitness Center

February 1, 2009

Question: Is it healthier to eat frozen or canned fruits or vegetables if I can't get fresh stuff?

Answer: It is okay to keep some frozen and canned vegetables and fruit in your freezer and kitchen cabinet, with a few recommendations. When you buy frozen vegetables look at the label and make sure that they don't have sauces and salt added.

When it comes to canned vegetables, they're are normally high in salt, but more and more food manufactures are coming out with low sodium, or no salt added versions. We recommend you get those. When it comes to fruit, we recommend the one packed in its own juice and not in heavy syrup so it will be lower in sugar.