More years in good health, part 4: eat less rather than more

A publication in the academic journal, Nature Ageing, revealed that if everyone in the UK spent a single extra year in good health, it would result in a ￡5 trillion saving for the UK economy.

In this opinion piece I cover the contentious and salient topic of diet and nutrition in the context of extending healthy lifespan. You’ll read my thoughts on our relationship to food, how much to eat, when to eat, and what to eat.

This piece is intentionally short for three reasons: (i) I’m no expert, (ii) experts only agree on one thing, that nobody fully understands nutrition and metabolism, and (iii) everybody is different.

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Our relationship to food

In the modern day, our relationship with food has become complex. Below I offer some observations about myself and others over the years relating to eating to boost good health. ??

Food is a lagging indicator of our mental wellness. People with a positive outlook on life and strong self-esteem rarely over-nourish. Looking and feeling good feels too important. In ‘More years in good health, part 2: building better habits’, I introduced the hypothesis that when we are mentally unwell, we weaponise our control over what we eat to compensate and self-sabotage. Learn to read overeating as a call for help from loved ones, or to identify it within yourself. ??

Lack of clear prescriptions is damaging. People go through phases of obsessing over what is the best diet and nutrition for them. The lack of clear, direct prescriptions breeds disengagement and inconsistent eating patterns. I think strict prescriptions and plans are unrealistic and futile. Follow guiding principles that can flex with time instead. ?

Food is a journey of self-discovery. Quite literally, you are unique. So is your response to food (which by the way, changes over time). Be patient with yourself and remember to tune into how you feel about the things you eat. Remember not to override your body’s signals.

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How much should you eat

The guiding principle is, eat fewer calories and spend less time eating (time restricted eating).

The human body evolved within an environment of food scarcity and uncertainty. Our ancestors did not have abundant, freely available food. Our physiology thrives when we go for stretches of time without eating.

Thus, in my opinion, the aim is to achieve metabolic flexibility.

In other words, become less dependent on the need for food recency to have energy. If we train our bodies to expect food every 2-3 hours, unsurprisingly, our ability to execute activities of daily life diminishes the further away we get from our last meal. Most of us are totally dependent on consumed sugars and carbohydrates to operate.

Metabolic flexibility is the process of educating your body to be able to process fat stores as energy. In achieving this, you may find that you will burn more fat, avoid sugar crashes during your day and keep cravings at bay. Spending less hours of the day eating also promotes the production of certain enzymes in our body that helps us to repair damaged (senescent) cells that might otherwise be the source of various health conditions like cancer. This process is called autophagy.

To become metabolically flexible, you might want to consider:

1) Eating only when you are hungry. People tend to eat out of boredom or because their workday dictates, they must. If you are going to snack, avoid doing it mindlessly.

2) Skipping meals occasionally. Breakfast tends to be the easiest meal to skip for most people.

3) Allow room for rewards. Designing a process that accounts for “bad behaviour” is the only way to ensure compliance over the long-term. Skipping a meal gives you a calorie allowance you can spend to indulge in comfort foods. ?

If this seems overly elaborate or your doctor advises against this (due to health pre-conditions), simply aim for eating less calories than you do today. There are many ways to cut down calories in a sustainable manner, such as, using smaller plates, cooking smaller portions and increasing water intake to trick the stomach into feeling full. In fact, our bodies often confuse thirst for hunger. So drinking water should be the first port of call.

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When should you eat??

There are only a few principles I would advise you to consider.

1) Give your body a break. The process of digestion is wearing on the body. Wherever possible, give your body at least a 10-hour break from eating.

2) Eat earlier rather than later in the day. To prevent throwing off your body’s natural sleep rhythms, try to be finished with dinner no later than 2 hours before your bedtime. Messing with your sleep quality will increase your cravings.

3) Eat after exercise. In ‘More years in good health, part 3: exercise’ we discussed exercising first thing in the morning to decrease the chances of non-compliance. Doing a ‘fasted’ workout is believed by some to promote accelerated burning of fat reserves.

What should you eat??

This is a particularly tricky part of this conversation. Everybody has different requirements and preferences. Here I would advise you to consider the following guiding principles.

1) Eat foods your body finds easier to break down. Follow your gut. Whole foods tend to be a good place to start since are minimally processed. They include things like wholegrains, eggs, nuts, poultry, and fruit.

2) Do not neglect protein. Fat loss is key to healthy ageing, not weight loss. Focussing on eating protein in most of your meals ensures your weight loss does not come via loss of lean tissue. Your first meal should be protein heavy because after time spent not eating, your body is breaking down muscle at a rapid rate to get energy. As discussed previously, the ageing process naturally depletes our muscle mass, do not exacerbate it.

3) Use carbohydrates intentionally. Carbs should be used sparingly to tap into extra energy in the lead up to a strenuous day for example. Avoid them on sedentary days.

4) Increase your uptake of water and make it an ever-larger proportion of what you drink. Whilst advisable, drinking only water is not realistic or even advisable given so many social events are built atop alcohol. Water boosts our immunity amongst other things.

5) Be intentional about the supplements you take. Supplements are a key lever to pull on. Understand your needs and design your supplement intake accordingly. For instance, if you are prone to inflammation, consider a turmeric supplement. If you are prone to getting colds, consider a ginger supplement.

I hope this has helped you identify the signal from an incredibly noisy space. Don't be surprised if everything we know has been rubbished by the next decade of research.