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Created on Saturday, 30 May 2020 20:26

First, it works. It has been demonstrated in animals many time, both large and small. Also, in insects. It’s never been tested with people, for many reasons.  But, I know of a surrogate test in which they used telomere shortening as a surrogate for aging, and the test subjects who were calorically restricted for two years experienced less telomere shortening. 

So, caloric restriction is the most proven life extension technique. But, what should we do about it? Well, I cant see getting underweight, and by that I mean skinny where you are decidedly less than your ideal weight. Life is about quality not quantity, in my opinion. You want to feel good about yourself, the way you look, about your manliness or womanliness. And if you get too thin, you’ll have no reserves to sustain you in an emergency. So my advice is to restrict calories enough to get down to lean body weight but where you still look good and feel good about yourself. 

So, what is the best way to do it? There are several ways. You could just eat less at every meal. Or, you could just eat fewer meals. Say, for instance, instead of having 3 meals a day, you have only 2. Or, you could just have fasting days occasionally. That’s how Dr. Roy Walford went about it. He wrote in his book Maximum Lifespan that he fasts every Monday and Tuesday. He found that easier than having to skimp on his eating all the time. But, that really is radical because it comes to 104 days of fasting every year, and that is a lot. I know I couldn’t do that much fasting. I would waste away. I wouldn’t be able to eat enough the other 5 days  to make up for it. But, he did it, and perhaps others can. 

 But, there is such a thing as being too thin, and we have to be practical. But, here’s a way that everyone should think about caloric restriction and that is to use it to keep you from eating things that you shouldn’t eat at all. Say someone offers you a piece of cake with some ice cream. You know you shouldn’t be eating that, and that those calories are just extra calories you don’t need; calories that will age you. So, you pass. That is the most important way to exploit the fact caloric restriction can lengthen your life. Use it to gain the fortitude to say no to food that you should not eat. Use it to say no to junk food.