back after new year!

Hey all! Hope people still are checking back. I think that after the new year i'm gonna be doing some videos on youtube, which i'll post here. Anyway, hope everyone having a lovely holiday, christmas and have a good new year!

These new pictures are from my new camera. 25 years 2 months old in these. Other photos with my webcam

Skin Care, Supplements, Exercise

Not that much difference, really unsure about going into a serious anti aging skin care regimen right now at my age. =/ So looked for more on the side of prevention than anything else.

Skin care

- Neutrogena gentle exfoliating face wash
- Skinceuticals CE ferulic acid
- Derma + intensive base with CoQ10, gingko biloba, vitamin A and Vitamin E
- Derma + night cream with macadamia oil, CoQ10, vitamin E, (also a slightly different day time one without mac..)
Derma + intensive eye cream CoQ10, vitamin E, retinyl palmitate, jojaba oil.
- Sun screen (mostly just in the summer)
- Apply white tea / green tea to the skin
- Aloe vera gel day time.
- Avoiding long exposure to the sun :-D

Supplements;

- Reflex Instant Whey Protein - twice a day 2x25g http://www.reflex-nutrition.com/faqs.php?faq=whey_protein

- Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) 2000mg

- Essential mix 1/3 of the dose http://www.aor.ca/html/products.php?id=57

- Carnosine 500 - http://www.aor.ca/html/products.php?id=40

- Vitamin D3 5000IU (5000IU all year because I don't go in the sun much) http://www.aoreurope.co.uk/product/view/3017

- Fish oil / cod liver oil, seven seas - http://www.codliveroil.co.uk/productRange/histrength/xtrahsclo.htm

- Magnesium Oxide 300mg

- Zinc 15mg

- AOR Biotics (many different types of probiotics)

- Lactoferrin 1 x 250mg (I also get 500mg of lactoferrin from whey protein)

- AOR Green tea (EGCG) x 1 Capsule a day

- AHCC

- Rowse Manuka honey - Prevents throat infections, kills bugs like strep, staph, h pylori.
http://www.rowsehoney.co.uk/articles/honey-and-you/manuka-honey-science

- Cranberry

Exercise.

- Running (30 minutes a day) - not for fun, but makes me feel good anyway.
- Ashtanga Yoga 4 days a week 1 hour a day - maintain flexibility and strength
- Free weights twice a week, bench press, squats etc etc... to mostly maintain muscle mass and -decrease risk of osteoporosis because of low body weight.

Hola a todos!

I hope everyone is still out there and checking back to my blog every now and then. I am sorry for the lack of updates over the last couple of months. I can make up many excuses but the truth is that I had nothing really good to write about in a while so I thought that I'd rather not ramble on about anything on my blog all the time. Which is not good when what readers are after is good information and news. However as my first post back from my quiet period, I will just say what I've been upto since I lasted posted.

So a while ago I started to learn to speak spanish, and I have been studying a lot, in the first 2 months I actually studied for 4-6 hours daily! I met two wonderful people, Mariangel, and Tere who both are great, they come from venezuela and it's been fun talking to them both. Actually I even plan to go to venezuela for sometime in 2010 in the summer! Now I'm definitely going to need a lot of sunblock if I want to keep my youhtful looks while I am there! The other thing is that next year I also want to move to spain, most likely will be Madrid... I don't know for how long but it's something I have to do, I'm 25 on the 21st of this month and I feel I have to just do something now, not be locked into the same boring stuff day in and day out. Meet new people, see new things, go on and adventure. Actually, I love adventures, so I'm quite excited about this. I am going to book a plane ticket and my friend jamie will go with me, also another friend craig is planning on going to spain for a year or so also, I have yet to talk with him more about this but it could be really good. I will obviously continue to do my CR while I am there, and while I go to venezuela. I worry a bit about the safety of me being in venezuela though because apparently it's not exactly the safest place one can go to from what I was told by mariangel.

Over the last few weeks I've also gained 6 lbs in weight. No this wasn't some chocolate binge or anything, it was no accident. It was a decision that i made so that I look a little healthier. My BMI went from 16.4 to 17.4 and I think it shows just a bit also. There is not much calorie different to maintain this weight, actually... anyway I'm still very young, I started CR way before almost everyone person on CRON out there. My body temperature hasn't changed, is still around 36.0 and I will hold this weight of 110-111 lbs now for a while. It was actually my weight last year, then I went back down to 105.

Unfortunately I am confused about my pre CRON heighest weight I achieved. I have some photographs and they indicate I might have at one point been heavier than I thought. The problem is I started to lose weight *years* before I even started CRON. I might be be 'CR'd' than I actually realize. Even my blood pressure on day 1 of CRON was 100/60. So I never experienced these massive changes like most older people.
I would love to have a physique like that of Bruce Lee. With my dedication I absolutely believe I could achieve it. Bruce lee at his lowest weight during his life was around 125 lbs! I think that was in way of the dragon or his last movie that never got finished. He went between 125-135 lbs... He was very toned, very little fat, and interestingly his diet was very good also. Vegetables, Fruits, smoothies, whey protein shakes... Maybe one day I can do this, but not yet, maybe by the time I am 35 we'll have a better idea on how far anti aging medicine has progressed so that I can make a better decision. Even at this time because of CRON I should be biologically younger anyway, not like your typical 35 year old.

part 2 coming tomorrow.

But you're so skinny!

This can come up a lot when the average westener confronts a serious CRONie. Girls tend to get away with it easier than guys, but not always. We're always seeing the media bash celebrities for being too skinny, then when they have their personal nutritionists and trainers get them in shape the media bash them for being too skinny. Then it's not always the media that are against it, even now the general public are unfortunately 'accepting' overweight as being normal. I don't just mean normal, I mean in recent years the average weight has gone up so much that our perception of what is a normal weight has completely changed. This is even backed up by some science that was reported over the last few years.

Now we have to be honest, serious anti aging kind of CR is for those that wish to take part in some experiment that we may never know the results. However, the whole country could use some CR right now. We should not expect everyone to jump onto CR and go into moderate to severe CR, but even milder reductions would signifiant improve health, work productivity, education, relationships and take a huge amount of strain off of free health services like the NHS here in the UK (which by the way I think do a brilliant job and i'm so greatful to have free health care in my country!) Diseases that are on the rise are perfectly preventable, such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and most cancers. Even other mild problems like common allergies such as hay fever can be reduced by a better diet. I used to have severe hay fever for 6 years, and since CR it's 99% better. The odd couple days in the summer I have symptoms but thats about it!

