CR - VITALITY (The Only Anti-Aging Diet That Works!)

Vote!

2011-04-24T13:56:00.003+01:00

Please just take a few seconds to help gain some funding for the cure of age-related diseases. You can vote once per day until May. Thank you! :)

Kesley M. - I am a researcher trying to cure disease. 100% of winnings will be used to support material costs (NOT SALARY) of research on age-related disease.

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Moving to California and a meeting with Aubrey

2011-04-08T00:28:00.003+01:00

Moving to California
Sorry for neglecting this blog, but I've had a lot of things to do recently because something big in my life is happening right now. For those who aren't friends on my facebook probably won't know what's been happening since December. I actually met the most amazing girl from LA in California. We are now in a long distance relationship and have been since January. From the moment I saw her I knew what I wanted, she is so beautiful, and to my surprise she also turned out to be so interesting too. We have a million things in common, she is just so similar to me in so many ways that it's unbelievable almost. I love her so much, and she clearly loves me. She makes me incredibly happy, and I just can't wait to get to California. So I'm working my boring job as much as possible right now to save the money to get to California to see her. I'll be staying in California for a month sometime between June or July, at least that is the plan. It's so hard being so far away, but I'm so determined to make it work. I've never felt so much of a connection with anyone before in my life. She is so perfect for me, and she feels the exact same way. She also happens to be a vegan, maybe that's why she looks so young too. She is also a supporter of life extension, transhumanism and all that, which I thought I would never find a girlfriend who had similar views on this as I do. If everything goes well I will be hoping to move to California by early next year at the earliest. From what I understand, raw food and healthy living is a lot bigger in California than where I live. Hopefully I'll get to meet a lot of like-minded people when I'm there! I'm really looking forward to it. So I'm really working hard lately and saving everything that I can to go to california to be with my girlfriend as soon as possible. I'm so excited about everything, I wish I could get there more quickly to be with her, but I am really trying, and she knows that. :)

On March the 7th I had planned to meet with Aubrey De Grey, for the first time. He was giving a talk there and we were going to meet up before the talk. Because of circumstances at the time I wasn't able to make it early in the day, but then at around 5pm I had a call from him asking me if I was still able to meet with him in Oxford, as I felt so bad on this day I thought I wouldn't make it, but I just had to go, even though it was already so late in the day, I quickly got ready and within 30 minutes I was out of my house and booking a train for Oxford. I arrived in Oxford quite late at around 9pm and then met Aubrey outside of the train station. At last! From the moment I met him it was obvious that I was going to get along so well, actually I get along with everyone anyway and since there was obviously a lot to talk about, it would definitely be an interesting and fun night. So we headed straight for the pub near the train station and we talked for almost 3 hours about everything that has been going on in my life over the last few years, and especially my relocation to California. We talked about SENS, my plans for the future with regards to what I want to do, which I told him that I definitely want to be involved in aging research at some point, and clearly California is the best place for that, it was just that things happened in the past that really changed my life a lot and I kind of lost track of where I was headed (I'll write more about this another time). We talked a bit about my girlfriend in California, who he already knows, and we talked about a lot of other general stuff which I'm not getting into here. It would take too long anyway haha. So after about 3 hours it was time to close at the pub and we headed off to find a hotel because all the trains had stopped running by this time. He walked with me in Oxford and made sure that I found a hotel to stay at for the night. I was worried that I would end up walking the streets on my own trying to find a hotel, and not knowing Oxford at all, this was a scary thought (thanks Aubrey again!). So we finally found a hotel that was open, booked a room, and then I said goodbye to him as he left to go to his hotel somewhere else in Oxford that had been already booked. It all seems like a dream now, it was bizzare meeting Aubrey after all this time, but he was extremely easy to get along with and I had a good time. It was also great to get to know Aubrey on a more personal level too, as I've always seen him giving talks and never got to know how he was outside of all that. I hope to meet again at some point in the future, possibly in California. So thanks so much for that Aubrey, again. Only next time I hope to be a little more awake if I meet with him because on that particular night before going to Oxford I must have had around 3 hours sleep in total. It was certainly worth making the effort and I'm so glad that I did.

Super Foods Part 2

2011-03-04T21:04:00.008Z

6 Anti-Aging Foods and Drinks

Red Wine - Although I am not a wine drinker, it's impossible to ignore the benefits that consuming a glass of wine a day could have for you. Red wine is full of antioxidants and in certain wines such as pinot noir, they contain high amounts of Resveratrol which is found in the skins of grapes. Recently Resveratrol has undergone a lot of testing to see if extends the lifespan of mice who eat a junk food diet, becauase it's thought that the Resveratrol compound mimics some of the effects of calorie restriction. Resveratrol showed remarkable protection against the damaging effects of consuming a bad diet, and many people had rushed out to buy resveratrol supplements based on that study. Later came another study showing that Resveratrol failed to extend the lifespan significantly for mice that consumed a regular diet and were not obese, but it did confer some protection against aging damage, and there was an increase in lifespan when low dose resveratrol was combined with a mild level of calorie restriction. The amount of resveratrol that you will get from red wine is not anywhere near the amount given to mice in these studies, but there is a significant amount of evidence showing that drinking red wine, at least a glass a day, is very beneficial for your health. Studies have shown that Red Wine might protect you from heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other age related diseases.

Tomatoes - These are one of my favourite fruits. I grow my own tomatoes now, usually the small cherry tomatoes, sweet million variety, and they have such a delicous sweet taste that I have never experienced from store bought tomatoes, so I enjoy them everyday during the summer months. They are easy to grow and maintain also so I highly recommend that rather than spending money buying tomatoes, you should really consider growing your own this year. It's best to start very soon by sowing the seeds indoors and then take them outdoors when there is no danger of the plants dying. So why do I consider this one of the best foods? Well it's low in calories and high in vitamins and minerals. It also contains something called lycopene which is beneficial in helping prevent cancers like prostate cancer, and there is evidence that adding green tea and broccoli to the diet of men could lower mens risk of this disease even further. As for anti aging benefits, lycopene is a strong antioxidant and there was one study had shown that the lycopene gives people better protection from sun damage, and that it boosts levels of procollagen in the skin so that your skin stays youthful for longer. Tomatoes also contain a significant amount of vitamin K which could also help keep your bones stronger. I recommend that men consume plenty of tomatoes for prostate health. Remember to cook the tomatoes, use tomato paste, or tomato sauce, as these have higher bioavailability. Make sure that you consume tomatoes with a little fat to help absorption also.

Nuts - Nuts are very good for your health and might help you live longer. Almonds contain significant amount of vitamin E, Magnesium and Monounsaturated fat. Almonds have been shown to protect again various diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and also help you lose weight and protect from the problems that come with that excess weight. Walnuts are also very healthy for you as they contain many minerals, one of the highest being Magneisum. Walnuts are also a good source of ALA which is converted to DHA/EPA, these are found in fish and are benfeicial for lowering inflammation and protecting against depression, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and many other diseases. Include just a handful of nuts in your diet everyday, you can mix them with fruit, put in your oatmeal, or as I do you can put them into a yogurt. Also eating nuts on a daily could extend your life by upto 3 years according to one study on seventh day adventists in California.

Super Foods

2011-03-02T22:48:00.014Z

6 Anti-Aging Foods and Drinks

KALE - This is a leafy green vegetable from the brassica family of vegetables which include; Broccoli, Cauliflower and Brussel Sprouts. It's probably one of the most nutrient dense foods that you can eat and is loaded with antioxidants and bioavaiable nutrients to maintain your health. It contains a significant amount of Beta Carotene, Lutein and Zeaxanthins which are good for the eyes, immune system and the skin and general health. Lutein was found to significantly increase hydration and elasticity and lipid levels of the skin in human volunteers that consumed 10mg of lutein daily for 12 weeks. There was further improvement if a cream was applied to the face containing lutein. In the group that just took the supplement skin hydration was increased by 38%, Skin elasticity was increased by 8%, and Lipids were increased by 33%. Kale is also a good source of calcium for those that are vegan, unlike spinach, the calcium is better absorbed from kale. Kale also contains Sulforaphane which is thought to have anti-cancer benefits as well as being antibacterial and antiviral. Kale also contains indole-3-carbinol which is able to boost DNA repair, increase the rate of which the body metabolises substances like caffeine, and also is able to block the growth of cancer cells. I would consider this a superfood. If you add kale to green smoothies then it is a lot easier to consume a significant amount so that the benefits of this food can be realised.

Blueberries - These are low in calories and they contain only a little sugar and are popular foods for those of all kinds of diets and those people who want to reduce sugar like those on low carb diets, this fruit is perfect! Blueberries are loaded with phytonutrients called Anthocyanidins which are powerful antioxidants thought to be responsible for the majority of health benefits that you get when you consume Blueberries. I highly recommend that you try to consume Blueberries often, a little everyday if you can.

Some of these benefits might include: Improved memory, protection against colon cancer and ovarian cancer, protection from neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers disease, improved vision, improved arterial health, and improvement in skin health.Ellagic acid is another antioxidant found in various berries such as raspberries, strawberries, cranberries, pomegranates and is also is able to prevent UV damage from the sun.

Blueberries are a powerful anti-inflammatory food that will not only keep you healthy on the inside, but the outside also. . Eating 1/2 to 1 cup of blueberries a day is enough to start enjoying the health benefits of this superfood.

Green Tea - Green tea is consumed more than any other tea in the world especially in China and Japan. The health effects from green tea are thought to be because of a compound named Epigallocatechin-gallate. Many studies over the past few years have been published and numerous benefits of drinking it were found. In one study it lowered the risk of all-cause mortality by 16% for those that drank 5 cups or more a day, and there was a 26% lower risk of cardiovascular disease than those only drinking less than 1 cup of green tea per day. Interestingly in Asia where smoking rates are higher than the West, they have lower risks of cancer and heart disease and the reason behind this is thought to be the consumption of green. So for those that are still smoking, and are still trying to give up, it might be worth consuming green tea to prevent some of the damage induced by smoking until you can give up. But for everyone it looks like consuming green tea is beneficial and there are no obvious risks to consuming up to 10 cups per day.

Green tea and aging. There was a recent study done on Chinese elderly men which had shown that those that drank the most green tea had telomeres that were longer, at least a 5 year difference the researchers claimed. They looked at this by measuring the telomere length from taking blood samples and looking at white blood cells. This is just one of the many benefits from consuming green tea over many years.

Green tea also contains an amino acid called L-theanine and this reduces anxiety and depressive symptoms in humans by blocking cortical neuron excitation. Those that drank 4 cups of green tea daily had a 44% lower risk of depression.

Other benefits to green tea are; Possibly lower risk of many cancers such as lung cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, leukemia, and prostate cancer. Green tea lowers inflammation, improves allergies, improves skin health and also protects you from sun damage. There is some evidence in animals and humans that green tea might lower risk of autoimmune diseases such as Sjorgren's, Lupus and Multiple Sclerosis also.

Since green tea has virtually no calories it is worth trying to add it to your diet. It’s not all that uncommon for this amount of tea to be consumed in Asia. If you don't like the taste of green tea you can buy various flavoured teas like mint or lemon which might be easier to consume than natural green tea.

Part 2 will come tomorrow!

A state of mind

2010-12-21T02:58:00.005Z

Every challenge in my life so far I've been able to get through it without much help from other people, without alcohol to make me forget for a moment, and without drugs to ease the pain of something. I understand that some people really do need help to get past problems such as anxiety or depression and I wouldn't say that in all cases people should avoid medication, but there are other ways to help. Five years ago I had something called SAD, this is caused by the lack of light that we get around this time of year. It's a recognised problem and affects a lot of people that live in the UK. Since that year and every year after that I've made sure that I do what I can to avoid it, and so far it seems to have worked. The main things that helped me I believe were increasing my vitamin D3 intake, making sure I always get my omega 3, and probably the most important is exercise. If ever I felt a little down and I was at home I would put on some good music and simply just do some exercise and I find that it's absolutely amazing how much better you can feel! You can either sit there and feel down and sorry for yourself for whatever reason, or you can do something about it. I guess that it my attitude when it comes to my health. I never sit back and let things just happen. The consequences of doing nothing is pretty obvious when you look at the rates of obesity and depression.

It seems I'm resilient and I bounce back from things fairly well, it's in my nature to be generally relaxed, care free, but also dedicated to something when I put my mind to it. I seem to be the only one in my family at the moment that bothers to eat healthy and stay fit. I also seem to be the only one in my family that has been able to avoid taking medications for anxiety or depression. There was a time when I had anxiety, but like I always do, I got control over the issue pretty quickly from taking magnesium supplements, and learning to control my reactions to things better. I did things to alter my own behaviour and although it took some time, I did it without help from anyone. My brother, sister, and mother, and I believe many others in my family, have taken some form of mind altering medication in their lifetime or right now, but I have been able to completely avoid this even when I was going through a very tough period many years ago with insomnia from a side effect of a medication that lasted 4 months. Now I'm completely fine and I got through it all by myself with no help, and neither did I want any because I trusted in own ability to get back to how I was before that happened. If you put your mind to it you can really improve your own state of mind or health without any intervention from doctors or psychologists. It just takes a lot of effort and persistence. You wont change things in one day, but things take time to get better, and they really do. You can speed up recovery from many types of problems that happen to us with good nutrition, meditation, yoga, supplements, but even these are not miracles.

2010 has been a hard year for me, but I made it, and now I feel so good and happy again. I alwys return to myself, I return to my optimistic and happy state of mind. It is who I am, and maybe some things might hit me off balance, but I will always become a stronger, better and more determined person. Through everything that has happened over the last 5 years I've learned from it and tried to improve and prevent them from happening again. Life is a big learning experience and I'm still young and I'm sure that Ihave many things to come in my life that will challenge me even more than what has happened upto now.

Never stop trying to improve youself, never stop loving yourself, never stop loving others, and do the best you can to live a good life that is healthy and fulfilling.

"live like you're going to die tomorrow learn like you're going to live forever" - Gandhi

I hope that everyone has a lovely christmas and new year!

Why wait?

2010-12-11T23:27:00.005Z

People often say they will make changes, but they don't begin until the next week, on a monday, because it's the start of a new week and somehow it makes sense to start on that day. Some people say that after the new year they will change their eating habits, or give up smoking, or take up exercising. The problem is that it never lasts, at least not more than just a few weeks! I think that people need to really think about exactly why they are making these changes. I believe if you have a reason that is strong enough to want to change, then you will stick at it. For me the prospect of living long enough to take full advantage of new advances in medicine, biotechnology, and nanotechology to live a very long time is worth me cutting back on what I eat and eating a healthy diet. The pay off is potentially huge, I might not just enjoy a lifespan of 85 years if I were to eat a standard diet, but by looking after myself right now and in the future I could be adding hundreds of years to my lifespan. I imagine the things that I would love to see and do in that time. If you are fit and healthy like a 25 year old forever, until you die of an accident or something, then why would you want to give up? I guess what keeps me on my diet is have curiosity, like a child is curious about his or her surroundings, I am curious about many things in life, theres things I wish to see answered. Every day is a good day, and I am thankful to enjoy the health that I do, because I know there are many poor peope out there, people who are sick not because the choices they make, but they are just simply unlucky, then there are those that are sick becuase they have done it to themselves. I could never possibly imagine myself eating other way right now because I feel so good. It's true, the better you feel, the more you can do, and it's a positive cycle. Sometime I think that I am simply different to many other people, and that my determination and ability to stick with things like CR is part of my personality, and how can I teach other people to do the same thing. It's almost difficult to understand because for me, doing calorie restriction is extremely easy, I barely have to make any effort to stick to it. The pay off for me is simply huge, and maybe that is always at the back of my mind when I make the choices that I do. I only have one shot at this, and I better get it right, because I won't get another.

