Our Longevity Diet

Isabel went to Guadalajara for a couple weeks to visit her family. Under her mother’s administration, fasting is not allowed, so she was off her usual regime while there. Mexican mothers are a lot like the stereotype of Jewish mothers — they make no allowances for their children ever growing up, but think they need to keep them on the straight and narrow, and will resort to emotional blackmail, shaming, nagging or whatever works to get their appointed job done.

Isabel wisely concedes to her mother’s insistence on changing her eating habits while there, we have no fear that short-term behavior will change the long-term outcome from following this diet. Some people even think you will do better to stop fasting occasionally, but we have not made a regular habit of that. Still, when circumstances dictate — such as a party during our fasting hours — we temporarily ignore the diet regime and eat or drink as circumstances dictate.

While Isabel was gone, I was left to my own cooking, which tends toward simplicity more out of laziness than lack of ability. Isabel typically spends an hour preparing our main meal each day — I just don’t want to spend that long on preparation. Cooking — and eating — usually takes less than half an hour for me. That’s the American vs Mexican way of cooking and eating. Mexican is better both in terms of health and taste — but a short-term lapse couldn’t make much difference long-term.

So, over the two weeks Isabel was out of town she gained a kilo (2.2 pounds). I lost almost a kilo (2 pounds). Guess since my cooking doesn’t taste as good I must have eaten less.

The good news is two weeks after she returned, we have pretty much returned to normal. It seems the length of time it takes to gain or lose weight from your natural base level is about the same as the time it takes to get back to that normal level. I gained one of the two pounds back, and she lost the full kilo, so our weights are now 60.2 kilos for her, and 90.5 kilos for me.

Well, it has been almost a year since we began intermittent fasting. Looking over the weight records for the past few months, it looks like we have stabilized in that regard. I’m still about 5% above my ideal weight, and Isabel is closer to her ideal weight (according to the charts) but still slightly above. I guess that is testimony to how well we eat, regardless of the schedule. My weight has been fluctuating between 94 and 95 kilos, while Isabel is consistently between 60 and 62. We have been within that range for the past five months. Isabel’s chart-weight is 60 kilos, mine 90.

So, I see little reason to continue posting our weights here — if we go outside that range for some reason, I’ll mention it — otherwise just assume we are in that area. Of course that means I won’t have a reason for these monthly postings, and need to find some better motivation to keep this blog active. If I can find relevant new research information I’ll post that, otherwise perhaps I’ll stray into other general health and longevity matters.

One recent study claimed that the hundreds (or thousands?) of calorie restriction studies that preceded it were wrong, and calorie restriction does not really lead to longer lifespans. Instead, they claim, the mice used in the studies were fat, because they were allowed to eat all they wanted.

Well either way, the under-fed mice live longer, and we need to under-feed ourselves if we want optimal health and longevity. The study I mentioned was referring to calorie restriction, not intermittent fasting. Other studies have shown intermittent fasting to be equally effective as caloric restriction. So we can indulge in eating as much as we want, so long as we restrict that indulgence to 24 out of every 48 hours (more or less, we eat 25 and fast 23).

If I recall correctly (and I’ll have to go back and make sure, but for now take it as given) the intermittent fasting studies resulted in animals that had higher body weight than the calorie restricted animals, yet they lived just a long. So clearly, there is more at work here than mere body weight.

I’ll have to look into that further, and post a more detailed analysis here in the coming days…

Well, we cheated a bit over the holidays, but neither of us put on any weight. That was a bit surprising considering how we ate. We kept to the diet schedule all month up to Christmas, which worked out to be an eating morning — so we ate all day and resumed the diet the next morning. Doing that is surprisingly difficult, we get more hungry waiting for 2:00 pm when we break our fast than we normally do when we haven’t eaten the evening before.