As readers come across my blog they might think this life style is 'extreme'. It can be, but it can also help you maintain a normal weight at the low end of normal and have a huge benefit of preventing diseases so that you're living most of your life disease free, much like those okinawans who were mildly calorie restricted for half their adult lives.

Since I began CR the issue of weight has come up over and over again. Questions are usually raised in the first few months of your weight where people around you need time to adjust to your new weight. There have been many reports among those on CR that during the early phase of weight loss people have made negative comments, and even when they're within a perfectly normal BMI. This comes back to how peoples perception of what is normal has changed.

If at some point the 'magic pill' comes along where it gives all the benefits of CR without actually doing serious CR then I would take it, and I would definitely gain about 10-15 pounds of weight back. I have always been lean all my life, ever since I was kid.

There is no denying that many of us on CR are freakishly skinny, and without proper care of nutrition, frequent lab work and other monitoring it can be a bit risky... if not done right you should consider quitting CR and just eating a healthy diet with increased calories.

Since the new research has come out theres been far more interest than usual in CR. We now have a wider age range in those that are on CRON. Many years ago people who were middle aged were typically the ones who started this kind of lifestyle. Now people like myself who are in their 20's are looking to push the limits of human longevity even more. In time we'll see if it was all worth it. I have placed my bets on that it will work, and it will work very well... especially for those that started from a young age.

Stay young forever

But don't you feel hungry?

You might have come across a lot of new articles recently and in many of them there are usually coments by the author or readers that calorie restriction is an awful way to live, you have constant hunger, you feel depressed and lack energy. Well for those of us that are on CR most of us can honestly say this is just not true. I will address some common questions but take one question at a time in each post because I am quite busy at the moment.

Do you always feel hungry on a CR diet - Since I started Calorie Restriction many years ago I designed a diet that worked for me. When I see people on 'diets' who consume bland salads it becomes obvious to me why they're hungry, and why they crave something more. Usually you'll find a typical person on a diet with a plate consisting of; A tomato or two, a small handful for iceburg lettuce, a white potato, maybe an egg some tuna, and usually a bad choice of salad dressing that is very high in fat like mayonnaise.
(picture taken in 2006)
I must say if I tried to live off this kind of salad I would have dropped CR a long time ago. However the fact is that when I consume food during my first few years of CR when I ate, I really ate a BIG meal... and it was usually much more than anyone else at the table. This photo to the left is a comparison picture to dinner that my mother cooked. My meal is the mountain of food you can see. On this I would put a good quality extra virgin olive oil, good balsamic vinegar, hot tomato salsa, and some herbs. Sometimes I just put tomato sauce which is low in sugar and salt on my veggies and it tastes fine. Plus it gives me much lycopene ^^

Now I eat more 'raw food' CR diet, where at least 70% of my diet consists of raw fruits and vegetables, and for what evidence shows that cooked is better I go with that. Although my meals are not of the size that I used to eat before, I am still well satisfied with what I eat. I hardly ever have any issues with hunger. Even now I still eat more food (but low in calories) than everyone else in my house (not put together of course) People often say to me "Don't you feel like you're missing out on these foods?". The short answer is NO. I could have the same meal every single day and enjoy it so much over and over again. Since I started on CR my diet and variety of foods that I eat has hugely increased, I no longer crave any sweets or processed foods (other than dark chocolate :D ). Every food I eat I make sure I absolutely enjoy it... everyone can make CRON an enjoyable experience if they design the best diet for them. Also when you're on CR your abilty to taste the foods you eat is far better, this is what I have experienced...

Thats all for today, more soon :-)

Carrots!

Just got my second harvest of carrots today and pulled up plenty! Can't wait to sow some more carrot seeds and this time have a far bigger area to grow them, and then store them to eat over a few months. I will update this post in the next couple days so check back for other information about the garden.







So far the easiest things to grow have been the cherry tomato plants and the carrots, hardly any real work needs to be done for them to grow other than watering, the strawberries are also now growing well but this year I don't expect a big harvest. I might let them spread in the garden box a bit. I expect I'll get around 30 strawbwerry plants next year which should be enough for me.

Although some things went good, somethings never really went that well, like the broccoli. The green caterpillars loved them and the plants just looked terrible recently so I pulled all but one of them. It's ok, I won't be doing so much broccoli next year because other plants you can get bigger harvests from in less time.


Please also take a moment to vote in my poll! Thanks :)

Canto and Owen [Rhesus Monkeys]

Below are some high resolution pictures of two rhesus monkeys around the same age, Owen is a couple years older than canto. Canto is 27 years of age right now and still looks like a youthful rhesus monkey. This is achieved by a reduction in calories alone.

I expect people who start CR at an early age, they could look extremely youthful in middle age and beyond.

People always think I am younger than my age -- usually people guess around 16-17 years old. I am actually only 3 months away from being 25!  I guess the difference can only grow over time. Is it possible to look only 25 at 50 years of age??? Maybe that might be pushing it, but it will be an interesting to see.


CLICK ON PICTURES FOR BETTER DETAIL

NORMAL DIET

CALORIE RESTRICTION DIET

Comments on the Rhesus Monkey study

CALORIE RESTRICTION REALLY DOES WORK IN MONKEYS

Over the past few days I've been looking around on the internet, checking out the CR Society email lists and the talk among the life extension community to see what others think of the study and whether or not this does really support calorie restriction working in non human primates and possibly humans. First lets look at the survival curve for overall mortality and non age related mortality. First if you haven't read the first post I did on this, scroll down to check it out first.

As you can see there is a big difference in survival in survival curve which excludes deaths from certain causes that are thought not to be caused by diseases and aging. Seven of the control Monkeys and Nine CR Monkeys died of non–age-related causes, which included complications of anesthesia, gastric bloat, endometriosis, and injury.

