Calories That Count

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Contents
 Introduction
Calorie Restriction vs. Malnutrition
Mechanism of Action
History of Calorie Restriction
Animal Application
Human Application
Regular vs. Calorie Restriction Diet
Mediterranean Diet
Anti-Aging Diet Pyramid
Do You Need Calorie Restriction?
Target Anti-Aging Weight
How To Calculate Your Ideal Body Weight and Target Anti-Aging Weight
How Many Calories Do I Need To Lose?
Designing An Anti-Aging Diet Plan
Calorie Restriction Precautions
Take Your Time
What You Need To Know

Introduction

Only a single dietary regimen has ever been conclusively demonstrated to extend life span and improve the heath of laboratory animals and humans. It is known as calorie restriction (CR). Together with exercise, this is as close to the magic bullet as one can hope for in anti-aging. There are very few, if any, disagreements among anti-aging experts that calorie restriction can increase longevity.

The average human consumes 1,500 calories a day. The average American consumes 2,100 calories a day. For most of the population, calorie restriction means taking in about 20-30 percent fewer calories. For those serious about CR, the restriction can go up to 40%. In other words, the average-size human on a CR diet might consume 1,500 calories a day, compared to the 2,100 calories of the typical American. This anti-aging diet is made up of four or five small meals a day and consists predominantly of vegetables and fruits. "It requires a psychological profile only one person in 1,000 has," says Richard Miller, associate director for research at the University of Michigan Geriatrics Center.

Nevertheless, CR diets are widely practiced by anti-aging experts. The reasons are clear - the list of the beneficial effects of CR reads like the packaging on a miracle cure. Benefits include: Increased average and maximum life spans and reduction in occurrence of virtually all age-related diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune disease, ocular degeneration, blood pressure, and cancer. These reductions range from two-fold to as much as ten-fold. (For example, 50 percent of female control mice of a particular genetic strain develop breast cancer, but only 5 percent of the same strain developed cancer if on a CR diet.) 

Two caveats - the diets must include plentiful amounts of vitamins and minerals, and the subjects must be undernourished without being malnourished.


Calorie Restriction vs. Malnutrition

Calorie restriction is different from malnutrition, starving or extended fasting. These practices actually accelerate the aging process as they create nutritional deficiencies. Calorie restriction, if properly carried out, provides the body with all the nutrients it needs without overburdening the organs and system functions. By limiting calorie intake to the level required by the body for optimum functioning (as measured by the maintenance of lean body mass), that miraculous machine, your body, will self-regulate. When you eat more food than you need, the engine of your body goes into overdrive in order to digest the food and store what you don't need in the form of fat. If you restrict your food intake to only what you need to maintain a physical and active lifestyle, your body automatically tones down its basal metabolic rate to conserve the limited amount of energy it receives. This is your body's mechanism for survival.

Like an old car, your body's engine needs premium gasoline to prime itself as you age. If you are not mindful of this and continue to abuse your body with "non-premium" gasoline and rough outings (like going on an eating binge), you are causing unnecessary strain to your body's organs. Sooner, rather than later, your body will break down.

What happens to your body as your calorie intake decreases? First, the work necessary to digest food decreases. In other words, there is less oxidative stress. Second, the body's metabolic rate automatically slows and readjusts itself to match your energy expenditure to that of the intake. This is the body's way of preserving itself. Third, the slowing down of your organ system gives your organs more rest and prolongs the life span of each of the organs. As your organs remain healthy, you live longer.

Malnutrition and starvation are extreme forms of calorie restriction, which is age accelerating and should be avoided. A car cannot run without gasoline, and your body needs food to generate energy. During malnutrition or starvation, your body breaks down your muscles and organ structures for energy, which is very destructive.


Mechanism of Action

The question of how CR works is still open to debate. The leading hypothesis is that calorie restriction reduces the amount of oxidative damage to the body. Oxidative damage is the foremost theory as to what causes the deterioration that comes with age. This concept is known in anti-aging as the "oxygen paradox." While oxygen is required for life and cellular fuel, the side effects of oxygen metabolism are detrimental to our heath. The process takes place in cellular factories called mitochondria, where energy for our body is produced and by-products called free radicals are also produced. These free radicals are short-lived but voracious agents that oxidize and damage tissues. The oxidation that occurs in the human body is identical to the way in which rust is formed on metal, so it is not unreasonable to say that we will all eventually "rust to death" if given the opportunity. The free radicals not only damage the tissue, but also seem to damage the DNA, genetic material that codes for proteins required for the body's physiological functions.

