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Aging Men: what I do to feel better and younger (comment, critique, question, flame away) (1 Viewer)

AAABatteries said:
Without getting tested what are some of the signs of low T?  I'm still saluting most mornings and my libido is still through the roof.  Still have decent muscle mass.

Is there a good reason to get tested if there's no concerns?
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For me, low energy was the biggest factor to want to get it checked and figure out a change.  

 
Dez89 said:
I try to get my hands on all the collagen I can find.
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The every other week Derma Roller that I do is basically this…it builds up and produces collagen in your skin naturally.   (You force the skin to repair itself multiple layers deep)

 
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offdee said:
The every other week Derma Roller that I do is basically this…it builds up and produces collagen in your skin naturally.   (You force the skin to repair itself multiple layers deep)
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That was actually an inside joke for the folks following my thread, but I did want to participate in this one as well.

I use Obagi Clenziderm Pore Therapy in the morning and (if I don't forget) at night.
Followed in the morning with EltaMD UV Clear Broad-Spectrum SPF 46.
If I remember to do the pore treatment at night then I also follow up with EltaMD Barrier Renewal Complex.

I take a number of supplements and have included ones where I've read studies that they show benefits for skin, namely aloe, saw palmetto, and ginseng.

 
Keerock said:
@offdee Interested in what you are using for teeth whitening?
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Below is coped from my Amazon order. I usually get the 4 tube pack, but it looks like that is unavailable at the moment.  The 8 tube pack is available for $20.

I did Invisalign and just kept my last set of mouthguards.  I put this gel on the end of a Q-Tip and cover my front teeth, both top and bottom.  Then slide the Invisalign guards over and let it be on for 30 mins.   Just brush teeth and Invisalign guards clean and WA LA!    I do it twice a week.  Amazon has teeth whitening trays/molds you can get too knowing most won't have ones laying around to use

Also pickup a $3 bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide from Walgreens or Target.  In between whitening sessions if you have an event or date night or whatever, just take a pull of this (don't swallow) and swish around your front teeth for 10 seconds before brushing your teeth.   Basically teeth whitener is just concentrated hyrdogen peroxide.

----

Eight (8) Huge 10mL Syringes SenAllis Cosmetics Teeth Whitening Gel, 80mL 35% Gel Syringes, Fast & More Effective Than Teeth Whitening Strips, Refills Gel Compatible with Most Teeth Whitening Kits

 
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I'm turning 58 this year... pretty good health for my age albeit 30# overweight.  Flexibility is a real issue... will try to follow some of the recommendations here.

Some things that I do/take to help me feel "better":

  1. Daily walks (2-5 miles)
  2. ACV - 2 Tbsp every morning in a cup of water.  Supposedly helps with digestion, appetite suppression, blood pressure, blood sugar regulation
  3. Intermittent Fasting (21-3 during the week) - Cell regeneration, blood sugar regulation
  4. Limited carbs during the week
  5. Fiber supplement in my coffee - obvious reasons
  6. Collagen supplement in my coffee - supposedly good for skin, hair and nail health, although I've recently heard that's bunk
  7. CoQ10 - Heart health
  8. Glucosamine - Joint health
 
Zow said:
I don't worship any of those things. I do think they can to a moderate and reasonable extent promote a good life both for the individual and for society, but I fail to see how one saying "hey you're saying a lot without actually saying anything" denotes the response of "worship this stuff then." 

I want to care about others and do good. I just fail to see how advice like "make your own path" practically and pragmatically promotes this end. I'm seeking more concrete advice. 
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I like the "make your own path" advice.  IMO too many people care too much about social conventions, what the neighbors think, and so on, and they give those expectations way too much weight.  People would be happier, and frankly better, if they just did their own thing and stopped worrying about whether other people approve or disapprove.  Want to quit your well-paying job and be a dad to your kids instead?  Great, and screw anybody who gives you any gruff about it.  

The problem, of course, is that "make your own path" doesn't tell you what that path should be.  Quitting your job to create more time for your family seems like a reasonable if unconventional life choice to me.  Living your entire adulthood like a horny teenager so that you can bang young women in your 50s and die alone seems like a pretty depressing choice to me.  "Make your own path" is great if you're choosing a path that makes you happy and helps you grow into a better person.  It's terrible if it becomes a self-made permission slip to indulge in narcissism.  

(I suspect we more or less agree -- just riffing off your post a bit).

 
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offdee said:
Tell me more about this....what does "21-3" mean?    21 hrs of fasting and 3 hr window allowed to eat?
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That's correct.  I eat from 5pm - 8pm every day and then nothing from 8pm - 5pm the next day.

