FW: CR: What is the best way to eat?

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

There was a message that is below Saturday that I thought you might

enjoy from the other list. It is below.

Cheers, Al Pater.

Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2004 03:27:05 -0800

Reply-To:

crsociety@...: " The CR

Society, a group of people practicing Calorie

Restriction for health purposes. "

<crsociety@...>

From: Derram <nqb8nspr8shn@...>Subject:

CR: What is the best way to eat?

Comments: crsociety@...

I have been on CR for two years now, yet I must admit there are a

number of simple questions about the diet I have no answers for.

Perhaps, I can find help here.

I will give a general example first, and then state my questions. And

yes, I looked through archives first (though I cannot be sure if my

search techniques were the best).

Consider nuts. It seems there are clear health benefits associated

with nut consumption, though it is not clear what the mechanism is.

Is it the fats, the FA profile, the proteins, the fiber, the

minerals, or do they simply displace otherwise unhealthy calories (I

believe the simple association of health-conscious people also being

more likely to consume nuts, has been controlled for in studies).

Whatever the reason(s) for the health benefits association, the

recommendation is to eat nuts several times a month. Here my problems

start. I consume between 1300-1500 cal/day (variation due to exercise

days and non-exercise days). I'm a 5 foot 9 male, and on so few

(relatively) calories I have to be very careful how I apportion my

calories. I have incorporated nuts into my diet in the following way:

I eat nuts every single day. I eat them all at once, as part of my

breakfast. Quantity: 6 medium sized almonds and 4 medium size

hazelnuts.

Now, my questions: does this pattern of consumption negate any

benefits from nut consumption? When the recommendation is made,

people just assume that you will eat a bigger portion, say 2-3 times

a week, instead of tiny portions 7 times a week. The quantity may be

exactly the same in both cases, yet you may derive benefits only from

one pattern of eating. There is nothing controversial about this: it

is entirely possible that in the case of nuts (as is the case for

many nutrients, nurtaceuticals, drugs) a threshold effect obtains:

you MUST take a given dose at once, or else the very same dose spread

over a longer period of time is not effective. One can take it to an

extreme, and for example, I might take my portion of nuts and instead

of eating them all at once (6 almonds and 4 hazelnuts), I could eat

one nut every 1.5 waking hours. Point is: a threshold effect may

obtain.

In a nutshell: if 100 grams per week are recommended, do I have to

eat 50g + 50 g (or 33 + 33 + 33), or is it ok to eat 12 g X 7?

This is just an illustration, but the questions are relevant in more

general ways, and you can ask the very same questions about lots of

things and only sometimes do we know (or speculate about) the

answers: when is it best to eat protein? Seems the answer is that it

is best to consume protein first in a meal (though it may be a tiny

effect), and also it is best to split your protein over your meals

(as it seems best if the body always has access to protein sources,

and those are exhausted within 6 hours of ingestion), though that

seems moot for those who eat fewer than 3 meals a day. Of course, if

you eat one meal a day, the whole discussion becomes pointless,

though not pointless about weekly/monthly patterns (and here I do not

wish to hash out the merits/demerits of eating one meal a day).

To be sure, the threshold effect is not true for EVERY nutrient/food,

but it still is important for many.

I guess these questions are accepted as obviously important when

talking about supplements and drugs (dosage and pattern), but a lot

of nutrients/foods are really neutriceuticals, and the exact same

questions apply -- with unfortunately few answers (that I am aware

of). I am not even going to get into special considerations of dosage

and pattern for CRONies. If I am missing some huge resource where all

of this is pulled into one place, please point me to it and I'll put

my dunce hat on.