I find that most people they start on a diet because they simply are focusing on weight. I like to say to people that they should first focus on their health and fitness, and the weight will come off, just try not to make it the primary reason for you starting the diet. There are many conditions that can be prevented by starting calorie restriction. Diseases like heart disease, diabetes, stroke and most cancers are preventable. People know that eating healthy can help prevent disease, but do they realise that diseases like heart disease and diabetes should be rare? They should not be a part of aging and are not inevitible. You can maintain your physical and mental abilities well into advanced ages. Just think about it, you are going to work most of your life and retire at age 65, and then do you want the last remaining years of your life in poor health? Of course not! With CR you could potentially have upto 40 years or more of being healthy and active! Don't wait until the new year, star right now! Do something positive like add some fruit to your morning cereal such as bananas or strawberries. Cut out one thing like fizzy drinks which contain so much sugar! Make small changes if you can, this is exactly what I did when I was 18 years old. I started to add some fruit first, and change from white bread to wholemeal bread. I started to drink orange juice or unsweetened cranberry juice instead of Dr Pepper bottles. I stopped using sugar in my tea, and I changed from full fat milk to semi skimmed milk. Even from these changes and without actively counting calories, I lost a significant amount of weight. It was completely unintentional to lose the weight that I did. I was purely focusing on my health. So try making some small changes right now, and if you want, make a promise to yourself that by the new year, you will have dramatically changed your diet, and you have a good foundation continue with an even better diet in 2011.

Don't be so hard on yourself, and never let one day of bad eating stop you from starting again the next day. Even I sometimes don't eat perfectly, but I just get back to eating better the following day. I never feel guilty or have these negative thoughts about food! Keep a positive mind, and reinfornce positive thinking and behaviour. If you have a good role model in your life, then go ask them for help, someone to motivate you and keep you on track.

thats all for today! more soon =) Good luck!

and don't forget, if you wanna communicate with me more, follow me at my Twitter accuount Tweeet about CR, or anything you want.

Hey my friends!

2010-12-10T16:24:00.002Z

Hello earthlings, and aliens? =) I just want to let you know that I am alive, and doing really well actually. I've been dealing with other things in life, yes I have a life out outside CR if you are wondering, and this doesn't leave me with enough time to make some of the quality posts that I would like. I am working on the book however, slowly it's coming together and it's a bigger project than I first realised. I want to make it the best I can for you. Actually while I'm on that point of having a life outside CR, I can share with you my twitter! I finally started to using it after much debate within my own mind to whether I want to share the tiny details of my life, in limited amount of words... I have a complex mind you see, I'll have to work on simplifying my thoughts into 140 letters.

Please follow me on Twitter! Thank you everyone.

MY TWITTER

Website and Ebook -- SOON!

2010-10-20T00:51:00.001+01:00

EBOOK AND WEBSITE

Hello to all my readers! I am sorry that I have been away for such a long time, but I have recently been working on some new things that I would like to share with you now, as they're almost ready. I am launching a website which will be up and running soon!

And there is more! I am also working on an excellent Ebook to help those who want all the information that they need and are looking for, in one place. In the Ebook which will be available within the next 2 weeks, I will provide many tips on how to get started, practical information to maintain CR for those leading different lifestyles. In the book i'll explain why CR is a good idea for YOU, and how it can benefit you in the short term and the long term. I also explain why it is currently the best approach, and the only proven dietary manipulation to extend your healthy years and extend your maximum lifespan potential. So most of your years will be healthy, happy, and vital years. To experience CR - Vitality such as having more energy, better mood, increased resistance to infection, improvement or resolution of pre-existing illnesses, looking and feeling younger than your years and the list goes on and on. Which I point out in the book. There is also much more in the Ebook and I hope that you do take a look and find it a useful guide to help you start or continue with CRON.

Enhancing Your Immune System

2010-05-13T06:12:00.008+01:00

The immune system and CR. Methods to enhance resistance to infection.

We all die of something, whether it is heart attack, stroke or cancer which are the major killers... and ranking up there is also death from infections. Usually viral or bacterial infections can be fatal to many of the elderly because their immune systems are weak. So recently there has been discussion about what if people eating a very healthy calorie restricted diet do not die of the common killers, what would be likely to deliver that final blow. Many conclude, infection related death. Based on some of the evidence in animal models where infections such as influenza and bacterial infections are given to mice and looking at survival between ad libitum and calorie restricted groups, it seems that moderate to severe calorie restriction might increase the risk of death. It seems that in the CR group they do not have enough reserves before to keep them above a critically low weight to sustain life before their adaptive immune system has a chance to take control of the infection. Usually during the time symptoms come on there is a marked decrease in appetite and the bodies resources go into fighting the infection. Fever, increasing metabolic rate, you expend more energy. As you can see below there is a decrease in body weight amongst the both groups but the control animals maintain enough of their body weight to stay alive, whereas the CR group there is a downward trend and the mortality rate reaches 100%

"Weight loss occurs in mice with influenza infection due to a decrease in energy intake and an increase in energy demands. Young and aged mice can lose up to 35% of their body weight and recover from infection, which suggests a critical weight indicative of sufficient energy reserves to recover from infection. Lifelong ER results in a 30% decrease in starting weight that may be only marginally above this critical threshold. In the case of aged ER mice, 100% mortality was observed by d 7 (X), before an adaptive T cell response, suggesting a primary influence of underweight on innate immunity. Adapted from"[1].

In humans the critical body weight in which there is a critical threat to life is a BMI of 13 in males and 11 in Females. In the study by Dr Luigi Fontana at Washing University in St Louis he has shown that the average BMI for people practicing long term calorie restriction is 19.6 which is above the recommended normal bmi between 18.5-25. This might give more than enough reverses to survive an infection if such a weight is maintained. However, under more severe CR low body weights among humans have been reported as low as a BMI of 15, which could pose a risk to premature death if a severe infection were to occur. Antibiotics would be a very useful in helping ensure that CR does work in humans and is not prevented by excess mortality due to infectious disease. If CR does retard the aging process in humans but the risk of death from infectious remains higher, then this might negate any potential lifespan extension that could be gained from lifelong calorie restriction. During previous times before antibiotics, periods of semi starvation that would have extended the lives of those lived under such conditions if there were better hygiene and treatments for common bacterial infections that are usually easily treated today. Although antibiotics are currently becoming less effective because of the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, newer generations of antibiotics are expected to become available within the next 10 years. Recently, there have been calls for 10 new antibiotics by 2020, and these are to be completely new classes of antibiotics which will work in more novel ways than how the current antibiotics work.

Calorie Restriction improved immunity, theoretically and anecdotally... but what is the actual evidence?
In contrast to the animal evidence which suggests that CR might predispose humans to infections, there is little human evidence to back this up. So far the work on CR effect on immunity in humans hasn't been looked at. Recently there was a study that showed those who have done short term calorie restriction have improved T cell function, which is crucial against viral infections. Actually this is in-line with the animal evidence also. Also in Rhesus monkeys which are closer to humans biologically and genetically, also have reported to have slowed aging of their immune systems. However, unfortunately the human study was actually not the level of calorie restriction that is used in animal experiments or in the study by DR Fontana at WUSTL. These subjects were overweight, and normalizing their weight by decreasing their calories by 30%, improved immunity. This is not a big surprise. Excess weight puts the body into a state of chronic low grade inflammation, the immune system is chronically activated leading to immune system dysfunction other problems such as asthma, allergies, and autoimmune diseases.

Anecdotal reports from those that are practicing calorie restriction seem to be reporting less infections or absence of infections since starting calorie restriction. However this might not be purely because of the calorie restriction itself, but might be an effect of the foods that are consumed. Plant foods typically contain many compounds that have found to be beneficial in killing bacteria, viruses and fungi. Flavanoids, polyphenols, catechins from green tea, lactoferrin, fatty acids like omega 3, beta glucans which are all generally consumed in far greater amounts in a typical calorie restriction diet. The combination of these compounds might have a synergistic effect in not only attenuating the decrease in immune systems capability to deal with the infection, but also directly inhibit infections. I will look at a few compounds that have shown to be promising in fighting infections.

Beta glucans - Beta glucans are derived from yeast and also oats. Oat beta glucans is mildly effective at increasing immunity, as shown in one study where they showed that in humans, oat beta glucan was able to offset the negative effects of exercise stress [2].

"Exercise stress was associated with a 28% increase in morbidity (P = 0.036) and 18% increase in mortality (P = 0.15). Ingestion of ObetaG before infection prevented this increase in morbidity (P = 0.048) and mortality (P = 0.05)"

The immune system modulating effects of beta glucans has been known for a couple of decades. When you ingest the beta glucan from yeast the glucan molecules are unaffected by the acid of your stomach and pass through unchanged, once they are absorbed into the blood they are taken up my phagocytes which digest them, and then over a period of days slowly release the glucan molecules and they attach to beta glucan receptors on the cell surface of macrophages. This causes a cascade of effects which basically makes the immune system on alert, ready to attack any foreign invaders. Increased NK cytotoxicity, an increase in the number of macrophages which basically eat bacteria and dead cells and digest them within the lysosomes. Beta glucans increase a number of cytokines which attract immune cells to the site of infection, but without increasing IL-1 which is responsible for pyrexia.

One particular blend of alpha and beta glucans is called AHCC, which there is plenty of research behind it. It's used in over 800 hospitals, many of them in japan, and has 80 studies published to back up its usefulness in infectious diseases, whether it be bacterial, virus, or fungal infections. Also it even increases the chance of survival among cancer patients who are given chemotherapy combined with AHCC. In vivo and human clinical trials have shown that AHCC modifies both the innate and adaptive immune response, by:

* Increasing the production of cytokines
* Increasing the activity of NK cells by as much as 300-800%
* Increasing populations of macrophages, in some cases doubling them
* Increasing the number of dendritic cells
* Increasing the number of T cells by as much as 200%

I believe that a beta glucan supplement, even if periodically taken during times where infection risk is higher at times of influenza outbreaks, norovirus outbreaks etc... Then it can be taken at these times since the effect on immunity is quite rapid.

Direct inhibitors or of pathogens

Tea polyphenols – Catechins that are found in green tea and white tea have anti viral, anti bacterial and anti fungal properties, EGCG is able to work in many different ways. Again viruses it not only alters the protein coating around the virus, but also blocks neuraminidase activity so that the virus is not able to be released from the host’s cell. A popular drug named drug oseltamivir which was widely used in the recent swine flu breakout also uses the same target to reduce symptoms of viral infections. One study in a Japanese care home they reported that influenza was reduced by over 90% if green tea was gargled every day. But the sample size was small. Green tea is a very safe beverage and with plenty of other benefits even if it doesn’t offer complete protection against influenza infections. Which are a big cause morbidity and death in the elderly. Secondary bacterial infections, lung infections primarily are the cause of death. EGCG can kill many times of bacteria, inhibit biofilm formation, and also enhance the effects of antibiotics so that they that they work better. In some cases reverse antibiotic resistance. Green tea also actually boosts the immune system.

"Among subjects taking CSF there were 32.1% fewer subjects with symptoms (P = 0.035), 22.9% fewer overall illnesses of at least 2 days duration (P = 0.092), and 35.6% fewer symptom days (P < p =" 0.017)" p =" 0.046)" style="font-weight: bold;">Vitamin D –

Vitamin D - This is one has had a lot of attention recently in the media. Researchers are beginning to understand its effects on immunity, and how it’s an immune system modulator. In that it basically makes the immune system smarter so that it can identify foreign pathogens and the innate immune system deals with it before it can take hold. Vitamin D3 when above a certain level in the blood is stored. Recent reports show that patients that take vitamin D3 report less colds and flu and it’s believed because vitamin D3 is a powerful inducer of LL37 peptides that punch holes in viruses, bacteria and fungi [11]. It’s recommended that optimal levels of 25 (OH) D are above 32ng. 1000IU of vitamin D3 tends to raise blood levels but approx 10ng.

Lactoferrin – Lactoferrin protects the body by binding to iron so that that the bacteria cannot use it. In breast milk there is a lot of lactoferrin and this is one of the reasons why babies who are breast fed have better immune systems. Lactoferrin coats anywhere where germs can gain entry into the body. Such as, the nose, eyes, sex organs. Consuming lactoferrin supplements is thought to be beneficial in protecting against infections. Lactoferrin is part of the innate immune system and is one of the first barriers to infection.

Ginger - It is a well known anti emetic. Meaning, it prevents sickness and nausea. Some doctors instruct women to use it while pregnant and have got morning sickness; other uses are travel sickness, general nausea and indigestion, acid reflux disease. The only one it doesn't seem to be effective for is when use post operatively (after operation with G.A). It can be also used to help unblock the noise and is a weak antiviral so could help with cold symptoms.

D Mannose - 90% of UTI infections are caused by E coli bacteria. Usually D mannose is completely effective at being able to remove E coli from the bladder. Along the bladder surface there are D mannose receptors which the E coli bacteria attach to. When you consume D mannose (which is found in small amounts in cranberry juice, also known for its ability to prevent infections by making the bladder wall slippery so that bacteria cannot attach) the D mannose is not absorbed by the body and majority of it ends up in the urine. Once you flush out your bladder the E coli detaches from the bladder wall and has a higher affinity for the D mannose within the urine. The best thing about this cure is that there is no chance for resistance and it will clear any antibiotic resistant bacteria. Unfortunately for those unlucky 10% of infections, D mannose might not work and antibiotics are usually required. I highly recommend D mannose, especially for women as they are much more prone to infections than men. Please read this site; http://www.d-mannoseworks.com/ D mannose is a lot more effective than cranberry juice.

Manuka Honey – at least 10UMF, which is the strength of the honey, is able to kill even the most resistant pathogens against antibiotics. In fact, the university hospital in Cardiff, Wales, have been testing on wounds [12]. Not only is it a great anti inflammatory but it also helps kills MRSA infections, and other pathogens. Consuming Manuka honey is good for the throat and could prevent any throat infections like strept throat, and it could also prevent stomach infections like H pylori and food poison.

Garlic - It has been known for a very long time that garlic was a good anti bacterial, and anti viral. The compound responsible for this is the one that gives off that funny smell when you eat too much... but wouldn't you rather just smell a bit of garlic than be sick? I know I would. There was a report a few years back saying that 'garlic is the common cold cure'. Well not quite, however it does seem to do a remarkable job at reducing the number of colds, and reducing the number of days being ill. From BBC news website that reported on the garlic study

“Over a 90-day period during the winter when most colds occur, just 24 colds were recorded among those taking the supplement, compared to 65 amongst those taking the placebo. The study also found that those taking the supplement that did catch a cold were more likely to make a speedier recovery than those taking the placebo and the chances of re-infection following a cold were significantly reduced”

Probiotics - Antibiotics that are taken so often destroy both good and bad bacteria. I recommend consuming probiotic yogurts or to get a probiotic supplement. This will improve immunity, calm the immune system to help allergies, and also protect from overgrowth of organisms that can can disease.

If there was one supplement that I would take to increase resistance against pathogens it would be Beta glucans, specifically AHCC because of the science behind it is quite strong. Please do read the references below for more detailed information on this compound, and visit the website http://www.ahccresearch.com/how-ahcc-works.html to look at other studies listed and how the ahcc works

The combination of a good diet, calorie restriction, the knowledge of medicinal foods and modern medicine, I believe it’s possible to live a very long time. Be well. Free of disease, and live a long healthy life.

References

[1] Barry W. Ritz and Elizabeth M. Gardner. Malnutrition and Energy Restriction Differentially Affect Viral Immunity http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/136/5/1141

[2] Davis JM, Murphy EA, Brown AS, Carmichael MD, Ghaffar A, Mayer EP. Effects of oat beta-glucan on innate immunity and infection after exercise stress. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15292739

[3] Messaoudi, J. Warner, M. Fischer, B. Park, B. Hill, J. Mattison, M. A. Lane, G. S. Roth, D. K. Ingram, L. J. Picker, D. C. Douek, M. Mori, and J. Nikolich-Zugich. Delay of T cell senescence by caloric restriction in aged long-lived nonhuman primates. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 103 (51):19448-19453, 2006.

