Eating Less
Emily Yoffe has a fascinating piece in Slate about going on a “CRON” (calorie-restricted optimal nutrition) plan. She eats 1500 calories/day. I was struck by three things: 1. Roy Wolford, apparently the first person to try something like this for a long time, did not live to be unusually old. He was 79 when he died. This is very helpful self-experimentation: CRON didn’t work, at least for life expectancy. One data point is much better than none. 2. Hunger is a huge problem. 3. In spite of the hunger, Yoffe is continuing the plan after the allotted 2 months have finished. Her sleep is still poor, etc., but she likes being thinner.
Yoffe mentions the UpDayDownDay regime studied by NIH researcher Mark Mattson. There is now a website for an associated book and diet. (My earlier comments.) A few weeks ago I asked Donald Laub, a Stanford professor of medicine who is doing this regime, if he was still taking olive oil to make the low-calorie days easier to endure. He said he was.
February 9th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Peter Voss, who’s been CRONning for many years now, has notes on it here: http://optimal.org/peter/cronindex.htm
February 9th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
according to Wikipedia, Dr. Walford died of Lou Gehrig’s disease; does being thin cause or contribute to this disease? your comment suggests that CR contributed to his death and that’s not clear.
February 9th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
I’m not saying CR contributed to his death; I’m saying that in his particular case, the main supposed benefit of CR — longer life — failed to happen.
April 7th, 2007 at 5:24 am
If Walford had been hit by a car would you say the same? It is very regrettable that Walford’s life was cut short in this way, but neither he nor anyone claims that CR will prevent death by serious disease, accident, or genetic predisposition.
The main supposed benefit of CR, at least as commenced by adult humans, is not longer life - it is longer average lifespan. This is because to obtain a longer maximum lifespan, as in the experimental animals, you’d have to commence CR before puberty. And likely wind up a very long lived 4 foot tall simpleton as a result.
Read the experiences of folk on your own forums, Seth. Less illness, increased energy, youthful appearance - these are common experiences of practitioners of CRON. The really nice thing about SLD is that, for the first time, it makes CRON practical for a huge population. The social effects of this may be very dramatic. When most young adults today can live to be illness free centenarians with nothing but an easily achieved and aesthetically benefical diet change … how will the world look then?
April 7th, 2007 at 7:21 am
What’s the difference between “longer life” and “longer average lifespan”?