Cutting 300 Calories a Day Shows Health Benefits

behind the china great firewall so unable to open this article, but in general i agree with this title, i was also observing simple things while in china in terms of eating habits, typically meals in asia are family style and you grab small portions of each shared dish unlike in western countries where you have a full meal placed in front of you. when i was growing up in the states, i was always told not to waste food, so if given a big mac, it's getting finished, if a big plate of pasta, devoured. this probably can explain the differences in waist sizes between the 2 regions, asians eat more family style where you take what you can eat instead of being dictated by chilis, olive garden, or mcdonalds in terms of what your body requires from a meal.

diet is pretty important for me now as i try to watch my weight, i drink water or hot tea only, absolutely no soda, juices, etc, i also try to eat 60-70% capacity per meal as i dont exercise that much, mostly just sit in front of the computer all day, so there isnt a need for all those calories like before when i was lifting weights and playing basketball for 6 hours a day, few to little carbs (bread, rice, pasta), some fruit for snack, and absolutely no junk food. obviously if i exercise, i will have a little more carbs that day. but overall do you need that many calories a day?

you also need to train your stomach, it's like a balloon, eat too much and it stretches out and takes a while to get back into its initial size, so try not to binge eat (binge drink also, i used to olay tennis, could drink ,2 gallons of water in an afternoon), also keep in mind physical pro-portions of food/drink, so dont eat 4 slices of pizza and beer, go with 1 slice, and maybe some salad, some red wine.

Too bad sugary/fatty food is addicting.

Isn't caloric restriction one of the few things to robustly show huge benefits in longevity etc across species?

TL;DR Cutting calories and starchy food made me lose weight, lowered my blood pressure and blood glucose levels dramatically.

A year ago I observed a morning blood glucose level ranging from 95-110. And after eating foods with lots of carbs my blood glucose levels would rise to 160 or 180 or even 200 (in the first hour after eating). Weighing 85kg, 6ft tall, 40in belly (for all of my life I had the tendency to gain a fatty belly, even when I worked out a lot). With several family members who were diagnosed diabetes, some of them on insulin. So for me it was a matter of time until I would be diagnosed pre-diabetes and eventually diabetes.

So I tried to change something. Did some research, started running and fitness exercises, counting calories.

I did lose weight. In the beginning cutting on carbs and sugar felt like trying to get away from drug addiction. I would catch myself in the middle of the night in the kitchen eating sugary things.

After a few weeks of disciplined eating of three meals a day, no snacks in between, ultra low carb in the evening I lost many pounds. But it was always a struggle. So I started doing some more research, found out about various diets (low carb, keto, focusing on low glycemic index foods, intermittent fasting, atkins and whatnot).

There are many approaches, many suggestions.

Here is what I found out works for me:

1. First and foremost: Restricting calories is the essential ingredient in weight control for me. - Reduce portion sizes. Omit breakfast or dinner. I skip breakfast and eat 900 kcal for lunch at 12pm and another 900 kcal at around 6pm. No food afterwards until next

2. Then, equally as important is: Eating healthy. So restricting calories does not mean I can go and fill the remaining calories with hamburgers.

3. If I start a new diet, it will take some (painful) time of adaption. In the meantime I need to have an iron will to keep on track

4. Observing, counting, measuring creates self awareness (meta-cognition), and that alone makes me eat more consciously

5. Dieting is a lifelong exercise. Eating the way I want, without any plan, will make me gain weight, guaranteed.

6. Our western lifestyle and diet (food is available in abundance, lots of processed food, sugar everywhere) will make me gain weight.

7. I started avoiding processed food almost altogether. I gave up on sugary drinks years ago. I gave up on consuming alcohol recently.

And here is the more important thing for someone trying to avoid diabetes: Diabetes is also called „glucose intolerance“. Glucose is one form of carbs, another is fructose. Fructose is being processed in the liver. Glucose is processed with the use of the hormone Insulin. My body reacts extremely intense to glucose intake. It will produce way too much insulin. Now I won‘t elaborate on this process. Only this: When diabetes is a form of „glucose intolerance“, why not cut back on or totally avoid glucose?

That is exactly what I did. I eliminated glucose from my diet. (Eating green vegetables instead.) And I restricted my calory intake by omitting breakfast. The results were clear: I lost many pounds, and I can sustain that. Not feeling miserable anymore. And no food cravings anymore.