Update -- Mike Hartl's CR Program

[Guest guest]

Quick Summary: Mike Hartl wrote me an off-list message

about his CR program today. It has some interesting content.

Mike gave me permission to post our private email exchange.

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Hello ,

Your feedback is great. The effort put into your email below

is greatly appreciated too. Thank you for filling me in on

your progress.

My own BMI is 20.2, and not too different from yours.

I enjoy lots of sweets (Sucralose style), but nothing

with sugar (which glycosylates the body proteins). The

sweets are especially terrific in the wonderful recipes

constructed from Sucralose, guar, powdered cellulose, and

the newest break-through product, a cocoa powder made into

a very tasty, sweet, non-caloric chocolate drink.

The Cocoa drink tastes so good, and allows me to fast

without food all day long. At the same time, I am fully

mentally alert (a problem in the past), and filled with

energy during the day too.

I only eat about 1200 calories, one meal in the evening.

Nonetheless, even when eating so little, I still put on weight!

It gets worse and worse, calories do, as you get older,

and your body begins to slow down. Now I eat almost nothing,

and still put on weight.

But eating fewer calories is exactly the sought-after ideal

that retards the aging process. If rate of aging is mediated

by caloric intake (proven with some 70 years of experiments

on all types of animals), then my own MRDT (Mortality Rate

Doubling Time) is a lot longer than the average 8 years

for the normal aging human being!

Again, thanks for the detailed update you give below.

Say, would it be OK to share your news with the List?

Your message has content of value, and is well written

and presents a view to the future -- when modern medical

breakthrougs may very well be more important than any

CR program we might ever undertake. How lucky you

are to be young, with a hope to benefit this way!

Let me share our messages here on the list, OK?

Many thanks again for taking the trouble to write

a high quality intelligent message.

-- Warren

> On Monday, August 12, 2002, Hartl wrote:

>

> Hi Warren,

>

> Thanks for thinking of me... I'm still probably thin enough to

> pass for a CRONie (BMI of 21, up from 18 at my lowest point),

> but I'm not actually restricting calories at this point.

> (I have kept the ON part of CRON, and my diet is infinitely

> better than it was before I got involved with CRON.)

>

> As I've become better acquainted with anti-aging research,

> and become familiar with the general pace of technological

> and medical change. It has become clear that the marginal

> utility of a CRON diet didn't justify the effort for me.

>

> Note the " for me " clause: CRON is still a great option for

> people who aren't

> (a) as young as I am and especially

> ( as naturally skinny as I am.

>

> My set point from my early 20s was around 145, so I was

> *really* skinny on CRON, even at less than 10% restriction.

> (I also had cravings, especially for sweets.) Since I'm

> only 28, my best understanding of the evidence indicates

> that improved biomedicine will dominate diet as a source

> of longevity. Rather than follow a CRON diet just to stay

> consistent with my previous commitment, I decided that the

> rational choice was to stop...

>

> ... Dr. Walford and I would have a lot to talk about.

> He's a Caltech graduate, among other things, and I'm also

> affiliated with the extropians, so we move in some of the

> same circles... Please keep in touch.

>

> Cheers,

>

>