Anesthesia - The monkeys every year go through a cycle of tests, in order to perform some of these the monkeys have to be sedated. Sometimes even if the monkey was otherwise healthy, things can go wrong. The question is what has this got to do with aging, and should it be included when looking at the life extending effect of Calorie Restriction. Since the monkeys I believe are put under anesthesia quite frequently, possibly at least once a year (although I need to check on this to make sure) then there can be a risk when doing this. But if a monkey dies from anesthesia it tells us absolutely nothing about whether the animals aging was being slowed down or not by calorie restriction. Most humans do not go under anesthesia once or twice a year to have extensive medical tests done on them, in humans more care is probably taken as well in order not to kill the patient. If however there was a trend that as the monkeys aged they were more suceptible to death from anesthesia then I could understand including it in the age related mortality survival. Also taking into account any chronic diseases the subject might have had prior to going under anesthesia. The fact is these deaths could have been very well preventable. The researchers also never noted any increased risk of anesthesia deaths for the calorie restricted monkeys.

Injury - Accidents cannot be totally prevented. If someone fell and suffered severe head trauma, does this again tell you anything about whether or not calorie restriction has slowed down (or not) aging? Clearly the answer is no. One can possibly argue that the rhesus monkey might have been weak from aging and fell. But we don't know the details of how the injury occured, so we can only speculate. However the fact is accidents happen to 'anyone' and they do not tell you anything about aging other than when we see increase risk of falls from elderly humans which result in hip fracture and death. Should injuries be exlcuded? Absolutely! I have yet to see a good argument why they shouldn't.

Gastric bloat - I do not know how many monkey died from this but again this is a totally preventable death! From an article published in 2002 in the Wall Street Journal when refering the survival of the monkeys;

"Those figures exlcude monkeys whose deaths wree deemed accidental, such as when a batch of overcooked food caused a fatal stomach ailment called gastric bloat"

This is something that can happen at absolutely any age and should have been prevented, there is no reason at all to include it in the survival curve, and once again does not show whether or not CR was working. It was simply a preventable accident that can happen to any healthy monkey, both CR'd and Ad lib.

These are all deaths which I am very comfortable with the researchers excluding from their survival stats. They really do not tell us anything about aging and can happen at any age, and they were not increasing in frequency with age. In fact quite a few of the deaths seemed to be in the early stages of the study and later on the carers were better able to prevent more deaths from the causes above. In time I suspect that the overall mortality curve will show statistical significance. As there are three groups in the study we cannot tell what the average lifespan of the calorie restricted and ad lib groups are, but this data should be in quite soon. All animals are now apparently 27 years of age which is about the lifespan for a rhesus monkey, with the maximum being 40 years. So we could be waiting quite a while yet if a few of the monkeys reach 40 and beyond. So far almost all of the control monkeys have age related conditions that could eventually result in death, whereas in the CR animals a large percentage of them are in good health. As you can see below, througout the course of the study the control animals are experiencing more cancer, more cardiovascular disease, and big problems regulating glucose. Monkeys are particularly suceptible to age related diabetes than humans are, but calorie restriction seems to completely prevent this and even in two of the rhesus monkeys it reversed pre diabetes stage when they entered the study.

This tells us one important thing that all of us wish to have, a good quality of life. When on CR we are likely to spend more years with good health and then less time with ill health before death. It's not uncommon that people today spend decades with chronic health conditions that could be almost completely preventable. There has been some commentary about this study on the CR lists, this was one interesting point.

Michael Rae says; "This is the best of the 3 nonhuman primate studies, and still has some flaws: the actual differnce in Calorie intake has dwindled down to almost zero, because none of the animals are very engaged with their rather monotonous and restricted lives; the food isn't the best; there were definitely nutritional problems (such as excessive retinol, early on) in the diets; we don't *really* know how how to best care for and feed nonhuman primates, nor how long they can live in captivity, because so few have been studied; and above all, there's evidence that the AL group probably should've been restricted a bit more and the CRed animals restricted even further in turn (no effects on menstruation in the females, and probably some of the AL diabetes is related to modest overweight)."

Researchers are usually careful to make sure that the control group are normal weight and not affected by issues largely releated to being overweight. So animals are usually restricted by 20% from their true ad lib intake to avoid these complications. Michael is saying that the both groups should have been restricted more. I do believe the researchers found problems with restricting calories more severily in the CR group, they were deemed to be too thin and possibly pose future health problems which might cause issues further on in the study. I think the researchers were right to er on the side of caution here because the last thing we want is a complete failure because of health complications. There might have been none and most of the monkeys apparently were fine but like other studies in dogs, they increased the calories of some of the rhesus monkeys. I'm unsure if the information about there not being a difference between the both groups in terms of calorie intake, I heard this was an issue at the NIH study but not wisconsin. Maybe Michael has communicated with the researchers at Wisconsin or other people who knows about the situation there. And finally the food the monkeys are given, they are given monkey chow which is not the best food but it would be extremely difficult to give them anything else. With humans we can control our own diets, it's quite easy, and we know more in terms of what we need to stay healthy.

If anything the humans will respond even better. We have good access to health care (although the monkeys did recieve good health care also), we are not stuck in cages all our lives which would surely leave all of us quite depressed. The human data is pretty strong, even taken at face value and not comparing to the control groups, it's still very impressive. Almost every marker of health is improved by CR. Maybe now people should stop using the saying "It doesn't make you live longer, it just seems like it". Because this is not true :-)

Calorie Restriction is still the best way we can extend our lives, it's the best way to reach 100 and beyond, and it's the best way to ensure that you reach the point when medicine has advanced enough to slow and reverse aging.

If anyone has any good objections and why they should include the deaths I mention above, I'd love to hear it. So far there has been no good reasons why they have any indication or not whether CR is working.

EDITED: 13:30 15/07/2009 --

IN RESPONSE TO JUNK FOOD SCIENCE BLOG

Responding to some things from JunkFoodScience where I seen that there were many mistakes and misleading words.


Sandy Szwarc says;

"The non-aging-related causes of death included monkeys who died while taking blood samples under anesthesia, from injuries or from infections, such as gastritis and endometriosis."

The monkeys did not die from infections or gastritis. They mostly died for prentable causes and more care should have been taken i.e Not overcooking batch of food and killing the monkeys with gastric bloat. Anesthesia and injuries I already explained.