New Years Eve was the same story, again we ignored the diet that night (which lasted until about 2:00 am the next morning), but resumed the diet when we got up the next day, with a short fast until 2:00 pm. We did the same thing a third time on January 2nd, because my in-laws came to visit — Isabel’s mother and two brothers, their wives and two children. They were still here on the 3rd when we resumed our schedule, which we explained in detail — and now Isabel’s mom is going to try it.

Anyhow, we weighed in on January 1st:

Date - My weight (kilos) - Isabel’s Weight (kilos)

• 5 March 2008 - 99.2 - 65.9
• 1 Dec 2008 - 94.5 - 61.6
• 1 Jan 2009 - 94.1 - 61.4

So we even lost a little bit, though nothing significant. The main thing is we feel great — I have not had an attack of gout since starting the diet, and Isabel has taken up painting again after stopping two years ago in frustration due to arthritis. I joke that we are getting younger, but in fact it almost seems that way.

We have now been living our intermittent fasting lifestyle for nine months, and are more convinced than ever that this is the healthiest way to live. Combine the health benefits with the fact that it is so easy to do, and lets us eat whatever we want AND we lost some weight, and it just doesn’t get much better than this.

When we started, we used to try to schedule more strenuous activities so they would occur during eating times, rather than fasting times. But now that has fallen by the wayside as unnecessary. We can do hard physical labor while fasting just easily as during eating periods — in fact it is easier, if anything — they body seems to react to fasting with a jolt of energy.

That makes sense from a biological-evolutionary perspective. When you haven’t eaten in a while is just when you need more energy, to find and process food. Since our fasts are only 23 hours long, there is no danger of muscle loss or any of the other negative effects seen in long-term fasting.

As for weight loss — it has not been dramatic, but then we really were not obese when we began — just a bit pudgy. We were each about 10% above our ideal weight according to the charts. Isabel is now very near her ideal weight, and I’m about halfway there (i.e. 5% over). The amazing thing is we have made zero effort to lose weight — it has just been a side-effect of our healthier lifestyle.

As I write this I need to pause from time to time because I am eating the last piece of Lemon Meringue pie from Thanksgiving — Isabel made two pies, and there are only the two of us. So, to make sure it doesn’t spoil, I’m foregoing my usual healthy breakfast, and having pie. Oh the sacrifices we are called upon to make!

So here is how our weights are, after nine months fasting, Thanksgiving and all:

Date - My weight (kilos) - Isabel’s Weight (kilos)

• 5 March 2008 - 99.2 - 65.9
• 2 Nov 2008 - 96.1 - 60.7
• 1 Dec 2008 - 94.5 - 61.6

Those of you who have been following along will remember my weight shot up 1.5 kilos in September and October, but all that was lost again this past month, plus another 1/10 kilo. Isabel, meanwhile, continues to fluctuate just above her ideal weight of 60 kilos, having gained 9/10 of a kilo last month.

So we are content and feeling good — now let me finish this pie…

Sorry I haven’t posted for a while, but we moved from Chapala to a little town in Colima, Mexico. We live a couple miles from the Pacific in a little cottage we are renovating. We hope to have it available for holiday rentals by late in 2010. We call it Casita Chuparosa — I’ll put a link in the blogroll when I get the new blog up.

So, shortly before we moved, on September 30th, we weighed in. Isabel had gained 3/10 kilo, and I gained 6/10 kilo. Then we weighed ourselves again at the beginning of November (the 2nd) and Isabel was down 1.5 kilos, while I gained again — another 9/10 of a kilo.  Different reactions to the stress of moving I guess. Didn’t help me any that we weighed ourselves when stopping to shop, on the way home from an afternoon at the beach, where we had huge fish-fillet dinners, a jug of coconut water. The electronic scale here also has an attachment for blood pressure and body-fat-index measurement. My blood pressure was right-on at 140/89, while Isabel’s was a bit low. That was anomalous for her, she has had frequent doctor visits (fertility specialists) in the past two years, and never had abnormal blood pressure levels. The body-fat measure is by electronic impedance, so not very accurate, it showed very low for both of us: 21.3% for me and 27.9% for her.