CR reduces the amount of fuel available for cells and the amount of oxygen needed by the mitochondria to convert the existing fuel into energy, and it makes the existing metabolic process more efficient. With CR, fewer free radicals are generated, the production of enzymes that neutralize the free radicals increases, and growth hormone levels increase.

CR's effect of lowering oxidative damage is targeted at critical cells in organs, such as the brain, heart, nerves, and skeletal muscle cells. All these tissues depend heavily on mitochondrial energy metabolism to generate cellular energy, and all these tissues have fairly limited self-repair ability.

In addition to lowering oxidative damage, CR has been proven to increase endogenous growth hormone release from the pituitary gland. Raising the growth hormone level is key in deterring the aging process, as symptoms of aging follows the decline in growth hormones in our bodies.

CR also stimulates the release of our body's internal antioxidants, such as super oxide dismutase (S.O.D.). Research has shown that administration of S.O.D. leads to a reduction of free radicals and an increase in life span.

A properly carried out CR program will limit the amount of sugar intake by up to 90 percent. Sugar is a negative fountain of youth. It accelerates aging and increases the body's cortisol level. Cortisol is a hormone, but unlike other hormones, it increases with aging. It is sometimes called the "bad" hormone because its increase is linked to accelerated aging.

In summary, calorie restriction:

• Increases the ability of the body to repair damaged DNA.
• Decreases oxidative (free radical) damage in the body.
• Increases the levels of certain protective/repair proteins that respond to stress.
• Improves glucose-insulin metabolism by lowering glucose levels in the blood.
• Increases the release of growth hormone from the pituitary gland.
• Increases the production of endogenous antioxidants such as S.O.D.

Human Application

Primate studies are currently underway and will help answer the question of CR and longevity in humans. The studies are ongoing in three different laboratories (University of Maryland, University of Wisconsin, and the National Institute on Aging). It may be 10 more years before we have unequivocal results. (Let us not forget that monkeys live a long time.)

In studies conducted over the past 65 years, CR works across the whole animal kingdom, so there is no reason to believe that it would not work on humans.

In one interesting and accidental experiment, humans were defaulted to a CR diet due to a food shortage inside Biosphere 2. It was found quite clearly that these people showed the same physiological and biochemical changes seen in CR rodents.

Biosphere 2 is a 3.15-acre space in the United States containing an ecosystem that is energetically open (sunlight, electric power, and heat) but materially closed, with air, water, and organic material being recycled. For 2 years from September 1991, eight subjects (four women and four men) were sealed inside, living on food crops grown within. Due to an unplanned shortage of food, their diet became low in calories (averaging 1780 kcal/day), low in fat (10% of calories), and nutrient-dense. This ratio conforms to that which in numerous animal experiments has promoted health, retarded aging, and extended maximum life span.

After 6 months inside the Biosphere, the subjects' weight dropped from 74 to 62 kg (men) and from 61 to 54 kg (women). Mean systolic/diastolic blood pressure dropped from 109/74 to 89/58 mmHg. Total serum cholesterol dropped from 191 to 123 mg/dl; high density lipoprotein dropped from 62 to 38 (risk ratio unchanged); triglyceride levels dropped from 139 to 96 mg/dl (men) and from 78 to 114 mg/dl (women); and fasting glucose dropped from 92 to 74 mg/dl.

There is very little doubt that the drastic reductions in cholesterol and blood pressure may be instituted in normal individuals in Western countries by application of a carefully chosen diet. It is also relevant that a low-calorie, nutrient-dense regimen results in physiological changes in humans similar to those in other animal species.

Existing long-term data on humans is thin. Most human populations that are forced to survive on low-calorie diets are also malnourished and are as likely not to die prematurely from vitamin and mineral deficiencies. The only known exception is on the Japanese island of Okinawa. The Okinawans have about 70 percent of the calorie intake of the rest of Japan. They eat mainly fish and vegetables.  In Okinawa, up to 40 times more people, aged over 100, than the rest of Japan. They also have less incidences of diabetes, tumors, and other diseases than the rest of Japan.


Regular vs. Calorie Restriction Diet

The typical American consumes 2 pounds of food a day. This equates to 700 pounds a year and about 230 tons of food over a lifetime. The typical meal consists of 1,200 calorie, of which 43% is fat, 11% is protein, and 46% is carbohydrate.

