April's CR Diary

April - my first comment was only a few days ago, admitting I was a lurker and telling you how much I enjoy your blog. However, I would like to reiterate that I sincerely enjoy your blog, and although I am not a CRON yet, I have no doubt that I will be there in the future. Your blog provides a lot of interesting information, and I enjoy it immensely. Keep up the good work, and don't be discouraged by those who don't understand or are closed minded...Marie

Hi Marie!

Thank you for all your kind words!

a

Great post, April.
I had no idea about Al. No journalist with an ounce of integrity would have exploited someone like him in this way. And holding him up as an example of CRON is dishonest to the point of fraud.
This woman should be ashamed of herself.
R

Nice post April! From what Kate Taylor wrote, I think her issues with CR are more with those who are fixated on a slavish daily calorie limit and those who link CR to a larger, bizzare, and frankly childish idea of living long enough to somehow (?!) make it to some Golden Age of imortal heaven on earth. These are the crazies who are giving CR a bad name, and their creepy iron-clad obsessions with specific calorie limits is just disturbing. April - you sound much more balanced and mature and thoughtful about CR than these obsessive CRONS - who have much bigger issues to deal with than calories! Love the blog!!!!

Hi April, sorry that you are experiencing flak from people who are evidently too bored to have a life of their own, but please ignore them as many people, even those not CRONing, have learned a lot about nutrition and longevity from your blog.

That said, I downloaded your MegaBrownie recipe from the CNN website but wanted to know if the texture is more brownie-like than Sherm's Binging brownies? I made Sherm's recipe and they were fine, but the 'texture' was not quite what I expected. I need a healthy on-the-run snack so was going to try yours.
Thanks,
AG

Great post Sweetie. You can delete this if you don't want to be called Sweetie in public. Proud Mom--PM

Thanks to all for your nice comments!

And Mom, I absolutely insist on being called Sweetie in public. In fact, from now on, if all could address me as "Sweetie," that would really be most appropriate.

a

Hi Sweetie,

I am new around and am writing just to say how much I enjoy your blog (ok, real reason I am writing is because I couldnt lose the chance to call you sweetie heheh but I really like the blog)

Keep up the good work and don't worry about the people.

Oh, and I belong to the group that after "watching" some of the your ppublic apperance, made (almost) extensive research and decided to join ;-). So, for that, thank you very much!

No, no, NO! It's "FireCat" or "CRONKitty", depending on whether you're defending the CR faith or dispensing kind wisdom & fantastic recipes. Jeez! MoMR ;-)

I stumbled across this post because of the dominance of posts by Al Pater on the CR Listserv. I don't know Al, nor, do I know his story, but I'm coming to the conclusion that for some CR is their life, and for others CR is means to enhance and extend their lives.

In reading about very long lived populations (Okinawans, for example), there is no mention of scales, nutritional software, obsessive debates about the merits of one type of sprout over another. Dietary nabits have evolved such that Okinawans eat CR naturally.

Perhaps to achieve the point where CR becomes natural, one has to go through a period of using scales, nutritional software, etc. But, I think (IMHO I should say) that that for me ..hopefully...will be a means, not an end.

Dear April,

I hope you don't take this personally - I'm just commenting on the topic, not on YOUR practice of CR - but I also read Kate Taylor's articles and I think her point is valid. She states explicitly that she's not calling CR anorexia, but that they have certain features in common. There is an excellent book called "Health Food Junkies: Orthorexia Nervosa..." and I think it gives a very clear and very non-judgmental description of the negative psychological effects that can occur if you become obsessed with eating perfectly. CR, with it's encouragement of weighing & measuring, of not wasting a single calorie, of getting exactly 100% of your RDA and counting every mg of every vitamin to make sure...I think it can easily turn into an obsession for many people (as can many other health-oriented diets). Some of the main psychological effects of orthorexia are: social isolation, obsessiveness and constant thoughts about food, and a great deal of guilt and self-berating when you eat something "bad". Oh -- and the book says that another psychological effect of these diets is that they can instill a sense of superiority in people, e.g., "Look at those degenerates eating fries and Coke - disgusting!"

What do you think? Do you think that being obsessed with what you eat is just a price you pay for longevity and good health? Or that it's possible to practice CR naturally and effortlessly, without obsessing over it?

