Since the discovery that calorie restriction increased lifespan, many studies have been performed including studies with non-human primates; all with overwhelming evidence. However, the mechanism by which lifespan increases through calorie restriction, has eluded researchers.

Data on the physiologic effects of caloric restriction in rhesus monkeys resembles rodent studies demonstrating reduced body and fat mass, lower blood glucose, insulin, leptin, free T3 (decreased body temperature), and serum triglycerides. Interestingly, centenarians have lower blood glucose, insulin, leptin, free T3 and serum triglycerides than those who do not live to be over one hundred years old. One can conclude, the fundamental mechanism by which calorie restriction improves lifespan appears to alter these metabolic factors.

A new study analyzed the data from patients attending a private practice. These patients were referred for the treatment of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, overweight, fatigue, and other chronic diseases of aging.

The diet:
? Calories were not explicitly restricted; patients were told to eat when they were hungry.
? Recommended sources of fat included; raw nuts, seeds, avocados, olives, olive oil, flax oil, and cod liver oil.
? Protein intake was limited to 1.0g/kg of lean body mass. If the subjects exercised it was increased to 1.25g/kg.
? Recommended sources of protein included sardines, fish, eggs, tofu, chicken, turkey, wild meats, low fat cheeses, seafood, and vege burgers.
? Carbohydrate sources included only non-starchy fibrous veges; lettuce, greens, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, mushrooms, onions, peppers, etc.
The average daily macronutrient intake ended up being 20% carbs (most of which was fiber), 20% protein, and 60% fats.

The results: Serum insulin decreased by 48 percent, leptin decreased by 8 percent, fasting glucose by 40 percent, triglyceride by nearly 8 percent, and free T3 by almost 6 percent.

The key factor in this study is the participants were not limited in the amount of food they could consume. The researchers wanted to focus on the types of foods or macronutrients that would result in improved health and a longer life.

Nutritional and Physical Degeneration is one of the most ground-breaking books ever written on the link between nutrition and health. Dr. Weston A. Price, a dentist from Cleveland, became very disturbed by what he saw in his patients. He started to see a link between the decay he found in the mouths of his patients and pathologies found elsewhere in the body like diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, gastrointestinal complaints, and more. Dr. Price also found that crowded, crooked teeth were becoming more and more common, along with facial deformities like overbites, narrow faces, lack of well defined cheek bones, and underdevelopment of the nose. Dr. Price did not believe these problems to be in any way normal; He believed they were the result of poor nutrition. The worse a person?s diet was the more decay he found in their mouth. The more decay a person had in their mouth, the higher the rate of pathologies in other areas of the body.

More than 70 years ago Dr. Price decided to search the world for primitive people who lived entirely on indigenous foods. His travels took him from islands in the South Seas to Alaska to Africa and many places in between. He visited Australian Aborigines, Swiss villages, Eskimos, traditional American Indians, Amoazonian Indians, African tribes, and more. Dr. Price and his wife Florence traveled for ten years during the 1920’s and 30’s when groups of people completely isolated from civilization could be found.

Throughout his travels, Dr. Price kept a record of his findings with pictures and detailed assessments. What he found, to be called astounding, is an understatement. Dr, Price discovered that primitive people untouched by civilization, who subsided on a diet of indigenous food, had outstanding physical development with little to no dental problems, heart disease, diabetes, or any other diseases we know believe to be a normal consequence of life.

Dr. Price?s findings were not surprising to other investigators and explorers. However, the excepted explanation at the time was that primitive people were ?racially pure? and that the maladies we see in civilization were due to ?race mixing?. This theory was untenable to Dr. Price who found that the individuals in groups he studied who abandoned their traditional diets for foods provided by traders or missionaries, or who moved to a more civilized area were found to develop tooth decay and degenerative conditions.

The diets of these primitive groups of people were vastly different. Some were mostly cooked food while in others most of the food was consumed raw including animal sources. Some diets were based on sea food, others on domestic animals and others on wild game. Some diets were based on dairy while others consumed a variety of fruits and vegetables and grains.

