Eat Less and Live Longer
Whenever we hear that we have to eat less in order to lose weight we start envisioning ourselves as being deprived and starving. Losing weight is one of the benefits of caloric restriction (CR). The truth is that restriction of our caloric intake may lead to anti-aging health benefits as well! Experimental studies have even shown that it is possible live longer by eating less calories. Let us take a look at how to slow aging with caloric restriction.
First of all, caloric restriction (CR) is not equivalent to malnutrition. Initially the goal is to reduce the number of calories consumed by changing what we eat instead of how much we eat. The simple truth is that many of the foods with the highest nutrient values are fruits and vegetables, which are naturally lower in calories. Therefore, if interested to slow aging with caloric restriction, one must consume a lot of lower calorie foods with dense nutrient value, like grains, legumes fish, fruits and vegetables.
Lessening the consumption of calories has been found to be effective towards having a longer life. There is also the absence of certain illnesses that are related to aging such as heart disease, hypertension and dementia to name a few. This is proven through modern experiments conducted on primates and mice.
Measurements taken of the regions of the brain that control cognitive ability and memory show that there is far less atrophy of brain tissue in the animals on a restricted calorie diet. The control group were fed healthy foods but allowed to eat as much as they wanted. This group showed all the expected signs of aging including brain atrophy and diseases of aging. Mice and rats which were on a 30% caloric restriction slowed aging by 30%-40%.
The average consumption of a human male is a little over 2600 calories daily. There is, however, no magic way to determine for everyone how many calories should be consumed if interested in slowing aging, because of body size differences, metabolism as well as the level of activities each individual partakes. This is the reason why two individuals consuming the same amount and kind of food can end up differently in terms of weight and size.
The key to slow down aging through less calorie intake is first by taking note of the number of calories taken in a day. Take note of this for a whole month to determine your average calorie intake. Lessen the amount of calories consumed by 5 percent on the second month. You should, however, be careful not to be left hungry or starving. The foundation of the whole process lies on the modification of one’s diet. The high calorie foods should be replaced with foods of lower caloric value which are rich in nutrients.
See your doctor and ask him to make a baseline for your cholesterol level, fasting blood sugar level and blood pressure. After that, start reducing your calorie consumption by 5 percent each month. Go to your doctor at the end of each month and have your statistics checked and recorded. The aging process is obviously slowed down if certain improvements can be noticed in the numbers indicated in the observations done. You can continue with the process of decreasing your caloric intake until the changes with your numbers come to a stop. This indicates that you have reached the healthiest level of calorie intake to make sure you are going to live longer and healthier.
Resveratrol, which is found in red wine and skin grapes, has been shown to mimic the effects of a caloric restricted diet. Studies have shown that in addition to potentially slowing the aging process, Resveratrol is the biggest medical discovery since antibiotics with many cardiovascular, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer benefits, just to name a few. If you want to slow aging with caloric restriction but the process seems too difficult to attempt, why not try nature’s perfect supplement, Resveratrol?