The Morris Plan

Reducing Calories Still the Only Fountain of Youth

One objection I sometimes receive to The Morris Plan is that it is too low in calories. During the initial phase of the diet, calorie intake is just 750 to 1200 calories, depending on how aggressive you want to be. But research and reality are both on my side.

Most have seen the dramatic results achieved by the dieters on The Biggest Loser, where they are made to consume probably no more than 20% of their prior caloric intake. Yet, while those diet coaches see the wisdom of dramatic caloric reduction, even they feel that there needs to be some minimum number of calories consumed and would argue against the 750 to 1200 calories I promote.

Actually, the calorie consumption I suggest is not only healthy, it is life-extending according to researchers. It has long been know that calorie restriction is the only real "fountain of youth" yet discovered. Recent research has refined this knowledge further, and determined that reducing your caloric intake slows the aging process. In other words, you don’t need to reduce your caloric intake to starvation levels to get the life-extending benefits, you need only to reduce your calories below what you are taking in now. Greater reductions yield greater benefits, but any reduction is beneficial.

So, while people like things to be black and white, here is another example from the field of nutrition and diet where people with seemingly different ideas can both be right. My plan of 750 to 1200 calories is not intended to be a life long plan, but is only an initial phase designed to slim you down as fast as possible. It is not unhealthy at all in that context. On the other hand, the coaches on The Biggest Loser encourage their charges to eat, and within the context of the strenuous exercise program they follow that is also sound advice. The participants still receive the life enhancing benefits of reduced calories because even though they are consuming more than I recommend, the number of calories is a huge reduction from their prior levels.

I constantly preach moderation in all things. There are actually groups that have formed with the goal of working together to restrict their caloric intakes as much as possible. A July 9, 2009 article in the Wall Street Journal entitled Two Mammals’ Longevity Boosted contained this quote from the president of one such group. Commenting on the research showing that caloric reduction extends life expectancy, Brian Delaney, president of the North Carolina-based Calorie Restriction Society, stated, "It's all consistent with what human practitioners of calorie restriction have always believed. Any degree of restriction beyond what you're currently eating will confer health benefits and will slow the aging process." The group claims 3000 members, many of whom restrict their eating to near starvation levels.

I’ve seen some of these people interviewed; it’s not a pretty sight. They’ve lost touch with the message of moderation that I call out to my wife every time I go on a motorcycle trip over her objections. "It’s not all about preserving your life." I’ll trade extending my life by twenty years by being ridiculously skinny and not being able to enjoy eating for extending my life by ten years by just keeping my calories on the low side while still enjoying the occasional pizza and beer nights.

Update -- September 24, 2009:  Of course this story is anecdotal, but given the nature of the above posting I had to add a link to a news item I just read.  The world's oldest man is currently Walter Breuning, age 113.  (I've noticed lately that these oldest man stories are a little depressing.  "The oldest man is Joe Dokes at 114.  Oh, wait a minute, now the oldest man is Bill Jones at 113.")  Seeing Breuning is very uplifting because he is still really sharp -- not one of those old timers you see in the news stories staring blankly at a birthday cake.  As they always do with this type of story, the reporter asked Breuning for his secret to long life.  His answer was that he only eats two meals a day.  He is 5' 8" and has weighed the same 125 pounds for the past 35 years.  He says that you should push yourself away from the table while you are still hungry. "You get in the habit of not eating at night, and you realize how good you feel. If you could just tell people not to eat so darn much," he said.  Again, only anecdotal, but Breunig certainly supports the claim that restricting caloric intake is a means to life extension.

Go Strong or Go Home

Myth:  You can get a good workout without ever breaking a sweat.

I was listening to a radio talk show one day, and some poor woman called the resident shrink to ask a question about losing weight. The caller broke into tears almost immediately, stating that she rides her exercise bike six to eight hours a day, and she still doesn’t lose any weight. "I’m even riding it while I’m talking to you now," she cried.

Sadly, the therapist gave her the usual nonsense about how she should more accepting of her body, go to counseling to try to determine the roots of her overeating, and perhaps try to cut some fat from her diet.

What the therapist should have said is, "Turn up the damn resistence on your exercise bike!" The caller was delusional. She was deluding herself into thinking that she should be gaining some benefit from sitting on a bike for hours, moving her feet around. Obviously, if she could ride the bike that long, and even carry on a conversation on the radio while doing so, she was not working hard enough to gain any physical benefit.

I see this type of person at the gym all the time. They might be on a stationery bike, treadmill or stair machine. The machine is set to zero resistance or to such a slow pace, that their heart rates never go more than 20 beats above their resting heart rates.

When I rail against these pretend workouts, I often hear, "well, it’s better than nothing." Wrong; it's worse than nothing. A wimpy workout is worse than no workout at all. The reason for this is that it is providing false information to the putative exerciser. We all walk around with an ever changing and evolving health plan. Even when a person is not on an active diet, hopefully they are still monitoring their overall health situation. For instance, if you had an especially big dinner last night, you might elect to skip the Krispy Kreme donuts today. If you went to the lunch buffet on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday you might opt for a salad.

But, as the old computer expression goes, garbage in, garbage out. If you are leading yourself to think you are working out at the gym when all you are really doing is sitting on a bike moving your feet, that misconception will go into your internal health dialog. The result is that you have a third slice of pizza while watching the football game because, after all, you worked out. You may elect to super size your fries, because you worked out.

Further, this delusion is harmful to your attempts to incorporate a real exercise plan into your life. How do you think our woman on the radio would react to the suggestion that she just needs to exercise more? "I tried exercising eight hours a day, and it didn’t do me any good," she would likely say. Exercise is no longer a part of her health plan, because in her mind she tried it with no results.

Don’t fake yourself out. Pick an exercise, and then do it right. Whichever aerobic exercise you choose, it should leave you sweating and slightly winded. Your body offers a great internal barometer for your workout. If you are really out of shape, then you will be sweating and winded in very short order. As you become more fit, it will take more and more effort to achieve the same level of fatigue.

When you decide to exercise, do it right. Don’t waste your time only pretending to exercise.  Invest in a heart rate monitor.  Most gyms have equipment that wirelessly monitors your heart rate and adjusts the resistance automatically to keep you in the exercise heart rate zone.  This is an easy way to keep yourself honest.