There are a lot of options... whatever fits your schedule.  Many people do 16-8 (eat only from noon - 8pm).

 
Bracie Smathers said:
I started to say much more but, in this day, and age people 'tend' to get offended by anything that 'could possibly' trigger them so I used a platitude.

In the very next post after yours, Wikid quoted David Foster Wallace.  You may not be familiar with him but I can suggest a fantastic movie that was made about him called The End of the Tour.

The quote dove much deeper into what I 'hinted'.

When I said 'Make your own path' I wanted to try and scratch the surfacce of DFW but couldn't compare to David Foster Wallace who said it much better.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. 

Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you.

On one level, we all know this stuff already. It’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness.

Worship power, you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they’re evil or sinful, it’s that they’re unconscious. They are default settings.

They’re the kind of worship you just gradually slip into, day after day, getting more and more selective about what you see and how you measure value without ever being fully aware that that’s what you’re doing.

And the so-called real world will not discourage you from operating on your default settings, because the so-called real world of men and money and power hums merrily along in a pool of fear and anger and frustration and craving and worship of self. Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom.

The freedom all to be lords of our tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the centre of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talk about much in the great outside world of wanting and achieving…. The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day.

That is real freedom. That is being educated, and understanding how to think. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the rat race, the constant gnawing sense of having had, and lost, some infinite thing.
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people latch on to the "worship" part of DFW's "What is Water" speech for good reason, but i'm more partial to the "lords of our tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the centre of all creation" section. i treat or coach a significant number of either fairly or very successful miserable folk and, invariably, the burden of their suffering comes from their castles keeping them, instead of vice versa. unsuccessful miserable people generally are as bound into servicing the excuses theyve created for not having a castle as their "betters" are defending theirs. 

i have had some reasonable success convincing both groups that we actually have nothing to "prove" of any value unless it "provides" too, but my "size doesnt matter" arguments have had as little success with men and their castles as they did with women backinaday. so i condense it all to "the give is the get" in life and wish i cared as much who takes that advice as that i must indeed give it wherever i can.

 
Keerock said:
That's correct.  I eat from 5pm - 8pm every day and then nothing from 8pm - 5pm the next day.

There are a lot of options... whatever fits your schedule.  Many people do 16-8 (eat only from noon - 8pm).
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And you do this only Monday through Friday (Weekends are free for all?)

And what about liquids during the fasting window.  Water ok?  Coffee and Monster ok?

 
offdee said:
And you do this only Monday through Friday (Weekends are free for all?)

And what about liquids during the fasting window.  Water ok?  Coffee and Monster ok?
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Yes... I only do it M-F.  I try to wait until noon on the weekends if I can.

Fasting is calorie driven, so any liquids that have no calories are fine.  Water, black coffee, sugar free monster/pop...

 
Keerock said:
That's correct.  I eat from 5pm - 8pm every day and then nothing from 8pm - 5pm the next day.

There are a lot of options... whatever fits your schedule.  Many people do 16-8 (eat only from noon - 8pm).
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I’m curious about what you eat between 5 pm- 8 pm? One larger meal or a series of smaller snacks? I’ve never tried fasting like this, but I would think I would gorge in those 3 hours. It must take a lot of discipline not to gorge yourself. 
So, outside of those 3 hours you are only drinking water?

 
Keerock said:
Yes... I only do it M-F.  I try to wait until noon on the weekends if I can.

Fasting is calorie driven, so any liquids that have no calories are fine.  Water, black coffee, sugar free monster/pop...
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Ok cool.

Because I don't eat breakfast and just have the sugar free Monster, I'm essentially fasting already from 10pm-Noon every day....which would make it 14-10 (7 days a week) for me without even changing anything.

I assume a better change for me (and not be that hard) would be to not eat anything after 8pm every night which would make it the 16-8 you were referring to.

 
northern exposure said:
I’m curious about what you eat between 5 pm- 8 pm? One larger meal or a series of smaller snacks? I’ve never tried fasting like this, but I would think I would gorge in those 3 hours. It must take a lot of discipline not to gorge yourself. 
So, outside of those 3 hours you are only drinking water?
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I usually eat a snack at 5pm (nuts, protein bar, cheese or something like that).  At 6pm I'll eat a decent sized dinner... whatever Mrs. Keerock makes.  At 7:30ish, if I'm still hungry, I may have another snack like above, popcorn or maybe a low carb sweet (Rebel Ice Cream is my go-to right now).

