Live long enough to live forever (book)

[JJac]

I read a book a few months ago with the title Live Long Enough to Live Forever by Ray Kurzweil (famous futurist.)
http://tinyurl.com/ygsdom

It reviews all of the 7 or so mostly common causes of death, and goes about reviewing medical research into how to elimate or delay them via diet, exercise, frame of reference, and aggressive supplementation.

Mr. Kurzweil refers to his own aggressive supplemenation (something like 300 pills a day) and how his biological age has only increased about 0.5 years in the last 5 or so.

Anybody read this book? It did a great job of helping me change several of my poor eating habits (not all of them though. I'm still addicted to chocolate! )

[Lusitan]

I read this book after seeing an interview with the author on Charlie Rose (PBS). I can't say I've implemented any of his suggestions completely, but at least the part about trying to minimize the sugar and other stuff has stuck with me.

I found a very concise summary of the book here:

http://www.fantastic-voyage.net/ShortGuide.htm

This has all the information from the book - and you'll save a couple hours of your life by reading this abbreviated version

[ERD50]

Originally Posted by JJac

Anybody read this book? It did a great job of helping me change several of my poor eating habits (not all of them though. I'm still addicted to chocolate! )

I heard him interviewed on Science Friday. Fascinating stuff, and this guy *is* a genius, but whether he is right about this, I don't know. He invented the 'Talking Book', back when it was near impossible with the technology at the time.

Hey, nothing wrong with chocolate. It's a vegetable! Your mama told you to eat your veggies, right?

Just get the good stuff. 85% dark does not have much sugar. And you can find some with the cocoa 'nibs' in them - crunchy, tasty and extra fiber. I've seen some good chocolate bars that had fewer calories and more fiber in one serving than a slice of decent whole grain bread. OK, they may have some fat yet, but it's not like you should make a meal out of chocolate. But no one should deprive themselves or feel guilty about a small piece, even daily.

-ERD50

[Nords]

Originally Posted by ERD50

Hey, nothing wrong with chocolate. It's a vegetable! Your mama told you to eat your veggies, right?

Technically the stuff that comes from the trees is fruit and the stuff that is dug out of the ground is veggies.

Which would make tomatoes fruity and peanuts a veggie.

But I'm still going to keep eating them with a healthy dose of chocolate to wash it all down...

[JJac]

The biggest life change for me from reading this book was in realizing how incredibly bad sodas are. Acidic beverages like coffee and soda are strong contributors to cancer, so now I drink more tea and alkaline water.

The chocolate stays though

[Lusitan]

Sorry this isn't health-related per se, but I just read an article about how the author of this book is now managing a hedge fund ... seems he is an all-around futurist ...

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/...ss/trading.php

Funny snippet from the article:

"These ideas are the future," said David Atkinson, a private investor who attended another lecture later that day by Kurzweil. "I'm not really sure I understand them, but they're making some folks rich."

[dmpi]

Originally Posted by JJac

The biggest life change for me from reading this book was in realizing how incredibly bad sodas are. Acidic beverages like coffee and soda are strong contributors to cancer, so now I drink more tea and alkaline water.

The chocolate stays though

This is where I get confused. Your stomach happens to be already full of acid.
And it's a lot stonger than a can of pop or a cup of coffee.

[Nords]

Originally Posted by JJac

The biggest life change for me from reading this book was in realizing how incredibly bad sodas are. Acidic beverages like coffee and soda are strong contributors to cancer, so now I drink more tea and alkaline water.

Originally Posted by dmpi

This is where I get confused. Your stomach happens to be already full of acid.
And it's a lot stonger than a can of pop or a cup of coffee.

Yeah, I'm not so convinced of the pH-cancer link that I wouldn't read the latest double-blind control-group long-term coffee research or a peer-reviewed meta-study. Otherwise I'll stick with a couple cups of green tea every morning and (temperature/time permitting) a couple more cups of Kona. "Caffeine Blues" scared me pretty good for a few months... but... moderation is the key.

"Alkaline water"-- isn't that the stuff found in desert pools surrounded by bleached cattle skulls?

[HFWR]

In Detroit, they have "Al Kaline" water...

Not giving up coffee. Not gonna do it...

[. . . Yrs to Go]

Originally Posted by JJac

Acidic beverages like coffee and soda are strong contributors to cancer, so now I drink more tea and alkaline water.

I don't read medical research all that much, but I've seen plenty of studies looking at coffee's impact on health but haven't seen anything bad . . . like contributing to cancer.

WebMD even has an article titled Coffee: The new health food?

[Goonie]

My Great-GrandDad had bacon & eggs, and coffee, every morning for breakfast most of his life. He smoked cigars, and had a wee bit o' whiskey everyday. He also went out dancing at the local honky-tonk on Saturday nights. The doctor told him (at age 63) if he didn't change his diet, quit smoking and drinking, that it would kill him! The only thing Great-GDad gave up was doctors!

However, unfortunately the doctor was right.

He'd been out honky-tonkin' late Saturday night, got up Sunday morning got cleaned up, shaved (with his old straight razor), put on his Sunday best, and sat down in his rocker. My Gramma went in to tell him dinner would be ready in a while, but he said he wasn't going to eat. She went back in the parlor after dinner, and he was slumped over deader than a door nail!!!

BTW....He was 97 years old!!!

Moral of the story.....Listen to your doctor!!! Then do what works for YOU!!! (BUT...don't be stupid!)