Sandy Szwarc says;

"As the supplemental data explains, 16 deaths from “non-age-associated causes were censored and their age of death used as the time variable in the regression"

She words it so the average reader without looking more into it would probably assume these 16 deaths or much more of them were all from the CR group. When is was 9 deaths for CR and 7 for ad lib.

Sandy Szwarc says

"but they could realistically be adverse effects of prolonged calorie restrictions on the animals’ health, their immune system, ability to handle stress, physical agility, cognition or behavior."

Well no there is no data that supports immune systems were weakened in monkeys and actually there is evidence monkeys have better immune systems under CR. They never died from infections in the study. The CR animals usually are able to withstand greater stress as seen in other lab animals, the CR monkeys were reported to be in better shape physically, as you can see by their posture and the way they move on videos. And in terms of cognition, it seems the CR monkeys are doing better from an earlier paper which showed better cognitive skills and problem solving. Not much behaviour differences were noted in the papers on the primates.

Then she makes this claim

"the control animals were overfed 20% more than their usual diet, while the CR monkeys’ diets were adjusted to keep them about 30% less than the control monkeys."

The control group were not as I recall fed 20% more than their ad lib intake, and they also had their food taken away from them also after the period of feeding time was over. She doesn't supply any references to support what shes saying. Then she assumes that the CR monkeys were fed 10% less to achieve a 30% reduction [after the 20% increase in control group] in calories? No, each CR monkey had its baseline intake calculated and reduced by 10% each month until reaching 30% below its normal calorie intake. The ad lib calorie intake was not increased by 20% to achieve this 30% reduction. The Ad lib monkeys were not true eat your brains out ad lib group, this was done at a previous study in Maryland where the control grop only reached 25 and CR group 32, but the ad lib intake in this study was also somewhat restricted to prevent obesity. Although it might have needed to be restricted a bit more and the CR group more also. All animals have a feeding period of about 8 hours, and food is removed from both groups and counted. So two differences in the Rhesus monkey studies. The NIA study reduced calorie intake from tables of how much each monkey should each should eat for their age and body weight, and the Wisconsin study reduced CR animals by 30% from their baseline intake after recording it for 3 - 6 months before starting the 10% reduction in calories every month for 3 months until reaching 30% restriction.

This presentation about the study shows that the female restricted group are now around 20% restricted comapred to the control group, whereas by their own baseline intake they at are 30% fewer calories. The males are able to stay around 30% restriction over time. This is the food intake for CR and Control group, they have their food measured everyday.



Some final thoughts

Now a suggestion to everyone. When reading blogs around the internet please try to be aware of false information, do a bit of research into it yourself. Many people have their own agenda usually don't actually read into the science properly, and they try to use clever words and twist stories around. Sometimes the mistake is genuine, but bottom line is look into yourself if you're not convinced. As for the JunkFoodScience blog, there were many obvious mistakes even after my first quick read through. Unfortunately for the average person reading they might easily be persuaded by people like her. My job here is to try and give you the latest information and media on CR, trying to be as honest as I can, and report the latest studies on health and try to give the correct data and not 'twist' stories around.

Thanks to a comment I recieved earlier you can read about Ms. Szwarc HERE . From looking at her funding sources, like McDonalds, she isn't exactly the kind of person you wan to listen to. She defends obesity, junk food, she claims obesity makes you healthier and a bunch of other crap. She is quite a good writer and can easily convince some people, don't be one of them. Also check another post about Szware HERE .

Whats going on the garden

Just a small garden update.

Broccoli plants - I had to pull two of the plants, the rest have held up well and the broccoli are growing well, albiet a small issue in one of the boxes which might be a boron deficiency. Though still perfectly edible broccoli. Here is the one I just harvested about 10 minutes ago. It came to around 450g but on here the scale must of went off.



Spinach - Well it all bolted and I pulled it up, I will put spinach back in after the fall and also MANY more carrots that I'm just about to sow tomorrow. Next time I defienitely need to start protecting my spianch better.

Cherry Tomatoes - I have totally lost count how many are growing, there are just so many flowers everywhere on the plants, all which will turn into lush small cherry tomatoes. I'm waiting for quite a lot to ripen at the moment but the plants are doing really well and producing a hell of a lot. Can't wait to harvest them, I'm gonna net them in the week too so I can stop them being eaten as they riepn. I must have hundreds growing at the moment. One mistake, I haven't really pruned the plants, I think I'm going to start that now. There is only one tomato plant that is not doing much, and that was the one which I put in the pot. I have now transplanted it into the big garden box.


Carrots - I pulled up a few carrots the other day and they were still a bit smaller than I expected, so I'll be leaving them for another 3 weeks. Though I ate what I harvetsed and they were nice. I just used them in a small salad I had.

Calorie Restriction Extends Lifespan in Monkeys

CALORIE RESTRICTION WORKS IN MONKEYS

Just before I left for work earlier today I had a google alert that read something like "Calorie Restriction extends lifespan in Primates". Well not much of a surprise, but happy to read the paper when I can. The article I first looked at was from wired.com. Here is what they said;

"Up until now, all the clear-cut evidence that caloric restriction slows aging has come from lower organisms,” said John Holloszy, a Washington University gerontologist who studies caloric restriction in people and was not involved in the current monkey study. “This is the first study to show that caloric restriction slows aging in a primate species. And of course, we’re primates, too. It’s a lot more relevant to humans than the mouse.”

Click image to enlarge (best quality pic of Canto and Owen)

"All the surviving monkeys are now at least 27 years old, the rhesus equivalent of old age. Those fed a calorically restricted diet have dramatically lower levels of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, brain atrophy and lean muscle loss. Just five of the 38 restricted monkeys have died from age-related causes, compared to 14 of 38 in the control group."

Click image to enlarge

The CR monkeys seem to be looking youger and also keeping a nice fur coat as is quite clear in this picture

Does this make you more confident that CR will work in humans? For me the answer is yes. They visually looking younger, they're also showing big differences in survival.

Source; WIRED

Garden Pictures

GARDEN PICTURES

I thought I'd give anyone that is interested some more pictures of my first ever try and growing my own food. So far I've done well, at least for my first try. I have come across many different problems and tried to deal with them. Not always have I been able to but my plants seem to be surviving well and producing food to eat. I've harvested the spinach a few times now and got quite a lot from it. Unortunately it looks like its going to seed (bolting) because it's growing taller and just looks different. Can anyone confirm this is what's happening?