FWIW... after the first few days, you won't have the urge to gorge yourself.  Your stomach will "shrink" and your blood sugar will be more stable, reducing the "cravings".  The first few days are admittedly rough though.

During the fast, I drink water, black coffee, and my vice... Diet Dr Pepper.

 
offdee said:
Ok cool.

Because I don't eat breakfast and just have the sugar free Monster, I'm essentially fasting already from 10pm-Noon every day....which would make it 14-10 (7 days a week) for me without even changing anything.

I assume a better change for me (and not be that hard) would be to not eat anything after 8pm every night which would make it the 16-8 you were referring to.
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Yep... you're halfway there.

I've read that longer fasts are better for toxin removal and cell regeneration so I'll try to throw in a 45 hour fast once a month or so (for example, won't eat from 8pm Sunday through 5pm Tuesday).  But save that for when you're used to the shorter (~20 hour) fasts or it'll be miserable (hunger, headaches, etc).  I see some people on TikTok doing 30, 60 and even 180 day fasts... that's insane to me.  I like eating too much :D  

 
Keerock said:
Yep... you're halfway there.

I've read that longer fasts are better for toxin removal and cell regeneration so I'll try to throw in a 45 hour fast once a month or so (for example, won't eat from 8pm Sunday through 5pm Tuesday).  But save that for when you're used to the shorter (~20 hour) fasts or it'll be miserable (hunger, headaches, etc).  I see some people on TikTok doing 30, 60 and even 180 day fasts... that's insane to me.  I like eating too much :D  
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Is the time of the fast relevant?  Pre-pandemic when I was in the office everyday, I would have something for breakfast at 9am, eat lunch around 12-1, and then have an apple at 4 or 430.  Chance protein bar or nuts sprinkled in there, but then I would not eat for the rest of the day/night.

 
I've been all-in with intermittent fasting for over a decade. It was the primary tool of a 100 pound weight loss and ongoing maintenance. I consider it the most important thing I've done to restore and keep better health. I also know a healthy diabetic who eats 5 small meals a day. Different strokes. Do what works for you. Stick to it. 

 
Also, I'm like Keerock. One meal a day in a 2 or 3 hour window in the early evening. I also do 48 hour water fasts every now and then. I don't take weekends off, but I have a cheat day here or there and if vacationing or something I'll cheat for days. This is when the longer water fasts come in. 

Low carb ketogenic dieting led to the weight loss, but as life went on I learned to enjoy any foods I like (understanding refined sugars and carbs need to be minimized). The result of eating what I like, pizza, tacos, pasta, made me metobolically flexible. This just means my liver can transition from burning glucose to ketones quickly and without the discomfort most experience. 

My guru for almost 20 years has been Mark Sisson. Here he discusses this stuff with Rogan. 

 
Leeroy Jenkins said:
Is the time of the fast relevant?  Pre-pandemic when I was in the office everyday, I would have something for breakfast at 9am, eat lunch around 12-1, and then have an apple at 4 or 430.  Chance protein bar or nuts sprinkled in there, but then I would not eat for the rest of the day/night.
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I don’t think so.  It’s the length of the fast that is important 

 
Leeroy Jenkins said:
Is the time of the fast relevant?  Pre-pandemic when I was in the office everyday, I would have something for breakfast at 9am, eat lunch around 12-1, and then have an apple at 4 or 430.  Chance protein bar or nuts sprinkled in there, but then I would not eat for the rest of the day/night.
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Unless I misunderstand you - that's not considered fasting or in your case, you are fasting for 3 hours, 3 hours and then 16 hours.  So for a day you are doing 16/8 IF.

The longer that first number goes the more benefits you realize (or so they say).

@Keerock - I've read differing things on how much drinking non-water impacts your fast.  Any good resources on that?  I will drink coffee with sugar free creamer and I'm not ready to give it up unless somebody says I'm only getting 20-25% or less of the benefit.

 
AAABatteries said:
Unless I misunderstand you - that's not considered fasting or in your case, you are fasting for 3 hours, 3 hours and then 16 hours.  So for a day you are doing 16/8 IF.

The longer that first number goes the more benefits you realize (or so they say).

@Keerock - I've read differing things on how much drinking non-water impacts your fast.  Any good resources on that?  I will drink coffee with sugar free creamer and I'm not ready to give it up unless somebody says I'm only getting 20-25% or less of the benefit.
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I have never personally read anything that disputes the 10 calorie per hour limit in maintaining a fast.  I HAVE heard that artificial sweeteners can affect blood sugar levels in some people though… but that shouldn’t affect a fast except for inducing cravings.

 
offdee said:
I’m thinking this might be something I try versus adding it to the smoothie. Don’t want to mess with the taste of my batch 
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Yeah, instead of mixing it with my smoothie I take a shot of ACV mixed with water, lemon juice, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon and cayenne.  Not great tasting but definitely wakes you up in the morning.  