[4] Ahmed T, Das SK, Golden JK, Saltzman E, Roberts SB, Meydani SN. Calorie restriction enhances T-cell-mediated immune response in adult overweight men and women. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2009 Nov;64(11):1107-13. Epub 2009 Jul 28.

[5] Synergistic effect of nonspecific immunostimulation and antibiotics in experimental peritonitis. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3303398[

[6]Supplementation with active hexose correlated compound increases survival following infectious challenge in mice. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18752476?

[7] Active hexose correlated compound (AHCC) enhances resistance to infection in a mouse model of surgical wound infection. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17233570

[8] Prophylactic efficacy of a basidiomycetes preparation AHCC against lethal opportunistic infections in mice http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10946621

[9] Antiviral Res. 2005 Nov;68(2):66-74. Epub 2005 Aug 9 Antiviral effect of catechins in green tea on influenza virus http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16137775

[10] Rowe CA, Nantz MP, Bukowski JF, Percival SS.
Specific formulation of Camellia sinensis prevents cold and flu symptoms and enhances gamma,delta T cell function: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17914132

[11] Ziv OREN, Jeffrey C. LERMAN*, Gudmundur H. GUDMUNDSSON†, Birgitta AGERBERTH‡ and Yechiel SHAI Structure and organization of the human antimicrobial peptide LL-37 in phospholipid membranes: relevance to the molecular basis for its non-cell-selective activity http://www.biochemj.org/bj/341/0501/bj3410501.htm

[12] Is honey the answer to the MRSA crisis http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health-news/tm_objectid=16320886&method=full&siteid=50082&page=1&headline=is-honey-the-answer-to-the-mrsa-crisis--name_page.html

Okinawa Longevity

2010-04-14T22:02:00.005+01:00

Two short videos on okinawan longevity.

Living relics part1

Living relics part2

IdeaCity2008 Calorie Restriction

2010-02-10T13:47:00.008Z

IdeaCity08

A very youthful looking Michael Rae who is now 38 years old I believe, is one of the longest and most serious CRers, starting in his latter 20's to try and slow down his own aging. He is also co author of 'Ending Aging' with Dr Aubrey De Grey. He briefly shares some data and thoughts on Calorie Restriction at Idea City in 2008. Shame he wasn't given more time, but the message was clear :-) Eat less calories, live longer, have more chance of reaching escape velocity to live even longer through advances in science to reverse aging.

Changes

2010-01-05T22:18:00.001Z

Hello everyone. I hope that you're off to a good this year. I can't believe how fast the years are going by, seriously! It seems like it was only a very short while ago that I started calorie restriction. It's certainly not true that; CR doesn't make you live longer, it just seems like it". Well anyway, another year gone, hopefully there are still many to come!

So what have I been up to whilst not posting any new blog updates for a while. Well to be honest, I've just been busy with other stuff and wanted to take a break from blogging while I made some changes. So what are the changes? Well first of all my stats have changed a bit, and so has the level of calorie restriction I'm on. My weight is now 115 - 116 lbs, up from 105 lbs. I was exercising a lot and increased my calorie intake slightly. I concentrated on increasing strength in my arms and my core. My abdominal muscles are pretty well defined now! I think I gained mostly muscle and I've been holding this weight for at least a couple weeks. Also I haven't noticed any significant changes to my body temperature, it still on average around 36.0 degrees! Blood pressure still 90/60. My BMI now is 18.2, which is almost normal for my height.. but still quite a bit lower than the average BMI in the WUSTL study which was closer to 20.

So am I going to increase my weight further? I really don't know, I know the maximum I'll go to is 120 lbs if I were to increase it. Why have I done this? Well because I'm in my 20's and I want to look a little better as you can imagine. Sometimes you I think you need to make choices, and I made mine. Obviously I'm fully in control of what I do with my body. I do not have any sort of eating disorder which prevents me from gaining weight. I gained this weight because I just felt this is what I want to do right now. Simple as that. Pure vanity. I doubt that my health markers have changed all that much, but I will get them tested soon. I assume I'm aging a little quicker, but I think that I'm still quite CR'd relative to what my weight was when I was 18. Some scales even read 10st, I vaguely remember. They could have been wrong... but as I've said in many posts before, my CR journey really started when I was 18, this was the time when family members become concerned because of a big weight loss that I didn't even intend to lose, it just came because I threw out the junk food in favour of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, no sugar... because of reading some stuff from ray kurzweil. And this was losing weight from an already healthy weight, I wasn't anywhere near a BMI of 25 as most adults are.

I've really been improving on my flexibility lately also by being absolutely dedicated, everyday to putting time aside to stretch, do my yoga, sometimes (not as often as i should) meditation for a short while. Haven't been working much on cardiovascular health like running for a while, but that's ok for now.

I've just started to use a really nice skin serum! It's called Skinceuticals CE ferulic acid, and it's making my skin more bright, it also is fading red marks that I have left over from my old acne days.. and there was 1 fine line that I had down my eye which has completely disappeared only after 3 weeks of using the serum. It's very expensive stuff however so I think that I won't be using it in the very long term, only for a period of about 6 months and will switch to a basic vitamin C serum like AOX 10-20 by skin ceuticals. The good thing about this product is that there is some actual peer reviewed studies behind its effects, and it seems to be working far better than anything else I used.

So although my weight has now increased, this isn't forever... I'm still CR'd quite a bit I think, although I can't measure how much! Sometime before I'm 30 I will decrease my calories slightly again.

One thing I'd love to do though is attain a physique like Bruce Lee. You know his stats later on in his life was 125 lbs at 5ft 7" (I have the book the art of expressing the human body). Mine is same height and 116 lbs. I'm a dedicated person, really I am, I could do it... or get somewhere close. When you're young it's very difficult to try find the balance. I think I've found it. I do look a little better, and thats from only gaining 10 lbs. Though I'd like to gain a little fat on my face :-) Just a little! And I'd be pretty happy!

But whatever, I'm still young, I think that I'm doing fairly well, and I think that I also have good genetics on my side too. A lot of my family, including my father and sister all have the same biomarkers as CRers and they're not on CR. My father looks 10 years younger than his age (in his 20's he lived healthy like me), and my sister is 23 but looks 16 years old and she has same kind of biomarkers as me, very low blood pressure, glucose, very low cholesterol, very low inflammation etc etc....

Good genetics, CRON, Raw Food, Strength training all I hope get to escape velocity where aging is being solved quicker than I can age. So although I relaxed my CR, it's only a bit and its most likely a short term thing for the next 5 years at most. And I'm still pretty damn skinny! haha :-)

Foods that I ate today;

First thing cranberry juice, supplements.

Oatmeal
Blueberries
Dark chocolate
Walnuts
Yogurt
almonds

Green smoothie;
Kale
Banana
Mango (w/skin)
Red Apple
Water
Fish Oil

Fruit Smoothie (tesco frozen berries) (best drink I've ever tasted!)
Raspberries
Blackberries
Blackcurrants
Redcurrants
Blueberries
1 Banana
Water
Whey protein

Broccoli
Sweet potato
Red sauce
Tomatoes
Olive Oil
Yogurt
Wholemeal bread

back after new year!

2009-12-25T18:58:00.015Z

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

2009-10-29T16:48:00.002Z

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!

2009-10-18T17:53:00.006+01:00

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!

2009-08-27T05:36:00.002+01:00

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?

2009-08-19T23:10:00.007+01:00

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!

2009-08-03T17:43:00.009+01:00

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]

2009-07-29T15:54:00.008+01:00

The industry worth billions of dollars every year is the cosmetic industry, holding back those wrinles, everyone trying to stay young. What is one of the most important ways of looking younger for longer? > Calorie Restriction < Contrary to earlier reports that fatter humans look younger than their thinner people, remaining slim from a young age and staying this way is likely to keep away the white hair and wrinkles. This has been shown with mice, monkeys and dogs that have been put on CR. The CR group always look youger. Below are some high resolution pictures of two rhesus monkeys around the same age, owen is just over 1 year older than canto. Canto is 27 years of age right now and looks like a youthful rhesus monkey at half his age (and by the way, 27 in human years would be 81 human years!!!). This is achieved by a reduction in calories alone. I could only specualte that with sun avoidance, applying some basic skin care routine, and various polyphenols found in foods we regularly consume on a CR diet, and not frowning a lot and creasing of your forehead. I naturally avoid this and don't hardly ever crease my forehead, also I try to avoid squinting. Wearing a cap helps, sun glasses probably better for this.

I expect for the younger people who start CR before much of the apparent aging skin has already occured could go on to look extremely youthful in middle age.

Twice last week I got asked my age, I joined library, and I also got asked by a nurse how old I was. Both thought I was around 16-17 years old, and I'm 3 months away from being 25! Is it the CR? :D 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 thing to see hehe.

ZOOM INTO PICTURES FOR BETTER DETAIL

NORMAL DIET

CALORIE RESTRICTION DIET

Comments on the Rhesus Monkey study

2009-07-14T22:28:00.021+01:00

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

2009-07-12T19:06:00.013+01:00

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

2009-07-09T20:56:00.014+01:00

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

Michael Jackson

2009-06-29T21:01:00.013+01:00

EDIT; 02 July 2009
I was completely shocked by the news the other day. I been listening to Michael Jackson almost everyday for years, since I was 4 or 5 years old with the old records. I have all of his videos, lots of interviews and some other dvd footage. I never slept properly after I heard the news. Some people might think how silly to be upset over someone you never knew, but it's really hard to explain. Through his music and music videos and other videos he's released over the past you feel as if you know him. I never thought it would be possible to feel upset if this were to happen.

http://www.youtube.com/v/s31ZfhDmDLQ

Michael did not look anywhere near to dying. He look thin but energetic and capable of doing the show. People claimed than he was thin and frail but this doesn't seem to be the case from this video. He has always been thin all his life.

Michael wanted to live forever (SEE HERON YOUTUBE VIDEO), not just through his music. I really thought he would have. Anyway I know this post isn't about CR, but I had to just post a few words to say how I feel.

Garden Pictures

2009-06-22T18:11:00.009+01:00

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

2009-06-15T19:53:00.010+01:00

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

2009-06-01T11:02:00.014+01:00

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.

What I ate today

2009-06-01T00:13:00.010+01:00

I haven't really done an update on what exactly I eat these days. So I thought I'd give you an idea of just a snap shot of one day.

I wake up and have my Whey Protein drink with my vitamins and minerals and a bit of fish oil, and have a handful of walnuts (15-20g). I then consume my breakfast which is a 'Green Smoothie'. Ingredients today was simple; 160g of baby spinach, 170g of ripe mango (delicious and one of my faves at the moment!), 1 red apple, a ripe banana, 80g of blueberries. The mango really come through and was the most dominant taste and it made it have a lush creamy texture, the blueberries went in last because they were frozen and it makes the drink nice and cold (you can just use ice though). I love this one because its not too complicated, very quick, it takes literally 5 minutes or less! With a good blender it comes out good, also if someone is going to copy this make sure you add about 200-300ml water otherwise you burn out your blender or something. Decrease or increase water of the drink to how you like it. Honestly, its a real treat every morning. Everytime I make this one my nephew loves to consume loads of it. So thats pretty much most of the fruit calories for the day. My breakfast can sometimes come to about 600 k/cal so this is upto almost 1/3rd of my total calorie intake for the day.

At around 12-1pm I usually have something small, so today I just cut up 150g of cherry tomatoes, microwaved them, spread across very lightly toasted wholemeal bread with 5ml olive oil added. Then just put a bit of garlic on and tomato sauce (low sugar and salt one).

About 5pm I then ate Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, small sweet potato, olive oil, and a fat free yeo organic strawberry yogurt, followed by another protein shake.

In the evening I had some almonds, a brazil nut, with red currants, rasberries, blackberries, blackcurrants (del monte frozen fruit). I had a cup of these. I then ate about 2 squares of lindt 70% dark chocolate with some mint and green tea.

Usually I have at minimum 200g of green leafy vegetables raw, and they haven't had my favourite Kale in the supermarket lately so just used spinach in my smoothies for just under a week. It does pack a fair bit of nutrition in there but probably not the kind of nutritional quality of kale, which has more easily absorbable calcium and is another leafy green that is very high in lutein (which is great for skin, see post below). I also had about 5 cups of green tea today in between meals.

Was short on Zinc (always have to supplement this to get good ratio of of zinc and copper). I was a bit short on calcium today because of no kale but still approached around 800mg without supp, also I have to supplement B12 which is in my Essential mix (i've been vegetarian since Oct 2007). Tiny bit short on Niacin but was covered on supplement. Have a couple hundred calories left but will leave that for today, time to sleep soon.

Another Garden Update

2009-05-20T14:36:00.010+01:00

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

2009-05-16T17:52:00.010+01:00

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.

Getting old in Okinawa

2009-05-12T12:24:00.006+01:00

GETTING OLD IN OKINAWA

Most of the diseases that people get in the western world are much more rarein okinawa. Breast cancer and prostate cancer especially. Heart disease is also less common as well as many other diseases of aging. Their lifestyle which is active, eating a low calorie but highly nutritious diet keeps them younger for longer. In this video you see 90+ year olds being active and happy. 97% of their life is in good health, whereas in the US and UK much of elderly life quality is poor because of bad habits.

How to look younger (skin anti aging)

2009-05-04T21:40:00.005+01:00

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

Good Youtube Health Channels I Recommend

2009-05-02T22:28:00.005+01:00

RAW FOOD WORLD SHOW
Fun entertaining show Featuring Matt Monarch who was in the Raw Food Video I put on the blog a while ago, also now with Angela Stokes who has her own story which you can see on google and youtube. Both are enjoying great health from a Raw Food Diet.

The Renegade Health Show with Kevin and Annmarie Gianni
The Renegade Health Show is a fun and enlightening show on natural health, holistic nutrition, vegan and raw foods, fitness and natural cures. Host Kevin Gianni give tips and tricks as well as interviews experts in the natural health field.

Running Raw
One of my favorite youtube channels is Running Raw. Tim Van Orden has in the last few years been competing in competitions since he experienced massive health transformation from eating Raw. He now comes 1st in many races that he competes in and hes keeping pace with people 20 years younger tham himself. I recommend that you go back to his very first videos and follow his journey...

Arnold's Way
Arnold's Way is a Raw-Vegan Cafe in Landsdale, PA. Our mission is to create an energetic movement for the transformation of a disease-free World. Arnold is an Enthusiastic guy, some of the stuff I don't quite agree with him (probably because of my own scientific oriented mind). But he does offer a lot of anecdotal evidence for the power of transforming health using a healthy raw food lifestyle.

Green Smoothie Channel
The life and times of a Green Entrepreneur and my quest to share with you the ways I have found to live a simple, healthy and happy lifestyle. Lots of tips and health benefits of green smoothies here.

Some success, some failure

2009-04-28T15:34:00.011+01:00

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

2009-04-21T17:15:00.013+01:00

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

2009-04-12T16:55:00.008+01:00

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

2009-04-04T19:33:00.007+01:00

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

2009-03-25T04:27:00.003Z

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

2009-03-25T02:14:00.008Z

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.

Stopped Aging - almost

2009-03-03T22:38:00.007Z

18 years old vs 24 years 4 months old

click picture to enlarge

I have had some success with my skin in reducing acne hyperpigmentation, increasing hydration of my skin and it feels far smoother 'everyday' now than before I started the green smoothies. The picture above looks paler than I actually am because of really bright lighting. I looked up what could cause this in the smoothies I make and I came across lutein. Interesting kale and spinach (which is what I use in my GS) have the highest amount of lutein. So I only found this out after I noticed the improvement and read a few things on it here.

