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January 1, 2006

A Quick Review

It's a new year, and time for a quick review of why and how we do CR.

So far, calorie restriction is the only method of retarding biological aging that's been proven in mammals. While no long term studies have been completed in humans (it takes quite awhile to see if humans live longer, as we have relatively long lifespans to begin with) several are underway now, including one being done by Dr. Luigi Fontana at Washington University in St. Louis. We do know that calorie restriction *with adequate nutrition* lowers risk of heart diesase, type 2 diabetes, and strokes. Anecdotally, it increases energy, lowers needs for sleep, improves moods, decreases anxiety, and washes your dishes.

The key is adequate nutrition... you can't just eat less and expect to see positive health effects or increased lifespan. Most of us CR practitioners take it one step farther and pursue optimal nutrition, using nutritional software to analyze our diets and make sure we're getting everything we need in the most healthful form. I use Dr. Walford's Interactive Diet Planner, or "DWIDP," which you can order here.

There are as many ways to do CR as there are CR practitioners. Some are vegetarians, some eat lean meat and fish, some are vegans. Some eat one meal a day, others eat three or five times a day. Some focus on organics, some don't worry about it. I am mostly vegetarian, but I eat lean chicken, turkey, and shellfish from time to time. I eat three meals a day, about six hours apart. I eat about 1300 calories a day. Up until this month, I was strictly adhering to 1200 calories for six days of the week, and then going out for a non-calorie counted meal with friends or colleagues once a week, bringing up my average. This month, I'm experimenting with keeping a consistent calorie level for 31 days to see what effect this has on my hunger, mood stability, etc. Should be fun! CR practitioners tend to enjoy self-experimentation, and are always playing around with new tweaks to our diets.

I love to cook, and you can see some of my food and the person I cook for most here in an article in Technology Review on a CRON Christmas! My quotidian diet consists of fairly predictable breakfasts and lunches, with a lot more variety at dinner, when I cook a meal most days and sit down to eat with my also CR'd partner.

Here's what a sort of "normal" eating day for me looks like:

Breakfast:
1 cup eggwhites, scrambled, topped with 1 teaspoon flax oil and 2 tablespoons salsa, black coffee 175 calories

Lunch:
Salad of mustard greens, arugula, kale, napa cabbage, bell peppers, tomatoes, topped with 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, and two tablespoons salsa mixed with 1 cup plain non-fat yogurt and 50 calories eggwhites (cubed and marinated in the salad dressing.) This is a smaller version of the huge salad that my partner eats for breakfast: he packs my lunch for me and sends me off to work with tupperwares and a thermos of fancy Japanese green tea that I drink mid-morning.
10 grams almonds 351 calories

Dinner:
Sometimes a vegetable soup with brewers yeast and cruciferous veggies plus a cup of cottage cheese, sometimes a vegetable dish like my caulliflower soup along with a protein source such as eggwhites, shrimp, scallops, or lowfat or nonfat dairy. Dinner varies a lot as it's the meal where I spend the most time cooking and enjoy exercising some creativity. Lately we've enjoyed eating all sorts of variations on frittattas made with eggwhites and non-fat plain yogurt, including just about any vegetable you can think of. In fall I made a lot of pumpkin dishes, including a curried pumpkin soup with lemon. In summer I eat as many fresh ripe tomatoes as I can find in everything from homemade gazpachzo to "pasta" sauces that I pour over veggies or eggwhites instead of using empty calorie-laden pastas.

Tonight I'm going over to my mother's to watch the 60 Minutes episode featuring Aubrey de Grey, and I'm planning to do something fun with the fresh organic brussels sprouts I bought at Trader Joe's yesterday.
I try to get some protein, carb, and unsaturated fat at every meal, adhering very vaguely to Zone ratios, though I generally come up a little below 30% fat for the day. Pre-CR, I spent years as an Ornish-worshipping lowfat vegan, and it's still a struggle to include fat as anything more than an afterthought in my diet, but I know it's healthy so I do. I can tell the difference in how I feel: my skin, which was always dry before, now remains soft even in the dead of winter. I fell much less hungry now that I eat more protein and fat than I did in my high-carb, no fat days. I also feel calmer, an almost Zen-like effect that many CR practitioners report.

A few basics about me:

I'm 31 years old and I've been practicing CR for just under two years. Pre-CR, I weighed 137 pounds at 5 feet 2 inches. Now I weigh an average of 102... from 99 to 104, depending on time of the month and what I ate the night before. I live with my partner who is also CR'd and my two cats, who are not.

If you'd like more info about CR, please check out the CR Society website. And if you'd like to do something to combat aging more effectively than CR or any lifestyle intervention ever could, donate to the Mprize and encourage scientists to find the real cure for age related disease and disability!

Have a healthy, happy New Year!

Posted by april at January 1, 2006 2:11 PM

Comments

Posted by: S. at January 2, 2006 2:47 PM

Posted by: Judith at January 2, 2006 2:58 PM

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