Our Longevity Diet

We have been on our intermittent fast for four months now, and it is again time to report our weights. You will remember (if you have been following) that last month we reported:

Isabel 61.0 kilos (started at 63.8 … 2.8 kilos lost)

Andrew 95.5 kilos (started at 99.1 … 3.6 kilos lost)

Let me say that Isabel tends to have wider swings in weight than I do — I think it’s one of those girl things — hormones and cycles and what-not. When her weight is up, as it was today, it is usually due to water retention, rather than fat-gain. At least that is what I think from looking at her — and I fancy myself something of an expert at looking at women. OK, most men are expert at that, but I’m just stating my observations. Anyhow, here are our current weights:

Isabel 62.4 kilos (started at 63.8 … 1.4 kilos lost)

Andrew 95.1 kilos (started at 99.1 … 4.0 kilos lost)

I suspect in a couple weeks Isabel will weigh in at 61 kilos again, and I have been fluctuating between 95 and 95.5 for the past month or more. I’m not sure if this is a ‘plateau’ that will give way to further loss, or if we are at the limit of our weight-loss for this diet. Either way it’s fine with me — weight loss was not the motive for taking up this regime. Isabel and I both agree we feel healthier, and while a little more weight loss would be nice, it is by no means necessary. We will continue living this intermittent fasting lifestyle with or without further loss of weight.

Another report today describes mice on regular, calorie restricted and alternate day fasting schedules, with and without resveratrol supplement. That’s the chemical in red wine, grapes and some other foods that has been found so beneficial for health. The report focuses on the resveratrol, so it is hard to say for sure, but it seems to suggest that the alternate-day fasted mice outlived even the calorie restricted ones:

Mice on a high-calorie diet without resveratrol lived the shortest length of time and mice on an every-other-day regimen lived the longest, regardless of resveratrol treatment.

They found resveratrol had several beneficial biological effects, corresponding to improved quality of life in humans, but so far as longevity was concerned, the intermittent fasting effects seemed to outweigh the benefit of resveratrol. So myself, I vote for both. I drink my three glasses of red wine daily — not enough for all the resveratrol we need, but any more would contain too much alcohol. Resveratrol supplements have not yet been proven, but even if they do work, they don’t seem to be sold here in Mexico, at least in any of the health-food stores I’ve found in Guadalajara and Chapala-Ajijic areas. So I’m really glad the intermittent fasting regime was proven more effective than the resveratrol — at least in mice. Who know what human studies (when they are finally ready) will show?