A randomised clinical study entitled New Evidence for Efficacy of Lutein/Zeaxanthin in skin health

Highest sources of lutein

and I'm now offically on my 4th year of CRON, with an additional 2 years of mild CR / healthy-ish diet. My healthy diet started not long after I took that picture above when I was 18, and my CRON journey started at age 20. As I said, I might have been mildly restricted from 18-20 years of age because I lost some weight back then, and was nowhere near overweight even back then. I think I've been quite succesful so far in maintaining a youthful appearance, and I expect to keep it for a long time yet.

The only changes now is that I've been vegetarian for over a year now, and I've also lowered my calorie intake to 1650k/cal a day and now maintaining a weight of 106 lbs instead of 110 lbs. The heighest BMI I've ever had is probably aroudn 20.5 or so. Now I maintain a BMI of 16.7, and I would never go below 16. I'm happy enough where I am at the moment :)

UK CRer has been on CRON for 20 years

2009-02-18T15:59:00.006Z

View other CR videos at my youtube Channel

Make Me Live Forever

2009-02-17T16:40:00.003Z

MAKE ME LIVE FOREVER
In a funny and thought provoking film that moves from the quirky to cutting edge science, Michael Mosley wants to find out if he can live forever.

He embarks on a calorie restricted diet, injects himself with testosterone and visits a life-extension house, all with the aim of seeing if any modern elixirs of youth actually work.

While he monitors his response to these techniques, he visits some remarkable individuals whose lives are intrinsically defined by the science of aging: the brave girl suffering from an accelerated ageing disease, the 62-year old woman who claims she looks forty thanks to daily hormone injections; and the scientist who has pioneered the creation of tailor made replacement organs using stem cells. What he learns about extending the human lifespan leads him to wonder, would he want to?

17 Feb 2009 22:35 BBC One (England)

17 Feb 2009 23:05 (Northern Ireland, Wales)

Don't miss it!

I Love Raw

2009-02-15T17:27:00.018Z

There has been some big changes lately in my diet. Over the years of eating a healthy both cooked/raw diet I noticed that I felt better after a raw meal rather than a cooked one. But I never really thought about this other than in the moment I experienced it. Cooked meals make me feel heavier, less sharp and I started to experience intermittent signs of acid reflux which led to some swallowing issues. Which were mostly solved with something called "Manuka Honey". It not only healed my throat and stomach but allowed me to eat properly again. But I continued to eat mostly cooked foods.

So over the last few months I've been really doing some research and exploring the world of raw food eaters. It's not surprise that eating a natural plant based diet that is totally raw is far better than the standard american diet. Most Raw food eaters had issues like obesity, which I don't have, but they also suffered other problems that were solved by going mostly raw. And the more raw food they ate, they claimed to feel better.

I somehow came across 'green smoothies' from youtube and since we have had a blender here for years now I decided to get it from the cupboard and use the thing. My first smoothie was the one I posted about earlier on. Now it's a bit different and I mix it up too. I loved it instantly and I wondered why I haven't been doing this for years. It takes around 5-10 minutes in the morning and I have it everyday for my breakfast. A salad for Breakfast? No I don't feel like it, but putting my greens into blender and making it a liquid is far better. So a few examples of my smoothies that I have in the morning are;

Green Smoothie1
150g Banana
150g Pineapple
100g Red Apple
100g Mango
150g Spinach
100g Kale
200-300ml Water
(I put in the water and the fruit and then put in the spinach and kale last).

After my smoothie I have a few walnuts to include fat so I can absorb some of the nutrients, and I have a whey protein shake.

Green Smoothie2
150g Bananas
150g Red Apple
150g Frozen Blueberries
100g Spinach
100g Kale
200-300ml Water
(because of the blueberries it turns out a bit dark green and sometimes brown, but it's mild tasting and very palatable, I very much enjoy it).

Fruit Smoothie

Water 300-400ml (depending on how thick you want it)
150g Tesco Frozen Summer Fruits (Rasberries, blackberrie, red currants and black currants)
150g Frozen Blueberries
1 or 2 medium sized bananas (this thickens it up a bit and gives it a sweeter taste)
(very simple, but nice and cold and delicious)

Still refining/experimenting with them and hopefully get a higher amount of greens in there without making the thing awful to eat. And by the way, I don't swallow these smoothies down right away, I take my time and drink/chew it slowly. Not sure if it's a good idea to consume very fast due to a possible spike in glucose and insulin. Not good.

After my green smoothie in the morning I feel so energized, very sharp, light, hydrated. My digestion is so much better, I've had zero pimples since drinking these smoothies. Now what will be interesting is to see how my body is reacting to this change when I get my test results. I am going to leave it until April, so this will be one year from my previous one and see how things are going on in my body. Some people are concerned about the higher intake of fruit (large majority of it is just in the morning) in my diet, but I think I'll be fine. Introducing your family to green smoothies is one of the best things you can do to encourage them to eat healthier. My father, Mother, My niece and nephew who are 6 and 7 both love the smoothies. Getting them involved in the making of it really helped too! I gave my cousin a tropical green smoothie, and he also liked it. You can barely taste any of the greens in there. But one important thing to make sure you do is only use leafy greens, not things like broccoli because this doesn't go together with fruit that well. I would encourage you to use 'youtube' and type in "green smoothies" to get some ideas.

There are many other changes I've also made too, which I'll mention in seperate posts.

Good video blog

2009-02-14T01:29:00.001Z

Also another entertaining video blog is from Matt Monarch HERE

You can see a Video that was aired on TV featuring Matt. Hes been eating A Raw food diet for many years and explains some of the benefits from it. Pretty much the same things people who eat CR notice. Such as improved sense of well being, improved smell, sight, hearing. Improvements in skin, looking younger... and also I also noticed a big effect on my consciousness, I mean it's hard to explain but it's like a mental fog that you never knew was there is lifted and your brain just seems to wake up. And once you start eating healthy you know you can never go back.

Entertaining Talk

2009-02-13T19:36:00.007Z

I highly recommend this video. It comes in 9 parts and he talks about how he cured himself from a disease that his doctors said couldn't be resolved other than by taking drugs. Very funny and interesting personal story.

I've also had experiences with doctors with them saying there is no connection between something and a disease. Doctors unfortunately, although they do great work, they are far behind on their knowledge of nutrition and disease.

PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
PART 5
PART 6
PART 7
PART 8
PART 9

Calorie Restriction ABC (26.07.2007)

2009-01-30T08:53:00.001Z

Calorie Restriction Improves Memory

2009-01-29T01:38:00.004Z

This is actually one of the first things I documented when I started Calorie Restriction. It was so obvious, my ability to concentrate, to learn, my mind just seemed so clear. This was seen my test scores because back when I was eating a bad diet I couldn't concentrate or grasp difficult things, or it would take me a long time. After I went on CR I started to learn so many things and retain that information far better.

Food Network CR

2009-01-28T09:52:00.002Z

My Life In Food
Tune In:
Jan 31, 2009
6:30 PM ET/PT

"Fountain of Youth"
"My Life in Food follows two stories,a forty year-old athlete who believes his strict raw food diet is the secret weapon to out-run men half his age and a a couple who are part of a growing society that dramatically restricts their calories to half that of the average American."

Unfortunately I don't hav access to this because I don't believe we have it here in the UK... hope someone can get a DVR of it and post it up sometime.

The CR Way

2009-01-28T09:30:00.005Z

Three videos I just got around to uploading for you, enjoy.

60 Minutes Red Wine, Rhesus Monkey, CRONies

2009-01-26T01:25:00.005Z

Although the CR part is not all that good in my opinion, looks like the editor never did a good job here because there was very little on human CRers, or the amazing health results. However I think the Rhesus Monkey CR part makes up for it...

Make sure you listen out for the statistics on the mortality of the rhesus monkeys :) Loooooking goood for CR!

Go to this LINK or press play on the video below

CR only work in obese?

2009-01-25T02:54:00.003Z

I was going to discuss this here but I'll just direct you to a thread at imminst, which also has links to the papers from these authors that claim CR has no benefit in non obese humans because of their failure to extend a mouse which is a bit screwed up.

FORUM: Mouse Study Suggests CR only works in obese?

I really recommend you read that thread, and ignore these big headline that make ridiculous claims. Long Term CRer Michael has some very good points so make sure you read that post.

Comparison shot

2009-01-20T00:39:00.002Z

I find some picture I had for a while and thought it would make a good comparison shot of what I was like when I was 18 ande how I am now at 24. The shot is from a diferent angle but still quite good. I can spot one huge difference, can you? CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO ENLARGE

BEFORE AND AFTER PHOTO

Green Smothies

2009-01-18T20:47:00.013Z

I have been eating less amount of raw food lately and probably more cooked food. I don't think this is the best way to eat healthy so I decided to get out the blender and try out green smoothie, which I can get 4 servings from and lasts me 2 days. I have one in the morning and one in the evening. When I cosume I chew it rather than just drinking because chewing gets the saliva going. My second one contained;

Bananas 200g
Apples 180g
Kale 250g
Spinach 250g
Blueberries 100g
Pineapple 150g
Water 350ml (upto 500ml water is good and might be better for some, just adjust serving size).

Very simple, very delicious and packed full of good nutrition.

I'm still working out the exact ingredients as I want to get all nutrients a bit higher. I think lower amount of bananas is perferable because of less sugar (but using more bananas does taste a bit better). In saying that 100g of banana a day isn't really a lot and the the 2nd smoothie was 146k/cal per serving (370g) which is great. It's an excellent way to start of the day I find, and if eating a big salad isn't your thing in the morning then you're getting lots of greens and some fruit right away. Enzymes, vitamins and minerals, fatty acids, fibres, Energy! It makes you feel wonderful and light. Some people are put off by the colour (I actually like it) but it tastes amazing! If you have any recommendation or would like to share you smoothie recipe please comment below ;)

You can find plenty of green smoothie demonstration on youtube. Enjoy.

Now all I need to start saving for is a Vita-Mix Blender! :D

PER SERVING;

General (8%)
===========================================
Energy | 146.5 kcal 6%
Protein | 4.9 g 3%
Carbs | 34.7 g 13%
Fiber | 6.1 g 16%
Fat | 1.1 g 1%
Water | 326.6 g 9%

Vitamins (37%)
===========================================
Vitamin A | 15562.2 IU 519%
Folate | 159.0 µg 40%
B1 (Thiamine) | 0.2 mg 15%
B2 (Riboflavin) | 0.3 mg 21%
B3 (Niacin) | 1.7 mg 11%
B5 (Pantothenic Acid)| 0.4 mg 8%
B6 (Pyridoxine) | 0.5 mg 42%
B12 (Cyanocobalamin) | 0.0 µg 0%
Vitamin C | 119.3 mg 133%
Vitamin D | 0.0 IU 0%
Vitamin E | 1.5 mg 10%
Vitamin K | 818.8 µg 682%

Minerals (24%)
===========================================
Calcium | 160.4 mg 16%
Copper | 0.4 mg 42%
Iron | 3.1 mg 39%
Magnesium | 93.3 mg 23%
Manganese | 1.6 mg 71%
Phosphorus | 87.6 mg 13%
Potassium | 915.4 mg 19%
Selenium | 1.8 µg 3%
Sodium | 81.3 mg 5%
Zinc | 0.8 mg 7%

Lipids (4%)
===========================================
Saturated | 0.2 g 1%
Omega-3 | 0.2 g 15%
Omega-6 | 0.2 g 1%
Cholesterol | 0.0 mg 0%

Videos on aging

2009-01-06T01:29:00.008Z

If you haven't got real player you can download it for free. Just do a google search... it's worth it to watch these two :) When you go to the video make sure you click on play in a stand alone player because some things will be much harder to see if you try watching it in the embedded real player.

From Worms to Mammals: Genes that Control the Rate
Changing a single gene in the small roundworm C. elegans can double its lifespan. This gene encodes an insulin/IGF-1 like receptor, which indicates that aging is regulated hormonally. By manipulating genes and cells, we have now been able to extend the lifespan and period of youthfulness of healthy, active C. elegans by six times
VIDEO HERE

Sirtuins, Aging and Disease
SIR2 and related genes are NAD-dependent deacetylases that slow aging in yeast, C. elegans, and Drosophila. In yeast and flies, SIR2 genes are also involved in the longevity conferred by dietary or calorie restriction (CR). The mammalian SIRT homologs are involved in changes in stress resistance and metabolism known to be associated with CR. The CR diet not only extends life span in rodents, but also protects against many diseases of aging, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disease, cancer and osteoporosis. In this talk, I will describe recent findings in the lab regarding SIRT1 function in specific mammalian tissues and in specific disease models. Our findings indicate a diverse array of effects exerted by SIRT1 in mammals.
VIDEO HERE

The Evidence

2009-01-03T19:20:00.080Z

I've been looking at a particular thread on a low carb forum with a thread about calorie restriction. You can read it here LOW CARB CALORIE RESTRICTION THREAD. It's quite funny actually. Some of the things people are saying there are complete nonsense but this is typically what we here for people who really can't be bothered to do their research before actually commenting on something. Apparently according to one person called M Levac and he states:

"I think that no matter what disease we look up, we'll find it associated with the same high carb, low fat, calorie restricted diet."

Obviously this is completely wrong. I am all for a lower carbohydrate (not atkins!) diet in general, because carbohydrates in my opinion are a big problem in diabetes and other diseaes, especially ones coming from processed foods. The carbs coming from plant foods and non root vegetables are absolutely fine. Based on 70 years of animal research a calorie restriction no matter what ratio of C:F:P results in significantly better health and longer lifespans. Lifespans that are beyond the normal for that species. For example, when mice are put on calorie restriction from a young age they can live upto equivalent of 150-180 human years! This is not just merely disease prevent but an actual slowing of the aging process.

Now in humans we've already seen some pretty nice results, this table is from the fontana study done a few years back looking at a small group of people who had been on CR for long term. They by the standards of a 'low carber' are eating many more carbs. Does it result in high risk of disease?

It looks to me that we have an extremely low risk profile for common diseases that kill people. Now you can argue that the controls were not exactly skinny but let that not take away the actual results in the CR group. They are excellent by any standard. Extremely low insulin which is below the normal reference range, blood pressure equivalent to a healthy non-obese 10 year old, cholesterol of a teenager (and they were 50 years old on average), low glucose, virtually no low grade inflammation going on. Everything looks as good as you could hope for and without a doubt confers a very high protection from heart disease and diabetes, and diseases related with inflammation. [2].

Later on then another study came out showing that the hearts of CRONers was on average 15 years younger than their age! [3].

Someone tries to bring up the Minnesota starvation experiment where they experienced dramatic loss of weight and lots of symptoms. But these guys were heavily exercised as well and their nutrition nowhere near as good as CRONies today. In the Biosphere two experiment which you can see the paper abstract HERE they did not experience any significant negative symptoms as in the minnesota experiment!

From the biosphere two paper which resulted in calorie restriction during the 2 year period they were locked in.

Their calories went as low as 1700, and then went back up to the 2400k/cal eating the same food. What this showed was a worsening of most health parameters and a shift away from the CRON biomarkers we see as they consumed more calories.

