- It’s a Cookbook
It’s a Philosophy
It’s a Resource
December 16, 2022
It’s the holiday season. We’re pretty sure that many of you are going to party a little bit, and no, we’re not going to try to discourage it. During this time of year, many of us break from our routines somewhat, drink a little (more) alcohol, eat a lot of food, and even forget to exercise. But please don’t be too hard on yourself; it happens to almost all of us. It’s okay to indulge a little and have some fun especially if it’s only a “once-a-year” occasion. However, it can’t hurt to take some precautions and practice a little moderation as well. If […]
April 16, 2019
Research presented on February 11, 2019 at FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation) Week London supports the potential for calorie restriction to protect against several diseases. The studies were conducted under the auspices of the Center for Research on Redox Processes in Biomedicine, which is funded by FAPESP. “We are looking at how changes to the diet affect metabolism and how that ends up changing the odds of having diseases associated with aging,” commented researcher Alicia Kowaltowski, of the University of São Paulo. In one experiment, a group of mice was allowed to consume as much food as they desired, and the number […]
January 2, 2019
Research published in the November 20, 2018 issue of Cell Reports suggests a potential benefit for a diet low in protein and high in complex carbohydrates in older individuals. Acting on the findings of a study conducted in 2015 at the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre which revealed that a low-protein, high- carbohydrate diet was as effective as a calorie restricted diet in regard to extending the life of mice, Professor of Geriatric Medicine David G. Le Couteur and colleagues evaluated the effects of three unrestricted low-protein, high-carbohydrate diets and a control diet on the brain’s hippocampus, which is an area involved in […]
October 17, 2017
In an article published on September 14, 2017 in Nature Communications, Temple University researchers reveal an explanation for the life extending effect of calorie restriction. Jean-Pierre J. Isaa, MD, and colleagues discovered that restricting the amount of calories consumed slows the aging-related rate of change of the epigenome, which consists of proteins and other compounds that can attach to DNA and control its action. The team is also the first to demonstrate that the rate of epigenomic change is associated with lifespan. “Our study shows that epigenetic drift, which is characterized by gains and losses in DNA methylation in the genome over […]
September 12, 2017
The August 10, 2017 issue of Cell reported an ability for calorie restriction to prevent the impact of aging on circadian rhythms. “The process of aging and circadian rhythms are intimately intertwined, but how peripheral clocks involved in metabolic homeostasis contribute to aging remains unknown,” the authors write in their introductory remarks. For the current investigation, researchers at the University of California, Irvine fed calorie restricted or unrestricted diets to young and old mice. At 6 and 18 months, liver tissue samples were analyzed. Although calorie restriction did not affect the 24-hour cycle of the older group’s circadian-controlled metabolic system, older cells showed signs […]
March 23, 2015
Your body will never waste a calorie. Each calorie is either burned for energy or stored for later use. Calories come in three forms, which are the macromolecules of human nutrition: fat, protein and carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are interesting. The basic building block of all carbohydrates, whether simple or complex, is a single sugar molecule called glucose. This means that all carbohydrates, from whole grains to table sugar, will eventually break down into a single glucose molecule. Glucose is the main energy source for all cells, including your heart, brain and muscles. But here’s where it gets interesting: Sugar, if it’s not burned […]
July 22, 2014
The most significant anti-aging discovery in history was made in 1935. In that year, rats fed a calorie restricted diet achieved radically-extended mean and maximum life spans, along with a delayed onset of age-related diseases. Since this finding was published 75 years ago, dozens of experiments in mammals have validated that undernutrition without malnutrition induces profound anti-aging effects. Not only do calorie restricted animals live much longer, but they remain far healthier than normally-fed controls. When a group of humans consumed a similar calorie restricted diet, their conventional blood markers of aging (excess glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL) plummeted to much lower levels. In the most significant finding to date, two groups of […]
October 9, 2012
Let’s face it. When it comes to losing weight and which diet will help you successfully achieve that, there’s some pretty confusing information out there. You may have heard, or read somewhere, that “a calorie is a calorie”. That’s just not true. I’ve been telling my overweight patients for years that all calories are not equal. If that were true, you wouldn’t have to worry about eating a varied diet. You could just eat one food, say ice cream or pizza all day, and as long as it equaled the amount of calories you needed to either lose or maintain your weight, you’d […]