Starving is a longevity super drug?
Proud to afford delicious food whenever we want? We eat a lot more than we need. We eat bad. These extra comfort calories have become the worst enemies for health and long life. Let's dig more.
👋 Hola! Welcome to Out of Singapore. This is Shan, I write this newsletter every Sunday. I had grown a bit bored of talking marketing each week, so I decided to talk about the core problems I solve at work.
I am building a longevity and performance brand. You may ask - “Why mix longevity and performance?” Because performance is the path to longevity. Living long healthy needs a complex mix of food, exercise, and sleep (rest). Modern science has been looking for new compounds that will treat “aging” as a disease. These are the longevity drugs - some are regulated pharmaceutical ingredients and others are non-regulated ingredients. I advocate the three basics (exercise, sleep and right food) and I sell upcoming longevity compounds.
We are still in the early stages of solving for long healthy life, but some interventions have become wildly famous. These are
Rapamycin - Regulated, only available to users undergoing organ transplants.
Metformin - Regulated, available to most diabetes patients around the world.
GLP-1 medications like Ozempic (limited availability globally, expensive)
NMN and NAD (non-regulated, available to buy on marketplaces outside of US)
Upcoming solutions, but non-conclusive research - Spermidine, Ca AKG, EGT among others.
But do you know the intervention that has received most approvals from across the table? It’s calorie restriction. Simply put, eating less can work wonders for long healthy life. Let’s talk about it today. We will cover -
What is calorie restriction?
How does it work?
How can you implement this in your life?
What am I doing?
If there is anything more I should talk about, please let me know. You should criticize me as well. Criticism is the best form of feedback. 😉
Before I start, here is a study you will find valuable. Read this at your free time - Caloric Restriction in Humans: Impact on Physiological, Psychological, and Behavioral Outcomes
#1 What is caloric restriction?
“The current societal environment is marked by overabundant accessibility of food coupled with a strong trend of reduced physical activity, both leading to the development of a constellation of disorders, including central obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and hypertension (metabolic syndrome)
Prolonged calorie restriction (CR) has been shown to extend both the median and maximal lifespan in a variety of lower species such as yeast, worms, fish, rats, and mice.” - Source
Caloric restriction (CR) refers to a dietary regimen that reduces calorie intake without causing malnutrition. This means consuming fewer calories than usual while still getting all the essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals needed for maintaining health. The reduction in calorie intake is typically around 20-40% less than the usual intake, depending on the study or recommendation. - ChatGPT
In essence, food has now become a poison because we eat more that we need. We also eat more of processed and ultra-processed food. Worst part is that fruits and vegetables nutrient density has fallen by upto 60% in past 50 years. So, we are eating lot more and we are aren’t getting enough nutrients. This extra-much-less-nutritious food is now a poison for our body and cells. So, if you want better health, please eat less food while monitoring your nutrient intake.
More food = more waste in our cells = disease
Let me share some resources that you read about nutrient density in food.
#2 How does caloric restriction work wonders?
While CR role in longevity and health span benefits are not completely understand, here are some of the observations in the scientific studies. I am not a science student or researcher, so yes, these are all sourced from the internet.
Lowers metabolic rate and oxidative stress - CR reduces overall metabolic rate, decreases production of reactive oxygen species, thereby minimizing oxidative damage to DNA, proteins and lipids. This reduces inflammation in the body, leading to healthier immune system and less diseases.
Activates stress response pathway - CR induces mild stress that activates cellular stress response (hormesis). This activates cellular repair mechanisms. It also activates HSPs (heat shock protein). HSPs assist in proper protein conformation (shape) and prevents unwanted protein aggregation. These HSPs play a role in cardiovascular health as well (Source - Wikipedia).
Improves Insulin Sensitivity and Glucose Metabolism - “Long-term energy restriction in lean and obese subjects improves insulin sensitivity, a mechanism by which CR may act to extend lifespan. Additionally, prolonged CR reduces fasting glucose and insulin concentration, two factors believed to contribute to the aging process due to protein glycation and mitogenic action, respectively.” Source
Improves mitochondrial function - CR promotes new mitochondria formation, which are more efficient at producing ATP (energy source) and reduces oxygen consumption.
Activates Sirtuins - CR increases NAD+ levels, that activates Sirtuins (primarily SIRT1). Sirtuins are proteins that regulate DNA repair, inflammation and metabolism. Other sources mention that CR activates all seven mammalian Sirtuins (SIRT1-7). I will write about these seven Sirtuins next week.
