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http://www.calorierestriction.org/

Calorie restriction focuses more on simple foods - which a sandwich isn't.

Here's a simple way to increase your lifespan. Eat less. In fact, halve the amount of food you eat.

As another poster said, when doing caloric reduction you still need as much vitamins and minerals as when eating a "normal" amount of calories, and so you need to be very selective about what you eat to get them all (vitamin supplements and such help, but don't have everything that some foods have).

More info here:

http://calorierestriction.org/

The Caloric Restriction Society discusses news and tips about this type of dieting.

If not already mentioned, calorie restriction aka CR is the best route for long-lived mice. Visit The CR Society where they are all about calorie restriction all the time.

Caloric restriction with optimal nutrition. Currently this is the only method shown to extend the maximum lifespan of a variety of mammals. While it still can't be verified to extend maximum lifespan of humans, the current ongoing primate studies have so far shown the same effects as in mice and other animals. Humans on it have also shown the same changes in their body function as the other primates. If ones needs to improve their eating habits, might as well gain as much additional benifit from it as possible.

BTW, CR is not about starvation or malnourishment (the latter can occur while eating tons of calories of they're all junk). People on a calorie restricted diet try to practice "CRON" -- Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition.

That may seem hard and some people do go to great lengths in pursuit of optimality, but it is really pretty simple: cut out junk (low nutrition) calories (especially sugar), eat (lots) more vegetables (without smothering added vegetables in high calorie oils and cheeses).

You're confusing the Atkins diet and calorie restriction referenced by the post you replied to. Now some people imagine that CR does involve suffering (it doesn't for me though).

While age-related diseases can strike anyone, people can do lots to "stay active, lucid and happy" and reduce their chances of and/or delay the onset of debilitating disease with no help from the medical establishment. Get regular physical and mental exercise, eat a healthful diet, maintain close relationships, etc. All highly pragmatic, well-known, cheap, and requiring no technology. IOW, healthspan extension can be done by anyone. Maximum lifespan extension requires scientific breakthroughs (calorie restriction may extend maximum lifespan a bit, but is probably beyond the ability of all but the most willful to practice effectively ... I try to be one of the most willful :).

I suspect the life expectancy for people 60 today is significantly better than life expectancy for 60 year olds 20 years ago, otherwise we wouldn't be seeing an explosion of 65+ year olds (and 80+ and 100+). For there to really be "no cap" on life expectancy though, the maximum human lifespan needs to increase. AFAIK there are no documented cases of humans living much beyond 120. However, at only 3 months/year increase in life expectancy, we won't hit that barrier in this century. By that time (well before it) we'll have figured out how to significantly increase biological human lifespan. If you don't want to count on any such progress, calorie restriction seems to be the only current method we have of possibly extending maximum lifespan. At the other extreme, you could just wait for the singularity to obviate the need for biology.