The CR diet closely resembles the Mediterranean diet and consists of 750 calories per meal, with 20% calories from fat, 20% from protein, and 60% from complex carbohydrates, such as fruits and vegetables.


Mediterranean Diet

The famous Mediterranean diet is a cuisine that is rich in fruits, vegetables, grains, omega-3 fatty acids and low in saturated fat. It is a very good model for an anti-aging diet. This diet has been clinically proven to reduce the risk of heart disease, and is definitely beneficial for cancer prevention. The Mediterranean diet is long meals, not fast food. It is fresh, not frozen. It is a diet high in fiber, antioxidants and other important nutrients. It is about sharing meals with family and friends, taking time, taking pleasure, and making every meal a healthy celebration.

Let's look at the characteristics and principles of the Mediterranean Diet: 

• The core of the diet consists of an abundance of food from plant sources, including fruits, vegetables, potatoes, bread, grains, beans, nuts and seeds. Food from animal sources is more peripheral. A diet based on this pattern is likely to be sufficient in all essential nutrients necessary to maintain health. Place food from plant sources, rather than animal sources, in the center of your plate.

In the traditional Mediterranean diet, fruits and vegetables were mostly locally grown or gathered, seasonally fresh, and often consumed raw or minimally processed. This kind of lifestyle is also important to incorporate into the Anti-Aging diet, for health promoting benefits. Therefore, use minimally processed and unrefined foods only. That means lots of salads as well as lightly cooked vegetables; fruit as fruit rather than juices; grains as whole grains - like oats, or whole wheat bread or brown rice - rather than white refined flour and puffy processed sugar coated cereals, or white rice. These whole foods will provide plenty of dietary fiber, antioxidants and other micronutrients that are destroyed by heat and removed by the refining processes.

Sugar is a negative fountain of youth. Reduction of sugar in the diet will reduce cortisol (the "bad" hormone) levels in your body. Cortisol is a hormone that accelerates the aging process. If you eat desserts, try to consume them at lunch as you should allow at least 2 to 3 hours after taking sugar before sleeping. Sugar increases cortisol release, which in turn reduces growth hormone release, which is most prominent during the early stages of sleep. Sugar has also been shown to promote free radical formation. Reduction of sugar intake will reduce the amount of free radicals in the body. Triglyceride and LDL cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol) have been shown to decrease with reduced sugar intake. Lastly, note that cancer cells prefer an environment rich in sugar, as glucose is the preferred energy source for cancer cells. Soaking your cells in a high sugar environment promotes cancer growth.

Finally, sugar attaches itself to proteins in the body, becoming cross-linked into yellow-brown compounds and forming a new sugar-protein substance called advanced glycation end-product (AGE). The higher the AGE levels, the faster you age. This has been well documented among diabetics, who have higher levels of AGE and incidences of artery, nerve, and multiple organ dysfunction compared to the general population.

• Dairy products are consumed in low to moderate amounts. They are usually in the form of cheese and yogurt, principally coming from a variety of animals such as goats, sheep, water buffalo, cows and camels.
  
• Fish and poultry should be kept to a low to moderate weekly consumption. Recent research suggests that fish is more favored than poultry.
  
• Red meat should only be taken a few times per month (consumption should be limited to a total maximum of 12 to 16 ounces per month, with lean versions preferable).
  
• Fresh fruit is the typical daily dessert. Sweets and saturated fat desserts should not be consumed more than a few times a week, if even that often. Total fats should represent less than 25 to 30 percent of energy with saturated fat comprising no more than 7 to 8 percent of energy (calories).
  
• Olive oil, the major source of fat in the Mediterranean diet, is high in mono-unsaturated fat, which is a good source of anti-oxidants.
  

Anti-Aging Diet Pyramid

Based on the Mediterranean Diet model, we have created the Anti-Aging Diet Pyramid. This Diet consists of 50 to 55 percent complex carbohydrates of the paleocarb type ( seeds, legumes, above ground green leafy  vegetables)  20 to 25 percent protein (preferably from plant , fish, and egg), 25 to 30 percent fat, and 5 percent sweets, candies and dessert. This is in sharp contrast to the typical North American diet in which 46 percent of the calories are from carbohydrates, 11 percent from protein and 43 percent from fat. Noticeably absent from complex carbohydrate are vegetables that grown below the ground such as potato, yam , or cannot and grains such as bread and rice.  

