Longevity

[Empty_Cup]

Interesting BBC article on calorie restriction:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549

Question for folks:
What is your experience with fasting?

[Lee Chiang Po]

Fasting does nothing for you other than making you hungry. It is silly, and is bible based in most cases, which again does nothing for you. Longivity can be had with 3 major things. Proper diet, moderate exercise, and never, ever have more life insurance than it takes to get you buried.

[Empty_Cup]

Fasting does nothing for you other than making you hungry. It is silly, and is bible based in most cases, which again does nothing for you. Longivity can be had with 3 major things. Proper diet, moderate exercise, and never, ever have more life insurance than it takes to get you buried.

Caloric restriction has already shown to increase lifespan in mice and "has good evidence" in monkeys. There are not a lot of (clinical) human studies yet but you can see in the article what effect a 5:2 fasting regimen had for the reporter.

If you have some support for your statements above then please share.

[David Jamieson]

Fasting does nothing for you other than making you hungry. It is silly, and is bible based in most cases, which again does nothing for you. Longivity can be had with 3 major things. Proper diet, moderate exercise, and never, ever have more life insurance than it takes to get you buried.

I'm sorry, you are wrong and there is plenty of science to prove you wrong.
The Caloric restriction process has been under study for decades. It's pretty definitive in it's findings.

[Scott R. Brown]

Caloric restriction has already shown to increase lifespan in mice and "has good evidence" in monkeys. There are not a lot of (clinical) human studies yet but you can see in the article what effect a 5:2 fasting regimen had for the reporter.

If you have some support for your statements above then please share.

And dogs!!

I'm sorry, you are wrong and there is plenty of science to prove you wrong.
The Caloric restriction process has been under study for decades. It's pretty definitive in it's findings.

Are we talking calorie restriction here, or fasting?

The dog study took dogs and fasted them to near death, then fed them back to health and then fasted them to death and they lasted twice as long as the first near fatal fast.

[mawali]

Fasting and caloric restriction do have benefits but anything in moderation is always the key. Fasting, as part of 'spiritual renewal' or meditation is good for the soul as a direct response to eating until one's stomach is full and more!

I have seen some studies of caloric restriction and when they examined the 'coat' of old animal and those on caloric restriction. the latter had the appearance and movement of younger animals (usually rats and gerbils). Even the blood work showed better immunity and less 'old age' markers.

[Lee Chiang Po]

Fasting leads to starvation and malnutrition. Caloric restriction is different. If one eats only what it takes to sustain an even keel in their energy levels they are indeed more fit. Over eating or eating as much as one wants all the time leads to obesity, which will eventually effect your immune system. Heart problems as well. But regular fasting, or constant fasting, will cause your sustem to feed on itself, which can cause such problems as gout and kidney problems. Liver bile will break down your muscle tissues as well as other soft tissue and convert it to usable food energy. It causes lots of problems that can usually be associated with starvation and malnutrition. These studies done with small animals and dogs are not fully scientific, and it is not something new. Many years ago there was this fad going around where people were fasting a lot, and they eventually started having problems, like teeth falling out and eyesight problems.
As for the life insurance thing, there are many, many people murdered annually for life insurance. In fact I had a friend that was insured for a million bucks and didn't even know about it. His wife and her 2 kids murdered him and almost got away with it. I spoke with an investigator and he informed me that this was probably one of the most common motives for domestic murder, which has a direct effect upon longivity I think.

[GeneChing]

I fast as a spiritual discipline, as well as a cleansing process. It works fine for me.

I feel much better after a fast. And what it does to my head space is fascinating. My senses become very acute. My level of sensitivity increases tenfold. As a writer, these are critical skills as if I can't observe it, I can't really write about it.

[Syn7]

Fasting is also a way to detoxify. If you fast and do both physical(very light stretching and posturing) and mental exercise you can really give yourself a good base for a new program. It's a great way to start anything really. Lot's of water and contemplation will see you through even the toughest fasts and when done properly is a great way to "clean up". It can just as easily do damage if done improperly, so that is why the findings are all over the map when dealing with non scientific and relatively unstructured studies and evidence. If I drink OJ alot and then I die of heart failure it doesn't mean OJ killed me or was even bad for me. Some of these studies are just that bad. No control groups, no mid or long term follow up. Pure crap. Some idiot does something wrong then sh1ts all over it when he doesn't even understand what it is he's sh1tting on. Sad but common.

[Empty_Cup]

Fasting is also a way to detoxify. If you fast and do both physical(very light stretching and posturing) and mental exercise you can really give yourself a good base for a new program. It's a great way to start anything really. Lot's of water and contemplation will see you through even the toughest fasts and when done properly is a great way to "clean up". ...

Another fasting method vs. what was in the article is what I consider a "detoxification" method. As the method goes, you first cut out red meat, then all meat, then all veggies, then all solid food, then all juices until you are just drinking water then build this back up. Do this over a several-day period and drink ginger tea the whole time.

Anybody else have experience with this regimen?

[David Jamieson]

The idea of "detoxify" through fasting or juicing or whatever is hogwash. If you stop putting crap into yourself, your self will clean itself up naturally whether you fast or not. What's important is to not eat all that sh1t and drink all that pop etc etc.

detoxifying is a sales pitch for people looking for a quick fix solution to their years of bad habits instead of actually doing something real, significant and lasting about their poor habits around their personal health.

Anyway, if you look at the evidence, there is NONE for detox remedies etc etc. Besides antidotes for obvious poisons.

[sanjuro_ronin]

A few years ago I took my dad to do a colonsoscopy and he had to do one of those cleansings so that they could look inside and see everything.
I was there and I asked the technician about those herbal cleansings and the view that it detoxs and removes "undigested waste" and all that.
He showed me some scans of the stomach and intestines after they do the standard cleansing done before a colonoscopy and even I could see how clear and clean they were.
He said that the whole "undigested meat" and stuff crap is just that crap.
You will always have some food in the intestinal tract because you are always eating, LOL !

Of course some people have horrific diets and terribly irregular bowel movements, that that is THEIR fault.
And something easily remedied with water intake and more fruits and veggies (perferably raw).

[GeneChing]

...because some people do that just for fun.

And given this lot here on KFM, well, y'all could use a high colonic or two...

If you stop putting crap into yourself, your self will clean itself up naturally whether you fast or not.

Oh come now...don't go on saying that. If people stop putting crap in their system, they'll stop reading the forum here. Ummm, I've said too much already...

[David Jamieson]

...because some people do that just for fun.

And given this lot here on KFM, well, y'all could use a high colonic or two...

Oh come now...don't go on saying that. If people stop putting crap in their system, they'll stop reading the forum here. Ummm, I've said too much already...

lol. yeah well, gigo right?

SR makes a good point. If people want to empty their bowels, use the stuff the doc gives you before you go get your colon photographed. That will clear you out completely.

your bum will be raw and your guts will be empty. Guaranteed.

[JamesC]

lol. yeah well, gigo right?

SR makes a good point. If people want to empty their bowels, use the stuff the doc gives you before you go get your colon photographed. That will clear you out completely.

your bum will be raw and your guts will be empty. Guaranteed.

I have to have them every 5 years because of a history of colon cancer in my family.

That stuff is amazing. It's a life altering event lol