 
Keerock said:
I usually eat a snack at 5pm (nuts, protein bar, cheese or something like that).  At 6pm I'll eat a decent sized dinner... whatever Mrs. Keerock makes.  At 7:30ish, if I'm still hungry, I may have another snack like above, popcorn or maybe a low carb sweet (Rebel Ice Cream is my go-to right now).

FWIW... after the first few days, you won't have the urge to gorge yourself.  Your stomach will "shrink" and your blood sugar will be more stable, reducing the "cravings".  The first few days are admittedly rough though.

During the fast, I drink water, black coffee, and my vice... Diet Dr Pepper.
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How long have you been doing this for?

From your earlier post of things you do and hearing about your fasting and eating well, I'm surprised you say you're 30 lbs overweight?   How?

 
Although I don't practice some of the stuff you do, I respect that you're taking care of yourself to this degree.  We only have this one body and taking care of it within reason should be paramount.  We're all gonna die some day, but I plan on squeezing out as many good years of looking and feeling as good as I can.  A lot of this is more than just how you look, but how you feel and I love feeling great and intend to do it for as long as I can.   

 
offdee said:
How long have you been doing this for?

From your earlier post of things you do and hearing about your fasting and eating well, I'm surprised you say you're 30 lbs overweight?   How?
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Since the first of the year, when I was 75 lbs overweight.  :bag:

 
My dad… who just turned 85… says “if I knew I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself”

 
[icon] said:
Good lord... I'm guessing most women I know don't follow that elaborate of a routine.  :unsure:

Whatever works for you GB.  :D

I use a $3 jug of body wash. A $6 jug of shampoo.
Only lotion I use is foot balm for feet. Enjoy periodic pedicures. 
Daily multivitamin and fish oil. 
####loads of water. 
Used to lift 4x a week.. been 6 months. Need to get back to it. 
Never had my T tested. At 45 maybe it's time. 
 
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I was thinking the same, and wondering how intimate partners view his rituals. Personally, I’d avoid dating anyone that high maintenance.

Then again, even a pedicure seems a little over-the-top to me. 

Although low testosterone can cause a litany of symptoms, there’s no recommended screening for hypogonadism in the general population.

 
Terminalxylem said:
I was thinking the same, and wondering how intimate partners view his rituals. Personally, I’d avoid dating anyone that high maintenance.

Then again, even a pedicure seems a little over-the-top to me. 

Although low testosterone can cause a litany of symptoms, there’s no recommended screening for hypogonadism in the general population.
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They don’t impose on anybody but myself. Women I date appreciate a guy that takes care of themself.  Never any complaints. 

It’s a lot, but many of the things I’m doing two at the same time or only once every 2 wks on a Sunday.  Outside of working out, all of them are just 10-15 mins that I can do randomly throughout the day, after a shower, etc. It really doesn’t take up much of my day when all said and done.  Ultimately maybe an hour less at night to stare at a TV. 

In regards to the more than women part.....just them doing makeup, nails and hair (many waxing, tweazing, shaving, etc. too) automatically puts them way over the effort I make.

 
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offdee said:
You can enjoy and desire all of those 4 bullet points and still be a good human being to others, empathetic to others and have life goals deeper than materialistic things.  Not caring at all about those 4 bullets and only about flowery notions isn't ideal for happiness either IMO.
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While what you’re saying is theoretically possible, there’s only so much time in the day. If you really want to be rich, powerful and/or beautiful, you’re likely sacrificing something less superficial to attain those goals. Buddha really hit the nail on the head when he identified desire as the source of suffering. 

And recapturing youth is a fool’s errand, imo. The best we can do is aging gracefully in good health.

 
Terminalxylem said:
I was thinking the same, and wondering how intimate partners view his rituals. Personally, I’d avoid dating anyone that high maintenance.

Then again, even a pedicure seems a little over-the-top to me. 