The broccoli are starting to flower, so I can see the broccoli head forming from the centre of the plant (yay!), Carrots are ready to harvest so I'll pull those before end of week, and I'm just about to go and transplant some strawberry plants after this post. Some i'll keep in pots though.

My Cherry tomato plants. These are the ones I look after the most. Out of everything the most important plants for me are the strawberry an tomato plants. So these get extra attention to make sure they produce a lot of fruit.

Why not try a garden youself? If you're on a healthy CRON diet then its probably one of the best things you can possibly do to improve the shopping bills by just a little, and also get the benefits of home grown healthy organic foods. Even if it's like a few plants in pots, still worth it :)

6 months Raw

SIX MONTHS EATING HIGH RAW!

As I stated in January, I decided that I would try eating MORE raw food than steamed or cooked vegetables, with the exceptions of some veggies being better blended or cooked for nutrient absorption, one exasmple being tomato cooked so that I can get more Lycopene. I noticed differences in my skin, my digestion has been the best it's ever been in my life (green smoothies helped here a lot), I also noticed more energy. I have no intention of going fully 100% Raw, this is neither practical for me, or nececsary in my opinion. I notice that some foods tend to help my skin more than others, as in I will notice the effect by the next day. I find thatthat blueberries, Mango and pineapple help a lot and I see the effects within the next day. However it doesn't matter what you eat if you don't get enough sleep. Probably one of the most important things in keeping skin fresh.

I'm going to continue with the Green Smoothies, Seriously, I cannot get over just how amazing the green smoothie I have tastes (see the post just below). I did have some people express their opinion about glucose spikes and stuff while drinking the smoothies. I don't it will be a problem... I'm getting loads of fibre, protein and fat at the same time. So we'll see on my next round of blood tests. Then that will be the basis for my decision to continue with the smoothies or let go. Right now its incredibly convenient because you can take them to work, to friends, or even take them out with you to drink during the day in flask or whatever

So anyway today I just had a mostly relaxing day, done a bit of work in the garden, and noticed the tomato plants have flowers on them now. Unfortunately I might have to spray them, and I'll do another post on that. I also just compiled for my other CR website a bunch of photos from my ad lib to CR to CR:RAW which I'll share just below.

I'm also now consistently doing yoga 4-5 days a week for 45 minutes per session. I'm really working hard on this to get all my flexibility back. Hopefully it's not going to take to long. Some days when I don't feel like doing Yoga I just simply think about what I can achieve later on, and this drives me to just DO IT, and stop making excuses why I shouldn't. So far so good, I'm progressing well already :) When I get good I'll be happy to post some photos and/or videos of that. But since I'm still new to it myself that wont be for quite a while.

BECOME YOUNGER

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

In the garden

Another Garden update. I have transplated almost all the plants in their best places (after observing the sun and shadows during different times). Everything seem fine, no transplant shock or any signs of the plant not taking well. The tomatoes are now at the side of my house, 3 of them planted near the trellis to the left and 1 on the right side near the green house and I believe these are getting 11 hours sun at the moment, and one in the garden box because it was the only spot that receieved 7+ hours of sun, the rest of the time its shaded by the palm trees we have. The cherry tomato plants below look smaller than they were but I was told to plant them further down for best results, even if it coveres some of the leaves. Strawberry plants to the left, still small... I wish I had started this one earlier but next year I'll make sure I do. I have to get containers for some other strawberry plants. I have 7 of them this year, maybe more next year from the runners.



The broccoli is doing well now, but I might have a problem with crowding. I don't think the roots are that deep with these plants so I might try moving one of them so they're spaced out a bit. I think that wont hur the plant, or will it?



My 2nd garden box is coming along now, the spinach this time hasn't really been touched because we put a netting over the top with has very small holes in, slugs proably wont fit through the holes. We also have beer trap and found quite a few dead slugs by the tomato trees (in the plastic cups) and by the mint. The cover can't go over the whole box because of the tomato plant, but it it covers most of it at least, and its only a short term solution. I'm looking at getting some sort of copper tape or something. Apparently that works by shocking the slugs.


There did look there were more spinach in the box, it really grew a lot within a short space of time. So I harvested some spinach for a smoothie and threw away the really damaged leaves as I didn't really feel like eating them. They were quite destroyed and had some slug slime over them or something lol. With the slug issue sorted (I think), hopefully my next harvest of the plants I took leaves from will be good. The carrots are doing well, I seem to have managed to get away with sowing the seeds in March is I recall correctly, they did survive, and the leaves above the carrots are growing taller all thet time. Within 2 weeks I might see if I can feel around in the earth to see if I have some decent size carrots to eat. Something made me laugh last night when I read a post on "when you know you should harvest carrots", and one of the first answers was "when your local rabbits pays your garden a visit" lol. What was funny about that was there was a rabbit that we been trying to catch in my garden for the last couple days, it's a small black rabbit from next door which must have escaped and gone under the fence. Anyway, rabbit problem sorted :)

Some new plants below such as african blue basil near the frence, the pot on the left of that is a strawberry plant, and to the right of the basil is my mint plant which is now recovering very well and looking healthier. To the rightof that near the palm trees there is a plant which I don't know what it is, I just thought i'd save it from my aunte who doesn't want the thing.



All together not so bad for my first attempt, still more things to do that I didn't get around to. I didn't manage to get the apple trees because of lack of work recently, but thats okay. I thought I best stick to a small variety this year and then next year I'll think about growing much more variety of foods. I know I'll be far more prepared early next year.

Anyway thats all for now. Maybe this year, but definitely next year I hope to get a good video camera so I can talk on video and can show the garden, answer any questions, give me opinions of things etc etc... should be fun.

Another Garden Update

Two mint plants here. Last week my nephew decided to run and stamp on it when he kicked a footbal around the area. It looked like it was dying but today looked a bit healthier. Anyway I bought another mint plant to the right which seems to be doing fine. I want it to grow quite a lot still so that I can start eating more mint. I've only just been using a few leaves with some lindt chocolate at the moment, and mint tea too. My nephew and niece both love the mint though, I have to stop them from eating it all lol



Slug attacK! Last night I went outside about 11pm and found quite a few slugs attached to my spinach leaves. It seems they not gonig for my broccoli plants, just the spinach. So over the next few days I really have to find a solution for this, many of the leaves now have holes in them lol. I should have really sorted this out sooner but will find something to keep them away! When the spinach is ready to harvest can I eat the spinach leaves that only have small hole in? If I wash them properly of course?

