Buy Walking VideosCalorie Restriction
Calorie Restriction sounds like such a normal thing in the dieting world. Weight Watchers is a calorie restrictive diet that has its eye on other macro-nutrients like fat and fiber. So, when I read this Wired article about The Calorie Restriction Society, which promotes a restrictive calorie diet in order to extend your life, I thought they might be pretty interesting.
On the surface, this website seems to promote healthy eating. They suggest moving your diet to calorie-spare, nutrient-dense foods, like green, leafy vegetables and fruits. They recommend that you choose your proteins wisely. They avoid unhealthy fats in exchange for Omega-3 fats.
If you look at it any closer, however, the program falls apart. They promote restricting your caloric consumption to 75% of what your body needs. This is not just to lose weight, this is for the rest of your life, even after you’ve reached a low BMI. If there are any doubts about whether this diet is healthy, the list of Cautions and Hazards is enough to tell me that this diet isn’t something that is a feasible lifestyle change.
The lists of potential problems are as follows:
- Anemia
- Negative Appearance Changes
- Decreased Bone Mass
- Risk of Choking
- Cold Sensitivity
- Children should not follow this plan
- Loss of Cushioning
- Depression
- Reduced Energy Reserves
- Hunger, Cravings or Food Obsession
- Concerns about Infections
- Decreased Libido
- Menstrual Irregularity
- High Pregnancy Risk Factor
- Loss of Strength
- Decreased Testosterone
- Rapid Weight Loss
- Slower Wound Healing
They continue to say that this is not a comprehensive list of the side-effects of this diet regimen. Do yourself a favor and just pass this one by. There never has been a long-term human study of these theories, so it is an unproven premise. There is no proof that severe caloric restriction will extend your life. There is ample proof that it will make your life miserable, however.
Weight loss is about changing your lifestyle to a more healthy plan, not a less healthy one.
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September 5th, 2005 at 7:26 am
Of course these people are crackpots, but I think you misinterpreted the web site: most of the CR people recommended somewhere between 75% and 90% of the maintenance calories for their normal weight, and I think the web site you reference is referring to restricting calories by 25%, not to 25%. See also http://www.infoaging.org/expert_fontana.html
Of course, when you think about it, even eating just 80% of the normal calories but eating reasonably healthy food would give you more nutrition than the average person eating junk food and getting a quarter of their calories from soda!
I wonder what BMI level you would reach equilibrium at if you only ate 80% of normal calories?
September 5th, 2005 at 9:11 pm
Thank you for the correction. I fixed it in my entry. I didn’t notice that I had written it that way.
September 6th, 2005 at 11:17 pm
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