HUNGRY BUT WIZENED
The connection between limited food and longevity is reminiscent of the one well-established treatment that stalls aging in mammals: calorie restriction. Calorie restricted mammals have low levels of both insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). "You can make a very strong case that there is a link between IGF signaling and aging in mammals" says David Gems, a researcher at the University College of London who is studying longevity in earthworms. What his team has found is that significantly reducing caloric intake in the earthworm makes them live longer. They think this can be applied to humans as well. These findings are not new; eastern practitioners have advocated fasting to stay young for many centuries. In a fascinating experiment Dr. Roy Walford, one of the eight participants of the famous 'Biosphere-2, raised this same issue.

In the late 1980s, several international organizations united their efforts to build a structure on ranchland located at the foothills of the San-Catalina range in Arizona. The structure was named 'Biosphere-2'. It was an artificial replica of the global environment, containing human habitats, a zone for intensive farming, miniature oceans with coral reefs, humid tropical forests and savannas, fresh water reservoirs, swamps and deserts. This replica was stationed under a airtight transparent dome. The major goal of experiments staged in 'Biosphere-2' was to test the possibility of continuous space flights. Therefore, 'astronauts' who lived under the dome were completely isolated from the outside world and sustained solely on self-produced products, recycled air and water. Naturally, under these conditions their food ratio had to be limited, and it had beneficial effect on their health.

Men lost about 18%of their initial weight, women about 10%. On average their blood pressure dropped by 20%, and their diabetes quotients by 30%. Blood cholesterol level went down from the average 195 to the preferred 125. Roy Wilford told his colleagues that, in his opinion, eating less is not enough; one has to also eat better. The team of 'Biosphere-2' strictly followed this rule. The variety of foods they ate was very limited and they were involved in hard physical labor. The menu consisted mainly of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and very little meat. This combination provided them with sufficient amounts of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Roy Wilford was also one of a few scientists who tested the Cornaro method on himself (strict fasting). He was convinced that strictly limited food intake might prove safe and effective even for a middle-aged person. By gradually changing his habits, Wilford in a few months got used to consuming very little food. "The goal of this is to gradually lose weight", he writes. " Continue doing this until your body becomes 10-25 percent lighter than before, and your weight approaches the weight you had at 25 and 30. This is what you should be looking for."

A living organism such as a human is ten times more complex than an iron calorimetric oven and its energy consumption. We are based on a different set of natural laws, which should have been taken into consideration. A piece of meat of a certain weight burned in an oven can discharge the same thousand of kilocalories as a certain amount of grain if burned in the same oven. The problem is that everything burns in an oven according to the same laws while biochemical decomposition of different products in a human organism is accompanied with different amounts of consumed and discharged energy. For example: most calories consumed with a piece of meat will be spent on digestion of the very same piece of meat. Grains, on the other hand, will discharge many times more calories than needed for their digestion. Therefore standardized numbers of calories are not a suitable measure for a living organism since it does not take into consideration the specific characteristics of the products we consume. The moral of the story is instead of counting calories, pay attention to the quality of the foods you are eating and their ingredients. Opt for raw foods and foods with little or no additives. Make healthier choices for a healthier you.