Our study differs
fundamentally from that of Keys in that the Biosphere 2
crew members were calorie restricted but well supplied with
all other essential nutrients (Tables 1 and 2). The dietary intake
used in the Keys studies was patterned after the postwar
intake of certain semistarved European populations
and may have been deficient in many nutrient factors other
than calories. (The Keys report is not very clear on this issue.)
Also, the period of dietary deprivation in the Keys investigation
lasted only 6 months, in contrast to the 2 years

The subjects of the Keys report
(all male) suffered lethargy, mental confusion, weakness,
and peripheral edema, that is, the classic signs of a
starving malnourished population, and they performed no
work activities. None of these signs appeared in the Biosphere
2 crew members

Now a low carb diet will lower insulin levels, and insulin is well known to be involved in aging, and the lower your insulin and high insulin sensitivity is correlated with better health, but by itself is unlikely to extend maximum lifespan that much. Runners have remarkably similar insulin sensitivity that is much like what we see in calorie restriction, but they do not show the same other benefits we get from calorie restriction with optimal nutrition. [1]. Mice that are exercised also show much better insulin sensitivity, but once again they do not exhibit the huge maximum lifespan extension, only an extension in mean lifespan which means the aging process has not been slowed down. Low carb by itself can only do so much, otherwise, it's calories from ANY source, preferably cutting carbs that will extend lifespan. This graph perfectly shows the correlation between percetnage of food intake relative to ad lib and the maximum lifespan extension. i.e you feed the animals 30% less, on average they will live 30% longer and gain a 30% increase in maximum lifespan, or little less if they are started later in life. CR works in a few species such as; Worms, Spiders, Fish, Guppies, Rats, Mice, Dogs, Rhesus Monkeys and more. A few animal data can be seen HERE on the life extension you get from CR

Some low carbers for instance will tell you that because the animals are fed less carbs that it's not the lowering of calories but it's feeding less 'poison' as they put it, in the form of carbs. So that is why they live longer. No No No! Again, you feed an animal low fat, high fat, high protein, lower protein, high carb, low carb, as long as the animal has enough nutrients and its calories are lowered, it will live longer. Typically the researchers will feed the exact same amount of micronutrients to both groups. So there are no differences to influence the longevity of the animals.

Something else from that thread which is wrong

M Levac says

Cutting total calories means to cut calories below our actual needs. Optimal nutrition explicitly includes fuel and thus total calories. As a consequence, optimal nutrition is impossible to achieve. Therefore you can eat CR or ON but not both.

If CRON was possible, its proponents wouldn't see the need to supplement. Therefore they really practice simple caloric restriction with supplementation in order to simulate optimal nutrition. They don't trust the tenets of CRON.

All of us know how ridiculous this is. I can make up a 1500k/cal diet and easily meet all nutritional requirements without the use of supplements, and I think many female CRONers can go even lower in calories than this and still meet the RDI for all nutrients. By using DWIDP or CRON O METER I can do this very easily. Right now I'm meeting and exceeding almost ALL nutrients without using supplements on a 1700k/cal diet! At extremely low calorie intakes long term CR when started in adulthood requires some additional supplements to keep up the nutrition, but when you start CR from a very young age the mice actually don't get the deficiencies and actually go on to life very, very long lives.

On calorie restriction the animals will develop less cancer, eliminate diabetes, almost eliminate heart disease, kidney disease, alzhiemers, parkinsons, autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, a model of MS, Sjorgrens syndrome. It also eliminates or attenuates allergies like hayfever, dustmite allergy. It also helps reduce asthma (which can be made worse by allergies). Osteoarthritis can also be minimized from CR and delayed even [see the graph on dogs below]. CR preserves immune function with age, it attenuates the loss of lean body mass with age as you will see in a graph from a long term rhesus monkey calorie restriction study[5]. Not only do CR eliminate, slow down or delay all these diseases... it also keeps you looking much younger too. A healthy diet can slow down the signs of aging, but it seems from the identical diets that animals are placed on that it's CR that is the biggest factor.

So first lets see some survival curves and tables from animal experiments comparing ad lib with CR fed group.

This was a recent study where they fed dogs 25% fewer calories and maintained this from age 3 year. Which is already quite late into the animals life. The animals food intake had to be increased during the study because some showed signs of being very underweight. Although this was a concern for the researchers the animals probably would have tolerated it well. But they don't want really early deaths from a long term study so they upped the calories in the restricted group.

The results we quite remarkable and the survival curve is similar to what we see in mice. The only reason there the maximum lifespan was not significantly extended was simply because there were so few dogs in the study. When studies on mice use a much larger group. From a magazine article that was published on the AOR website (2).

While eleven of the original 24 CR-fed dogs were alive at the
end of the twelfth year of the experiment, only one out of
24 control dogs survived that long. And 13.3 years into the
study, the last conventionally-fed dog had died, while one
in four of the CR-fed dogs were still alive and kicking. The last
dog in the CR group pushed on to nearly fifteen years of age, becoming a canine “centenarian” nearly two years after the last of the conventionally-fed
animals had died.

Also they experienced much less problems with osteoarthritis, which when severe is pretty much the end of a dogs life because it really makes their quality of life poor and is painful. This is from [7]. At all ages you can see that there is much less arthritis in the CR dogs.

Calorie Restriction Muscle loss - Yes calorie restriction can result in lower lean body mass but what is interesting is that overtime with aging you lose muscle, calorie restriction seems to slow this age related loss of muscle mass down in dogs, rhesus monkeys, rats and mice, and almost certainly humans too.

Another quote from the lowcarb thread:

The very concept of cutting calories to maintain muscle mass is absurd. Everywhere else we advise to increase calories especially protein to maintain muscle mass. How could eating less cause us to retain more muscle? It's impossible to reconcile the two hypotheses.

Impossible? A graph from [5]. If you look the Calorie Restriction monkeys have more estimated skeletal muscle mass at 17 years than the normally fed control group do at 10 years! This is like in human equivalent of a 51 year old calorie restricted male having more ESM than a 30 year old. The muscle according to rodent studies also functions better. [6].

And from the article [8].

"Scientists from the University of Calgary found that rats fed a nutritious, calorie-restricted diet maintained their muscle mass much better than rats that ate a normal amount of food. "It's the equivalent of an 80-year-old rat with the muscles of a 20-year-old rat," said Russ Hepple, a physiologist at the University of Calgary.

Although it is well-documented that a low calorie diet increases life expectancy, this is the first study showing a connection between diet and strength. In Hepple's experiment, rats that consumed a low calorie diet lost only 20 percent of their muscle mass as they aged, with no loss of muscle function. Rats fed a normal diet lost 50 percent of their strength and 50 percent of their muscle function as they aged."

The fact that CR works in every species it has ever been tested in makes it very likely that CR will work to some extent in humans. We will certainly have a higher life expectancy than the average person eating a normal diet. I've posted this before but HERE

is a survival curve of seventh day adventist who don't smoke, drink alcohol and eat a vegetarian plant based diet. They are NOT on a CRON diet though, their average BMI in recent studies show it's aroun 24-25. It's also interesting that the results in humans from the baltimore study showed that the same biomarkers that are seen in humans and monkeys such as lower body temperature, lower insulin levels and maintaining higher levels of DHEA results in longer lifspans.

Now I'll leave you with a collection of pictures I've collected over the years of comparison pictures of CR'd and Ad lib age matched and how much they differ in their appearance. They consume the same food, just different amounts.

You can see the photo album whic I'll keep updating over time so make sure you check back at this link. It's a link to my facebook page with the pictures. HERE

CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE

The above picture on the left column you have Johann in 1990 and then in 2003. You can see his fur has changed completely and shows a general aged appearance. If you look at Eeyore on the right column the change is much more subtle and still looks like a youthful monkey.

In the above picture the normal fed rhesus monkey on the top row shows that he is frail, aged, wrinkled, probably diseased. You can clearly see by his posture too. The age of the normal fed monkey is 30.1 years which is about 90 human years. The monkey below in the first picture is just a year older at 14.3 years than the control and he has a similar appearance at this age. Fast forward to when the calorie restricted monkey is 32 years old which would be about 96 human years and he still looks extremely youthful, nice posture, nice coat, and probably generally much better off and expected to live a few more years yet. Maybe another monkey centenarian.

The above pictures shows the Left Rhesus monkey here is on the CR diet and is compared with a grey'd normal fed monkey who didn't have his calories reduced. Aging is much less apparent in the CR'd monkey on the left.

Healthy aged calorie restricted monkey on the left. Old frail age matched well fed monkey on the right. See the difference?

Two mice. One has been CR'd for his life and the other hasn't. As you can see by the quality of the fur the CR animal is in much better condition, and he would have likely go on to live a happy, disease free, longer life long after the bottom mouse has died.

Will CR work in humans?
CR will work, and in my opinion is working in humans. At the end I absolutely do not give a crap what diet works best and have no need to defend any 'popular diet', I'll do high carb, low carb, low protein or high protein... whatever, give me the evidence that it extends maximum lifespan in a healthy long lived mouse and I'll do it. And please do NOT fall for the mistake that something extended lifespan without looking at the actual mouse used and data first. Just take a look at the control group lived and check it out. If it's a 'diseased mouse' that lives an abnormally short time then anything that extends its life is useless data, because it might just be corrective rather than having some anti-aging effect. Now I'm not picking on low carb, because in actual fact there is some data that shows when CR'd mice are put on a higher fat (40%) or higher protein (upto 50%) they actually live even longer. But remember, whatever the macronutrient level in the CR group it always tends to live far longer anyway. So what I choose to eat by is a 'ZONED DIET'. And actually there is an excellent post on this that I'll share a link to in my next post... I'll have to copy the text and put it up on a link for you but it's very long and very well thought out and lots of references supplied. Basically mice on CR do better in the Zone than a higher carb diet.

When you go to these vegan, vegetarian, low carb forums or whatever, think about what you're actually reading because there will be a heavy amount of bias going on and people making some false statements. Sure I have my bias that calorie restriction is better to live by, but it's actually backed up by 75 years of experimentation and some very good science, and recently very good results in humans than have been doing CR for a long time. The human results seem to almost be identical to what happens in the animals. We not only look younger than our actual age, but we're healthier than the majority of people. Calorie Restriction is easy to do, you just lower calories and are able to eat an amazing variety of delicous foods without worrying that it has fat, or that it has too many carbs or protein. At the end of the day, as MR popular saying goes; "it's calories, calories, calories".

Calories Intake is the most important factor in mean and maximum lifespan. CR works in yeast, worms, spiders, rats, mice, dogs, monkeys, cows among others. It probably works for humans to some extent, although it's not known how dramatic the effect of calorie restriction would be. In animal studies if you restrct from an early age you have a dramatic increase in lfiespan in proportion to the degree of calorie restriction. This means, if you restrict an organisms calorie intake relative to what it wants to eat (ad lib) by 30%, it will live on average 30% longer and it's maximum lifespan extended by 30%. A true slowing of the aging process rather than just squaring the curve and extending only mean lifespan.

Survival curves for 4 groups. Survival curve for sedentary control rats in group B is significantly different from that of runners in group A (P < 0.02), food-restricted runners in group C (P < 0.0001), and food-restricted sedentary rats in group D (P < 0.0001). Survival curve for runners in group A is significantly different from that of food-restricted runners in group C (P < 0.01) and food-restricted sedentary rats in group D (P < 0.01).

References

1. Calorie restriction appears better than exercise at slowing primary aging

2. Calorie restriction reduces risk of heart attack, stroke and diabetes

3. Caloric restriction appears to prevent primary aging in the heart

4 . AOR. Truth to the fountain of youth

5. Attenuation of sarcopenia by dietary restriction in rhesus monkeys.

6. A. M. Payne, S. L. Dodd, and C. Leeuwenburgh
Life-long calorie restriction in Fischer 344 rats attenuates age-related loss in skeletal muscle-specific force and reduces extracellular space
J Appl Physiol, December 1, 2003; 95(6): 2554 - 2562.

7. Gail K. Smith, Erin R
Lifelong diet restriction and radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis of the hip joint in dogs

8. Calorie restriction shown to boost longevity and slow loss of muscle mass in animal experiment

9. Lindsted K, Tonstad S, Kuzma JW.
Body mass index and patterns of mortality among Seventh-day Adventist men.
PMID: 1885263

10. Holloszy JO.
Mortality rate and longevity of food-restricted exercising male rats: a reevaluation.
J Appl Physiol. 1997 Feb;82(2):399-403.
PMID: 9049716

Still alive!

2009-01-03T17:32:00.006Z

I thought that I should make an update on how i'm doing!

I'm really doing well actually, however I unfortunately did get a minor URI a week before christmas with flu-like symptoms that lasted about 2 days and then I completely recovered... yes it was that fast! I was fortunately very lucky because everyone else in my family had symptoms for over 2 weeks and were very ill in bed for days and much more sick. So it's not like I never get sick, I now just get sick less often, and it's usually over quite quickly. During the time I got sick I also didn't sleep that well for a few nights so that obviously didn't help!

Now over the christmas when the majority of people start gaining weight I gained exactly 'NOTHING'. Yes, consistently maintaining my weight of 110 lbs is very easy to do. I'm ready to go for some more blood work at the end of January which hopefully comes out okay. Last time my CRP was a bit high but I felt a bit of gastritis on the day I had the blood drawn so this would have probably accounted for the subclinical inflammation.

There aren't really any major changes at all to my CRON diet, I'm still eating pretty much a zoned diet which suits me great, and right now i'm not particularly worried about my IGF-1 levles in relation to protein intake. This could potentially be an issue for late onset CR, but if you slow down 'aging' and push back everything that results in less resistance to cancer, then the chances you'll get cancer as you reach 50+ is much lower, this is when cancer rates really start to increase in the general population.

Also I'm looking forward to joining Kung Fu class just down the road from me at end of January. That should be great!

Dan Buettner and the Blue Zones on Oprah

2008-11-24T03:42:00.000Z

Watch Dan Buettner and the Blue Zones on Oprah. Tuesday, November 25

On Tuesday, November 25, The Oprah Winfrey Show will devote the full hour-long show to tracking Dan Buettner’s research into the Blue Zones. During the show, Oprah discusses with Buettner and Dr. Oz exactly how each of us can live in our own “Blue Zone” and add more good years to our life. Buettner reveals what key kinds of food we should eat every day, what kind of community we should build around us, the role that faith plays in living a healthier life, and several methods to incorporate more physical activity into our daily lives.

You can find what time the show is on by going to the link below.
http://www.oprah.com/locallistings

Fox news Jamie Colby Calorie Restriction segment

2008-11-21T23:18:00.006Z

There will be a Calorie Restriction segment tomorrow on Fox News with Jamie Colby. From Pauls email to the CR Society he says that it's expected to air on the weekend when on Jamies own show between 12:00-2:00 p.m on Saturday and 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m on Sunday.

Apparently Jamie said she would try to do the best CR interview, Paul and Meredith seem to think it will turn out very well. So don't forget to tune in to the show tomorrow to catch it. If you miss it then I think it might be put up on fox news website, which I'll provide a link for if it's there.

Heres an article the show
The Secret to Longevity: A Little Science and Lots of Healthy Living

The Truth about Sugar

2008-11-19T22:53:00.002Z

Nutrition by Natalie. Part 2 is much more shocking than the first part, but it just shows you how much sugar is hidden in all those products! Scary!

PART1

PART2

Haven't had time to post lately, big update soon though!!!

Live to be 150

2008-11-10T01:09:00.000Z

Here is the CR part of the program. :)

Resveratrol update

2008-11-07T00:28:00.002Z

I have a big post coming on resveratrol and will post it in one or two days... for now here is David Sinclair talking about resveratrol. I decided to post about this in light of the new studies coming up on resveratrol lately. Including this one

A new drug proves effective in fighting obesity and related diseases while increasing stamina in mice.

The video below is worth watching.

Resveratrol - Learn to Live Longer

Enjoy!

The Time of Our Lives

2008-10-13T00:15:00.001+01:00

The Time of Our Lives

Science meets hope in this episode of Catalyst, as some of the world’s leading minds take us on their race for the ageing “cure.” Can we really stay young through diet, or is the way we get old all in the mind? Science is chasing a longevity pill - but should we be tampering with the cycle of life and death? In this, the second part of Catalyst’s special on ageing, we’ll see how close we are to living healthier, longer lives. We also ask whether the human brain and its ability to extend our life expectancy could achieve more than is good for us.