The broccoli plants clearly need spacing more, I think i'm going to just about be able to fit 5 into that box but a lot more in the other one.



Carrots, well not much to say about these really. Starting to take on a different appearance now than that of just grass.



And my best plants are the cherry tomato plants. Soon to find their home in the garden at the end of May, i'm leaving them out until the evening at the moment for them to get used to slightly colder temperatures. They look very healthy.



The strawberry plants are finally starting to grow a bit faster. They took a very long time to get started, slowest plant I've ever seen grow! Pics of them next week :)

I have some miracle grow that I picked up from the supermarket the other day. I have yet to use it. Does anyone else use this and how have they found it? A big difference in plant growth?

Anyway I'm off right now to start picking out some of the weeds that have grown in the boxes!

Non Human Primate Study Presenation

The Younger control monkey who eats ad lib looks significantly more frail and older than the older CR'd monkey. (click images to enlarge)

EATING LESS, LIVING LONGER

Ricki Colman, PhD, reviews the long-term health benefits of caloric restriction (CR) using data from a 20 year study in non-human primates at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center. She outlines positive health changes associated with longevity including lower diabetes incidence, less age-as sociated loss of muscle mass, altered energy expenditures, and lower rates of obesity. Low quality and high quality videos are available for those that can't watch on high.

VIDEO HERE

This shows the survival of the control and Calorie restriction group at the moment. As you can see, the CR group are living longer. On the left they include all deaths, so this includes early accidental deaths from anaesthesia... which is not the important one we want to look at here. The most important thing is death from age related disease, and for this the CR group are showing the same results we see in other animals and are likely to live a few years longer.





This is the disease incidence of the primates on CR. Calorie Restriction completely prevents diabetes and this is true for all animals that are put on CR, including humans.

How to look younger (skin anti aging)

HOW TO LOOK YOUNGER

These are just some simple tips on how to stay looking more youthful for a longer period of time. The earlier start the bigger the pay off. So if you start at age 20 years of age, you could literally still look in your 20's - 30's at ages 40 - 50 years. Prevention is the key, not waiting until the damage has already been done. Although the anti-aging skin creams do have some benefit, there is no miracle cream just yet. So far the most promising looks to be Copper peptides, Retinol, and Vitamin C topicals. To those that do a bit of research or generally keep up with the latest in skin aging then most of this will already be known to you. This is for people that have limited knowledge of skin care.

SUN AVOIDANCE - Well what an obvious one! If you like to get a nice healthy tan, you will age your skin faster and look older. 80% of skin aging is caused because of the sun, simple everyday exposure. Use sun protection and avoid the sun between 10am - 3pm. Make sure you take vitamin D3 because we normally get our vitamin D from the sun in the spring and summer. At least 2000-5000 IU of D3 is good enough to keep level optimal (which in itself protects you from such damage).

AVOID SMOKING - Do not smoke and make sure you're not exposed to smoke. This is one of the things that will age you the quickest.

EXERCISE - Generally improves overall health and circulation to the tissues giving a more glowing appearance to the skin

OMEGA 3 - Takin Omega 3 supplements. This helps lower inflammation and increases lipid levels in the skin to have a more soft and smoother feeling to the skin, also increasing radiance.It will also help keep you looking younger by preventing inflammation from sun burn, which causes damage and aging skin.

LUTEIN - (found at high levels in Kale and cooked spinach (or blended)). Here are some details on how Lutein performed. You can search where to find lutein here [ 2,3]

Improved skin photo-protection

Skin photo-protective activity improves 2.5 times when FloraGLO Lutein is used in oral application and 4.2 times when the oral and topical treatments are combined - demonstrating a clear synergic effect between the two treatments.

Improved skin elasticity

After 12 weeks of the topical treatment or by combined oral supplement and topical application, the study shows an increase of skin elasticity of 68% in comparison with the initial value. With oral supplementation alone, the increase is 56%.

Improved skin hydration

Skin hydration improved by 82% after 12 weeks of combined oral and topical treatment. Meanwhile those who took only oral supplementation saw an increase of 60% while though who used only the topical treatment had an increase of 62% after 12 weeks.

Effect on skin lipid levels

Finally, the study revealed a positive and significant effect on skin lipid levels. An increase of 63% was reported for the patients who followed the combined treatment of FloraGLO Lutein while an increase of 46% was noted among those who only took the oral treatment.

Furthermore, after 12 weeks, a decrease of 65% lipid peroxidation was observed when an oral and topical treatment with FloraGLO Lutein was used and a decrease of 63% when subjects only used the topical treatment.

LYCOPENE - This is found in tomatoes and is essentially what makes a tomatoes red. A study was released last year showing that consuming lycopene with a bit of olive oil increased skin procollagen levels by. Heres a quote from the researcher

""The tomato diet boosted the level of procollagen in the skin significantly. These increasing levels suggest potential reversal of the skin ageing process. This is in addition to the significant reduction in sunburn."

BETA CAROTENE - This gets converted to vitamin A and is stored in the body. Also is good as a skin antioxidant. Eating too many foods high in beta carotene can cause the skin to go slightly orange/yellow however. But this is different from jaundice in liver disease. This is completely safe and beneficial. Beta carotene can be found in carrots, kale, sweet potatoes, broccoli among other foods.

GREEN TEA - Green tea is simply less processed than black tea, otherwise they're both from the same plant. Green tea contains compounds called Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). It's believed from some recent studies that they prevent oxidation to the skin, they also inhibit collagenases, elastinase and certain MMP enzymes responsible for breakdown down the tissues and causing fine lines and wrinkles. EGCG is also a good anti inflammatory and has some effect on protecting you from from UV rays. [5,6,7,8]. There was also a study done using topical green tea extract and they found although there were no significant changes in the short term, there was a significant increase in elastin in the skin. Longer studies are needed to compare the effects of long term application of green tea. [9].

There is also some evidence that Green Tea can treat mild - moderate acne. Placing a used green tea bag when cooled down onto a spot will in my experience decrease the size by 50% and make it less red and this happens within 30 minutes of applying it for about 10 minutes.