Although low testosterone can cause a litany of symptoms, there’s no recommended screening for hypogonadism in the general population.
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What are your thoughts on the fasting being discussed here?

 
northern exposure said:
What are your thoughts on the fasting being discussed here?
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It’s been studied, and shows some promise, but the data is limited. Below are excerpts from a great review in the New England Journal of Medicine

According to Weindruch and Sohal in a 1997 article in the Journal, reducing food availability over a lifetime (caloric restriction) has remarkable effects on aging and the life span in animals.1 The authors proposed that the health benefits of caloric restriction result from a passive reduction in the production of damaging oxygen free radicals. At the time, it was not generally recognized that because rodents on caloric restriction typically consume their entire daily food allotment within a few hours after its provision, they have a daily fasting period of up to 20 hours, during which ketogenesis occurs. Since then, hundreds of studies in animals and scores of clinical studies of controlled intermittent fasting regimens have been conducted in which metabolic switching from liver-derived glucose to adipose cell–derived ketones occurs daily or several days each week. Although the magnitude of the effect of intermittent fasting on life-span extension is variable (influenced by sex, diet, and genetic factors), studies in mice and nonhuman primates show consistent effects of caloric restriction on the health span.

Studies in animals and humans have shown that many of the health benefits of intermittent fasting are not simply the result of reduced free-radical production or weight loss.2-5 Instead, intermittent fasting elicits evolutionarily conserved, adaptive cellular responses that are integrated between and within organs in a manner that improves glucose regulation, increases stress resistance, and suppresses inflammation. During fasting, cells activate pathways that enhance intrinsic defenses against oxidative and metabolic stress and those that remove or repair damaged molecules (Figure 1).5 During the feeding period, cells engage in tissue-specific processes of growth and plasticity. However, most people consume three meals a day plus snacks, so intermittent fasting does not occur.2,6

Preclinical studies consistently show the robust disease-modifying efficacy of intermittent fasting in animal models on a wide range of chronic disorders, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancers, and neurodegenerative brain diseases.3,7-10 Periodic flipping of the metabolic switch not only provides the ketones that are necessary to fuel cells during the fasting period but also elicits highly orchestrated systemic and cellular responses that carry over into the fed state to bolster mental and physical performance, as well as disease resistance.11,12ge ratio (the ratio of carbon dioxide produced to oxygen consumed), indicating the greater metabolic flexibility and efficiency of energy production from fatty acids and ketone bodies.3

Ketone bodies are not just fuel used during periods of fasting; they are potent signaling molecules with major effects on cell and organ functions.21 Ketone bodies regulate the expression and activity of many proteins and molecules that are known to influence health and aging. These include peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α), fibroblast growth factor 21,22,23 nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), sirtuins,24poly(adenosine diphosphate [ADP]–ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1), and ADP ribosyl cyclase (CD38).25 By influencing these major cellular pathways, ketone bodies produced during fasting have profound effects on systemic metabolism. Moreover, ketone bodies stimulate expression of the gene for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Figure 2), with implications for brain health and psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.5

How much of the benefit of intermittent fasting is due to metabolic switching and how much is due to weight loss? Many studies have indicated that several of the benefits of intermittent fasting are dissociated from its effects on weight loss. These benefits include improvements in glucose regulation, blood pressure, and heart rate; the efficacy of endurance training26,27; and abdominal fat loss27 (see Supplementary Section S1).

Intermittent Fasting and Stress Resistance

In contrast to people today, our human ancestors did not consume three regularly spaced, large meals, plus snacks, every day, nor did they live a sedentary life. Instead, they were occupied with acquiring food in ecologic niches in which food sources were sparsely distributed. Over time, Homo sapiens underwent evolutionary changes that supported adaptation to such environments, including brain changes that allowed creativity, imagination, and language and physical changes that enabled species members to cover large distances on their own muscle power to stalk prey.6

The research reviewed here, and discussed in more detail elsewhere,11,12 shows that most if not all organ systems respond to intermittent fasting in ways that enable the organism to tolerate or overcome the challenge and then restore homeostasis. Repeated exposure to fasting periods results in lasting adaptive responses that confer resistance to subsequent challenges. Cells respond to intermittent fasting by engaging in a coordinated adaptive stress response that leads to increased expression of antioxidant defenses, DNA repair, protein quality control, mitochondrial biogenesis and autophagy, and down-regulation of inflammation (Figure 3). These adaptive responses to fasting and feeding are conserved across taxa.10 Cells throughout the bodies and brains of animals maintained on intermittent-fasting regimens show improved function and robust resistance to a broad range of potentially damaging insults, including those involving metabolic, oxidative, ionic, traumatic, and proteotoxic stress.12 Intermittent fasting stimulates autophagy and mitophagy while inhibiting the mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) protein-synthesis pathway. These responses enable cells to remove oxidatively damaged proteins and mitochondria and recycle undamaged molecular constituents while temporarily reducing global protein synthesis to conserve energy and molecular resources (Figure 3). These pathways are untapped or suppressed in persons who overeat and are sedentary.12

Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health and Aging

Until recently, studies of caloric restriction and intermittent fasting focused on aging and the life span. After nearly a century of research on caloric restriction in animals, the overall conclusion was that reduced food intake robustly increases the life span.

