"The real reason I do it is because I feel better today"

The Taste of Freedom revisited for supper last night, the grilled version of our Cold Turkey Danish Jubilee ham and Havarti half sandwich  (285 calories). We had a half. So did Tuck. Full-size version, which Goomp had, 570 calories.

"I eat salads, beans, salmon, open faced sardine sandwiches on low glycemic bread. I haven't had red meat in probably a year," says Barry Gamble, who "practices calorie restriction, packing all his daily nutrition into close to a quarter fewer calories than his body needs to maintain his natural weight -- which used to hover [Don't you love it when weight hovers?] around 195 pounds:

At 6 feet tall, he now consumes 1,800 calories each weekday (he adds 200 on weekends when he gets more exercise) and weighs 164, his slimness cloaked by an extra layer he wears to keep warm. Being thin, which causes him to feel cold, is a side effect, not the goal of calorie restriction, or CR, as it's called.

And isn't he hungry? "Oh yes," he said. "That might be what activates (the benefits of CR). There is a lot of debate about that."

But it's worth it for what Gamble says are his benefits -- more energy, fewer digestive problems, better measures of heart health and mobility and perhaps, although there are no guarantees, a longer life.

"The real reason I do it is because I feel better today," said Gamble;

Sunrise gets later and later -- and farther south [to the right beyond our photographic field of vision. above] -- these days. But fish gotta swim and fishermen gotta fish.

Being hungry and feeling better today. 'Reminds us of our own Cold Turkey Diet. Living forever? Not so much:

Scientists have long known that calorie restriction increases the life span of earthworms, mice, dogs and monkeys . . . And there is a growing impetus to find out if humans reap the same benefits, over time, as lab animals.

The National Institute on Aging and National Institutes of Health are both funding research at major universities. Private industry is also studying the metabolic effects of CR, working to create a pill that will mimic it and bypass the need for a rigid diet.

We know the lab rats have lost weight. 'Wonder if they're "feeling better today."

Comments

[Teresa]

Personally I see no point in such severe restrictions. If I'm hungry all the time, I get cranky... I don't feel better.

Which makes me think he was eating things that were simply bad for him before, with the new diet he doesn't. Pretty simple. Find out what it is that doesn't agree with your digestion - and STOP eating it. What a concept.

Okay - so I'm cranky today because my office is still messed up from the great closet cleaning. LOL. But, while concern about a proper diet is one thing - the CR people go WAY overboard in their quest for lower and lower calorie amounts. In which case, they may live forever - but who the heck cares if you live miserably? heh.

[Gayle Miller]

Okay - to a point I kind of "get" the whole CR thing - but only to a point.

My big thing (prior to moving from Ohio to Virginia) was skipping dinner entirely. So I was always slightly "peckish" when I went to bed - not hungry just a low key kind of craving which I ignored. BUT, I slept more restfully AND I was losing tons of weight doing that. Now I'm gaining it back and I'm not a happy girl. I have a roommate who INSISTS that I eat dinner every night. And yes, I'm moving into my own place within the next 6 weeks or so! At that point, it's the Cold Turkey Diet adapted to my lifestyle. I'm a big breakfast girl and I like a good lunch with lots of vegies involved - preferably lightly steamed or raw vegies. So I will be eating that luscious open faced sandwich for breakfast, Sissy, and probably having some of that fabulous broccoli soup alongside!