I don't personally take any supplements, and I don't know of any that sound attractive to me.

I've been taking some for metabolism and nerve health, as well as your typically multivitamins for immune system health etc., and I do generally feel better, like my body is operating a little smoother and more efficiently. But of course, it is hard for me to conclude that it is not a placebo effect or something like that.

Have you ever read Kurzweil's book on life extension? He details some of the supplements and approaches he uses to extend his life span.

Based on my knowledge of paleo diet, I can't say that I'm a huge fan, but I'm not a huge fan of most diets.

I'm not a fan of diets either. I only call it the paleo diet because my supervisor is obsessed with it and he has developed his whole personal dietary system around it. I personally find some of his tips helpful, for example sticking primarily to fruits, vegetables, meats, nuts etc., but like I said, I use them more as guiding principles. To be honest, I think a lot of things related to health are more about common sense and mature decision-making when it comes to the timing and amount you eat, etc.

I think that we're better off when we eat things that are not made in industrial factories, and this requirement can be satisfied by many foods, paleo or otherwise (and I completely agree that the name is ridiculous; there's nothing caveman-like about a perfectly marbled ribeye, but that's neither here nor there).

Ya, I agree with you. I still eat things that are not considered paleo, like for example beans, yogurt, eggs (not sure if eggs are "paleo"), but ya, there are lots of foods that are good for you. Have you heard of the National Geographic "Blue Zone" project focused on understanding the dietary and lifestyle habits of human populations who experience longest life spans? Many of the populations in these samples are eating grains and wheat in their diets. What seems most important and primary is calorie restriction, but also most notably, community... and many of us have lost that today...

That's pretty extreme eating once per day. If I wanted to cut down on my food, I'd probably cut the size of each meal.

Ya, well it is kind of misleading. What I should have said is that I eat one meal a day and then I just pick and snack on small things, like a banana or some nuts etc.

I get shaky hands if I don't eat enough. I tried to do one of those 72 hour fasts in the fashion of katakowsj or mike, and I failed after 30 hours. I developed a headache that was intense and seemingly getting stronger with every second.

Haha, ya, I've never tried anything like this but I probably would suffer in a similar way...

So far as I'm aware, no one has found an organism that doesn't respond to it in lab settings. It seems unreasonable that humans would be an exception. Not impossible, but not likely. The data that exist on mice and worms are very clear, and if a mechanism is preserved across those models (which diverged at the beginning of the Cambrian), then it's probably fairly important, so why would it have disappeared since rodents and humans diverged (don't know when off the top of my head, but very recently compared to that split)? This isn't a rock solid argument, or course, but it's a solid hunch, especially when we know that calorie restriction in humans does things like make chemo more survivable, has positive immune system effects, etc.

Indeed, I understand your reasoning here. In general terms I do think that calorie restriction must have some positive effects on health and the ageing process.