Comments on: Lessons from Luigi. How to Live to 102.

By: Mike OD

Mike OD — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:20:24 +0000

Alvaro - Protein requirements will depend on many things like amount of muscle you do have, how much training you do and what your goals are (to just maintain or build more muscle). Your body wants amino acids, so amounts of dietary protein can really be independent to what you are actually utilizing/digesting. There are other factors like IF, ketones, muscle sparing, amino acid pool recycling, etc. If you want to build muscle, then you will probably need more protein. On average it is said that an active person should have about 0.6g protein/lean lb of bw to maintain muscle. Most wanting to put on muscle and do more resistance training usually need to bump it up to 0.8-1g/lean lb of bw. (or more depending on volume of training) As for Paleo intake….well that is I am sure debatable. Plus you have periods of feast and famine that they dealed with. In the end, most people wanting to get more muscle need more protein. Whole food proteins also help to keep people who want to lose weight feel full (so they don’t over eat on other high calorie processed foods). If you want to do some of your own research here are a couple sites with LOADS of info…..could keep you busy for a long time. In the end we are learning more interesting things about the body and what it needs (especially when looking at IF), so if you can find something that works for you….then that is what matters.
http://paleodiet.com/
http://www.beyondveg.com/cat/paleodiet/index.shtml

By: Alvaro

Alvaro — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 17:14:16 +0000

Hi Mike, I really love the site. I’ve been a dedicated IFer for about four months now and I’m loving it - I find it fairly easy to be pretty strict - no food till (typically post-workout) 5:00, but on the rare occasions I’m hungry during the day I’ll have some almonds or something.

I’m wondering if you can help me out with something - Mark from Mark’s Daily Apple has a post over at Rusty’s blog about how we NEED to eat meat because without it it’s impossible to get the daily 150 grams of protein required for “optimum health.” I’ve seen a lot of stuff, particularly related to CR and IF, that says that athletes actually require significantly smaller amounts of protein.

Mark supports this assertion with the uncited claim that on average, the hunter gatherer diet was 1/3 protein. First off, what we know best about aboriginal diets is that they were HUGELY varied, which means that our digestive systems evolved in very varied circumstances - why then, should the average automatically be the most healthful?

Secondly, Mark takes this 1/3 and applies it to his diet and comes up with 150 grams of daily program. While I’m having trouble finding any info about Mark’s daily calorie intake, I have a feeling it’s way higher than that of your run of the mill hunter gatherer, which sort of throws the whole article into question.

So my question is, do you have any info on the average hunter-gatherer daily calorie intake? It’s easy to find a lot of info online about the content of aboriginal diets, but I’m having trouble finding anything about total caloric intake.

I realize this is pretty off-topic but as an IFer and as a vegan it really bugs me when people make crazy claims about protein requirements

Thanks again!

By: Mike OD

Mike OD — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:39:48 +0000

Kimberly - That is probably the million dollar question. CR is just an example of the benefits for longevity, but also most people who only do CR are usually very low weight (not something more athletic people want such as myself). IF research is showing the benefits of CR with the additional benefit of maintain (or gain) of lean mass (muscle). Honestly if you are eating all natural foods, do not eat processed foods, strive for quality of foods….then you are doing great things for your health. Occasional IF may provide additional benefit and disease prevention as well, but at your age focus on quality of food first. It’s hard to really over eat on natural foods (that also keep our insulin stable)

Varangy - Like said above, CR people tend to be alot lower weight….so honestly CR is just a way to show that eating less is healthy…but it doesn’t have to go to the extreme of what Luigi did. He may of only been 115lbs for all I know, but there are important lessons we can take from his life of longevity and curing himself. Everyone is different…and who knows what the end date for any of us are….all we can do is take smart and preventative measures and then just live life. Luigi did extend his life…considering that he was dying around 40..and lived another 60+ years. As far as Wikipedia, ONLY the first paragraph about the summation of his life was used, the rest came from a different article as well as from his own writings/book (and there are plenty of other sources if you want to Google his name). I know it sounds hard to believe (as I don’t think you will find anyone from the 14th century around today to tell you more), but he did write in his later years and his book is still available today on Amazon that was published in 1942 (I haven’t read it, but I imagine it would be a very interesting read…but the message seems simple, more quality..less quantity).
“Art of Living Long (Paperback) by Luigi Cornaro (Author) “LUIGI CORNARO, often styled THE VENETIAN CENTENARIAN, the aged author of the famous treatise, “La Vita Sobria” (literal translation, “The Temperate Life,”"
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Living-Long-Luigi-Cornaro/dp/0766102084
or looks like the same book, although says (1916) and is paperback
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Living-Long-Luigi-Cornaro/dp/1594622264/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

By: Varangy

Varangy — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:15:47 +0000

I just re-read one more time — the story has all the hallmarks of an urban legend.

By: Varangy

Varangy — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:12:51 +0000

I hate to rain on the parade — but a couple cautionary thoughts:

1 - His diet sounds incredibly unhealthy to me.

2 - His diet could well have had nothing to do with his longevity.

3 - What about people who followed a similar diet and died early/average? We don’t hear about them.

4 - This is from Wikipedia. Do I have to say more?

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:33:06 +0000

I have a question about balance: I love reading stories about people who cure illnesses later in life, only to go on living fulfilled, healthy lives for years to come, but I am 18. I eat mostly vegetables. I do yoga and exercise. I fast sometimes. I am always mindful of what I put into my body. For people like me, who are not on the brink of death, how much should we take away from CR? I mean, the body can’t live on nothing right? What is the balance between eating “enough” and overeating?

By: Helder

Helder — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:40:18 +0000

Nice example to all of us, quality is everything, there are so many simple things that can bring more Life and more quality of Life to all

By: Mike OD

Mike OD — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:46:58 +0000

Yes, quality over quantity wins. Our body requires very little of the essential stuff…just most of the food people eat nowadays are so depleted of it that they need extra calories…and that in itself leads to other health issues. That and getting things in their “natural form” (aka real foods) means it has a natural built in delivery system and increased nutrient uptake and utilization (as many nutrients require other nutrients in order to be fully assimulated). Nature has a good design….processed food made by man however…is a different story.

Joe - Hmmm…yes it does. Did find another set of dates here…but I can’t read Italian (but it does have him living from 1464-1566). Apparently the source above was incorrect.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvise_Cornaro

By: Joe Matasic

Joe Matasic — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:30:57 +0000

According to the birthdate and year of death, he was only 98?

By: runbei

runbei — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:18:11 +0000

Wonderful stuff. Good information for athletes in all disciplines, too. It’s amazing how little of certain foods our bodies actually need. Take salt, for example. Contrary to present dogma, distance runners who habitually don’t add salt to their diets do very well in hot-weather marathons. Their bodies adapt and conserve sodium. (Doesn’t work if you’re eating lots of salt and suddenly opt to run 26.2 miles saltless.) This was the experience of legendary marathoner Ted Corbitt at the 1968 Holyoke Marathon, which became known as the Holyoke Massacre because it was run in 100-degree heat. Huge dropout rate - only Corbitt and a handful of others survived, and when they compared notes it turned out they were are on extremely low-salt diets. Same for saturated fats - our bodies need sat-fats, but very, very little. We get thin quickly and automatically when we eat huge salads, lots of fruit and nuts, and some but very little dairy and meat. I know - I’ve proved it - and high-nutrient food tastes so good!