Eat, Fast, and Live Longer

With all that was happening I felt lost for a bit so I went to youtube to check my subscriptions. One of my favorite youtuber's to watch is WholeWheatSandwhich. I have been following her for a while.I think maybe since she started her vlog. She is very encouraging therefore always a great source of thinspiration.

In her entry dated today she talks about a documentary by the BBC called Eat, Fast and Live Longer. Lucky me!.... She put the link for the documentary that was located on YouTube.

It was interesting to say the least. It shined the light on simple fasting as an answer or solution to assist with aging. 

Research over the years has shown that genetics and food consumption are two factors  that affect aging. There is not much we could do with genetics factor but we do have the ability to control the consumption of food. When reviewing the patterns of aging through history, one can come to the conclusion that with eating smaller portions with fresh foods, a person can actually extend the life expectancy.

When it came to the period of the great depression of 1920's, life expectancy during that time period actually increase by an average of 5 years. The conclusion that the documentary tries to present is that by severely restricting the amount one eats we can extend our life expectancy.

There are a couple of ways that we can go about changing the food intake for bettering the quality of health. One could do a low caloric intake (about 1900 Calories per day) of mountains of fruits and vegies, meaning that one continues to eat healthy as the lifestyle.

Another option would be to fast for period of time. The reporter starts by fasting for 3 days straight and he saw drastic decrease of IGF-1 levels. IGF-1 is what triggers our body to produce more cells. The issue with that as the researchers states "It is like driving your car all the time and never taking it to the mechanic", meaning that as our body produces more cells for growth, our current cells do not take the time for damages to be repaired.

Michael Mosley experiments while participating in a fast that would consist of 3 days & 4 nights of fasting. The intake during the experiment would consist of a lot of water, black tea and one 50 calorie miso soup per day. After the fast, the levels of IGF-1  production was intensely lowered.The results emphasized that fasting caused a dramatic response within 24 hours. Results reflected that there was a decrease glucose levels and IGF-1 that is produced by the liver.

The reporter was in his 50's, about twice my age and of course he is trying to prevent aging. No matter whom he spoke with, all the researchers assured that efforts towards better eating shows results of healthier glucose levels, decrease in production of IGF-1, and at lesser risk to cardio and cancerous diseases.

The revelation came with the discussion of the abdominal fat. Abdominal fat can be related to increase in Cardio-Vascular disease & Cancer. Personally that was very alarming because over the years it's the abdominal fat that I have built. Although I have lost weight it's the one section of my body that I have the most trouble with losing. When I heard this in the video at the point I actually had to stop the video and take a breather.

This is the first time I have seen a documentary on fasting and it's benefits. It's about an hour long but this is something that I would recommend watching. If you would like to see Eat, Fast and Live Longer : Click Here Via Youtube


** Source Horizon: 2012-2013: 3. Eat, Fast and Live Longer August 6, 2012 BBC