In one of the earliest studies of intermittent fasting, Goodrick and colleagues reported that the average life span of rats is increased by up to 80% when they are maintained on a regimen of alternate-day feeding, started when they are young adults. However, the magnitude of the effects of caloric restriction on the health span and life span varies and can be influenced by sex, diet, age, and genetic factors.7 A meta-analysis of data available from 1934 to 2012 showed that caloric restriction increases the median life span by 14 to 45% in rats but by only 4 to 27% in mice.28 A study of 41 recombinant inbred strains of mice showed wide variation, ranging from a substantially extended life span to a shortened life span, depending on the strain and sex.29,30 However, the study used only one caloric-restriction regimen (40% restriction) and did not evaluate health indicators, causes of death, or underlying mechanisms. There was an inverse relationship between adiposity reduction and life span29suggesting that animals with a shortened life span had a greater reduction in adiposity and transitioned more rapidly to starvation when subjected to such severe caloric restriction, whereas animals with an extended life span had the least reduction in fat.

The discrepant results of two landmark studies in monkeys challenged the link between health-span extension and life-span extension with caloric restriction. One of the studies, at the University of Wisconsin, showed a positive effect of caloric restriction on both health and survival,31 whereas the other study, at the National Institute on Aging, showed no significant reduction in mortality, despite clear improvements in overall health.32Differences in the daily caloric intake, onset of the intervention, diet composition, feeding protocols, sex, and genetic background may explain the differential effects of caloric restriction on life span in the two studies.7

In humans, intermittent-fasting interventions ameliorate obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and inflammation.33 Intermittent fasting seems to confer health benefits to a greater extent than can be attributed just to a reduction in caloric intake. In one trial, 16 healthy participants assigned to a regimen of alternate-day fasting for 22 days lost 2.5% of their initial weight and 4% of fat mass, with a 57% decrease in fasting insulin levels.34 In two other trials, overweight women (approximately 100 women in each trial) were assigned to either a 5:2 intermittent-fasting regimen or a 25% reduction in daily caloric intake. The women in the two groups lost the same amount of weight during the 6-month period, but those in the group assigned to 5:2 intermittent fasting had a greater increase in insulin sensitivity and a larger reduction in waist circumference.20,27

Physical and Cognitive Effects of Intermittent Fasting

In animals and humans, physical function is improved with intermittent fasting. For example, despite having similar body weight, mice maintained on alternate-day fasting have better running endurance than mice that have unlimited access to food. Balance and coordination are also improved in animals on daily time-restricted feeding or alternate-day fasting regimens.35Young men who fast daily for 16 hours lose fat while maintaining muscle mass during 2 months of resistance training.36

Studies in animals show that intermittent fasting enhances cognition in multiple domains, including spatial memory, associative memory, and working memory37; alternate-day fasting and daily caloric restriction reverse the adverse effects of obesity, diabetes, and neuroinflammation on spatial learning and memory (see Section S4).

In a clinical trial, older adults on a short-term regimen of caloric restriction had improved verbal memory.38 In a study involving overweight adults with mild cognitive impairment, 12 months of caloric restriction led to improvements in verbal memory, executive function, and global cognition.39More recently, a large, multicenter, randomized clinical trial showed that 2 years of daily caloric restriction led to a significant improvement in working memory.40 There is certainly a need to undertake further studies of intermittent fasting and cognition in older people, particularly given the absence of any pharmacologic therapies that influence brain aging and progression of neurodegenerative diseases.12

Clinical Applications

In this section, we briefly review examples of findings from studies of intermittent fasting in preclinical animal models of disease and in patients with various diseases. 