• Date - My weight (kilos) - Isabel’s Weight (kilos)
• 5 March 2008 - 99.2 - 65.9
• 1 Sept 2008 - 94.6 - 61.9
• 30 Sept 2008 - 95.2 - 62.2
• 2 Nov 2008 - 96.1 - 60.7

All through this hectic time we have stuck to our fasting schedule, except on the day we actually moved (Oct 2nd) when circumstances did not make it convenient to eat at the usual hour. Of course after eight months, the diet is so routine we barely need to think about it.

Health-wise we are both feeling fit. As I mentioned earlier, Isabel’s arthritis has returned somewhat, but not as severe as it was before beginning the diet. I have not had any attacks of gout, my leg-cramps have not returned, and we each caught a slight cold in October, but symptoms were shorter-lived than usual, and less severe. My only complaint is that I can not connect to the Internet from the beach!

If you are contemplating a fasting diet, or have tried it, we would love to hear from you! Just join this blog and post a comment…

Well we are at the six-month mark, half a year on our new lifestyle. I’ve been seriously neglecting this blog for the past couple months because, well, it is all so routine now that I don’t really have much more to say. We have kept to our schedule with only an occasional alteration dictated by circumstances.

After the first several months free from arthritic pain, Isabel’s joints have begun acting up again, so she will be seeing a rheumatologist this week. Wonder what he will have to say about our dietary habits. She is also plateauing out on the weight-loss, so I guess she is fully adjusted to this diet. My weight continues to drop, very slowly — but I take that as a good sign that it is permanent loss. Besides, I needed to lose more than she did to begin with.

So here are the stats:

• Date - My weight (kilos) - Isabel’s Weight (kilos)
• 5 March 2008 - 99.2 - 65.9
• 31 July 2008 - 95.0 - 61.8
• 1 Sept 2008 - 94.6 - 61.9

So I lost another pound or so in the past month, and Isabel’s weight is so close to being the same that it falls within the range of daily natural fluctuations. We are both just happy that we reversed the trend toward gradual weight-gain that we had experienced in the year or two before adopting our intermittent fast.

Haven’t been posting much lately, but nothing much new to report. We are thoroughly accustomed to our fasting schedule now, it is totally routine. We began our fast March 5th, 2008. Up until now we have weighed-in around the 4th or 5th of each month, but after this long, it just seems easier to weigh ourselves at the end of each calendar month. So while we are actually five days short of five months, it is ‘close enough’ for our purposes.

Reminding you again that weight-loss was not and is not the motivating force behind our intermittent fasting diet, here are our current weights, compared to when we started this diet and last month’s report:

• Date - My weight (kilos) - Isabel’s Weight (kilos)
• 5 March 2008 - 99.2 - 65.9
• 3 July 2008 - 95.1 - 62.4
• 31 July 2008 - 95.0 - 61.8

Isabel has been as low as 61 kilos, then rebounded a little, but is down from our last report by more than half a kilo. I am down a mere tenth of a kilo from our preceding report, but this is my lowest weight since beginning the diet.

When we began, we were each about 10% over our ideal weights, according to the Body Mass Index charts. Now I’m about 5.5% overweight, while Isabel is about 3% over. We are making no great effort to restrict our calories or increase exercise, and are content to lose a little, or just stay even — just so we don’t keep gaining as we were prior to this diet.

Five months into the regime we still get hungry, but we are accustomed to it. We don’t have the urge to over-eat when it comes time to eat again, and actually seem to get full on less food than we used to eat. We don’t always eat the healthiest foods, but it is nutritious. Today (after weigh-in) was our day to splurge, the last day of the month, so we had big thick juicy steaks cooked on the charcoal grill, with potato chips, sweet corn, roasted onions, and nopales (cactus). For our every-day typical meals, see the ‘April Meals‘ link in the right-hand column.