EAT GARLIC - Garlic contains sulfur, which helps your body produce collagen.

Eat Less - It's simple, the more calories you take in the faster you will age. The fewer calories you take in the slower you will age, upto a certain point at least before it because detrimental to health. Eating a low calorie nutrient dense diet in animals like worms, flies, dogs, cows, monkeys slows the signs of aging, they grey later, the monkeys don't wrinkle or it's delayed significantly [11]. They just generally look much younger at all ages, and they go on to live very long healthy lives equivalent upto 150-180 human years depending on the time the restriction was imposed.

Avoiding sugar - This causes cross linking of proteins and ultimately wrinkled skin. The high sugar sweets, drinks and foods that are on the high GI index will all cause accelerated skin aging. If you make toast or burning food and consuming it this will lead to AGE's.

"Collagens are important proteins for the skin, as they are essential for structure and function of the extracellular matrix in the dermis. Thinner and
wrinkled skin, the typical signs of normal aging, are the consequence of reduced collagen. Protein glycation contributes to skin aging as it deteriorates
the existing collagen by crosslinking. Accelerated skin aging is especially noticeable in diabetic patients, where glycation is increased because of the high serum glucose level." [12]

IS NUTRITION GOOD ENOUGH?
A lot of the above advice is through simple and non expensive methods on how to maintain younger looking appearance, and they do work. Almost anyone can looks 'years' younger by doing all the things above and the difference can be noticed within 4 weeks and improvements can continue months and even over a year later.

TOPICALS - Although there are always claims that product x is the real deal in anti aging, and the industry is worth billions of dollars, you have to be careful what you're buying. I would recommend a good product like 'Juvess' which http://www.juvess.com/ingredients.html . It has 'proven ingredients' such as Copper Peptide, Carnosine, CoQ10, Vitamin E, Beta Glucan. All of which help repair the skin damage that you have but also prevent further skin aging. The product is also on sale from a fraction of the price of some top brands line Creme de la mer which would cost you over $200 for the same amount you get from Juvess. It's literally an identical copy. I've provided a link here to the cream so if you want to you can try it out. Almost everyone i talked to say they have seen amazing benefits from using it. It can heal scars, hyperpigmentation, skin dryness, uneven skin tone. I personally cannot use it because I think I'm allergic to one of the ingredients, however everyone else I know who tried a sample from me never had any issues. Using a high SPF protection will also improve your skin and is a good idea when you're trying to repair. Especially when using retinoids for example.

Using topicals and changing your diet will have a synergistic effect so that you can get younger instead of older.

REFERENCES

[1] Omega 3 for Skin Health - Get a Radiant and Glowing Complexion Naturally
http://ezinearticles.com/?Omega-3-for-Skin-Health---Get-a-Radiant-and-Glowing-Complexion-Naturally&id=852876

[2] New Clinical Trial Shows Lutein Can Help Improve Skin Health
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/70700.php

[3] Lutein Sources
http://www.luteininfo.com/whereraw

[4] Lycopene improves skin and protects against sunburn
http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Research/Study-supports-lycopene-protecting-skin-from-within

[5] Green Tea Polyphenols Induce Differentiation and Proliferation in Epidermal Keratinocytes
http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/306/1/29

[6] Inhibition of UVB-Induced Skin Tumor Development by Drinking Green Tea Polyphenols Is Mediated Through DNA Repair and Subsequent Inhibition of Inflammation.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19020550

[7] (-)Epigallocatechin gallate hampers collagen destruction and collagenase activation in ultraviolet-B-irradiated human dermal fibroblasts: involvement of mitogen-activated protein kinase.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18226437

[8] Green tea extract suppresses the age-related increase in collagen crosslinking and fluorescent products in C57BL/6 mice.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14743550

[9] double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial to determine the
role of a combination regimen of systemic and topical green
tea in UV protection and the improvement of skin appearance http://www.spabeautyathome.com/global/library/flash/spabeauty/media/tfessence_greentea_clinical.pdf

[10] which foods promote collagen?
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=fightdz&dbid=6

[11] Modulation of Cutaneous Aging With Calorie
Restriction in Fischer 344 Rats
http://archfaci.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/7/1/12

[12] Collagen glycation and skin aging
http://www.mibellebiochemistry.com/pdfs/Collagen_glycation_and_skin_aging_-_CT_2002.pdf

Some success, some failure

Its been a few weeks now since beginning this gardening and growing my own plants which will hopefully produce nice food. I've had 6 of the 10 strawberry plants grow, the others there was this hairy fungus or something growing inside the pot. It must have been the humidity created by the bag over the countainers to keep warm air in here. Probably not good enough air ciculation? Anyway thats ok, 6 strawberry plants is fine and I'm happy. Now I just got to get them to a full plant without losing anymore! THey're still really tiny but I read that soon they should start to pick up and grow much faster.



I have two types of spinach out the garden and one of them is doing FINE, everything is growing as you can see above. However the other box only a few have come up and in total I was expecting around 50 spinach plants. Maybe its the seeds I used in the other box are not too good or maybe they just take longer (i'll have to re read the packet). If nothing happens in the next week I'll sort that out again because its not too late for spinach :) The broccoli is also doing fine, I think its also starting to pick up a bit now.



Now my tomato plants, I gave 2 of them away to a friend and have 5 in a big pot, and a couple downstairs that I think are only just starting to come up. The other plant I hit the pot over by accident lol. whoops! But even if I only end up with 5 tomato plants that great! (also note my Mint plant to the right here, gottta find a home out the garden for this because apparently it literally takes over. So this will go in a small box on its own I think! In the middle there is a strawberry plant, just one in that pot but I might have put 2-3 seeds in there. The others are downstairs.



As for the Basil, well its holding up, I realize that cold weather not so good. Sometimes its showing signs of dying, then it springs back to life agian. Might have been at least a month too early to put it into the garden but I'll learn from this if it dies and just buy another one. Cheap anyway!

Soon the made up green house I made out the garden will be done, I will then place some of the plants in there shortly.

