Eat, Fast, And Live Longer - We Are What We Eat

I watched a very interesting Horizon documentary recently.

It began with some extraordinary statistics. During the great agricultural depression in the United States, during the 1930s, when thousands of people had less to eat than what we think of as the minimum daily requirement today, life expectancy actually rose. Significantly.

Anecdotally, and speaking from my own experience I know this to be true because my elderly mother lived through wartime rationing, that generation has been statistically healthier and has formed the rump of the ageing population that we are having so much problem caring for.

It seems that several years of minimal nutrition has the surprising side-effect that those people that experienced it have been healthier, and no doubt happier as a consequence.

In this programme the presenter went so far as to purposely fast himself, at first a three and a half day proper fast, with just a cup of miso soup each day, but then a far more manageable fast (in terms of modern lifestyles) which amounted to eat what you like for five days, and have two days for the rest of the week when your calorie intake is significantly reduced. Say, 600 calories rather than a more typical 2000 calories.

It was a very compelling programme. So compelling in fact that I am beginning to experiment myself with reducing the amount of unnecessarily sugary foods, simply by cutting out desserts which I have typically had every night of the week.

And I am missing an occasional lunch at weekends, and avoiding any sugar-based snacks or sweets.

It isn't difficult to do, but the potential benefits might be enormous.

In experiments with mice, the longevity of smaller underfed mice greatly exceeded that of well fed mice.

And in fact, in the smaller calorie controlled examples, the incidence of destructive conditions like cancers and diabetes related conditions was negligible.

And in fact, it seems that the body's capacity for self repair is more likely to start to work when less calories are present.

The lesson is a simple one. Whilst we may think that our comparative richness compared to our ancestors is a good thing, we would do well to heed the lessons of the past.

That literally less can be more, and for someone in my situation, if my body can be encouraged to begin the process of self repair, it will certainly be a price worth paying.

And at the same time, my food bills have been substantively cut. the ultimate win-win situation.