Calories Count on The Path to Longevity
Calories count on the path to longevity. Most of us know the phase you are what you eat. This says you are also what you don’t eat.
Calorie Restriction
Calorie restriction is more than a way of cutting calories. People who practice this also eat a nutrient dense diet. It has been found that in less complex organisms restricting calories can double or even triple lifespan. With the human population there are indications that this has a profound effect. These are not formal studies, but from interviews of people who have remained healthy and reached 100 years plus.
In a review article in Science, Nutrition, and Longevity researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, University College in London and the Andrus Gerontology Center at the University of Southern California, reports that calorie restriction influences the same handful of molecular pathways related to aging in all the animals studied.
The first author Luigi Fontana MD, PhD is interested in the ability of calorie restriction as a way to promote good health. “The focus of my research is not really to extend lifespan to 120 or 130 years,” said Fontana.
Calorie Counter
Instead of being up for the count, use a calorie counter. This isn’t about where is the beef; this is about where are the calories. The currency of health is in the amount and type of calories consumed.
Just putting the data out there such as in calorie counters isn’t going to save lives. People have been counting calories for a long time and look where they are. The strategic priority is to audit the type of foods that are consumed on a daily basis. Your body can’t run on 3 pieces of toast, only one candy bar, and a frozen low fat dinner.
A low calorie diet is not meant for those that keep eating the same poor diet. To see change the guiding principal should be the source of the calories.
Calorie Poisoning
Calorie poisoning is a relatively new phase that is being used to describe the current health landscape. The growing rates of obesity, cancer, premature ageing, cardiovascular disease and cognitive problems are examples of this in action.
What happens is the desire becomes so strong for a fix that the option of both health and longevity are shoved to the sideline.
The first step in this new world of abundance is to be wary of processed foods.They are the ones that set up the cravings that lead to overeating.
Solution
The growing rates of obesity are a reason some scientist think calorie restriction is a mute cause. But, Fontana said if researches who study nutrition and aging can understand how calorie restriction lengthens life and makes people healthier, it may be possible to develop less drastic interventions of medicines that influence pathways affected by calorie restriction, and help keep people healthy
Real Solution
The common sense solution is to eat more whole foods with lots of fruits and vegetables. The idea is not to concentrate on calories, but nutrition. There are very few cultures that have a healthy population that counts calories. This is a phenomenon of Industrial nations. It isn’t about an abundant food supply; it is about a poor food supply.
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