Oh yes and I almost forgot, I sowed two rows of carrots and there seems to be these grass-like things coming up. I guess its not grass so I'll leave it alone lol.

thats all for now :)

Garden Update

These plants you can see in the picture are tomato plants, the top right two big pots are from apple seeds that my niece and nephew planted. They look after these because I want to learn them to take care of the plants and stuff. I'm not using these of course, I'm buying apple trees because I actually want fruit either this year or next year! The little green pot I have no idea what it actually is, I never did that... maybe it was the kids again. The plant right at the bottom of this picture is an Aloe Vera plant that was given to me by my aunte. Soon when these grow a little more I will plant the tomato plants outside in the green house that we're building. Okay so it's not the best looking thing in the world, but I'm making something out of materials that we just had around the garden to save money. At least it will get the job done! Maybe at a later point I can buy a nice glass green house but maybe next year.


To the right you can see part of the garden but theres still more space around the top corner to the left which is about the size of my house, and then behind the camera and to the right. I have to sort out the trellace that you can see in the picture because we haven't grown anything on it before. I have no idea why not... my dad just didn't bother in the end I guess. I'll post other pictures of the rest of my garden when it's actually all sorted out and the plants are in place. I might actually make a video instead and go around my garden showing what I'm growing and how everything is getting along. You can probably see a lonely little basil plant in the big garden box to the right. I have to get more herb plants this friday to put in that section.

So this year is mostly a big learning experience for me. Next year I'll probably start preparing in feburary or so rather than end of march to early april as I started this year. It's all fun though, I love watching everything come up. I get my cup of green tea and go into the garden to check every morning or evening :-)

The strawberry plants I haven't pictured yet because they've only just started germinating after 2 weeks. I have about 3 or 4 left to germinate but I ain't sure how many seeds I put in each pot... I'll see if I can transplant them later on.



The spinach and broccoli are really started to grow a bit faster now, the 'true leaves' on the spinach have just started coming up I think. I couldn't get a detailed enough picture but below is how they're doing now. Because the true leaves have just popped up I think the plants are really going to start growing faster soon.




Other stuff

The other day it was a nice day so me and some friends went to the park. As you all know I took something called CIPRO in 2007 that caused tendinosis all over my body, including both achilles tendons. Although it was relatively mild to what msot people who react to these drugs get, it was still was very long lasting and persistent even with the right measures employed to try and heal. Anyway, it's 18 months later and thye seem to have finally healed or mostly healed. I played football for over 1 hour and I had no problems with my tendons at all. This is definitely a good sign, because as you can see with my garden progress I've also been busy there and had no problems. So everything is going in a positive direciton right now, I hope it continues :-)

Thats all for today everyone, I'm off to make a green smoothie and relax.

Oh yes one other thing before I go, I'm a bit disappointed that so many CRON bloggers have stopped. It seems we go through waves of new bloggers then they all eventually give up. This is what I've seen over the last few years anyway. I hope some of you out there can continue to blog, even if it's once a month! It really doesn't take a lot of time. But I understand if you haven't got much to say them you can tend to start just repeat yourself over and over. I've also had a few people ask me about how successfully people are with CRON because all they can see is CR blog community just getting smaller and smaller and they assume that everyone just gives up on CR. It's my understanding that for most people this isn't true? The majority of CRers actually do not share their experiences, but you can find them at the Calorie Restriction Society email lists.

Seedlings

I never thought that I'd become so interested in gardening, as I said in my previous post I was going to do it for many years now but each time I never pushed myself to make any real effort in growing things. A couple weeks ago the sun was out, I stopped being lazy and started to prepare the garden and make the garden boxes. This was all fun, gave me plenty of exercise and time outside away from the computer or TV. I was surprised how much work had to be done though because it took quite a few days to get everything sorted. A lot of hard work from 11am to 8pm most days with only a few breaks. Because of the energy requirements I did actually lose a bit of weight because I never compensated but I'm sure that will come back again. On a side note, I had no issues at all with my tendons (from Cipro) so this is a good indicator that they have healed or are very close to normal now.

The best part though is watching the little seedlings germate and come through the soil. One night there might be nothing, and then suddenly they just appear the next morning! I think at least 90% of the seeds I put down seem to have germinated. Majority of my broccoli and spinach seedlings have germinated but one or two that didn't come up. Some of them I put 2 seeds in each hole just in case ad then will pull out one of them soon.

Because I'm growing several different things I hope I can keep ontop of it and not become too much for my first effort. I think I'll be alright though.

In a week or two I should have enough money to go and get the apple trees. I'm also thinking about getting a mini green house. Although our garden is definitely big enough to support a big one I don't think my parents would be happy taking such a huge space up :) If I had my way though the whole garden would be growing something lol.


Spinach Seedlings


So yeah, very excited to see the results and love watching the seedlings come up and grow :)

Why Grow your own vegetables? For me I'm hoping its going to save me money... See this news report.

Growing my food

After many years of saying that I would grow my own food I finally just got started on the garden and preparing it all. Because kids come over and for other reasons we made a couple garden boxes. Although there is no sheeting underneath it, it acts more as a barrier so that they don't get stamped on by people. So far in the first box that you can see has been done I have planted spinach and broccoli. I plan on having tomato plant, carrots, apple trees, herbs, I'll also have some sprouts growing by my window inside the house. I'm still looking at other things to grow of course but doing some research on it at the moment since I'm quite new to this. We have a fairly big garden so at least we are now putting the space to good use.

Here is the garden as of today;





I am planting in those two boxes, to the left of them where you can see the earth dug up. Also I have a little patch on the upper right too. We have more space behind where I was standing on the first picture, and we also have even more space to the right of where I was standing. At the moment I'm checking out how long each patch has in sunlight though first. I'm wanting at least 5-6 hours I think, preferably more.

I will keep you updated and add photos as I progress :)

60 minutes video

The video was uploaded to youtube by CBS news. This is more accessible than videos on the actual website because sometimes they get taken down. So I'll repost this now with the youtube one. It includes information on resveratrol, Calorie Restriciton Monkeys, Calorie Restriction in humans etc...

Joseph Cordell, Living Longer Meal Plan on Oprah

Joseph Cordell on the right measures everything he eats in an attempt to prolong his life. See what's on the menu for breakfast and lunch.

Higher quality video of this segment below:
"Researchers say that Joe at 51 years of age has the body of an athlete"

VIDEO HERE


Article Here

I don't have the other segments of the show, but might show up sometime.