Cut calories, add years

A common worry among those who plan to reduce calorie intake in order to lose weight is decreased energy levels.

A common worry among those who plan to reduce calorie intake in order to lose weight is decreased energy levels. Contrarily, restricting calories not only helps you lose weight, it increases energy levels and life expectancy.
Research shows that animals served low-cal diets in labs live about 50 per cent longer and have lower rates of cancer incidence than control groups who are allowed to feed at their pleasure. Studies on yeasts, worms, fish, rats and rhesus monkeys have confirmed that prolonged calorie restriction increases longevity.
Calorie restriction has been shown since the 1930s to be related to anti-ageing.nbsp; How that happens has not yet been fully established but it8217;s been proved that calorie restriction reduces metabolic rate, oxidative damage and helps in overcoming age-related conditions such as diabetes.

In 2006, a calorie restriction study on humans was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Some 25 individuals had been voluntarily eating a nutritionally balanced diet providing at least 100 percent of the RDA for each nutrient, but averaging only 1,671 calories a day, for a period ranging from three to 15 years. The study showed that people who eat low-calorie, balanced diets have healthy hearts and youthful vigour at a time they would be expected to show signs of ageing. nbsp;

A recent study on 400 men by the National Institute of Ageing, US showed calorie restriction decreases atherosclerosis hardening of arteries by 40 per cent, improves insulin sensitivity, reduce basal metabolic rate BMR and decreases free radicals which lead to ageing. The key is to restrict only calorie intake and not the nutrients i.e. proteins, vitamins, minerals and phyto-chemicals.
Anecdotal data of places with a high percentage of centenarians supports the relation between calorie restriction and longevity. The Okinawa region of Japan has an estimated 50 centenarians in every 100, 000 people8212;one of the highest ratios in the world. A low-calorie intake 60 per cent of the RDA in Japan and only 25 per cent of the average intake of sugar by a Japanese was reported in schoolchildren in Okinawa more than 40 years ago. Later studies confirmed a 20 per cent calorie restriction in the adults of Okinawa as compared to mainland Japan. Their diets were rich in green leafy vegetables, soya, and some fish providing adequate amounts of nutrients, essentials vitamins and minerals. The people there almost never overeat. This impressive longevity data has been attributed to their low-calorie and high-nutrient diet.

Low-calorie diets cause positive hormonal changes. Reduced insulin release, for instance, could cut cell turnover, a factor associated with ageing. Delaying puberty may also play a key role in lessening DNA damage.
Eating less but healthy is not that difficult. A mild restriction of your calories beyond your accustomed intake, say 10 per cent, could add a few vigorous years to your life. This could be done by eating more brightly coloured fruits, vegetables red, yellow and green, fish and low-fat dairy and reducing sugars and refined starches,

You needn8217;t fear that a low-cal, high-nutrient diet may make you feel hungry. You8217;ll actually feel fuller. A study at the University of Alabama showed that individuals who were allowed to eat as much as they liked, provided it was only wholesome foods fruits, hot cereals, soups, salads, pasta, fish, chicken, brown rice, vegetables and whole wheat toasts, felt 8220;full8221; with as little as 1,500 calories a day. Given refined and processed foods, these same persons required up to 3,000 calories to feel satisfied.
Severe calorie restriction could be dangerous for infants, young children, pregnant and lactating women though. Anorexics shouldn8217;t get misled by the positive data on calorie restriction either.