NOVA ran a segment on one of their shows about caloric restriction and the science of longevity as well.

The basic idea is that if you cut the amount of calories you eat each day to the absolute bare minimum, your lifespan will go up. Researchers have discovered that it works in mice and worms, so why not humans?

A group calling themself the CRONies (Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition) decided to try it out on themselves. The closest thing to human research had been an ad hoc experiment done when scientists in the Biosphere discovered that they didn’t have nearly as much food as they expected. Deciding to just gut it out, they were discovered healthier after they came out than before they’d gone in.

Figuring out if human lifespans can be extended 50% or more through eating (a lot) less has become a significant area of scientific study. Figuring out if it works, how it works, and whether there is a way to boil it down into a pill could make some company very, very wealthy.

For the first time, a study found a difference between the effects of calorie restrictions in rats and humans. In rats and other animals, low calorie diets cause a reduction in a growth factor called IGF-1. In humans that following similar very-low calorie diets, IGF-1 levels were similar to sedentary individuals.

IGF-1 levels are proportionate to the amount of protein eaten and low levels are thought to be one of the main reasons for the longer lives of calorie deprived animals.

When scientists asked CRONies to lower their protein intake, they discovered that IGF-1 levels dropped. They also found that strict vegans had similarly low IGF-1 levels. Does that mean that vegans have already found the secret to longer lives? Not really - vegans may or may not live longer than your average meat-eating human (or, maybe not) but there’s no evidence that vegan living extends the maximum lifespan.

There’s plenty of evidence that eating less (while maintaining good nutrition) will improve your health, which undoubtedly which increases your chances at a long, healthy life. But, the jury is still out on whether that alone will help people set new longevity records.

 Autumn is fraught with dangers including excess calories consumed from Halloween candy, extra helpings of mashed potatoes and apple pie.

 For instance just 25 jellybeans adds 140 calories, a helping of mashed potatoes is 200 calories and a slice of apple pie WITHOUT the usual ice-cream is close to 400 calories. With the ice cream you have a desert that is 530 calories. 

The worst however has to be the Starbucks Venti Pumpkin Spice Lattes , which has enough calories in it to be a meal in itself. It weighs in at 530 calories.

In fact a study conducted at the University of Michigan says that fear of weight gain is the number one reason why most women do not quit smoking. The study also investigated why women might be smoking in the first place.

Not surprisingly the number one reason was that they heard that it could cause them to lose weight. The study also suggested that a way out of this type of thinking is to remind women about the other adverse effects of smoking on their appearance such as wrinkled skin, yellow teeth and bad breath.

According to Medical News Today, Dr. Nir Barak of the Tel Aviv University School of Medicine is developing a drug called Histalean, which is based on a previous drug called Betahistamine.

 Betahistamine is traditionally used to treat vertigo but it is found that it chemically contains compounds that can help block cravings (the same way the drug blocks the sensation of dizziness.) The result is that there is a great potential for weight loss and millions of lives could be saved everywhere.  This new drug could also allow obese people who could never exercise before to get an initial boosting work out so that they feel encouraged to work out or stick to a diet plan.

Cheryl Muhr is one of this year’s 15 finalists, currently leading the women’s vote. Cheryl weighed 157 pounds when she started the challenge with 29% bodyfat.

Today she’s 129 pounds and 12% bodyfat. That’s a loss of 30 pounds of fat and a gain of 2 pounds of muscle in twelve weeks. The results speak for themselves.

Fitness Daily recommends the following books from Amazon.com on Body for Life.

At the outset, 68 percent of women said they felt sexually unattractive. One year into the diet, only 26 percent did. About 63 percent originally did not want to be seen undressed, but only 34 percent felt that way a year later.

Initially, 21 percent of women said they were not enjoying sex; only 11 percent said so after one year.

“The number of males in the study does limit what we can say about men,” but feelings of unattractiveness and unwillingness to be seen naked also applied to them, Binks said. Even when many of them wanted to have sex, the excess weight made it an ordeal.

(Houston Chronicle)

Michaels’ team won the reality show weight loss competition with a collective 450 pounds shed in three months.

Manhattan, N.Y.: Are you ever concerned that someone might lose weight too quickly just to help the team on the television show? How do you monitor that people are losing weight properly?

Jillian Michaels: Hey there,

Good question. I love this one because it allows me to dispel dieting myths which is one of my favorite things. I dedicate an entire chapter to explaining questions like this in my book.

We’ve all heard that saying, “losing 1-2 lbs a week is healthy”. Not so… it’s REALISTIC. That’s the difference.

Losing weight quickly when done through exercise and not starvation is not dangerous at all. In fact there is no true scientific evidence to suggest otherwise. The only complication that could occur are gallstones, however if the person is taking in plenty of fiber, exercising, and staying hydrated the chance of a gallstone is next to none.

In fact, I think the evidence has shown quite the opposite. If you look at our contestants on the show they come in with all kinds of afflictions: type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, etc. When they leave the show they are in better shape then me and off of all their various medications.

“People are looking for alternative fun ways to work out,” says Helen Vanderburg, a spokesperson for the San Diego-based IDEA Health and Fitness Association, and owner of Heavens Fitness, a gym in Calgary, Canada.

“More and more people [at the gym] are interested in doing dance-based classes,” she says. “In the last six months, dance classes are starting to pop up in more clubs.”

Source.

Both groups lost about the same amount of weight. The high protein group lost primarily fat weight while the low protein gruop lost about one-third of the weight as muscle mass.

Read the study abstract in the August issue of the Journal of Nutrition…

“It is counter-productive to spend hours at the gym and a shorter work-out can achieve exactly the same results,” says researcher Dr Julien Steven Baker. “Muscles can get tired and a maximum is reached - beyond that the sample group doing three sets weren’t achieving extra results. Lower volume training might also help lean-tissue growth because it limits muscle damage.

Read the entire article here…