PART 1

PART 2

60 Minutes - Forever Young

2008-10-08T17:22:00.001+01:00

Video with a small section on CR. Paul and Meredith are in it once again, also a small part on Okinawans too. The 110 year old okinawa is looking very good for her age. Also Meredith and Paul are in the video, they mention their ages and Paul is 60 and Meredith is 62! A lot of the video is looking at Resveratrol.

SEE VIDEO HERE

Forever Young

The CR Way on MyFox

2008-10-05T21:52:00.002+01:00

Paul shared with me the link to this video so I uploaded it on my youtube channel. To see all the other videos check out the link on the website links.

Age reversal with CR

2008-10-05T00:35:00.008+01:00

Is it possible? Yes I absolutely think so. I found this photo that I forgot about, because well quite frankly I didn't like how I looked in it so didn't need reminding. What is interesting is that most people think I look younger now at almost age 24, than I did when I was 19 years of age. Another reason to go on CR, you can look so much younger and get quick results. You'll age more slowly than your peers as the years go by. I have other photos if I can find them and I look younger now than I did even when I was 17.

Did you know that SIRT1 blocks NF Kappa B activation? Which is involved in inflammation... Calorie Restriction up regulates SIRT1, and probably reverses aging of the skin. Here is a bbc news article explaining what happened when they blocked NFKappaB in skin

By blocking the protein in older mice for two weeks, they found the skin was thicker and more cells appeared to be dividing, much like the skin of a younger mouse.

Skin age reversal in mice

CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE

Calorie Restriction and Protein

2008-10-02T18:27:00.003+01:00

Recent articles have been showing up lately about the protein IGF results in CRONies from the WUSTL study by DR Fontana. It seems most are coming up with the conclusion that calorie restriction does not work in humans, because this data disagrees with rodent sutdies. They are completely ignoring all the positive findings in humans showing that it's very likely that humans are responding to CR with more youthful health biomarkers and probably a longer life expectancy. No one can give a true answer to whether or not CR works until there is a study spanning across 100 years or so, and by then we'll have, I think, much more effective ways than calorie restriction at reversing aging.

If you refer back to some old studies done on rodents you will find that increasing protein intake, in the context of a CR diet, leads to 'longer life' in the CR group in rodents, and less disease. Michael from the CR Society actually replied with a few links on imminst which are worth the read. See them HERE
I'm unsure whether the protein increase (upto 50% of the diet) attenuates the reduction of IGF-1 normally seen in CR mice, but I assume it does to some extent. This is not evidence against CR at all, pretty much all previous results on humans have been beneficial. To name a findings; Virtually no risk of heart disease, diabetes or stroke. Little risk of autoimmune disease, no inflammation, less DNA damage, up regulation of genes involved in longevity (SIRT1) (but this is still under question), biomarkers that correlate with longevity such as very low fasting insulin and glucose, low body temperature, and overtime we expect less decline in DHEA. We see the same hormonal, metabolic changes as are seen in rodents, dogs, rhesus monkeys. Doctor Fontana even found that those on CR have hearts that function 15-20 years younger than their ages! This is big news. Interestingly I came across an article one day that showed in centenarians their heart function as measured in CRONies measure about 20 years younger than their age. It will be hard to find this article but it's out there somewhere. We hypothesis why centenarians become 'centenarians', why they make it to that big number of 100. Well if anything is going to give you that chance it HAS to be CR right? The common characteristics that are thought to enable people to reach 100 are being found in those that go on a CRON diet.

Most deaths in humans is caused by cardiovascular disease, IGF-1 plays a big role in cancers and rodents DO die of cancer much more frequently than humans. Higher IGF 1 in humans is actually found to PROTECT against degenerative diseases. Sure having IGF 1 might incrase ones risk of cancer, but in the general population we see that higher protein diets are actually better and have less mortality not more. A lot of cancer deaths can be prevented by not smoking and just eating a healthy diet. Age is the biggest risk factor, and the ability of CR to preserve immune function, to up regulate DNA repair, maintain lower glucose levels and less inflammation... even with IGF levels similar to the ad lib group in Fontanas study, we should actually fare better off. I believe that this is not a negative finding at all, and people on a CR diet should really think carefully before reducing their protein intake to such low levels while on CR.

If you want to live long enough to see real anti aging therapies. Be smart and practice some form of CR, whether it be just cutting out snacks or being on a more moderate diet. CR, not supplements or anything else is going to give the biggest chance of staying alive.

Calorie Restriction CBS4 Video

2008-09-30T01:25:00.002+01:00

Cordell (and practically almost all other serious CRONies)

- Blood pressure of a child
- Cholesterol of a teenager
- Risk of heart disease; close to zero

Charlie Rose - Calorie Restriction

2008-09-29T17:42:00.002+01:00

Jump to 4:35 to watch the part on the Calorie Restriction Rhesus Monkey study. The study started in 1989 and are now starting to show some big differences in health. The whole show can be seen on youtube just look for the 1st part and watch all of them.

Another use for Honey

2008-09-24T14:32:00.003+01:00

I wrote a while ago that I use Manuka Honey because it's good for the throat to prevent infections, and it can be used topically too. Well now a new study shows that Honey is more effective than antibiotics at killing bacterial infections involved in chronic sinusitis. Many people in their lives get affected by sinusitis, whether it be an acute form or chronic. When it's chronic it can be a difficult thing to deal with and it seems like it never ends. Well luckily for me mine did and what cured it? A cold virus cured my bacterial sinusitis. That was kind of strange for me but the virus probably just got all the cells killed in the lining of the nose and the bacterial infection went out with the cells they so highly clung for a year :) No sinus problems since that 1 off thing I might add. I think it was actually caused by food being coughed up into sinuses at some point (broccoli). Weird hu?

So ok back to the story, in sciencedaily article it states;

Honey is very effective in killing bacteria in all its forms, especially the drug-resistant biofilms that make treating chronic rhinosinusitis difficult, according to research presented during the 2008 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, in Chicago, IL.*

In eleven isolates of three separate biofilms (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and methicicillin-resistant and -suseptible Staphylococcus aureus), honey was significantly more effective in killing both planktonic and biofilm-grown forms of the bacteria, compared with the rate of bactericide by antibiotics commonly used against the bacteria.

Source

One way to do this might be to dilute some Manuka honey (stronger than regular honey) and use with a neti pot or something to irrigate the sinuses. This could allow the honey to get to work in more areas of the sinus that trying to poke some thing up the nose and coating it that way. I wish I had known about this earlier, as it might have saved much trouble :)

Michael and Aprils CBS3 News Report (new)

2008-09-24T00:25:00.003+01:00

Michael and April who most CRers in the CRS know did any interview back in 2007 and I put the video somewhere here on the blog, check through archives in last couple months. This video is slightly different and contains different parts of the interview not seen in previous news report

Okinawa's living relics

2008-09-23T17:28:00.002+01:00

OKINAWA LIVING RELICS

The best video I've found on Okinawan longevity. This is a new one and I enjoyed it!

Excerpt from the documentary "How to live to 101".

2008-09-21T20:01:00.001+01:00

A good part of the documentary on Okinawans and their longevity

Okinawa study has been going on for over 20 years now and they have the longest life expectancy in the world, and more centenarians than any other country. They have the lowest rates of almost all diseases of aging such as heart disease, cancer, dementia, diabetes, osteoporosis, they live healthy right up until they die, and the reasons for this are discussed in this short 8 minute video on living longer.

Some key points;

Eat fewer calories *
Eat vegetables, fruits, nuts, fish, and lean meats
Maintain a good social life and support
Practise something called "hara hachi bu" (eat only until 80% full)
Avoid or limit processed foods
Read "The Okinawa Program : How the World's Longest-Lived People Achieve Everlasting Health--And How You Can Too"

Doing the above might give you longer healthier life and maybe you could reach your 90's, 100, or become a super centenarian 110+ years.

Worlds oldest male 113

2008-09-18T15:42:00.002+01:00

ARTICLE

Anyone measured his daily calorie intake yet??? :p

Seriously, the guys advice is to eat lots of vegetables, drink green tea, eat fish, drink milk, don't snack, don't smoke, and don't drink alcohol. Sounds like what a lot of us do on CRON now.

Here is a wiki article on the guy

This was him the other year in a picture. He said he wants to live forever... probably not likely, but I hope he has his wish to live at least another 10 years to beat Calments record of 122 years as the oldest person ever recorded.

longevity in response to treatment with serum collected from humans on calorie restricted diets

2008-09-17T16:14:00.003+01:00

In vitro cellular adaptations of indicators of longevity in response to treatment with serum collected from humans on calorie restricted diets.
Allard JS, Heilbronn LK, Smith C, Hunt ND, Ingram DK, Ravussin E; Pennington CALERIE Team, de Cabo R.

Laboratory of Experimental Gerontology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.

Calorie restriction (CR) produces several health benefits and increases lifespan in many species. Studies suggest that alternate-day fasting (ADF) and exercise can also provide these benefits. Whether CR results in lifespan extension in humans is not known and a direct investigation is not feasible. However, phenotypes observed in CR animals when compared to ad libitum fed (AL) animals, including increased stress resistance and changes in protein expression, can be simulated in cells cultured with media supplemented with blood serum from CR and AL animals. Two pilot studies were undertaken to examine the effects of ADF and CR on indicators of health and longevity in humans. In this study, we used sera collected from those studies to culture human hepatoma cells and assessed the effects on growth, stress resistance and gene expression. Cells cultured in serum collected at the end of the dieting period were compared to cells cultured in serum collected at baseline (before the dieting period). Cells cultured in serum from ADF participants, showed a 20% increase in Sirt1 protein which correlated with reduced triglyceride levels. ADF serum also induced a 9% decrease in proliferation and a 25% increase in heat resistance. Cells cultured in serum from CR participants induced an increase in Sirt1 protein levels by 17% and a 30% increase in PGC-1alpha mRNA levels. This first in vitro study utilizing human serum to examine effects on markers of health and longevity in cultured cells resulted in increased stress resistance and an up-regulation of genes proposed to be indicators of increased longevity. The use of this in vitro technique may be helpful for predicting the potential of CR, ADF and other dietary manipulations to affect markers of longevity in humans.

Diet as of today

2008-09-05T21:55:00.006+01:00

Heres just an example of what I eat in a day now. There are obviously some variations but they are small and the following is basically what I eat 95% of the time. Like sometimes I might have some strawberries, oranges, pineapples, Raisins among other things.

Breakfast

45g Oatmeal
Small Banana
Almonds
Walnuts
Blueberries
Whey Protein Drink
10g 70% Dark Chocolate
Essential Mix 3g
Cranberry Juice

Snack

Small apple
Bioactive Yogurt
cod liver oil
Essential Mix 3g (vitamins/minerals)

Dinner
Sweet potatoes
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Broccoli steamed
Cauliflower steamed
Whey protein
Tomato sauce or salsa
Brussel sprouts steamed (not for a while they're not in stock!?)
1 clove of garlic

Later on I'll eat
sweet potato (the other half from earlier)
Red onions
Kale
Cherry tomatoes on the vine.
tsp of extra virgin olive oil
half a serving of whey protein
2 cloves of garlic

If I don't have the last bit of food I might just open up a low sugar/salt can of beans if I'm in a rush. I pretty much meet 100% of everything by the time I get to 1700-1800k/cal :)

Oh yes, I missed out the 5-10 cups of green tea I drink per day :D

Substance Found In Fruits And Vegetables Reduces Likelihood Of The Flu

2008-09-03T19:23:00.002+01:00

News Article Sep. 3, 2008

Mice given quercetin, a naturally occurring substance found in fruits and vegetables, were less likely to contract the flu, according to a study published by The American Physiological Society. The study also found that stressful exercise increased the susceptibility of mice to the flu, but quercetin canceled out that negative effect.

Quercetin, a close chemical relative of resveratrol, is present in a variety of fruits and vegetables, including red onions, grapes, blueberries, tea, broccoli and red wine. It has been shown to have anti-viral properties in cell culture experiments and some animal studies, but none of these studies has looked specifically at the flu.

The researchers found that:

* Stressful exercise increased susceptibility to the flu. The mice that exercised to fatigue for three days were more likely to develop the flu than the mice that did not exercise (91% versus 63%).
* The mice that exercised developed the flu much sooner than those that did not (6.9 days versus 12.4 days).
* Mice that exercised and took quercetin had nearly the same rate of illness as those that did not exercise. In other words, quercetin canceled out the negative effect of stressful exercise.
* The severity of the symptoms among those mice that either did not exercise or those that exercised but took the quercetin was about the same.
* Quercetin had protective effects for the mice that did not exercise.

SOURCE: ScienceDaily

ill -- for 12 hours

2008-09-03T18:40:00.004+01:00

I used the advice below and it seemed to work once again! I started to get a mild sore throat in work about 7pm last night, and by this morning I was 90% back to normal, and now at 6pm I feel about 95%. Isn't knowledge great! There are so many things one can do to abort these nasty viruses. I am in work all week so I took today off so that I can give my throat a rest as a precaution so I don't lose it (since I call people on the phone and need my voice!)

I heard that many CRers have less colds, and when they do have them they are gone in a very short amount of time. I remember Dean saying that he only usually gets colds now for half a day... pretty much what I experience.

Plans for the next year

2008-09-01T21:23:00.003+01:00

I'm probably going to stop being lazy now and start doing a lot of different stuff. Back in November 2007 I mentioned that I would like to take Acting classes, so I been looking this up and found a few classes that start in end of September, might for those and they aint too expensive. Then I also got to take some singing lessons as in September I'm starting a new band. I also want to probably take a part time course at the college, maybe Spanish, but I'm not sure. I'd rather not waste an entire acedemic year doing nothing. I also am working much more now to so I can pay for all of this. This isn't all I want to do! I have so many ideas and plans, no wonder why I want to live a long time. I love everything haha :)

A few other things that I need to work on is doing Yoga more consistently again, and also want to get back into Karate as soon as possible too. But I won't push this because I need my achilles tendon to heal fully first.

As for the allergic reaction below, well, there was just some Rash that came up for no apparent reason other than some medicine I took last night for my stomach. It's pretty much 'almost' faded now, but I hope it goes by tomorrow because I have work! :D

Yoga

2008-08-31T14:15:00.004+01:00

Some cool mini videos from Tara Styles. To view more just click on here profile HERE

Below is one of her videos on strength building with Yoga

This is a preview of the Yoga DVD I use. It's really nice! I love doing yoga to this one!

Also Arturo (another person who does CR) has some good stuff on Yoga here

Live to be 150

2008-08-31T00:30:00.003+01:00

A good brief introduction into various areas of life extension ideas and research. The program is quite fast paced, but it stays quite interesting all the way through. They cover areas such as life extending drugs such as resveratrol, cryonics, Aubrey De Greys SENS approach to aging, Calorie Restriction, and how others are keeping healthy at an old age.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

PART 6

Juvess Second Try

2008-08-30T15:05:00.002+01:00

It's been a few weeks now since I last tried using Juvess, see belolw to read a bit about the failure! :) Well I have two products now which could help make it work this time

1. Neutrogena Exfoliating gentle face wash to uplug pores and remove dead skin
2. Aloe Vera Gel from Aubrey Organics, which also contains a couple other ingredients like vitamin E and grape seed.

Rather than just using the Juvess all over I'll and apply it to one area like the chin. Which also happens to be where breakouts are more likely to occur because it's in the T zone.

Anyway I'll let you know how it gets on. Nice to see with google analytics that the number of visitors is going up!

