One Simple Rule for Living Longer, Looking Younger, and Being Healthier

This is my starting premise for this article: there are no right models, yet certain models are beneficial. In other words, nothing in science is absolute. Our understanding evolves all the time, and with it, the world around us. And I don't necessarily mean that as our comprehension evolves, we comprehend more. Sometimes we simply come to the realization that we don't comprehend anything. And those can be watershed moments because they force us to go back to basics and start from scratch.

So, aging, prolonging life, and increasing health (and appearance!) in old age... On this one, science appears to have gone back to fundamentals. And one simple idea appears again and time again in every study on longevity: eat less.

There are two main approaches to eating less. Assume you decide to limit your caloric intake to X calories per day. (Note: I'm not sure how much X should be for you; it will depend on your body weight, physical exertion, and so on.) One strategy to consume those X calories each day is to spread them out over the course of the day in small but frequent meals. In contrast, you can eat the same number of calories in an 8-hour period (i.e. eat fewer but larger meals) and fast for 16 hours. The latter technique is known as intermittent fasting, and the scientific literature now suggests that it is the best way to live longer, look better, and feel healthier.

As a result, University of Alabama researchers conducted a study with a small group of obese males with prediabetes. They contrasted "early time-restricted feeding," a type of intermittent fasting in which all meals were squeezed into an early eight-hour period of the day (7 a.m. to 3 p.m.) or spread out over 12 hours (between 7 am and 7 pm). The eight-hours group had much lower insulin levels and insulin sensitivity after five weeks, as well as significantly lower blood pressure. The best part was that the eight-hour group also had a significantly reduced appetite.

Another study examined the effect of eating one afternoon meal per day for 8 weeks to an isocaloric diet consumed as three meals per day and found that eating one afternoon meal per day resulted in a 4.1 percent weight loss. One meal per day was also related with lower fasting glucose and higher LDL- and HDL-cholesterol.

I could go on and on about additional research. Many of them are on rats, where intermittent fasting has been shown to increase life and health-span by at least 10%. (which, by the way, in rat world means many years). But I'd like to return to the beginning of this discussion, which was my starting point. Remember that fasting is an important practice in all religions. Do you think it's for religious reasons? And you think it's a coincidence that all religions advocate some form of fasting? I don't think so. People, I believe, have always intuitively recognized what is best for them. And this intuitive understanding is reflected in religious writings, which function as instructions for healthy living.

 Indeed, if you followed spiritual teachings (e.g., unconditional love, forgiveness, compassion, letting go and submitting, not overeating, etc.), you might live longer and healthier (of course provided you threw away the institutional "religious" crap that got over-imposed to serve the ego purposes of the upper classes). Now science confirms what religions have been preaching for centuries: intermittent fasting appears to activate healing processes in the body, which, in turn, improves health, improves appearance, and extends life. Isn't that fascinating?