How to live to be 100

[Guest guest]

Rod: How can that be? The Okinawans practically live on

their high starch sweet potatoes. Jeff recently posted a

study wherein the longest lived peoples ate more legumes than

the shorter lived populations. Legumes are high starch.

Rodney wrote:Hi folks:

I didn't read all of Al's post below. But from what I did

read, it

seems to have a message that tends to confirm the suspicions

of some

people here regarding what may be the best way to

implement 'CR'.

After doing as Francesca advises for

implementing 'ON' : " first stop

eating the junk " , (someone should put that in the Dictionary

of

Quotations!!!) and therefore having arrived at a diet

composed of

healthy foods, but perhaps with a not-much-reduced caloric

intake,

how should one then proceed to reduce the calories?

The answer that seems to drop neatly out of the material in

Al's post

is: gradually reduce intake of starch. Not to zero, but

enough to

get caloric intake down to where one would like it to be.

There are

a number of reasons for this approach.

First, its high glycemic index which, more and more it seems,

especially in Al's post, does matter, at least to some extent.

Second, there is no nutritional need for starch beyond its

provision

of calories. These calories were very important to many of

our

ancestors at a time when food deprivation, at least on a

seasonal

basis, was the norm. But it does not seem likely that

caloric

deprivation will ever be important to us except in the case

of a

major asteroid strike.

Third, there are some lingering suggestions of a modest

starch/cancer

connection, perhaps due to aflatoxin contamination in the

growing,

processing or storage of the product. Or, possibly, because

those

eating a lot of starch may not be consuming

enough 'micronutrient

dense', i.e. cancer protective, foods.

For those who believe that whole grain products are just

wonderful

(perhaps they truly are?) as well as for those who believe

one should

not eliminate a whole food group entirely, one can add bran

and germ

to the diet in an amount equivalent to what is lost by

foregoing the

whole grain. If whole grain products truly are as beneficial

as many

believe, it must be, after all, the bran and germ that are

the reason

for the benefit.

Anyway, reducing the starch is the way I am doing it. And

after a

lifetime of eating, and enjoying, considerable quantities of

bread

and potatoes that is a considerable sacrifice.

All just one person's opinion. (Subject to change without

notice!).

Rodney.