• Uncategorized

Back in the 1970s, a research study group from Michigan State University headed by E D Schlenker followed the history and diets of 97 women over a period of 24 years. They all started off in middle age and by the end of the research study, among those that were still living, the ones who took in fewer calories were more in number and looked younger!

In 2004 a group from Washington University published their findings after following a group of 36 volunteers in between the ages of 35 and 82. Half the group followed a calorie restriction program for 6 years, while the other half a common Western diet. At the end of the research study, tests showed that the calorie-restricted group had vastly lowered risks for heart disease in addition to a lower portion of body fat. 3 of the low calorie group found their initially high cholesterol levels reduced to the point where they no longer needed medication.

What is the reason for these outcomes? It is believed that decreasing your calories sends out a message to the body that you’re in for some hard times, so it puts itself into self-preservation. Your metabolic rate slows, your temperature drops and ageing happens at a slower rate.

Of course you need to utilize common sense and not apply this lesson to growing bodies, ie children, teenagers or kids who are still putting down their bones. Roy Walford, a researcher from UCLA and one of the leaders of calorie limitation has recommended that you could start at around midlife and still have adequate time to extend your life expectancy.

The trick to success in calorie constraint is to strategy and research study thoroughly before beginning. Walford discovered that it is really hard for humans to follow this program appropriately if calorie constraint is presented quickly. However if it is done slowly over the area of 5-7 years with completion goal of cutting back about 20-25% of what you presently eat, this is more quickly possible. Leslie Kenton in her book Ageless Ageing writes that you can cut down your calorie consumption to 60% of what you currently eat, although some individuals may see this as extreme.

Walford firmly insists that calorie constraint is not like a slimming diet plan, nor is it hunger. As with the animal experiments, the quality and differed balance of the food is essential. It needs to be rich in vitamins, minerals and vital fats. All processed food and processed food need to go, as whatever you put in your mouth must benefit your health.

Another piece of the puzzle is you then help safeguard your health by supplementing with powerful quality supplements. The supplements need to do as their name recommends, that is, supplement your diet plan– they are not a substitute for high-quality, nutritious food. The crucial part of calorie constraint is to make sure that what enters will nurture you, not just feed you.

Surprisingly, some scientists found that routine and intermittent fasting could produce the same results as calorie restriction. The recommendation is to spend a week alternating between fasting (for 2 or 3 days) and regular eating. This is unlike religious fasting where you consume prior to dawn and after sunset; for the days you fast, you survive on water while the staying days you eat typically. According to research carried out on animals, life expectancy was increased by 20-30% and the rate of ageing was slowed.

Similar to all consuming regimes that break standard thinking, calorie constraint has its fans and critics. Severe calorie constraint is media getting, and even moderate constraint is not controversy-proof. In July 2009, researchers at Stanford University suggested that research studies revealing underfed animals to live longer and healthier lives might not directly apply to people, because the animal case studies had actually been living in pristine, medical conditions and not in the real life. They tested calorie limitation on fruit flies and exposed them to bacteria. The calorie reduced flies, when infected with salmonella, lived twice as long as the usually fed flies, but when contaminated with listeria, made it through 30% less days. [1]

Another United States group led by Raj and Forster contested the claims of calorie constraint saying that it just extended life expectancy if utilized on overweight patients or individuals who put on weight early on in their adult years. Otherwise, they said that for typically healthy non-overweight individuals, calorie restriction would reveal little distinction. [2]

There is a continuous study in America, most likely the biggest carried out on human subjects, which is following 132 individuals to examine the results of calorie limitation by 25% over a 2 year duration. Called “Calerie” (Comprehensive Assessment of Long-Term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy), the study has taken people who have a normal-to-slightly-overweight BMI. The research study provides regular therapy, recommending how hard calorie constraint might be for the majority of people. We await the outcomes with interest! [3]

There is plenty of food for believed here and a growing movement on both sides of the Atlantic on this topic. Lisa Walford, daughter of Roy Walford, has actually composed a book called The Longevity Diet. In it she suggests calorie restriction by 13-15% of your standard level, the standard being the number of calories required to keep you at a stable weight, which differs from individual to person. She sees anything aside from this moderate level as severe. Regretfully, there will constantly be severe cases who provide prestige and bad press for the movement.

About the Author

Doreen has actually had a passion for massage because she was 15 years of ages. She still has that enthusiasm, and uses massage, expert facials and other appeal treatments in her home-based beauty parlor in Surrey. With any energy left over she will feast on all the beauty pages of all the magazines she can lay her hands on!Doreen’s homepage: Bellessence