Photo: jupiterimages

In the past we've told you about how calorie restriction, hiking and weight lifting are good for your health and fitness. These lifestyle choices along with other healthy habits, may also be good for keeping your outward appearances -- and internal organs -- looking young. Discover 25 things -- you may already be doing -- to keep your body as youthful as can be.

You might be familiar with We TV's "Secret Lives of Women." The show explores everything from women who lead double lives in adult entertainment to strange addictions to phobias, and this week's episode is focusing on extreme diets.

After watching the upcoming episode, I'm not going to lie -- my eyes were opened in a big way. The episode focuses on four women. Meredith Averill, along with her husband, follows the CR Way (or the Calorie Restriction Diet). Gwen Shamblin is the founder of Weigh Down Ministries, which helps people lose weight through religion. Gabrielle Brick is a raw foodist and Janet Kalish is a freegan, which means she eats mainly what she can find by dumpster diving rather than purchasing food from a store.

Averill, a youthful looking 62-year-old, has been living the CR Way for more than 15 years. She and her husband both attribute their good health to their diet, and fully expect it to add to their longevity. Generally, calorie restrictors reduce their caloric intake by 20 to 40 percent. While she doesn't say what their specific daily calorie limit is, Averill says, "At the end of lunch, we don't eat again until the next breakfast." Instead, the couple goes for a walk. (Sounds filling, right?)

Shamblin was overweight in her younger years, and her obsession with what she could and couldn't eat led her to a startling conclusion. "Dieting was the cause for overeating in this country," she says. Her Weigh Down Workshop isn't just about praying to be skinny. Rather, the idea is to give people something bigger than themselves to turn to when facing the temptation of overeating, to "transfer from bowing down to a pan of brownies" she says, "to turning to God."

Photo: Michael Fusco

Why calorie restriction? Brian M. Delaney, co-author of "The Longevity Diet" and president of the Calorie Restriction Society says, "the evidence in virtually every species studied indicates that calorie restriction slows the aging process, and extends 'youth span.' Studies in humans that actually measure mortality may never be done, since they would take over a century to complete, but shorter-term studies in humans indicate that 'biomarkers' of age and rate of aging shift in the same way they do in the calorie-restricted animals." An added bonus? He says he feels better, all his health markers have "moved dramatically in positive directions" and "generally, I feel much better now than before I started calorie restriction." In an interview with That's Fit, he describes an average day of eating, what he does in social settings and what he does to avoid pigging out.

That's Fit: What is a typical day's worth of meals and number of calories for you?

Brian M. Delaney: I eat a hearty breakfast -- usually a large bowl of whole grain cereal with non-fat yogurt and soymilk (or some other, less fatty "legume milk" of my own making, using for example navy beans), [served with] lots of blueberries and usually some other fruit.

I skip lunch, mainly because it saves time! But I also skip lunch because I love eating a large breakfast ("Breakfast like a king..."), and, for social reasons, often need to eat a normal-sized dinner, so I can't be on calorie restriction unless I skip lunch.

Dinners are usually a very large salad with lots of colorful vegetables, some kind of thick lentil or other legume soup (pinto beans, navy beans, etc.). I usually eat a bit of dark chocolate for desert, and often drink red wine.

I follow a vegetarian diet at home; when I'm invited out, I gladly eat what I'm served!

At the moment my daily caloric intake is around 2,000. (I could go lower, but I don't want to be that scrawny, for reasons of pure vanity.) [Reporter's Note: According to USDA recommendations, a moderately active adult male should consume, 2,200 to 2,800 calories; Delaney says he's active, so he may even fall in the 2,400 to 3,000 calorie range.]

Photo: catsper, Flickr

If you've ever tried cutting calories, you know how important calories are. As it turns out, cutting calories isn't only good for your waistline, it could also slow aging.

So says a new study from the journal Science in which researchers followed more than 70 monkeys for 20 years. Half of the monkeys followed a calorie-restricted but nutrient-dense diet, eventually eating 30 percent less calories than they normally would. Meanwhile, the other half ate whatever they wanted.

In the end, 53 percent of the calorie-restricted were still living by the end of the study, compared to only 34 percent in the other group. Even more important, monkeys that ate fewer calories stayed healthier for longer periods of time. In fact, they were three times less likely to develop age-related diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Even though it shouldn't, the struggle of losing weight can sometimes feel like torture. That is, if your definition of torture is having to say no to a second slice of chocolate cake. But some people take weight loss to an extreme called Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD). According to some reports, the VLCD principals of extreme calorie deprivation have been used as a means of control for prisoners being interrogated.

Wait a minute. Back that bus up. Can things like calorie restriction and waterboarding really be considered in the same category? Apparently, some people in government believe that they can. The fact that VLCD has been used in such a shocking way should set off some warning bells.

VLCDs are often prepared drinks or foods that replace regular meals. Usually, VLCDs total 800 calories or less per day. When medically prescribed and supervised, VLCDs can be a safe measure for a period of time. And, due to the extreme calorie restriction, a moderately to severely obese person can potentially lose 3-5 pounds per week.

Source

Day 5: The fatigue has passed! I feel good. Like, really good. I can (now) see how this might be addicting. I feel light, possibly because I've lost three pounds already. I can feel my abs shrinking, my legs look more toned. I haven't lost my head, though. I know that the weight loss is mostly water loss, likely to be put right back on once I start eating normally again.

But I do feel good, happy, lots of energy. It's kind of surreal, actually. According to Mayo Clinic, this isn't unusual. Restricting calories, they say, can actually lead to a feeling of psychological well-being. Which is weird, because I always thought happiness was a giant bowl of hummus and chips.

Every morning I turn on the television just in time to hear Willard Scott from NBC's "Today Show" attempt to pronounce the names of America's centenarians. Whenever I see the ages next to the faces on that rotating jar of Smuckers, I can't help but wonder, what are these super-senior citizens doing right?

As humans, it's our business in life to stay alive for as long as possible. Each year, millions of dollars are poured into studies aimed at discovering the fountain of youth. The latest fountain du jour? Calorie-restrictive diets.

Several reports, including an ongoing study at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center (WNPC), have shown that calorie restriction can extend the life expectancy of primates, mice and fruit flies. Canto, a 25-year-old rhesus monkey at WNPC, looks and acts like a monkey half his age thanks to being fed a diet that contains 30 percent fewer calories per day than the average rhesus monkey for the past 17 years.

Not everyone who follows a calorie-restricted diet is hoping to lose weight. Some consciously choose fewer calories in hopes of living longer, as previous research has shown calorie restriction is an effective longevity-booster in rats and mice.

But new research suggests calorie-restriction alone may not crown you a centenarian, unless you simultaneously pay attention to your protein intake. Hmm, how much protein does 113-year-old Tomoji Tanabe eat? In animal longevity models, longer life is connected to lower levels of IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor-1). When scientists compared IGF-1 measurements among short and long-term calorie restricters, regular exercisers and even a sedentary, Western diet group who changed nothing, IGF-1 levels were similar. Then the white coats took at look at long-term, strict vegans.

Vegans had significantly lower levels of IGF-1, even those heavier and fatter than calorie restricters. The vegans consumed about 10 percent of their calories from protein, while calorie-restricters were downing protein in the 23-24 percent zone. Here's the kicker, when six of the calorie-restricters agreed to try lowering their protein intake, their IGF-1 levels lowered dramatically in only three weeks. So to get in the running for Oldest Living Soul on the Planet, type of calories, not total calories may be key.

Source