Longevity/Calorie Restriction diet
 

http://www.longevitymeme.org/topics/...estriction.cfm

What are your opinions on this? Healthy, unhealthy?

Well, from a wuick skim it doesn't really explain the plan-they want you to have the book first-so it is hard to say, really.

No need to read the book, any low calorie diet will work in a sufficiently lean individual.

If you mean by healthy, that CR (calorie restriction AKA starvation mode) will extend your lifespan then, yes, it is healthy. You live longer, but certainly not better in CR.

I was very disappointed to discover that I am much too fat to enter into CR mode. I was kind of hoping this whole dieting process was ******ing my aging.

I've read several interesting articles on this recently. From what I understand, it's jut theory right now, because it's too soon to know if it will actually extend your life. But the promise is there. Plus it's not just any low calorie diet that will do the trick, it needs to be very nutritious. This article from WebMD was interesting http://www.webmd.com/content/article/117/112575.htm According to the study mentioned, the Mediterranean diet is recommended.

Suzanne, you made a very important distinction. Calorie restriction with junk foods cannot compare to calorie restriction with nutritious foods. A quote from the article:

"Calorie restriction is associated with longevity only when it is coupled with optimal nutrition," Fontana says in the news release."

Hi Suzanne,
Longevity through calorie restriction is a near universal phenomenon observed in everything from nematodes to fruit flies to mice. While you are correct that no one has followed a group of humans in "CR" long enough to show their lives were extended, this has been done in many other species and humans definitely experience "CR" or "starvation" mode. Several groups are currently studying this phenomenon at the molecular level, so there is hope that we may someday develop a drug to halt or slow the aging process without starving ourselves.

I suspect by "optimal" they mean that there are no deficiencies in any essential nutrients rather than the best possible nutrition. The diet has to contain everything required for survival. I know the sort of rat chow they use in the animal studies is far from an "optimal" diet.

Would you live significantly longer on a "calorie restriction" diet from McDonald's vs. the same calorie count of home cooked all organic foods? I doubt it. The dramatic life extention is the result of discrete biochemical pathways being turned on and off. The low calorie diet is the signaling factor.

While I agree, I think we should also aknowledge that we know so little about human nutrition. Nutrients have been studied in isolation but the complexity of nature and variety of foods makes me believe that we only know the tip of the iceberg.

It makes sense to me on an intuitive level that less food means the body isn't working hard to figure out what to do with food that it doesn't really need. But I guess it depends on what you do with your life too. If you are just living your life it probably makes sense...if you are training for a marathon or to be a olympic weight lifter then it probably doesn't make sense. Of course this is my totally unscientific opinion...

I do think though that it is a bit of an overstatement to equate calorie restricted to starvation. Starvation implies that the body is dying from lack of food...that wouldn't really increase longevity.

If you choose the right foods I don't think calorie resrticted even needs to mean constant hunger. It takes a lot of vegetables to make up 1000 calories.

The problem...for me at least...in limiting calories is that those high cal foods just taste so darn *good* and are really hard to avoid. I think esthetic(sp?) more than hunger are what makes it hard to stick to calorie restricted diets.

I heared about that on Animal Planet. I'm sure I've already been in that mode while dieting (I've done ahrd restrictions) but am not in it currently and don't wish to go back in (it isn't fun being hungry). How much do you have to way to do it? About how many calories are people allowed to have?

2/3 of your "maintainance" calories, but I don't think that it applies to overweight individuals. I haven't experienced it even on <1,000 Cal/day, and my BMR is ~4,000. I just got cranky, but didn't show any signs of the hormonal shutdown you experience in "Starvation" mode.

I however, have experienced the stop of weight loss/energy conservation if I eat too low calorie-even while still overweight.