The common thread between all the groups Dr. Price investigated was none of them contained any refined devitalized foods like white sugar, flour, pasteurized or skim milk, and refined or hydrogenated vegetable oils. All the diets contained animal foods of some type and some salt. Dr. Price analyzed the primitive diets and found they all contained four times the amount of water soluble vitamins and minerals, and ten times the amount of fat soluble vitamins compared to the modern American diet.

Unfortunately, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, the permanent record of his travels, is nonexistent to today?s modern medical community. This book is more important to our health and welfare today than it was 60 years ago. Our food supply, if it could be classified as food, is devoid of almost all nutritive value. We need to incorporate the fundamentals of primitive nutrition and return to nutrient dense whole food. We need to get back to local farming and turn away from manmade supermarket garbage that is destroying our health.

Anyone interested in becoming truly healthy needs to read Nutrition and physical degeneration

Fat is it friend or foe? Well if you ask most, including health care professionals, they’ll say foe. It’s time for people to wake up! The current ways of eating aren’t working. Just a few years ago, for the first time in history the top six books on the New York Times Best Seller list, were about the same subject: diets low in carbs, moderate to high protein, high in fibrous carbs (vegetable), and moderate fat. Why is this topic so popular? They work!

One of the biggest reasons protein diets work is the consumption of fat. That is, fat minus the abundance of carbs. Fat has many functions outside of being used as an energy source, and certain fatty acids are essential. Without eating them you’d literally get sick and die.

But how does fat help our diet? Well, fat satiates the appetite, and helps to stop the cravings for sugar. And probably most importantly, fat when combined with a low sugar intake actually aids in burning fat as fuel. That’s right, fat helps burn fat. When fat is restricted, our bodies have a defense mechanism built in through evolution for survival. Our bodies will actually stop using fat as fuel in an effort to preserve our stores for future use.

Bodybuilders have known this for years through trial and error, while dieting for shows, they would reach a certain body fat percentage and suddenly plateau for no apparent reason. We found that by adding fat to the diet like olive oil, or coconut oil, would jump-start the body to burn body fat. It’s not the amount of food you consume that is the problem. It’s the types of food you’re consuming.

Sounds bizarre doesn’t it.

The South Beach Diet is nothing new.? It is another low carb diet wrapped up in a new package.? Some have called it a friendlier version of the very popular Atkins diet.? Dr. Agatston from the get go claims his South Beach Diet is not low carb, however, the usual carbohydrate foods like bread, fruit, fruit juice, rice, potatoes, pasta, sugar and snacks are excluded.? No matter how it is marketed, it is most certainly low carb.

Low carb diets have been all the rage for quite a while now.? Bodybuilders and fitness athletes have been using this strategy to keep lean and build muscle for decades.? The main reason low carb diets are still so popular, is simple; they work!

For those not familiar with how low carb diets work, it has to do with how our bodies ability to process them.? When food is ingested our bodies secrete insulin.? Insulin is a storage hormone.? To be more specific, its a fat storage hormone.? The higher your insulin levels are the higher the percentage of food will be stored as fat.? Moreover, the higher your insulin is the lower the amount of fat burned as fuel.? Hence, the biggest key to burning fat is to keep your insulin levels low, which is accomplished by consuming a diet of whole unprocessed food that is low in carbohydrates.? The South Beach diet helps one accomplish this, but this is where the benefits of this book end.

Like many doctors and other so-called experts they are taught what to think not how to think.? Dr. Agatson advocates a higher protein diet that is LOW in fat.? One is supposed to consume skim milk, lean meat, and urges the reader never to use animal fats.

Dr Agatson completely disregards the benefits of animal fats for the dangerous side effects of polyunsaturated fats.? For instance, he prohibits the use of butter and urges readers to use processed spreads.

The good Dr. claims you be hungry on the South Beach diet.? Anyone who follows this diet will find the opposite is true.? With a diet that is so low in fat, especially saturated fat, and carbohydrates there is nothing to satisfy your hunger.

Cutting out junk foods like sugar, and processed food in general is always a step in the right direction.? However, his advocating polyunsaturated fats over saturated fats make the South Beach diet one of the most dangerous diets out there.
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