The Science Behind the Law of Attraction Magazine December, 2015 | Page 38
Eat Your Way Young By El l en Wood
We all need nourishment in the form of food; we
just don?t need as much of it as some of us eat.
Especially during the Thanksgiving and
Christmas/ Hanukah/ New Year?s season, we tend
to stuff ourselves, stretching our stomachs so
more food is required to be satisfied after the
holidays are over. That?s one way to get old and
unhealthy fast.
The one well-studied and proven
technique you can use to turn back the clock is
calorie restriction. That?s something that all the
scientists and researchers who study anti-aging
agree upon, based on the results of numerous
studies.
I?m definitely not talking about starving
yourself, or leaving the table still hungry ? I am
suggesting, though, to stop before you?re full.
There?s a Japanese practice called ?hara hachi bu,?
translated ?belly 80 percent full.?Since it takes
about 20 minutes for our stomach to
communicate its ?fullness?to the brain, it?s best
to stop when you feel 80% full. (You can take a
guess as to what 80% feels like.)
Have you ever eaten until full, only to find
yourself feeling over-stuffed twenty minutes
later? This Confucian teaching is designed to
keep the belly from being too full. It?s practiced
by the Okinawans in Japan, who are documented
as having incredible longevity. So next time you
Page 38 - December, 2015
sit down to eat, play with the experience of what
it feels like to be 80 percent full.
Another way to eat a sufficient but not
excessive amount of food is to take your time
and chew thoroughly. By slowing down and
chewing thoroughly you get more of the
nutrients than if you gobble your food, and your
stomach has a chance to tell your brain that it?s
had enough.
Of course, even though calorie restriction
for greater longevity is widely accepted by
scientists, the average person doesn?t seem
motivated to cut down on calories. Changing your
diet to a healthier one, however, can also help
you grow younger. More scientific support for
just how significant dietary changes can be in
helping us grow younger comes from Cynthia
Kenyon, PhD, geneticist and director of the
Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging at the
University of California San Francisco.
Her lab research has shown that reducing
carbohydrates influences two key genes in the
body that govern longevity and youthfulness.
Limited carbohydrate consumption proved in the
lab to turn down the gene that controls insulin
production, and when that gene was ?off?another
gene was switched on ? one that acts like an
elixir of life.