Imagine a pyramid with 4 layers, each layer getting much narrower as it gets closer to the tip. The broad base layer of the pyramid, that holds the complex carbohydrates, supplies up to 55 percent of the calories and consists of a combination  of cereals,  fruits, vegetables, and legumes. A limited amount of nuts, which is a fatty food, is also included in this base layer as well as grains. The second, much smaller layer contains protein from cheese, egg, fish, poultry or meat. The third layer, which is very tiny, contains fat from fish, poultry or cooking oil. The final layer, at the tip, consists of sweets. 

Questions? Ask me.

Do You Need Calorie Restriction?

Do you need to be on a calorie restriction program? The answer depends largely on your current body weight and composition. Let us take a closer look at how you can determine if you would benefit from this program. First, some basic understanding of terminology is required.

There are two methods of determining if you are overweight or underweight: 
 

1. Ideal Body Weight
2. Target Anti-Aging Weight

The ideal body weight is a statistical average that assumes that you are an average American in your mid-twenties. The average American is an imaginary person that does not exist. Whether you are average or not is unimportant. The important thing to remember is that you are unique and that the ideal body weight is merely a statistical tool to give you some general guidance on how much you should weigh. If you have a special build or medical condition, then you should go by other criteria, including your feelings, instead of blindly following a statistical number.


Target Anti-Aging Weight

The Target Anti-Aging Weight is the weight you want to achieve to obtain maximum longevity benefits. There is no hard and fast rule on what this should be at this time. From many studies, where calorie restrictions of 30 to 40 percent were carried out in laboratory animals, longevity commonly increased by up to 100 percent.  Most researchers, in the anti-aging field, find a 5 to 10 percent reduction, from the ideal body weight, a prudent and conservative approach to longevity.


How To Calculate Your Ideal Body Weight and Target Anti-Aging Weight

If you are a female, your ideal body weight is equal to 100 pounds plus 5 pounds for each inch over five feet. If you are five feet five inches tall, for example, your ideal body weight is 125 lbs. Add a couple of pounds if you have a large frame (if your thumb and middle finger encircled around the opposite wrist do not touch) and subtract a couple of pounds if you have a small frame (the thumb and middle finger overlap your opposite wrist).

To calculate your target anti-aging weight, subtract 5 to 10 percent from this ideal weight. Continuing with the above example, your target anti-aging weight is 104 to 110 pounds. 

If you are a male, your ideal body weight is equal to 106 pounds plus 6 pounds for each inch you are over five feet. If you are five feet 10 inches tall, for example, your ideal body weight is 166 lbs. Add three to five pounds if you are large frame and subtract a couple of pounds if you have a small frame.

To calculate your target anti-aging weight, subtract 5 to 10 percent from the ideal weight. Continuing with the above example, your target anti-aging weight is 157 to 149 pounds.


How Many Calories Do I Need To Lose?

If you don't make any changes to your current diet, you are going to slowly increase your weight, assuming that your lifestyle does not change and your current caloric input and output are balanced. This is because your base metabolic rate slows down with age. You need less fuel, so the extra energy gets stored as fat.

If you want to lose weight, you will need to get rid of 3300 calories for every pound of excess weight you are now carrying. If you are like most people, you are at least 15 pounds above your ideal body weight. Losing one pound per week (the recommended, safe, and effective rate) would take you 15 weeks to lose your excess. Allow yourself a few extra weeks, just in case, to allow for down times when weight loss plateaus.


Anti-Aging Approach To Weight Reduction

There are only two ways that can help you lose weight and keep it off. They are exercise (2,000 calorie expenditure per week) and calorie restriction.

If you are consuming about 2,000 to 2,500 calories a day, going on a 20 percent calorie restriction program 5 days a week would save you about 500 calories a day (2,500 calories a week). Add to this an exercise program to burn 1,000 calories a week (3 workouts at 300 calories per workout). In total, you would lose about 3500 calories a week, which is equivalent to 1 pound per week. To put it simply, all you have to do, to lose 1 pound a week (which is the maximum rate of loss recommended), is eat 20 percent less 5 days a week and do aerobic exercises about 30 minutes 3 times a week.