OBESITY AND DIABETES MELLITUS

In animal models, intermittent feeding improves insulin sensitivity, prevents obesity caused by a high-fat diet, and ameliorates diabetic retinopathy.41 On the island of Okinawa, the traditional population typically maintains a regimen of intermittent fasting and has low rates of obesity and diabetes mellitus, as well as extreme longevity.42 Okinawans typically consume a low-calorie diet from energy-poor but nutrient-rich sources, particularly Okinawan sweet potatoes, other vegetables, and legumes.42 Likewise, members of the Calorie Restriction Society, who follow the CRON (Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition) diet,43-45 have low rates of diabetes mellitus, with low levels of insulin-like growth factor 1, growth hormone, and markers of inflammation and oxidative stress.4,20,33,43

A multicenter study showed that daily caloric restriction improves many cardiometabolic risk factors in nonobese humans.46-50 Furthermore, six short-term studies involving overweight or obese adults have shown that intermittent fasting is as effective for weight loss as standard diets.51 Two recent studies showed that daily caloric restriction or 4:3 intermittent fasting (24-hour fasting three times a week) reversed insulin resistance in patients with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.52,53 However, in a 12-month study comparing alternate-day fasting, daily caloric restriction, and a control diet, participants in both intervention groups lost weight but did not have any improvements in insulin sensitivity, lipid levels, or blood pressure, as compared with participants in the control group.54

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Intermittent fasting improves multiple indicators of cardiovascular health in animals and humans, including blood pressure; resting heart rate; levels of high-density and low-density lipoprotein (HDL and LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, and insulin; and insulin resistance.41,43,47,55 In addition, intermittent fasting reduces markers of systemic inflammation and oxidative stress that are associated with atherosclerosis.17,27,36,56 Analyses of electrocardiographic recordings show that intermittent fasting increases heart-rate variability by enhancing parasympathetic tone in rats57 and humans.58 The CALERIE (Comprehensive Assessment of Long-Term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy) study showed that a 12% reduction in daily calorie intake for a period of 2 years improves many cardiovascular risk factors in nonobese persons.46-50 Varady et al. reported that alternate-day fasting was effective for weight loss and cardioprotection in normal-weight and overweight adults.59 Improvements in cardiovascular health indicators typically become evident within 2 to 4 weeks after the start of alternate-day fasting and then dissipate over a period of several weeks after resumption of a normal diet.57

CANCER

More than a century ago, Moreschi and Rous described the beneficial effect of fasting and caloric restriction on tumors in animals. Since then, numerous studies in animals have shown that daily caloric restriction or alternate-day fasting reduces the occurrence of spontaneous tumors during normal aging in rodents and suppresses the growth of many types of induced tumors while increasing their sensitivity to chemotherapy and irradiation.7-9,60 Similarly, intermittent fasting is thought to impair energy metabolism in cancer cells, inhibiting their growth and rendering them susceptible to clinical treatments.61-63 The underlying mechanisms involve a reduction of signaling through the insulin and growth hormone receptors and an enhancement of the forkhead box O (FOXO) and nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2 (NRF2) transcription factors. Genetic deletion of NRF2 or FOXO1 obliterates the protective effects of intermittent fasting against induced carcinogenesis while preserving extension of the life span,64,65 and deletion of FOXO3 preserves the anticancer protection but diminishes the longevity effect.66Activation of these transcription factors and downstream targets by means of intermittent fasting may provide protection against cancer while bolstering the stress resistance of normal cells (Figure 1).

Clinical trials of intermittent fasting in patients with cancer have been completed or are in progress. Most of the initial trials have focused on compliance, side effects, and characterization of biomarkers. For example, a trial of daily caloric restriction in men with prostate cancer showed excellent adherence (95%) and no adverse events.67 Several case studies involving patients with glioblastoma suggest that intermittent fasting can suppress tumor growth and extend survival.9,68 Ongoing trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov focus on intermittent fasting in patients with breast, ovarian, prostate, endometrial, and colorectal cancers and glioblastoma (see Supplementary Table S1). Specific intermittent-fasting regimens vary among studies, but all involve imposition of intermittent fasting during chemotherapy. No studies have yet determined whether intermittent fasting affects cancer recurrence in humans.9

NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS

Epidemiologic data suggest that excessive energy intake, particularly in midlife, increases the risks of stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.69 There is strong preclinical evidence that alternate-day fasting can delay the onset and progression of the disease processes in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.5,12 Intermittent fasting increases neuronal stress resistance through multiple mechanisms, including bolstering mitochondrial function and stimulating autophagy, neurotrophic-factor production, antioxidant defenses, and DNA repair.12,70 Moreover, intermittent fasting enhances GABAergic inhibitory neurotransmission (i.e., γ-aminobutyric acid–related inhibitory neurotransmission), which can prevent seizures and excitotoxicity.71 Data from controlled trials of intermittent fasting in persons at risk for or affected by a neurodegenerative disorder are lacking. Ideally, an intervention would be initiated early in the disease process and continued long enough to detect a disease-modifying effect of the intervention (e.g., a 1-year study).