--------------

I have another set of comments to make, regarding your weight -- again, this is in the interest of honesty, and with the understanding that you've made your weight a public topic.

If I recall correctly, you mention a number of times that you are 5'2 and that you are 115 lbs, and you often defend yourself against people who criticize you for not being as thin as they expect a CR person to be.

Leaving those people and their expectations aside, I would like to point out some facts, which you're probably already aware of:

1 - The lower your BMI, the healthier you will be, assuming your BMI is low due to a healthy diet, not due to malnutrition or illness or smoking. This is argued not only by CR practitioners, but by the Chair of the Department of Nutrition of Harvard University, Walter Willett, in his book "Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy." At any rate, 18.5 is taken to be the borderline of normal weight vs. underweight. I took the liberty of calculating your BMI - it's 20.5 - so you are not underweight by "normal" standards. And, presumably, if you weighed lower while keeping healthy and eating well, you'd lower your risk of cancer, cardiovascular illness, etc.

2 - By both European and American conventions of "ideal weight", you're a little bit over. The American convention is, 100 lbs for 5 ft and 5 lbs for every inch above that (so 110 for you); and the European convention is, height in centimeters - 110 = weight in kg. (so for you, you are 157.5 cm and your "ideal" weight would be 47.5 kg - 104.5 lbs - a little lower than the American formulation).

3- From what I understand from CR, it's about being underweight (with optimal nutrition) with respect to your "set-point" weight. I know that you weigh less with respect to your former weight, but I"m not sure if that would count as being CR underweight, b/c it depends on definition of set-point? In my experience, people with the same genes have different set-points based on the kind of (non-calorically-restricted) diet they follow, and I think that your set-point on the SAD diet doesn't necessarily coincide with your healthy biological set-point (what you'd weigh if you ate as much as you wanted, but didn't have access to junk food). What do you think?

Also - the CR mice - they are being compared to mice of normal weight, right, not obese mice? So, I would think that you'd want to be underweight with respect to the normal weight for your height, versus an artificially high weight that you achieve by having susceptible genes and eating the SAD diet.

This is really more of a scientific question -- as far as I can tell, the answer is not yet definitively known (esp. when it comes to defining set-point).

Anyways, I know you might feel a little bit offended, but I hope you understand that I'm not criticizing you - I'm just being honest, b/c I believe that's the most important thing. If you disagree, then I would completely welcome your thoughts.

Respectfully,
Vlada

First, I have never claimed to be doing serious CR while being 115 pounds. That weight is a fairly recent development. In hardcore CR mode I weighed 102. Above 108, I seem to lose the positive side effects, such as an invincible immune system. So I have no delusions that I have been in CR mode at 115, but I am working to get back on it and losing weight. In fact now I'm down to 111 and steadily losing.

Another thing you might find confounding is that I've recently taken up a serious yoga and Pilates practice and added considerable muscle. Hard to tell the exact ratios but I'm definitely carrying a lot more muscle weight than I was at my lowest calorie level/most serious CR. It's a hard compromise between the two but I'm convinced that yoga and Pilates will help me maintain long term mobility and agility, very important for long term health and longevity.

As to CR being obsessive, I've addressed that question so many times that I won't do it in detail again. I do not find it socially isolating or obsessive. I think that people object to it because they assume that CR folks would feel as sense of superiority but I really didn't. That's other people's projections, not my issue. I definitely felt better doing serious CR than I do when not, and as you point out, I've tried it both ways.

At 102 and 18% body fat, nobody thought I was the picture of emaciated concentration camp resident that they expect CR people to be. I doubt that anyone will think I'm all that skinny no matter how thin I eventually get. Being curvy seems to do that. And at 115 and a size 4, I definitely don't hear that I'm looking overweight. If anything, most people think I look a lot better now that I have good muscle tone from working out daily.

But I'm definitely working to lower my calories and my weight while not sacrificing exercise. It's harder than simply eating less while being sedentary. One is much hungrier when one takes an hour to an hour and half intense athletich yoga or Pilates class every day in addition to cardio and some weight lifting. But it's worth it, for me.

I am not offended by your comments and encourage you to continue reading if you find the blog of interest. If you look back in the earlier entries, you'll find the records of my weight when I was in good CR mode... 99 being the lowest but 102 being more consistent. And you won't see me whining about having a cold back then because I never got sick!

a