Activates autophagy - Autophagy removes dead and damaged cell components and recycles them for new use. Imagine this is your body’s own waste incinerator, burning waste to generate energy. Dead, damaged and senescent cells contribute to DNA malfunction, leading to aging and age related diseases.
Improved cardiovascular health - CR reduces blood pressure, thus potentially reducing heart diseases. It also improve cholesterol and triglyceride levels, which further reduces risk of heart disease.
Improves gut health - CR increases microbial diversity in the gut. It increases abundance of beneficial bacterial groups and reduces harmful groups. CR promotes growth of bacteria that maintain gut barrier integrity and modulates immune system.
So, how do you feel after reading these benefits? It amazes me how eating less can be so beneficial for our entire body. Now let’s get to executing this in our lives.
#3 How to restrict calories in daily life?
Cutting out those bubble tea, snacks, ice creams, croissants and other calorie rich food seems impossible. It’s really not. Calorie restriction does not promote nutrient starvation. You still need to eat to get all the nutrients your body needs.
Here are some methods to restrict calorie in daily life. Note that all of these need your active intervention. Without will, there is no way.
Asses your caloric needs with BMR (Basal metabolic rate) and TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). Then set caloric goals at 20-30% below your TDEE.
Here is a BMR calculator and TDEE calculator. My BMR is 2500 calories and TDR is 2300 calories.Intermittent fasting - Simplest of all diet plans is to eat within a specific period. This could be 8 hours or 12 hours depending on your will power. You could skip one meal a day and you are done. Ideally skip either breakfast or dinner, instead of lunch. The longer the digestive system is at rest, the better.
Fasting - An aggressive strategy, you could fast for one day every week or a few days at one go every few weeks. This could be one-meal-a-day, zero food for one day or water fasting. If you Google, you will discover other fasting methods as well.
East smaller portion size. Reduce the portion size you eat for each meal, ideally taking out or reducing the calorie rich foods.
Drink lots of water - This will reduce your urge to eat often. Please also reduce sugary beverages like bubble tea.
Remove processed food and alcohol. Please tell your friends who make fun of you to F off. They are are misguided in life.
Monitor consistently - While we won’t have a food scale every time we eat, mindful eating and tracking will go a long way. Once it becomes a habit, it will be hard for you go back.
So, the whole process of caloric deficit consists of three stages. Stage 1 is to know how much calories you need, stage 2 is to take action based on the numbers and stage 3 is monitor and track the progress consistently.
Of course these are not easy. Longevity is an aspirational dream. One has to work hard for it.
#4 What do I do?
Hahaha, yes I eat when I am upset. I control it as much as possible. So, what do I do? Here are some of the interventions I have implemented in my life
Intermittent fasting for 14-16 hours - I skip my breakfast, instead I workout at that time. Feels so good. I eat my dinner early, by 730 pm. On days I am at home, I finish dinner by 6 pm.
Restricted intake of snacks, sugar rich alcohol and processed food. I almost don’t snack, unless the day is stressful and somebody offers me a snack. So, I may only snack once in 2 weeks. Morning coffee is black filtered coffee, no milk. Afternoon tea is generally Teh C Kosong (Tea with milk and no sugar). I don’t buy chips or packaged foods. Alcohol is rare, maybe once a month.
Eat selectively - I place more importance on nutrients rather than “cuisine” or mood while selecting what to eat. I try to eat high protein diet for lunch and dinner. I will add extra add-ons to increase protein content. Today I ate six eggs. 😭 Also, eat clean - too much spices, oil, sugar or salt means the food is bad. Reduce the ingredients for each of your meal.
Get your DNA tested for nutrigenetics and blood test for vitamin deficiency. This will tell you if you need additional supplementation or change in your meal plan. I have done the nutrigenetics test, blood tests are pending.
That’s all from me. How do you restrict calories in your daily diet? Let me know 🫠
Thank you for reading again! I hope you are doing fantastic. Please like and share this post if you enjoyed reading this.
These past few days I realised how bad South Korea Visa process is. They do not accept online application (even Japan accepts online application). They have appointed agents to process applications. One of these agents freaked me out by saying that my visa won’t get approved. I was stressed the whole week. What’s the point of coming this far in life if a country can reject my visa 🥹. Fortunately, the visa was approved. I am all set for Seoul, hahaha.
Will I get to meet Jisoo in real life?
Hahaha, I will be a paparazzi, looking for Jisoo everywhere in Seoul.
That’s all for this week. Hope you have a great week ahead! Enjoy 😍