ASTHMA, MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, AND ARTHRITIS

Weight loss reduces the symptoms of asthma in obese patients.72 In one study, patients who adhered to the alternate-day fasting regimen had an elevated serum level of ketone bodies on energy-restriction days and lost weight over a 2-month period, during which asthma symptoms and airway resistance were mitigated.17 A reduction in symptoms was associated with significant reductions in serum levels of markers of inflammation and oxidative stress.17 Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder characterized by axon demyelination and neuronal degeneration in the central nervous system. Alternate-day fasting and periodic cycles of 3 consecutive days of energy restriction reduce autoimmune demyelination and improve the functional outcome in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (experimentally induced autoimmune encephalomyelitis).73,74 Two recent pilot studies showed that patients with multiple sclerosis who adhere to intermittent-fasting regimens have reduced symptoms in as short a period as 2 months.73,75 Because it reduces inflammation,17 intermittent fasting would also be expected to be beneficial in rheumatoid arthritis, and indeed, there is evidence supporting its use in patients with arthritis.76

SURGICAL AND ISCHEMIC TISSUE INJURY

Intermittent-fasting regimens reduce tissue damage and improve functional outcomes of traumatic and ischemic tissue injury in animal models. Preoperative fasting reduces tissue damage and inflammation and improves the outcomes of surgical procedures.77 In animal models of vascular surgical injury, 3 days of fasting reduced ischemia–reperfusion injury in the liver and kidneys and, before the injury, resulted in a reduction in trauma-induced carotid-artery intimal hyperplasia.78 A randomized, multicenter study showed that 2 weeks of preoperative daily energy restriction improves outcomes in patients undergoing gastric-bypass surgery.79 Such findings suggest that preoperative intermittent fasting can be a safe and effective method of improving surgical outcomes.

Several studies have shown beneficial effects of intermittent fasting in animal models of traumatic head or spinal cord injury. Intermittent fasting after injury was also effective in ameliorating cognitive deficits in a mouse model of traumatic brain injury.80 When initiated either before or after cervical or thoracic spinal cord injury, intermittent fasting reduces tissue damage and improves functional outcomes in rats. Emerging evidence suggests that intermittent fasting may enhance athletic performance and may prove to be a practical approach for reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries in athletes. (See the section above on the physical effects of intermittent fasting.) Studies in animals have shown that intermittent fasting can protect the brain, heart, liver, and kidneys against ischemic injury. However, the potential therapeutic benefits of intermittent fasting in patients with stroke or myocardial infarction remain to be tested.

Conclusions

Preclinical studies and clinical trials have shown that intermittent fasting has broad-spectrum benefits for many health conditions, such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, cancers, and neurologic disorders. Animal models show that intermittent fasting improves health throughout the life span, whereas clinical studies have mainly involved relatively short-term interventions, over a period of months. It remains to be determined whether people can maintain intermittent fasting for years and potentially accrue the benefits seen in animal models. Furthermore, clinical studies have focused mainly on overweight young and middle-age adults, and we cannot generalize to other age groups the benefits and safety of intermittent fasting that have been observed in these studies.

Although we do not fully understand the specific mechanisms, the beneficial effects of intermittent fasting involve metabolic switching and cellular stress resistance. However, some people are unable or unwilling to adhere to an intermittent-fasting regimen. By further understanding the processes that link intermittent fasting with broad health benefits, we may be able to develop targeted pharmacologic therapies that mimic the effects of intermittent fasting without the need to substantially alter feeding habits.
Click to expand...
tl;dr IF shows a lot of promise in promoting longevity and disease prevention, but most studies are in animals/pre-clinical. The mechanisms behind it are unclear, though a part of it seems to be related to weight loss. That being said, I'm aware of at least one recent study that showed IF was no better than conventional caloric restriction as a dieting strategy.

 
offdee said:
I notice the SPF 46 moisturizer.  Maybe a little off topic but I've read that anything above SPF 30 is just overkill and marketing.  Any thoughts or knowledge into that?
Click to expand...
My dermatologist just recently said 50 although the difference between 30 and 50 is pretty small.   

 
Dark Matter said:
Pedicures are God's little secret to men. It took me 55 years to figure it out but I now get a knee down pedicure once/month. No, I don't get color or gel NTTAWWT😎
Click to expand...
Hmmm...I can see the aesthetic value of cleaning up the nails and calluses, but it doesn't seem like it would be a particularly pleasant experience. What's the secret?

Also, anyone ever try garra rufa? They're fish that clean your feet.

 
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