If you are 12 pounds away from your target; budget 12 weeks to get there. Add 3 weeks in case your schedule is disrupted. Total time budgeted is, therefore, 15 weeks.  Don't forget that it has taken you many years to gradually put on the weight. Be patient.  Losing weight slowly, over a 1 to 2 year period, is not uncommon. Most quick-fix diets do not work and result in a rebound effect. 

Once you reach your target weight, you will need around 1,500 to 2,500 calories to maintain your weight, depending on your level of activity.


Designing An Anti-Aging Diet Plan

Planning an effective anti-aging diet is not difficult. For each meal, do the following: 

• Pick one serving (2 oz) from any one of the following protein sources:
  
  • Chicken breast, turkey breast, swordfish, RED roughy, salmon, tuna, crab, lobster, egg white or substitute, low-fat cottage cheese, legumes, nuts and /or tofu.
  Add a small amount of chopped nuts to salads, pasta and other grain dishes for an added crunchy texture.
  
  
• Pick one serving (1 cup) from any one of the following suggested carbohydrate sources:
  
  • Baked potato, sweet potato, yam, squash, steamed brown rice, pasta, oatmeal, beans, corn, and whole grain bread or pita.
    
  Learn to use exotic grains such as couscous, bulgur, and barley.
  
  
• Pick two servings (2 cups) from any of the following vegetables (or any others of your choice):
  
  • Broccoli, asparagus, lettuce, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, green peppers, mushrooms, spinach, tomato, peas, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, celery, zucchini, cucumber, onion.
    
  Ways of cooking: raw, steam, or stir-fry. Top pasta, rice and even pizza with varieties of steamed or stir-fried vegetables and add a sprinkle of cheese.
  
  
• For desserts, pick one to two servings from any of the following fruits (or any others of your choice):
  
  • Apple, pear, apricot, strawberries, cantaloupe, peach, watermelon, banana, mango, RED, grapefruit, grapes, cherries, and many more.
    

• Vitamin A (in the form of beta carotene): 20,000 - 25,000 I.U.
  
• Vitamin C: 1,000 mg - 3,000 mg
  
• Vitamin E: 400 I.U
  
• Selenium: 200 mcg
  
• Chromium: 100 - 200 mcg
  
• Magnesium: 500 mg
  
• Calcium: 500 - 1,500 mg
  
• Ascobyl Palmitate (fat-soluble form of Vitamin C): 100 - 200 mg
  
• L-Proline: 100 - 200 mg
  
• L-Lysine: 100 - 200 mg
  
• L-Glutamine: 500 - 2,000 mg

Take Your Time

Dietary habits are formed over a lifetime.  Give yourself 1 to 2 years to be completely comfortable with the Anti-Aging Diet.  Change your overall habits a little at a time. Be happy with the progress and be proud of making the change. Start by following the anti-aging diet plan for 1 meal a day, especially if you are not used to eating lots of vegetables. Gradually, move to 3 anti-aging meals a day for 1 day a week, increasing the number of meals as tolerated. Reward yourself with a slight indulgence once a week or so, at which time;  you should not feel guilty for eating whatever you like.

What You Need To Know

Calorie restriction extends life span and is a proven anti-aging tool. There is no doubt about it. Follow the Mediterranean diet in terms of what you should eat. A simple rule to remember is the 30/60/90 rule: reduce your calories by 30%, increase vegetable intake to 60%, and reduce your sugar intake by 90%. To avoid malnutrition, take your optimal dosages of your food-based supplements.
 

About The Author

Michael Lam, M.D., M.P.H., A.B.A.A.M. is a specialist in Preventive and Anti-Aging Medicine. He is currently the Director of Medical Education at the Academy of Anti-Aging Research, U.S.A. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Oregon State University, and his Doctor of Medicine degree from  Loma Linda University School of Medicine, California. He also holds a Masters of Public Health degree and  is Board Certification in Anti-aging Medicine by the American Board of Anti-Aging Medicine. Dr. Lam pioneered the formulation of the three clinical phases of aging as well as the concept of diagnosis and treatment of sub-clinical age related degenerative diseases to deter the aging process. Dr. Lam has been published extensively in this field. He is the author of The Five Proven Secrets to Longevity (available on-line). He also serves as editor of the Journal of Anti-Aging Research.

For More Information

For the latest anti-aging related health issues, visit Dr. Lam at www.LamMD.com. Feel free to email Dr. Lam at dr@LamMD.com if you have any questions.


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© 1999  Michael Lam, M.D. All Rights Reserved.