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My grandmother, who lived to 99 1/2 years young, once told me that the key to longevity is learning to deal with loss. No truer words were ever spoken.
Cat
There may be something to that. My mother was the oldest of four children. The two in the middle died 25 and 13 years ago, and her youngest brother is ten years younger than she is. He's in pretty bad shape. Has cirrhosis, which is weird because he wasn't a heavy drinker, and he keeps having to have fluid removed and has high ammonia levels in his blood. When I last saw my mother, she was telling me that she thinks she is going to outlive him, and I told her how sorry I was for her if that happened. She looked at me and said, "But you know, that's life. He's my baby brother, but he IS 80."
She has buried a son and a husband and the two sibs, one of whom was disabled. She's lost many friends by now. She did learn to deal with and accept loss.
I have been skipping breakfast. My first week I skipped breakfast and lunch and snacked on some nuts and berries, but very little. I was feeling bloated for weeks and felt I had to do something. My wife picked up a book by Dr. Jason Fung, The Obesity Code, and in it I read about fasting. I drink one cup of excellent coffee and eat a small lunch each day now. Feel trim, lost over five pounds quickly, and I’m not a big guy (160lbs). Feel much better.
For people who think they would be uncomfortable and cranky your stomach will shrink and you will likely feel less hunger after the first week or so. Worth a try.
Hmm. That is a good point. If it's only temporary, I might get through it.
One of the reasons it took me so long to quit smoking is that I assumed that the sadness and depression and cloudy mind that came from nicotine withdrawal would be with me forever. It took longer than a week, obviously, but it did eventually subside for the most part. Still miss that clear, fast thinking that comes when a jolt of nicotine hits the brain, lol, but I guess my heart is better for it.
I might be able to suffer being "hangry" for a short time, though I should probably stay away from people during that time.
In a sense, aren't we fasting when 12 hours or more pass between dinner and breakfast?? I used to read a lot about diet and longevity but since retiring, I just stick with moderation of all foods. I have seen so many variants of aging by observing relatives and friends that it all seems random at best. I have ice cream, steak and other supposed no-nos now and then because they taste good!!
Yes, I don't understand that either. But intermittent fasting I haven't read much about. I have read and even saw documentaries on television about the caloric restriction studies. That is simple restricting yourself to anywhere from 35-50% fewer calories, but it doesn't matter so much when or what time you eat it. In some studies it didn't even matter what body mass index was or whether the person was lean or not. It seems to all center around a stress response vs eating healthier.
"In essence, the hypothesis states that low caloric intake is a mildly stressful condition that provokes a survival response within the organism, helping it to survive adversity by altering metabolism and increasing the organism’s defenses against the causes of aging, whatever they may be."
The autophagy piece of IF is the important part. Some points to consider, in no particular order of importance:
• There are lots of ways to do this in terms of the length of your fasting and feeding windows. My sense is the most popular way is to skip breakfast (black coffee and/or mineral water only) and then do a lunch and a dinner with your family; thus you fast from after dinner to the following noon, an around 16 hour fast.
• Whether you want to lose a lot of weight or a little, one of the advantages of IF is something called autophagy, which usually sets in after around 12 hours of fasting. Google this. The Nobel prize was given for research in this area a couple of years ago. It's not a fad, but very genuine and health advantages are significant.
• Some people do longer fasts. You can investigate that if you like.
Link to paper on Autophagy by a Nobel prizewinner:
Yoshinori Ohsumi (大隅 良典, Ōsumi Yoshinori, born February 9, 1945) is a Japanese cell biologist specializing in autophagy, the process that cells use to destroy and recycle cellular components. Ohsumi is a professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology's Institute of Innovative Research. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshinori_Ohsumi
Advantages listed include:
1. Prolongation of life
2. Weight loss
3. Reduction of the likelihood of Parkinson's, Huntington's, dementia and cancer
4. Destruction of bacteria and viruses after an infection
5. Rids the body of damaged proteins and organelles, counteracting the negative effects of ageing*
6. Protects against excessive inflammation
7. Reduces fine lines, changes blood pressure and improves lean muscle mass
Pretty much what most sources are reporting. Autophagy is thought to occur at 12 hours of fasting. People who fast have a much reduced grocery bill and, even when weight loss is substantial, no need for surgery to remove extraneous skin, as the process gobbles that up, over time.
If it’s 12 hours then I’m definitely fasting. I eat a small meal around 5-6PM then I don’t eat again until 6-7AM. But only for a short time. But I don’t skip any meal at all.
My grandmother, who lived to 99 1/2 years young, once told me that the key to longevity is learning to deal with loss. No truer words were ever spoken.
Cat
I think, from what I've seen and heard over the years, that there is something to this. I think in broader terms it's resiliency. Developing a resilient personality to all of the things that come our way.
My grandmother, who lived to 99 1/2 years young, once told me that the key to longevity is learning to deal with loss. No truer words were ever spoken.
Cat
I think this is very true.
People who keep their stress levels down as much as possible and learn to accept certain situations seem to live longer in my family.
I know very few high strung people who have lived into their 90s. My parents both lived into their mid 90s in their own home until the last few weeks. They ate well (very little processed), kept their usual daily schedule, read books and newspapers, had good sleep patterns and lived with gratitude.
I do think genes have an influence that is sometimes unavoidable. My good friend succumbed to a deadly form of cancer that was prevalent in her family although she did everything “right”.
True. The laid back type of people in my family and my husband lived/live a very long time, it’s the ones who are easily stressed or annoyed about things that died young.
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