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October 23, 2006
Short Term, Long Term
Greetings to Yvonne, our new reader who found out about the blog from the NY Mag article, and welcome! Here's her question for those of you who didn't read the comments on the last entry:
I found your blog as a result of reading the New York Magazine article. After reading that article and some of your posts, I went to the Calorie Restriction Society website. I saw a list of the potential down-sides of CR (increased sensitivity to cold, less stamina for vigorous activity, fewer "reserves," slower wound healing).
I wondered how a regimen with these potential drawbacks could possibly have aided the survival of mice and monkeys.
And then it hit me.
Did these animals live in a lab? In other words--was their food and shelter already taken care of? It seems to me that CR could only be an advantage to animals under lab conditions, i.e. animals which did not have to compete with other animals for resources or mates or face any uncertainty as to their (small) food supply.
In the wild, a CR animal wouldn't be a CR animal at all--he'd be a failing animal, and good luck to him if he had to outrun a predator or fight off a rival or recover from wounds afterwards, or endure an extra long time without food.
Humans don't have to race across the tundra after our prey, but we do compete (sometimes in subtle ways--will an employer prefer a buff man or one who appears too thin?), and we do face a certain degree of uncertainty. CR-ers might be gaining *long* term advantages (although it will be a long time before we find out), but it looks like they may be sacrificing some potentially important *short* term advantages. And those are meaningful to survival too.
Everything's a trade-off. If having some 'extra' muscle and fat (i.e. a normal BMI) disqualifies you from living to 150, well--as our current crop of centenarians proves, you might still make it to 100, and in the meantime, it's entirely possible that the padding which disqualifies you from 150 was--without your knowledge--responsible for saving your life one day at 68 when you got caught in a huge New York crowd at New Year's and spent the whole night freezing in the crowd, waiting for the street to clear so you could get home.
So: as a CR person, do you feel like you may be over-emphasizing long-term survival advantages at the expense of equally-important short-term survival advantages?
Posted by: Yvonne at October 23, 2006 6:45 PM
In terms of short term advantages vs. long term, my personal experience with CR has been that the short term benefits are so great that I don't find it a trade off. Everyone's experience is different, but for example, you mentioned being more sensitive to cold. I find that I am slightly more cold sensitive, but the compensation is that I have way more heat tolerance. This is just wonderful in the hot sticky Philly summers when I'm working, often standing outside in the sun for long hours (with tons of sunscreen, I assure you!) in the blistering heat. I can handle the heat much, much longer and more comfortably than my co-workers. So while in winter I might be the first to trot out the winter coat or throw on a scarf, in the summer, I have the advantage. This could be a survival advantage too -- scientists first discovered that CR'd animals have greater tolerance for heat when the air-conditioning broke in the lab and all the non-CR'd rodents died while the CR'd among them made it.
I find that other short term benefits of CR are also very useful to me in my profession and lifestyle. I have an extremely stressful career, one that calls for physical and emotional endurance under lots of pressure. Because I have more energy on CR than I did before, I can handle long hours, lack of sleep, and general physical exhaustion much better. Because my job requires mental, not physical, heavy lifting, the kind of long-running energy that CR gives me is a perfect fit. If I were a construction worker or a marathon runner, I would probably find CR to be unworkable, but I'm not.
It's no big secret that in our society, it's an advantage for a woman to be thin. Because I am one of the lucky ones who tended to be overweight when eating ad lib (that's eating all you want of whatever, for those of you who are just joining us) but I tend to be slim-but-not-skinny on CR, I definitely find my post-CR look to be a benefit, not a problem. There is one funny instance in which it's a problem though: sometimes I now look too young! When I weighed forty pounds more, I looked older, more grown-up, and more like a *normal* person (remember that average in this country is now overweight.) Once I lost the weight, I started getting questions about my age and experienc again! Luckily, I was already at a point in my profession where I had the credentials and didn't need to rely on looking older to prove myself. But it was a bit jarring to get the same "Are you old enough to be doing this?" at 31 that I used to get at 21!
CR has also resulted in a much strong immune system. This is a side effect that almost every CR practitioner reports. We hardly ever get sick. We can't take our sick days because people know we don't get sick! I've had one sick day since I started CR. Being able to work a zillion hours and stay healthy is a definite advantage.
Again, my experience is just that -- mine. Others may differ. For me, CR has yielded a great many short term benefits. The worst side effect of CR for me is that occasionally people who for some reason don't approve of CR say nasty things about me! But as a union organizer, I was already used to being called nasty names. You develop a thick skin, even if you don't have a thick layer of subcutaneous fat.