Secrets of Living Longer

2008-08-26T19:11:00.004+01:00

Secrets of Living Longer

I've spoke about this before but haven't put up this video yet. Dan explains his findings in 3 different areas where there is greater longevity in those that follow certain habits. The most consistent thing is that the poeple who live the longest were mostly vegetarian, they ate little meat and tended to be bean eaters. Seventh Day Adventists for example live upto 10 years longer than the average californian americans and they don't smoke, they don't drink, and they are vegetarian. However they are NOT on CR... as I've previously mentioned their BMI's are around 24 on average (Normal is 18.5-25).

Here are the survival curves for SDA Men and Women

"When vegetarians are forced to take medium-
risk values for all other covariates in the statistical
model, the corresponding expected ages at death are 85.3
and 88.6 years, respectively (Figures 3 and 4)"

Ten Years of Life; Is it a matter of choice?
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/161/13/1645

Background: Relative risk estimates suggest that effective
implementation of behaviors commonly advocated
in preventive medicine should increase life expectancy,
although there is little direct evidence.
Objective: To test the hypothesis that choices regarding
diet, exercise, and smoking influence life expectancy.
Methods: A total of 34192 California Seventh-Day Adventists
(75% of those eligible) were enrolled in a cohort
and followed up from 1976 to 1988. A mailed questionnaire
provided dietary and other exposure information
at study baseline. Mortality for all subjects was ascertained
by matching to state death tapes and the National
Death Index.

Results: California Adventists have higher life expectancies
at the age of 30 years than other white Californians
by 7.28 years (95% confidence interval, 6.59-7.97
years) in men and by 4.42 years (95% confidence interval,
3.96-4.88 years) in women, giving them perhaps the
highest life expectancy of any formally described population.
Commonly observed combinations of diet, exercise,
body mass index, past smoking habits, and hormone
replacement therapy (in women) can account for
differences of up to 10 years of life expectancy among
Adventists. A comparison of life expectancy when these
factors take high-risk compared with low-risk values
shows independent effects that vary between 1.06 and
2.74 years for different variables. The effect of each variable
is assessed with all others at either medium- or
high-risk levels.

Conclusions: Choices regarding diet, exercise, cigarette
smoking, body weight, and hormone replacement
therapy, in combination, appear to change life expectancy
by many years. The longevity experience of Adventists
probably demonstrates the beneficial effects of
more optimal behaviors.

How not to become sick

2008-08-21T22:44:00.019+01:00

Over the years you kind of get to know what helps and what doesn't when it comes to either stopping yourself from becoming sick, or just helping to relieve symptoms and hasten up the process of recovery. So in this post I will focus on what you can do to avoid becoming ill with viral infections. September is coming and when all the kids start going back to school there tends to be an outbreak of colds, and then shortly after the flu, and right now there seems to be a spike in the number of gastroenteritis illness which is mostly likely caused by the norovirus.

Green Tea - Green tea contains a polyphenol compound called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). This is usually the most active component against many virses, bacteria and fungi. Green Tea seems to alter the protein around the virus and stop it infecting the cells in the first place [1], but if this fails then green tea actually boosts the immune system. [2].

"Among subjects taking CSF there were 32.1% fewer subjects with symptoms (P = 0.035), 22.9% fewer overall illnesses of at least 2 days duration (P = 0.092), and 35.6% fewer symptom days (P < 0.002), compared to subjects taking placebo. gammadelta T cells from subjects taking CSF proliferated 28% more (P = 0.017) and secreted 26% more IFN-gamma (P = 0.046) in response to gammadelta T cell antigens, as compared to gammadelta T cells from subjects taking placebo. CSF was well-tolerated."

And another mechanisms from another study [3]

The compounds strongly inhibited adsorption of the viruses on red blood cell (RBC). They also restricted the growth of avian influenza virus in ovo with minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) of 5-10 microM far exceeding the neuraminidase (NA) inhibitor oseltamivir or M2 proton channel inhibitor amantadine. The antiviral activity appears to be mediated by interaction with hemagglutinin (HA)/viral membrane rendering HA less fusogenic at the initial stage of infection.

My advice is to replace whatever you drink with green tea. Make sure you get a good quality one however, something like Sencha or Matcha green tea, and from Japan if possible rather than China. The decaf products do comtain less EGCG than the caffeinated also. I believe 3 cups of decaf is equivalent to 1 cup of caffeinated green tea.

Garlic - It has been known for a very long time that garlic was a good anti bacterial, and anti viral. The compound responsible for this is the one that gives off that funny smell when you eat too much... but wouldn't you rather just smell a bit of garlic than be sick? I know I would. There was a report a few years back saying that 'garlic is the common cold cure'. Well not quite, however it does seem to do a remarkable job at reducing the number of colds, and reducing the number of days ill with symptoms. What you do is get 2 cloves of garlic and consume them immediately when you feel a cold coming on, then I eat 2 every 3-4 hours for a couple days... I then just stick to me normal intake of 2-4 per day as a preventative measure. So crush the garlic well and then you could possibly put it on a bit of bread, or if you're really brave try chewing it and swallowing. Be careful you don't burn your mouth because believe me, it is pretty strong and can burn right through the tissue in your mouth easily. From BBC news website that reported on the garlic study

Over a 90-day period during the winter when most colds occur, just 24 colds were recorded among those taking the supplement, compared to 65 amongst those taking the placebo.

The study also found that those taking the supplement who did catch a cold were more likely to make a speedier recovery than those taking the placebo and the chances of re-infection following a cold were significantly reduced

If you actually take a look at the full paper you will see that the people who were taking garlic only had significant symptoms for 1.5 days compared to 5 days in the placebo group!

More studies are definitely needed on garlic and common colds/flu. I have tried it out on a few friends and family members and their colds completely went away within 1 day if caught early enough. It has also worked for me and over the last 14 months since I been trying it I have only felt like I had a cold for about 1/2 a day. The results will vary because it also depends on the hosts immunity to virses as well. Garlic might simply just restore you to normal (average) if you are under stress, sleep deprived, already ill or have some other condition that affects your immunity.

Nasal Irrigation - Sounds disgusting right? Well a recent study was published showing that kids who used products that spray water up the nose such as sterimar help ward of infection. Sterimar contains water and sea salt at the right concentrations similar to that of the human body. Because of the osmotic effect of salt you want to have the right concentration so that it doesn't cause irritation to the nasal lining and even bleeding. But interestingly sea salt (or any salt) actually helps kill bacteria by this method, as well as increasing the action of cilia which is tiny hairs in your nose that remove particles and keep mucous moving. When these stop working or are paralyzed by things like cigarette smoke you can be more susceptible to colds and sinusitis (bacterial infection). You can also buy something called a neti pot which are quite cheap and make up your own using 1/4 of a tea spoon of salt for 500ml water. This seems to work fine for me. Make sure it's cooking salt and not table salt. I personally do not recommend doing this neti wash if you have an active infection because it can easily spread the cold to your ears and block those up, simply because of where the eustachian tubes are located.

Vitamin D3 - Have you been looking at the news lately on this vitamin? It seems like everyday there is positive results coming from studies. A double blind placebo controlled study that was held in new york showed that giving subjects vitamin D3 resulted in 70% less colds and flu. There was another study that took place in a hosptial where a doctor gave his patients over 1000IU of vitamin D3 per day and when there was an outbreak of flu, none of those recieving the vitamin D caught it. I predict that in the UK there will be a big cold and flu season again simply because we've had such a poor summer. The best thing you can possibly do for yourself right now is to make sure that you have high normal level of 1,25(OH)D3. You can order this test from your doctor, but 1000IU capsules should get you within a good range, and 2000IU is almost certainly safe too. If you go down to my previous posts a bit you can view a couple videos on vitamin D that might interest you. Here are some extracts from the medicalnews website.

guess our hospital was under luckier stars as only about 12% of our patients were infected and no one died. However, as the epidemic progressed, I noticed something unusual. First, the ward below mine was infected, and then the ward on my right, left, and across the hall - but no patients on my ward became ill. My patients had intermingled with patients from infected wards before the quarantines. The nurses on my unit cross-covered on infected wards. Surely, my patients were exposed to the influenza A virus. How did my patients escape infection from what some think is the most infectious of all the respiratory viruses?

My patients were no younger, no healthier, and in no obvious way different from patients on other wards. Like other wards, my patients are mostly African Americans who came from the same prisons and jails as patients on the infected wards. They were prescribed a similar assortment of powerful psychotropic medications we use throughout the hospital to reduce the symptoms of psychosis, depression, and violent mood swings and to try to prevent patients from killing themselves or attacking other patients and the nursing staff. If my patients were similar to the patients on all the adjoining wards, why didn't even one of my patients catch the flu?

A short while later, a group of scientists from UCLA published a remarkable paper in the prestigious journal, Nature. The UCLA group confirmed two other recent studies, showing that a naturally occurring steroid hormone - a hormone most of us take for granted - was, in effect, a potent antibiotic. Instead of directly killing bacteria and viruses, the steroid hormone under question increases the body's production of a remarkable class of proteins, called antimicrobial peptides. The 200 known antimicrobial peptides directly and rapidly destroy the cell walls of bacteria, fungi, and viruses, including the influenza virus, and play a key role in keeping the lungs free of infection. The steroid hormone that showed these remarkable antibiotic properties was plain old vitamin D.

Steam Inhalation - This is simple but can be quite dangerous so be careful if you decide to do this. Just boil kettle water and put it into a bowl. Then get a towel and put your head under it and breath in the steam. Simple but only seems effective for a short while. I still use the method however.

Ginger - Ginger is a well known anti emetic. Meaning, it prevents sickness and nausea. Some doctors instruct women to use it while pregnant and has morning sickness, other uses are travel sickness, general nausea and indigestion, acid reflux disease. The only one it doesn't seem to be effective for is when use post operatively (after operation with G.A). It can be also used to help unblock the noise and is an weak antiviral so could help with cold symptoms. The best use for this herb is simply when you have a bad stomach and don't like being sick. I have managed not to be sick for almost 6 years because of gingers anti emetic effect.

Red Wine - There was a study on the BBC news website a few years back showing that red wine stops common colds. This is probably due to the resveratrol found in red wine. [5]

"Rather than directly attacking the flu virus itself, resveratrol seems to block host-cell functions that are essential for viral replication, says the report by Anna T. Palamara and colleagues at the University of Rome. They write that the substance holds promise as a possible weapon against flu."

Resveratrol also has been succesful at blocking bird flu too. Might be worth keeping this one handy in case of a future outbreak.

Broccoli - Broccoli can restore supressed immune function and also transiently stimulate immune function. The effect is quite dramatic and in-vivo studies show that it stimulates various immune system components to augment the hosts defence against cancer, viruses, bacterial infections and fungi infections.

Diindolylmethane (DIM) Immune Modulating Properties Include:
Stimulation of Interferon-γ Sensitivity by Increasing IFN-γ Receptors
Stimulation of Interferon-γ, G-CSF, IL-6 and IL-12 Production
Synergy with Interferon-γ in Expression of the MHC-I Complex

From DIM activation centre website

I recommend you look at reference [8] and read the results for yourself.

Lactoferrin - Lactoferrin can be found in breast milk, cows milk, whey protein. Your body uses lactoferrin in various places such as saliva, tears, urinary tract to prevent infections. It can also be useful in preventing food poison too. Theres a good article over at LEF that you can take a look at, see HERE

Beta Glucan - The one derived from yeast is best, but oats also have an impact on immune system too. I recommend you view this WIKI article here. Beta Glucan clearly has a massive impact on immunity.

Wash hands How simple is this? Just wash your hands frequently and do it with soap for at least 25 seconds under running water. Do not eat before washing your hands

UTI Infections - This is mostly for the girls as they tend to get these much more than men, but the advice can apply to both. Cranberry juice has severeal mechanisms by which is can stop things like bladder infections. Both because it is acidic and it makes the wall of the bladder slipper so the bacteria can't attach. E coli is most often the culprit in these infections. Another very effective method is to use something called D-Mannose. D mannose is basically a sugar and doesn't get digested, passes into the urine and coats the bladder wall, and the bacteria (only works mostly for E coli) attach to the sugar molecules and flush out... without killing a bacterium too! :D

Dental Infections - There is some evidence that green tea is effective against the bacteria that involved in tooth decay. Abscesses are painful, from experience, and from hearing other peoples cry of pain lol. So apart from your daily routine of brushing, flossing, mouth wash etc... drinking green tea is good for this too!

OK that is all from me today... I hope that some of this information will be of use to you. I hope everyone is able to stay well and free from infection. The above wont always work, but it can help as the evidence shows.

[1] Song JM, Lee KH, Seong BL.
Antiviral effect of catechins in green tea on influenza virus.
Link to study

[2] Rowe CA, Nantz MP, Bukowski JF, Percival SS.
Specific formulation of Camellia sinensis prevents cold and flu symptoms and enhances gamma,delta T cell function: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
Link to study

[3] Garlic 'prevents common cold'

[4] Epidemic Influenza And Vitamin D

[5] Red wine 'protects from colds'

[6] Chemical in grapes inhibits flu virus

[7] Compound in broccoli has immune-boosting properties, finds new study

[8] DIM

Free 5 day pass

2008-08-18T01:31:00.003+01:00

I just spoke to David Lloyd Health club yesterday because my friend recommended me for a free 5 day pass (or was it 3? will have to ask my friend again). I really want to start building up my strength as I said in my previous post. Last time I managed to bench about 70kg weights, which is actually not bad at all for weighing something around 50kg. I'll probably start slow because I'd rather not risk any injuries... . I think I'm probably going to gain a few pounds of muscle and see how I feel then. Mostly I'm dong this for bone health though because with CR that is of course very important. We don't want fractures so starting weight bearing exercises at a young age is a good idea :)

Nothing really new in terms of any changes to my CR lately, and I'll probably be doing a repeat of a few blood tests as the last ones had a few unexpected numbers. I'm sure everything will be fine now, things are looking up :D

Hope everyone is dong well, and CR is going good...

Ready to go back, almost

2008-08-15T05:13:00.003+01:00

I'm almost ready to get back into karate! My Yoga is going quite good at the moment and doing it twice a week. Now that I recovered about 95% from that cipro poison I need to start building back to how I was before that stuff happened.

One thing has changed however, my mind is saying to be 'gain weight'. I dont particularly like looking skinny as I do, in fact I think I would look healthier by gaining at least 5-10 lbs more. The thing is, if I want to stay true to my beliefs and use the only method known right now to slow ageing, then by sticking with CR I 'could' make it to 'escape velocity' and Aubrey De Grey puts it. But you know, given my age which is only 23, 24 soon (noooo!), I would probably make it anyway without moderate CR... if you believe in the Kurzweil future lol.

There is one thing I'd never go back to though, and that is eating a shitty diet. Vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, not forgetting the bit of dark chocolate lol, and I'm pretty happy. It tastes far better than any junk food out there :D

Two different paths

2008-08-15T05:03:00.003+01:00

I got asked a question today about what I'm going to do when I go to university. As medicine has been my goal now for quite a while I just said that, and forgot about the amount of thought I put into deciding over the last few months. It's true that I'd be happy with biomedical science, but medicine is my ideal job, I think. I have to decide really quickly what to do because by the time I'd finish I'd be over 30 years of age... well, maybe not so bad considering CR will keep me younger for longer... but those that have been reading my blog now know by now that I do want to get involved in researching into ageing too. Medical school would be like 6 years, thats including foundation year, and a degree in something like biomedical science would be half that. There is no saying that I'll even make my first attempt to get into med school, but it sure is a decision that I would want to make sure I'm doing the right thing -- the stress of long hours would age me lol.

There is always another idea and that is to go into med school as a grad student, complete biomedical degree and then apply for 4 year course in medicine. I really do have some big decisions to make, and pretty soon, if I am to apply for 2009... Biomedical science I have a bit more time to decide as you don't have to apply so early for that.

