223 CONFESSIONS OF A PROSELYTIZING IMMORTALIST Shannon Vyff Why Immortality? Isn’t that selfish? Doesn’t God, fate, and evolution tell us when to die? I hear this all the time, shortly after I meet people at church, on vacation, in buses, in line at the grocery store, at parties, and at family gatherings. It all begins like a perfectly normal conversation with questions of the weather, or what the person has been doing for the day. I usually mention my schoolwork explaining that I started studying  nutrition  after  my  85-pound  weight  loss  (always a motivating, intriguing story for others). Ears perked, they want to know how I did it. I tell of how I got involved in Calorie Restriction (CR) with Optimal Nutrition online mail- ing list. [1] Through  the  CR  Society,  I’ve  had  fun  being  in  Oprah Magazine,  in  Marie  Claire,  on  20/20,  traveling  to  the  CR conference to hear the latest research on this anti-aging diet, and meeting interesting people who use themselves as human guinea pigs. I myself have sent in blood work and various other test results keeping track of my bio-chemical markers of aging to help out with the human studies. People say I look great, (especially if it is someone I have not seen for several years and they remember me as being much larger), but then they naturally want to know why I started on this diet.