In the modern world, we are much more likely to die of heart disease, diabetes, or any of the other lifestyle related diseases than we are to freeze to death or be eaten by a faster predator. If a hungry bear comes after me, I'm toast! But the fact is, if a bear came after me pre-CR, I would have been toast too. I avoid areas where there are known to be bears, and I bundle up in winter. You can't avoid all risks, but you can definitely take an active part in choosing what risks you expose yourself to. I feel good about my decisions, and all I would wish for my readers is that they would have the information to make decisions that they too can feel good about.
Meanwhile, welcome to all new readers! I hope you enjoy the blog, and maybe occasionally try a new recipe or learn something that you can use.
PS I love comments, so keep 'em coming!
Posted by april at October 23, 2006 9:26 PM
Comments
Hey April, that was a cool article, even if it had a silly-ending-that-reflected-more-poorly-on-the-author-than-on-CR-and-you. Don't you believe that all advertising is good advertising, by the way? I do.
You are a huge support in my CR practice, which only gets stronger, healthier and easier all the time. You have a great informative blog. You help lots of people. Isn't it strange that people have such an aversion to CR? Why? Especially within a culture that has had so many problems associated with overweight. Gosh. Yours is one of the only places one can get sound nutritional advice that emphasizes not overeating. And the definition of overeating is getting stretched out all the time- now it's almost considered politically incorrect to suggest that a person is overeating until the overweight is over-the-top... And then the problem is so often redefined as being a thyroid issue instead...
The biggest issue in many people's CR practice is the social stigma of not overeating, and the stigma attached to a person being mindful of not overeating. Anyway. Now I'm ranting and rambling..
Posted by: Hazel at October 23, 2006 9:06 PM
Hi April, I just finished reading the article in NY Magazine. I found it extremely fascinating. I've been dieting and trying to lose weight for 3 years now. I started at 200 pounds (I'm 5' 8") and am now at around 154. I've lost it very slowly and had some set backs. I did it by gradually restricting my calories and lots of exercise. I've been hearing about this CR longevity diet for a couple of years now and may eventually try. My question is are there degrees of the CR diet? Will being on the CR diet for 5 days a week have some benefits? Or do you have to do this every day to get any benefit from the diet?
Posted by: Josh Latham at October 23, 2006 9:56 PM
You can always expect some snark in a NY Mag article, but it really wasn't that bad. And in the one picture accompanying the online version, you both look like you're in your 20s. I'm sure it will lead many more folks to try CR...
(Hey, do I get my free hard copy of the article, for suggesting the pumpkin soup? If not, I'll go looking on the newsstands, but it's hard to find now that we're not living in NY anymore...)
Posted by: Kathy W. at October 23, 2006 10:05 PM
April you look really healthy in that picture by looking at hair and skin tone, and thats what matters!...
Michael also looks far younger than his age too of course.
I also think paul is awesome too, he seems so enthusiastic! :)
Relax... and listen :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxXwIIBlSgw
(I just added that cos i'm listening to it now, and think its awesome! lol)
Posted by: Matt - uk at October 24, 2006 4:22 AM
I'm glad I found this article in the New York magazine, I knew very little about CR and it definitely piqued my interest. I'd like to learn more about CR and the article gave me the best place to start – your blog! I'm sure it's worth mentioning – while I enjoyed reading the article I could not take seriously the comment that the food was bland, this is obviously coming from someone who does not appreciate fine cuisine with fresh ingredients. I thought the scallops sound delicious, I love fresh scallop, with lemon and cilantro… Beautiful. I think that a lot of people are probably curious and interested about CR, and the others who are judgmental about it struggle themselves with food, are always looking for reasons out of their control to defend their issues, and are envious of people who show such amazing control over something that causes so much anxiety and depression in their lives. I'm very jealous of anyone who can wake up early and function brilliantly in the morning; sleep is my Achilles heel! But your comments about heart disease and diabetes are all too true, and people really need to step back and think about what is really important to them in life; do you want to be around to see your grandchildren, and maybe even great-grandchildren? Or not? It's only food, and what people need to realize is that they have a choice. For example, I choose to pay an astronomical amount in rent every month to live in New York City because it's my choice and it is worth it to me; I'm not tempted by the idea of a bigger place for a third of the cost because it would be somewhere that I would not like as much as New York; people can be surprisingly judgmental about this! (by the way, where can I get my hands on some of that quorn?) These are just some of my thoughts; I know how frustrating it must be for you to endure comments, often derogatory in nature, I'm sure, about a perfectly healthy lifestyle, while made to be silent in commenting on the unhealthy food and diet choices that everyone else is making under the guise of some imaginary factor that the choices they make are out of their control. I would think once you get the hang of it, food would be a very easy thing to control! I'm looking forward to learning more. Thank you!
Posted by: Jill at October 27, 2006 8:21 PM
hello gr8 site well enjoyed it xxxx
Posted by: nicole at October 31, 2006 3:53 AM