Healthy at 100

[Yoda]

One of the big theme's in Robbins survey of healthy and long living cultures in "Healthy at 100" is that long lived people don't eat much.

 

On the same note, here's "How to live to 100 years" by some dude who did so in the 1600s:

 

http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/pdf/howtolive100years.pdf

 

 

Since the writing style is slow going, I'll summarize it:

 

At age 40 he had serious health problems and decided to practice calorie restriction to heal. It worked and he wrote his book in his late 70s and lived to 98-106. He described his health and energy level in his late 70s to be better than that of his late 30s. Also, he enjoyed more tranquility and happiness by reducing his calories as well. He describes the manner of dying with this mindset and level of great health being much more peaceful and natural, more like an oil lamp naturally running out of oil, rather than dying through avoidable and premature glitchiness when there's still plenty of oil in the lamp.

 

 

Of course, it sounds like he knew about the virtues of calorie restriction his whole life but it took something extreme for him to actually practice it.

 

With all the rat research and the monkey research starting to come in, it seems very likely that there is something to this.

 

It is very refreshing to see a longevity guru actually living to 100!

[thaddeus]

One of the big theme's in Robbins survey of healthy and long living cultures in "Healthy at 100" is that long lived people don't eat much.

google the latest research on resveratrol and how it may mimic caloric restriction..

T

[Yoda]

I've heard that scientists are hot on the scent of thingies like that which may help us bypass the whole calorie restriction thing. I hope it works, but I doubt they'll ever find anything 100% as effective. From my fasting experiments, I believe that the entire animal kingdom has evolved to function the best when eating intermittently. Just a hunch, though.

[mbanu]

One of the big theme's in Robbins survey of healthy and long living cultures in "Healthy at 100" is that long lived people don't eat much.

 

. . .

 

With all the rat research and the monkey research starting to come in, it seems very likely that there is something to this.

 

It is very refreshing to see a longevity guru actually living to 100!

 

It's a tradeoff. Caloric restriction burns jing more slowly, but often results in a weaker constitution. However, in America and most of the developed world, a strong constitution really wouldn't be required if minor lifestyle adjustments were made. Modern houses are well sealed against the environment, often with advanced climate control. The chances of one needing to, say, trudge 30 miles home in the snow with a broken leg because the horse spooked and threw you is very small. Of course, there are always auto accidents, but trauma medicine is extremely well-developed.

 

If people were willing to sleep instead of use stimulants, practice sexual moderation, avoid unnecessary stress, and practice caloric restriction eating warm well-cooked foods (basically the standard TCM advice for young people who want to live to be old people) they would most definitely live a long time.

[agharta]

mbanu,

 

take a look at the research of Dr. Francis Pottenger. www.price-pottenger.org or en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottenger

 

Also, here is a poem translated by Thomas Cleary from a Taoist Immortal from around 1100 AD

 

ABSTENTION FROM GRAIN

 

By Sun Bu-er

 

Once you can feed on the living energy,

Your lungs will be in an extroardinary state of clear coolness.

Forget the spirit, and there are no appearances to cling to;

Merge with the ultimate, and the existent emptiness is gone.

For breakfast look for wild taro roots;

When hungry at night, pick wetland mushrooms.

If you mix in smoke and fire,

Your body will not walk on the jewel pond.

 

 

 

find the link at www.healingtaousa.com/bigu.html

[Yoda]

Mbanu,

 

Interesting angle, you could well be right. Still, I have noticed references to fasting and exertion mixing nicely. Richard Marcinko when he was busy killing Buddhists as a SEAL in Vietnam (for his sake, I hope karma theory doesn't hold), wouldn't carry any food on him. He didn't mention the heightened senses which would have been very handy in the jungle, but he says the main motive was to be able to carry more ammo. Their missions were usually two days or less, so it wasn't long term fasting and he certainly ate heartily otherwise. The guy in the how to live 100 years article says that he's much stronger and vigorous on a low calorie diet than he was otherwise.

 

Having said that, some of these calorie restriction people look very sickly, weak, and low energy to me... exactly what you are talking about. Maybe overdoing it is the issue?

 

I'm guessing this point has been addressed in the rodent research.

 

-Yoda

[Mandrake]

Aren't you supposed to let dogs, for example, fast a quite often? Does only good for their health.

 

From my own observation, my studies and productivity are much more heightened when I eat less. Planned for quite a while to try to fast 1-2 times, I'll see how it goes when I finally incorporate this in my routine.

The main point, at least in my case, seems to be the amount of carb's I eat, oils and fats are okey.

 

I guess you should be conscious of how sedentary you are. If you don't move too much, you can cut out a lot. If you do some heavy work, increase intake. Probably one reason for these weak CRestriction people you mentioned Yoda.

Another reason that comes to my mind is that in order to get enough of certain nutrients you have to eat a lot. Cutting food without increasing the nutritional value in proportion would lead to trouble.

 

/Mandrake

[thelerner]

A book I have somewhere called 'Masters of the Way" has an interview with Lilly Sou a tai chi master & herbalist. She talks about naturally going without food for several days in a row. Not out of discipline, but because she's not hungry.

 

We're aping advanced practioners by fasting, but is outer discpline the same as listening to inner wisdom?

 

Michael

[Yoda]

We're aping advanced practioners by fasting, but is outer discpline the same as listening to inner wisdom?

 

 

That's a whole different thread, a good question to ponder, and nicely articulated. I bonk into this issue all the time.

 

 

Esther Hicks says that forcing an action/discipline that one isn't vibrationally lined up for is counter productive.

 

I have a pal in real estate who makes a million a year. When the rest of us agents copy his actions, we don't come up with the same results... what's up with that? In the world of sales trainers, 1 in 100 can copy the actions and get the same results.

 

Whether an action will work or not has everything to do with how you feel about it. If you fast but you think it'll be harmful then the mental negativity might could outweigh the physical benefits.

 

Then again, if you never challenge yourself you might end up under stimulated.

 

Luigi tries to address this in his Discourses... he says it takes willpower born of certainty that this path is beneficial. In his last discourse, he is 95 and has perfect eyes, teeth, singing voice, humor, work ethic, community service, altruism, energy level, etc etc... really sells it. His detractors say that he has great genetics and he counters by saying that he was on death's door at 40.

 

Like a sales trainer, I'm sure many have enjoyed his inspiration but only 1 in 10 gave it a shot and 1 in 10 of those actually were able to make it work.

[thelerner]

I've had the thought that until your feet are firmly set on the path you need firm discipline. Not that I have any.

 

Speaking of being healthy, I'm toying with the idea of health through blended shakes. A red, green and blue shake each day. You gave me the idea for the Green shake, ripe bananas and spinach. Blue berries are naturals for the blue shake (frozen, wild ones aren't too expensive) and frozen dark cherries for the red ones. I'll have to figure out easy add ins. Milk(?) Soy Milk(?) more bananas?

 

Unfortunately I haven't made your green shake yet, keep eating the spinach. Any ideas for add ins and order. My veggie friend always said, vegetables give strength, fruit gives energy.

 

 

Yours

 

Michael

[Yoda]

The example of the taoist who forgets to eat for a few days reminds me of several kids I know... lots of kids are near inedian. If their mothers didn't make them pick at their food, I bet they'd do a lot of fasting.