Enthusiasts of the paleo pattern of eating extol not only its weight-loss effects, but its health benefits as well. Research shows that if you do it the right way, you have good chance of extending your life expectancy.
A key to life extension with paleo eating, say researchers, is intermittent fasting. Not prolonged fasting, where you forgo meals for days at a time. But fasting for a few hours daily, or fasting every other day – not necessarily on consecutive days.
Feast and famine
According to researchers at the University of Florida, intermittent fasting, what the scientists call a feast-or-famine diet, can capture the benefits of a regular fast. And, ironically, they say their research demonstrates that taking antioxidant supplements when you fast may restrict some of those benefits.
The researchers report that studies on animals have clearly shown that fasting extends life span. But they feel that extended fasting or drastically cutting calories is too difficult for humans to do on a regular basis.
“People don’t want to just under-eat for their whole lives,” admits researcher Martin Wegman. “We started thinking about the concept of intermittent fasting.”
The Florida study involved two dozen people who feasted or fasted on alternate days for three weeks. On fasting days, they ate 25 percent of their normal daily calories. On feasting days, they consumed 175 percent of their usual calories. (They note that in this research, for the average male participant, fasting days averaged 650 calories while feast days averaged 4,550 calories.)
Before the study subjects began their 21 days of feasts and famines, they had their blood pressure, weight, heart rate, blood sugar levels and blood cholesterol measured. The researchers also noted their markers of inflammation and genes responsible for protective cell responses.
Better proteins
After the three weeks of the study, the researchers discovered that the levels of sirtuin proteins such as SIRT 3 and SIRT1 (proteins the body makes to protect cells and which are believed to extend life expectancy) increased because of the feast-famine diet.
But when people took antioxidant supplements with the diet (they were given vitamins C and E), some of these higher, beneficial levels shrank. The scientists note that this corresponds with other research suggesting that taking large amounts of supplemental antioxidants may negate the benefits of fasting or intense exercise.
The Florida researchers believe that the body’s production of proteins like SIRT3 are stimulated by oxidative stress, which occurs when more free radicals circulate in the body than the body is able to neutralize with antioxidants. Therefore, small amounts of free radicals can improve your health: When the body is stressed during fasting (or exercise) a small degree of oxidative stress can help the body enlist protective physiological processes.
“The hypothesis is that if the body is intermittently exposed to low levels of oxidative stress, it can build a better response to it,” researcher Martin Wegman says.
“You need some pain, some inflammation, some oxidative stress for some regeneration or repair,” adds researcher Christiaan Leeuwenburgh.
The study also found that intermittent fasting lowers insulin levels, which shows it may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Ironically, the people in the study found it easier to eat fewer calories on fasting days than to stuff themselves on the feast days.
“Most of the participants found that fasting was easier than the feasting day, which was a little bit surprising to me,” Guo says. “On the feasting days, we had some trouble giving them enough calories.”
Paleo advocacy
Many paleo diet advocates believe that the body evolved to be healthier in an environment when food is available on some days but not on others. They point out that many of society’s health problems like rampant heart disease, diabetes and cancer have increased dramatically since foods have become readily available around the clock from supermarkets, restaurants, fast food emporia, vending machines, etc.
Certainly, if you are a habitual dieter who has never been able to lose weight and attain the body you want, intermittent fasting is worth a try. Studies like this Florida research show you don’t even have to skip all your meals on your fasting days, you merely have to cut back on calories for 24 hours at a time. You may find that this type of eating plan can help you significantly cut back on your waistline and make you healthier, too.
