The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[Unca_Tim]

Here's an interesting article i found on low calorie diets,

Medifast has been the leader in LOW CALORIE DIETS for over 22 years. The best food line in the industry in the 90 to 110 calorie per meal that is fortified.
NOW look at the possibilities:
Low-calorie diet may lengthen life
Regimen reduces risk of diseases associated with aging
By Rob Stein
Updated: 12:29 p.m. ET April 20, 2004

A small group of people who are drastically restricting how much they eat in the hope of slowing the aging process have produced the strongest support yet for the tantalizing theory that very low-calorie diets can extend the human lifespan.

The first study of people who voluntarily imposed draconian diets on themselves found that their cholesterol levels, blood pressure and other major risk factors for heart disease -- the biggest killer -- plummeted, along with risk factors for diabetes and possibly other leading causes of death such as cancer and Alzheimer's.

"These people are definitely protected against the major killers," said John O. Holloszy of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who led the study, released online yesterday. "It should definitely increase longevity."

While it has long been known that eating well and staying trim helps people live healthier lives and avoid dying prematurely, evidence has been accumulating that following extremely low-calorie diets for many years may do something more -- significantly extend longevity beyond current norms.

Lab rats, mice and other creatures live much longer when fed very low-calorie diets, and some researchers suggest the same Fountain of Youth effects may hold true for people, perhaps by cutting the body's production of harmful atoms or molecules known as free radicals. But aside from a few corroborating clues from historical records of famines, the only evidence from humans came in 1991, when eight subjects in the sealed Biosphere laboratory in the Arizona desert unintentionally tested the theory when their food ran short. Their health appeared to improve markedly, according to a number of measures. The new study found "profound and sustained beneficial effects" in 18 people from the United States and Canada who had been eating very low calorie diets for three to 15 years, the researchers wrote in a paper being published in the April 27 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. While far from proving the theory, the findings provide the strongest direct evidence yet in people, several experts said.

"It is a very important paper," Roy L. Walford, a professor emeritus at the UCLA School of Medicine and a leading proponent of the theory, said in an e-mail interview. "You may well be able to choose between [caloric restriction] and that double-bypass cardiac surgery you are not looking forward to."

Lower 'bad' cholesterol, lower blood pressure
Overall, Pomerleau and the other study subjects had reduced their intake to between 1,100 and 1,950 calories a day for an average of six years. Holloszy conducted a battery of tests on them and compared the results with the participants' earlier medical records, and with results from a similar group of 18 adults who ate a typical Western diet of between about 1,975 and 3,550 calories a day.

Those on low-calorie diets had much lower levels of "bad" cholesterol, much higher levels of "good" cholesterol, lower levels of triglycerides and very low blood pressure. Tests of their arteries showed they looked more like those of children than middle-age adults. In addition, their blood sugar levels were very low and their body's response to insulin was extremely high, indicating they were at very low risk for diabetes. At the same time, they had very low blood levels of a substance known as c-reactive protein (CRP), which is believed to be a marker for inflammation in the body. Many researchers believe low CRP levels are linked to a lower risk for a host of ailments, including heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's.

[susan]

great post Tim.
susan

[LUVZHUZKYZ]

thanx for the post tim

[Landylue]

Excellent! Great article! Thanks, Unca Tim.

Now if they would just invent a 0 calorie/0 carb cheese enchilada, I could live out my life in sublime joy.

Landylue

[NikkiNix]

UNCA IS SOO SMART WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT HIM AND HIS FYI'S I TO AM STILL WAITING FOR THE BURRITO SUPREME 90 CALORIE SUPPLEMENT I THINK THAT WITH LANDYS 0 CALORIE ENCHILADA AND WE WOULD ALL BE IN HEAVEN