There is a lot of popular talk about the benefits of fasting.
There is science backing up calorie restriction being able to slow the aging process and help to reset of bodily functions. One of my new year plans was to do a fast or a cleanse.
There are many types of fasts. The most promising looked like something called 5:2, that is 5 days feeding paired with 2 days fasting. I also liked the 16:8 plan which is daily 16 hours fasting paired with 8 hours feeding. This 16 hour fast includes your night’s sleep to make it simpler. After doing some research, I decided on a 5 day program. 2 days fasting and 3 days of veggies only (a 5 day plan).
This turned out to be easier than I anticipated. The 2 days of fasting were really a liquid diet. These liquid days were under 500 calories per day. I consumed 1 cup of coffee, veggie broth, v-8, green tea, water, and a veggie protein shake each day. On days 3, 4, & 5, I added stir fry veggies and ½ a butternut squash or a sweet potato. That is under 1000 total calories per day. I thought there would be a loss of energy or the usual brain fog from no meat and no complex carbohydrates. I had experienced that on the previous fasting or cleanse adventures, but none of this occurred. Breaking a fast properly is important so I eased into my regular 1800 calories and 4 oz. portion of meat. 2 weeks after the fast, I’m holding at 196 pounds (the lightest I’ve been in 30 plus years) and I am looking forward to additional plunges’ into fasting and weight loss.
Another week went by and I got an illness of some kind. I believe that it was from exposure from my students. I monitored my temperature and blood pressure. I ended up putting myself back on the blood pressure meds as a safeguard as my BP was a little elevated.
I’ll continue to monitor my BP. The fasting felt great and I’m planning another in the near future.
The Blue Zone Information From The Book
The Blue Zones
9 Lessons For Living Longer
From the people who’ve lived the longest
by Dan Buettner
This is not meant to be a book review, but a chance to impart some great information that we all need to know.
“Life expectancy of an American born today averages 78.2 years. But this year, over 70,000 Americans have reached their 100 birthday.”
Dan Buettner teamed up with National Geographic to find the world’s longest-lived people and study them. They found pockets of people around the world with the highest life expectancy, or with the highest proportions of people to reach age 100.
The 5 places are:
Barbagia region of Sardinia-mountainous highlands
Ikaria, Greece-Aegean Island
Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica
Seventh Day Adventist-around Loma Linda, California
Okinawa, Japan-Island area.
They put together medical researchers, anthropologists, demographers, and epidemiologists to search for evidence-based common denominators. They found nine lifestyle and diet habits .
Here is the first one. Move Naturally.
“The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron, run marathons or join gyms. Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without thinking about it. They grow gardens and don’t have mechanical conveniences for house and yard work.”
How do I incorporate this into my life?
“Inconvenience Yourself”; By inconveniencing yourself you can add more activity to your day.
“Have fun, Keep moving”; Make a list of activities you enjoy, do those.
“Walk”; Blue Zone peoples are walking around 5 miles a day, every day.
Do you want to add years to your life and life to your years? Start now with the first lifestyle practice and tell me how it makes you feel.
Next blog will include Lifestyle habit #2.
Be healthy,
Coach Brown
HEALTHY AT 120 