But I wont think no more about this now, it's 5am as I type this and I have work at 1pm... I am going to be tiiirrreeed today! :(

Is this guy for real? He is 52 years old?

2008-08-13T18:25:00.006+01:00

So is this guy for real, he claims he has been doing Calorie Restriction since his 20s and is now 52 years old in that photo. I think one person Brian Delaney from the CR Society has run into him once before, so maybe this is real. We can clearly see from the animal experiments that the old CR monkeys look really young. Some CRers who are now approaching 40 look like they're in their 20's. So I wouldn't rule it out. It would be interesting to see Elixer in a video or something, rather than an image which can be photoshopped a bit.

There is a discussion over at Imminst about him. I don't know, you decide, do you think it's possible to look in 25-30 years old at 50? I think so, but have no idea if this guy is real because hes so mysterious lol.

Juvess no more?

2008-08-13T18:19:00.002+01:00

As with the majority of skin creams I've run into a problem, yet again. I am thinking that i'll just have to go with the copper peptides to remodel the skin, and use just a general non oily moisturzer like oil of olay or something. The Juvess original contains somethings that could clog up pores and be comedogenic. For the majority of people the cream is fine but clearly not me. I will try an experiment and use it around the chin area and use an exfoliator like salicylic acid. The positives I noticed though were that in the morning my skin was much better, less red, better complexion, more soft and smooth. It's just approx 2 weeks after using it, it's like I'm 15 again. What I would give to have perfect skin! arghh! lol.

One thing I'm going to add back into skin care is Aloe Vera gel and apply at night, then wash off in the morning because I got told that direct exposure to sunlight will cause damage while using this.

Juvess Skin Cream

2008-08-02T02:30:00.006+01:00

I've just started using a new skin cream the other day which apparently is similar to the popular 'Creme de le mer' which is endorsed and used by many celebs such as kate moss, jennifer aniston, kera knightly, johnny depp are using because it is supposed to be a high quality moisterizer. Well it should be because it costs $110 per ounce. However Juvess has apparently go a very similar cream but also contains a few active compounds such as; Copper peptides which help increase collagen synthesis, it increases elasticity of the skin, helps remove scars by replacing abnormal collagen matrix with normal collagen. In studies shown here at SkinBiology the results of using copper peptides on skin is dramatic. Another interesting ingredient is Beta glucan, which is found in yeast and oats. A study a little while back found that oat beta glucan can penetrate the skin and increase collagen synthesis, stimulate removal of dead cells and it may help with acne prone skin. At Juvess they have a bar graph which shows the effects of the ingredients. The one below is the results of Beta glucan on skin

The other ingredient is Carnsoine which prevents glycation, and has the ability to actually renew cells to a more youthful state as seen here in this picture.

I've read that many people have had some good success with this cream and now use it to prevent damage and aging, and treat skin that has already been damaged and aged. At the moment I cannot comment on how well it worked for me and my post acne hyperpigmenation and minor scars, because I've only applied the cream 4 times in total. However what I can say is that the texture is really nice, it doesn't feel to heavy on the skin and is non greasy leaving a very soft and smooth feel to the skin. By now typical moisturizers would have me breaking out in spots the following day of application.... I feel confident about this cream because the ingredients are backed up with some good, and upto date science from what I've reseached over the past week. Juvess also only costs $30 for two ounces, and can last upto 6 months.

I can't wait to 'hopefully' see some good results in the coming months, I'll keep you posted.

Also has anyone else tried this Juvess with much success?

Here are the reference Juvess.com provides to support their cream. Some good evidence, take a read :D

References

1. Int J Cosmet Sci, Vol 27, Issue 5, pp. 292-292 (1), Pillai, R. et al - Anti-wrinkle Therapy: Significant New Findings in the Non-Invasice Cosmetic Treatment of Skin Wrinkles with Beta-Glucan.
http://www.ceapro.com/pdfs/ifscc.pdf

2. Biofactors. 1999; 9(2-4) : 371-8. Hoppe U et al - Coemzyme Q10, a cutaneous antioxidant and energizer. [PMID 10416055]

3. Z Gerontol Geriatr. 1999 Apr;32(2):83-8. Blatt T et al - Modulation of oxidative stresses in human aging skin [PMID 10408011]

4. Ann NY Acad Sci2006 May;1067:369-74. Hipkiss AR - Would carnosine or a carnivorous diet help suppress aging and associated pathologies? [PMID: 16804013]

5. Eur J Dermatol. 2007 Jan-Feb;17(1):12-20. Epub 2007 Feb 27. Pageon H et al - Collagen glycation triggers the formation of aged skin in vitro. [PMID: 17324821]

6. Exp Gerontol. 1999 Jan;34(1):35-45. McFarland GA, Holliday R. - Further evidence for the rejuvenating effects of the dipeptide L-carnosine on cultured human diploid fibroblasts. [PMID: 10197726]

7. Am J Pathol. 2006 Jun;168(6):1861-8. Varani J et al - Decreased collagen production in chronologically aged skin: roles of age-dependent alteration in fibroblast function and defective mechanical stimulation. [PMID: 16723701]

8. J Cosmet Sci. 2002 Jan-Feb;53(1):1-9. Fujimura T, Tsukahara K,... - Treatment of human skin with an extract of Fucus vesiculosus changes its thickness and mechanical properties. [PMID: 11917251]

Arthur De Vany

2008-07-19T02:15:00.003+01:00

Arthur De Vany is being interviewed by the immortality institute on the Ustream channel this sunday 20th July 2008. For the details go here. This will be interesting, he did speak at the Calorie Restriction Conference in 2004 I believe about what he think the optimal way of living is. You can head on over to his blog to find out more about him here

I must admit, hes not doing so bad for his age!

Life expectancy calculator

2008-07-17T22:58:00.004+01:00

I thought it would be a little bit of fun to input some data into this calculator and see what age it says I am expected to live to. I don't entirely believe these are all that accurate, but it was just something to do :)

You know a lot of things in life are just chance events, anything could happen [my cipro incident for example]. The calculator has some improvements now it seems because it no longer puts too much emphasis on your grandparents or parents history when it comes to things like cancer, because it clearly states about the relationsihp between smoking induced cancer deaths, rather than just cancer. All my grandparents died at around the age of 85, but died of lung cancer relating to life long smoking. So maybe they would have lived to age 90 or so.

So here was my result; "Your calculated age expectancy is 98 years"

Should be enough time for Aubrey to get enough funding for his plan to cure aging in humans. With Calorie Restriction I expect it to at least get me to ages equivalent of todays centenarians or if I'm lucky become a super centenarian. But by then surely medicine will be well advanced enough to deal with aging. I think moderate CR alone would get most people who started CR at a young at to about 100 years, and a fair few between 105-115... or is this just being too optimistic?

To take the life expectancy test go here

CR Mice

2008-07-05T22:20:00.002+01:00

Calorie Restriction started at middle age extends lifespan of mice. Videos of the mice from both groups are included in the video, and the CR mice appear to be very active in comparison to the ad lib fed group.

Calorie Restriction Protects rhesus monkeys from sarcopenia

2008-06-21T17:39:00.003+01:00

Well according to that abstract it significantly slows the decline. We see the same with various hormones, and bone with CR too. Start off at a lower level, but the decline is much slower.

There was an interesting study a little while back on rodents. An article states;

"Scientists from the University of Calgary found that rats fed a nutritious, calorie-restricted diet maintained their muscle mass much better than rats that ate a normal amount of food. "It's the equivalent of an 80-year-old rat with the muscles of a 20-year-old rat," said Russ Hepple, a physiologist at the University of Calgary."
Source

It seems very likely the same effect will be seen in humans. The fact that CR preserves muscle mass is very nice because not only could we expect to be more functional with age, but also have much less chance of bone fracture. People with better muscle function and mass tend not to be as susceptible to falls as old frail people with poor muscle function, co ordination... Even at 18y the CR group had a higher ESM than the ad lib group at 10 years!

Heres a direct link to the graph from the paper

Attenuation of sarcopenia by dietary restriction in rhesus monkeys.
Colman RJ, Beasley TM, Allison DB, Weindruch R.

Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1220 Capitol Ct., Madison, WI 53715. rcolman@primate.wisc.edu.

Sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass with normal aging, devastates quality of life-and related healthcare expenditures are enormous. The prevention or attenuation of sarcopenia would be an important medical advance. Dietary restriction (DR) is the only dietary intervention that consistently extends median and maximum life span, as well as health span in rodents. Evidence suggests that DR will have a similar effect in primates. Furthermore, DR opposes sarcopenia in rodents. We tested the hypothesis that DR will reduce age-related sarcopenia in a nonhuman primate. Thirty adult male rhesus monkeys, half fed a normal calorie intake and half reduced by 30% in caloric intake, were examined over 17 years for changes in dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry-estimated skeletal muscle mass. Body weight-adjusted skeletal muscle mass declined somewhat in both groups but was far more rapid in the control group. We have shown that moderate, adult-onset DR can attenuate sarcopenia in a nonhuman primate model.

PMID: 18559628 [PubMed - in process]

Exercising again

2008-06-20T14:16:00.003+01:00

It's been 8 months since I took cipro and my tendons are pretty much able to withstand exercise now. The doctor told me that it would take 3 weeks for my tendinitis induced by ciprofloxacin to heal, however it actually has taken 32 weeks!!!

But anyway, I'm back to doing yoga twice a week with 1 hour each session. I am practicing my Katas ready to go back to Karate in a couple months. I am also able to run now, just the other day I ran 5 miles straight without any problems, and actually even though I haven't done this sort of running in over 8 months I didn't feel unfit? LoL. I am also rebuilding my strength back up with my free weights. I'm using a pretty low weight right now but will work up very slowly to avoid further injury. Anyway thats it for this post... looks like I might be definitely fully restored by 12th month mark :)

Resveratrol in the News

2008-06-06T17:01:00.006+01:00

I guess we've all heard the resveratrol news by now... but am I taking it?

No I'm not. I think it is a little risky taking resveratrol in huge quantities when I'm already doing CR anyway. Sure it might enable the maximum benefit of CR, but on the other hand it could actually prevent CR from slowing down aging. It will be probably take years of more data on CR + Reseveratrol for me to even consider taking it long term. I don't drink red wine either, but was following a discussion the other week on red wine and CR... and how they might be synergistic. I kind of follow MR's point now when I think about it, sure red wine has pretty good evidence behind it, and thats why he and others choose to drink it, so one should maybe include it in their diet. The argument, which I also believed a year or so ago was that would the small amount of resveratrol in red wine actually contribute ANYTHING at all to a CR diet in reducing disease risk further. But then Michael brought up the broccoli argument. It's showing that its a good cancer protector, but would it add anything to a CR diet? So you can basically throw the argument to any functional food at all. For me I'll skip the red wine, but it seems like a safe bet anyway.

At the end of 2006 there was a study that came out showing mice on a HIGH FAT diet, 60% of the calories coming from saturated fat had their lifespan extended and was protected from the harmful effects of a high fat diet if they were given large doses of resveratrol.

In the recent study here it was found that mice on a normal diet (high carb) had similar gene expression profiles and had a benefit in cardiac function (like seen in human CRONies).

I've noticed some people are mixing these studies up. The first one was about reversing the effects of obesity induced by a high saturated fat diet, and the second recent one was more of a comparison between a normal diet (75.9% CHO, and 9.4% fat), vs CR diet, vs mice fed resveratrol. The CR ones still had the best result as they had less tumor incidence.

But with such low level of resveratrol creating some positive effects, maybe everyone should enjoy a glass of red wine every day for better health.

Anti aging pill could cost pennies

2008-06-03T21:38:00.004+01:00

Below is a picture showing a CR monkey vs a Ad lib monkey at 30 years. Once again, the CR monkey looks like it's still in its youth ;) Just click on it so you can view it better or to zoom in on the monkeys

The CR monkey is 32 years old, and the Ad lib is 30. You can clearly see
(try zooming for better view) that the CR monkey still has his youthful
looks, even at what is an equivalent age of 96 human years and at least from
the still image doesn't have a frail appearance. While the Ad lib monkey
looks old and frail. This seems typical of the comparison shots we've seen
from other rhesus monkeys in the study.

ARTICLE :

"It's not a matter of if, but when," said gerontologist David Sinclair of a drug that promises a long and healthy life -- not quite a fountain of youth, but perhaps a fountain of fitness.

Best of all, predicted Sinclair, you'll be able to afford it.

Speaking yesterday at a World Science Festival discussion on the science of longevity, Sinclair predicted that the drugs "could have as big an impact as antibiotics in the 20th century, and it's just around the corner."

Five years ago, Sinclair, a Harvard University professor and co-founder of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, discovered the molecule resveratrol. It targets a gene activated by calorically restricted diets, which have extended the lifespans of laboratory animals from yeast to monkeys.

Despite the paucity of human testing, some people already practice caloric restriction. Most, however, are discouraged by the spartan dietary discipline required of adherents. Questions also remain about long-term side effects. Instead, scientists are shooting for pharmaceutical shortcuts that do the same thing -- namely, reinvigorating our mitochondria, fixing a lifetime of cellular wear-and-tear.

Many gerontologists believe that the so-called diseases of aging -- cancer, diabetes, heart disease, dementia and any other condition whose primary risk factor is age -- originate in damage caused to our mitochondria by free oxygen radicals. These are an inevitable byproduct of turning chemical energy into our body's fuel, but corrode mitochondrial DNA, eventually causing organs and systems to malfunction and shut down.

READ THE REST AT THE LINK ABOVE.

Supersize vs Superskinny

2008-06-03T14:05:00.005+01:00

Elizebeth claims she is on a anti aging diet by eating very little, however it isn't apparent at first that she is eating the right foods or supplements to avoid deficiencies. The doctor in the video claims that she will ruin her health and age more rapidly by restricting her calories. She looks like in her 20's though I 'think' she is in her 40's and looks far healthier than the average person in my opinion. She WAS only eating 1000k/cal per day... She also believes aging is an illness and wants a cure. The program did not go into much detail of her overall. No real Idea if it was a CR or CRON diet.

She has a myspace here
http://www.myspace.com/weexistwhy

Those that are interested can view the video here;

Supersize v Superskinny EP4 Part 1

Supersize v Superskinny EP4 Part 2

Supersize v Superskinny EP4 Part 3

Supersize v Superskinny EP4 Part 4

Supersize v Superskinny EP4 Part 5

There are many other episodes of this program available on youtube which are also quite good. Though I hate the fact that in some of the episodes some are eating really healthy diets and are being told to eat lots of crap... It must be a big shock to their system. Most of the skinny girls seem to be eating between 1000-1700k/cal and have BMI's between 15 - 18.

Vitamin D

2008-05-20T14:42:00.003+01:00

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

2008-05-14T03:24:00.005+01:00

I've got my lab results back today and was surprised, both bad and good things. First of all the bad... my glucose was higher than expected, so was my Thyroid stimulating Hormone (TSH) and inflammation was much higher than what one would expect with CR. Plus quite low potassium. However, I will have to repeat the test due to the fact I developed a bit of gastritis on the very same day I had he blood test done... so a sub clinical infection might have skewed the results a bit. I'll have a chat with my doctor in 2 weeks and ask for a repeat on certain tests. The good news is that my liver seems fine, kidneys and doesn't look like I'm going to keel over just yet ;p

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 style 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... and it's not uncommon to see people on this diet have their total cholesterol go up to around 200-300mg/dl! I think the Low Carb group do have it right that limiting carbs is a very good way to keep insulin and glucose low, but i just have a feeling that they're shooting themselves in the foot a bit with all that red meat and saturated fat.

Anyway you can few my results HERE

Sun Damage Experiment

2008-05-11T19:08:00.006+01:00

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.