by  Dr Tony Vendryes

For decades researchers studying the process of ageing have observed that eating less extends the lifespan of animals as long as they get all the essential nutrients they need.

In fact, this is the most effective way to a longer life in animal experiments. This strategy is referred to as caloric restriction and experts in human ageing believe that it can do the same thing for human beings. A calorie is simply a unit used to measure the amount of energy in foods. Food supplies us with two main requirements: energy and nutrients. Research suggests that most people consume too many calories but not enough nutrients for optimal health.

Caloric restriction is not a near-starvation diet. It is a healthy lifestyle plan for optimal nutrition while restricting calories that create many health benefits with only occasional hunger. To stress the importance of good nutrition, I will refer to caloric restriction as ‘Caloric Restriction with Optimal Nutrition’ or CRON, (a term used by the Life Extension Foundation in the United States).

Practising CRON involves reducing caloric intake by up to 30 per cent by greatly limiting the consumption of high calorie, nutrient-poor foods such as white flour, refined sugar and unhealthy fats. It is important that additional vitamins and minerals be added to any caloric restriction programme to avoid any nutrient deficiency. Only calories, not nutrients, should be limited

CRON lowers risk for heart disease and diabetes

Factors that increase your risk of heart disease such as obesity, high blood pressure, elevated blood glucose, high cholesterol and triglycerides are rapidly lowered once animals or humans are placed on CRON.

As people age, their cells become resistant to the hormone insulin, a condition called insulin resistance. This causes blood levels of both insulin and glucose to rise. Elevated blood glucose and insulin are major risk factors for Type 2 diabetes. A lowering in insulin and glucose is seen even after one month of calorie restriction, even before any weight loss has occurred.

CRON protects cells

CRON increases the ability of the body to defend itself against free radical damage. Free radical damage to cells is considered to be a major cause of many degenerative diseases as well as the ageing process itself. Experiments show that ageing rats on CRON have a greater resistance to cellular damage when compared to younger animals.

CRON and cancer

The anti-cancer effects of caloric restriction are well known in experimental animals, and studies in humans also suggest a protective effect. Even non-cancerous growths like uterine fibroids seem to diminish with CRON.

How to practise CRON?

To live long healthy lives, we need to find a way to have the benefits of CRON without being constantly distracted by hunger. Maintaining a reduced caloric intake over the long-term can be very demanding, especially in a culture surrounded by inexpensive, plentiful, calorie-rich, nutrient-poor food. Here are some guidelines.

Sweet, starchy and fatty foods are calorie-rich foods. Avoid these foods which includes most of the modern ‘fast foods’.

Emphasise foods high in water and fibre and low in calories. These include fresh vegetables and most not-so-sweet fruits.

Supplement your diet with a high quality multivitamin and mineral tablet and fish oil capsules at each meal.

Replace one or more regular meals with nutritional shakes. Modern food technology has created delicious meal-replacement protein shakes. High-quality shakes are designed to be very rich in nutrients and very low in calories. The shakes I recommend contain less than 200 calories each, while providing more nutrients than is found in 2,000 calories of regular food. They are the ideal anti-ageing foods and supply critical dietary protein.

Have a fibre supplement with water before meals. This will increase your feeling of fullness and reduce your absorption of fats and your food consumption. For this, I use a tablet called Activated Fibre.

Drink lots of water. Make water your standard drink. It contains zero calories while helping to make you stomach feel full. The next choices of beverages should be herbal tea or natural coconut water.

So restricting your food consumption while improving your nutrition can lengthen your life.