Vitamin D

Those that had sufficient levels of Vitamin D who had breast cancer were 94% less likely for it to spread and 73% less likely to die from the disease. This comes after another study found that colon cancer was prevented by taking just 1100IU per day. People taking D3 were 72 Percent less likely to get colon cancer.

Vitamin D: Essential for Prevention of Diseases




Vitamin D - Breast cancer

Some thoughts on lab results

Cholesterol
My HDL went up by 50%, that is quite a huge improvement.

Total Cholesterol 3.7 (144mg/dl)
HDL 1.5 (59mg/dl)
LDL 1.9 (74mg/dl)
Triglycerides 0.6 (53mg/dl)
TC:HDL Ratio 2.5

Here is a website showing what risk group you're in according to lipid profiles. Clearly I'm well below even the 'very low risk' numbers.
LINK HERE

I used to eat much less fat than I do now, thanks to April and MR who recommended increasing my fat and protein, my cholesterol looks a lot better now. I spoke to a few people involved in low carbohydrate diet a while ago, and they suggested increasing the amount of saturated fat, which does actually raise HDL, but it also significantly raises LDL cholesterol too. I think that what made my HDL increase was increasing good fats and a little more exercise.

Anyway you can few my results HERE

Sun Damage Experiment

We have had excellent weather here where I live, and can expect at least another week if weather reports are correct :) I wish it was like this all the time, as I said before it really gives me a big energy boost and I generally feel really happy.

So anyway, I seen something in the news paper the other day that suggested tomatoes protect against sun burn and act as a low level sun screen when 50g are consumed with some olive oil. The protective compound is thought to be Lycopene. Cooked/processed tomatoes give you more. I posted something on the Calorie Restriction Society email lists early on in my CR where I noticed that I have much increased protection from sun damage, DESPITE being very pale person. For an experiment (and before I done this I was quite confident of my observations) I decided to go out in the garden and sun bathe for three hours in mid day sun when the sun index was rather high and putting me at risk of sun burn. So my sister was out there too trying to get a tan and the result was;

I never got sun burned one bit, no redness, very slightly brown... however it was a totally difference case for my sister who eats a normal western diet and is not CR'd. She ended up red and burned, even though she lightly tanned all over to start with!

Is is all that green tea I drink? Is it the tomatoes, is it the CR? It's probably all of them reducing the inflammation response and clearing up those free radicals. I repeated this experiment the next day and got exactly the same result. I noticed this over the last 3 years now but never did this test.... casual sun exposure before used to make me go red, however now it didn't.

I don't expect to see quite the same result if I lived in another country where I would probably roast within 5 minutes... however it shows a nice protective effect WITHOUT sun screen and might contribute to the general anti aging effect of the skin.

I don't actually go in the sun that often, after getting my sunshine vitamin I mostly avoid it to stay looking young. I actually had a nice comments over the past few days , my friend think I could probably do another 3 years in high school because I look so young, and this other guy thought I was still in high school LOL. That's great because I left high school over 7+ years ago now! And would you believe it, there are some people that hate looking younger than their age and want to look older! Haha :)

See the study here:

Tomatoes found to fight sun damage
Tomatoes could be the new weapon in the fight against sun damage to the skin, research at the Universities of Newcastle and Manchester has revealed. According to a study presented at the British Society for Investigative Dermatology this month, eating tomato paste could help protect against sunburn and sun-induced skin ageing.
READ FULL HERE

I DON'T RECOMMEND TRY AND SPEND HOURS IN THE SUN AND GET BADLY SUN BURNED. BUT WOULD APPRECIATE ANY FEEDBACK IF OTHERS HAVE NOTICED CASUAL SUN EXPOSURE DON'T MAKE THEM SUN BURN AS EASILY.

I never fainted!

This morning with only 5 hours sleep because I wasn't tired and could not fall to sleep until early hours. With just 5 minutes until my appointment I rushed out the door and got there in time, I had already missed 2 appointments previously and these tests were supposed to have been done in Feb! I actually wasn't nervous this time and just got it done with no problem, in fact probably was the least problematic of all of them, maybe I'm really just getting used to it now, and I didn't faint which is great! Fainted in 2004 and not nice :)

I will check on Friday to see if the results are back, I suspect I wont know them now until next Wednesday, but when I get them I'll be sure to update my personal CR website where you can find all my previous lab results.


On another topic, I have decided that Sundays is now a fasting day. I feel quite good when I fast and doing it just one day a week will nudge calories down a tiny bit and maybe provide some benefit. I'll let you know how that goes... but I did do a 2 day fast just over 1 week ago and had no problem with it.


The Secret To Long Life May Not Be In The Genes
And here is an article for you to read from sciencedaily.com

A research on the bone health of one of the oldest persons in the world, who recently died at the age of 114, reveals that there were no genetic modifications which could have contributed to this longevity. The research team, directed by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona professor Adolfo Díez Pérez, pointed out a healthy lifestyle, a Mediterranean diet, a temperate climate and regular physical activity as the reasons for his excellent health.

Full article here

What about the secret to long life is in how MUCH and WHAT you eat ;)

Tests

On the 6th May I'll finally be getting a whole load of blood tests done. I hope that everything is fine, I guess it probably will be. I should have got them done a while ago but I couldn't get a normal sleeping pattern back in place to actually wake up in the morning to get them done. Now sleeping is good again I should definitely have them done, I just hope I don't faint! Results will be posted here about the 8-9th.