Calorie restriction, or calorie restriction with optimal nutrition (CRON) is the name given to a nutritional plan that is designed to increase the human life span and provide other health benefits. Essentially, participants reduce their intake of daily calories by 20 to 40 percent and work to get all the nutrients they need. Most of the followers of this diet are very thin.
Is Calorie Restriction Healthy? What Does Research Say?
Research is spotty -- particularly, research on humans. Calorie restriction is based on research using rodents, worms, dogs, and other animals. Most of these studies show a lengthened life span in these creatures. However, there has been no consensus in the scientific community on whether calorie restriction provides any useful benefit in this area to humans.
Isn't Calorie Restriction the Same as Anorexia Nervosa?
Because of the extreme weight loss associated with calorie restriction, it certainly looks similar to anorexia. However, those practicing CR do make sure they get a certain number of calories, whereas someone with anorexia nervosa will work to avoid those calories. People on the calorie restriction diet also try to get all their essential vitamins and minerals.
Proponents of CR stress that simply eating less will cause malnutrition unless monitored. They urge baseline blood tests and slow weight loss, and that calorie reduction should only occur after the foods a person eats have changed to more healthy choices. None of the basic diet changes in calorie restriction seem harmful on the surface--eating less red meat, more fruits and vegetables, limiting saturated fats, and so on.
These warnings are not present in the mind of someone with anorexia. The anorexic person will desire to lose weight at all costs, with no regard for health, safety, or any other concern.
There are strong similarities, however. Observers note that those practicing calorie restriction may tend to think differently, and perhaps not in healthy ways. In anorexia, thought patterns become cloudy because of the lack of calories; the brain cannot function normally. Also, both groups seem to be very proud of their willpower and may see themselves as superior to those who eat differently. In anorexia, this sense of superiority exists even as the person feels envious of others who are thin.
Who Participates in Calorie Restriction?
Strangely enough, there seem to be more men than women practicing calorie restriction. Their motives vary, but many want longer life, some want to avoid age-related diseases, and some just want to look better.
It also seems, according to some observers, that those who practice calorie restriction are looking to give their lives purpose that they don't already have. Followers of the diet refer to feeling a sense of vision, or something so large and wonderful, that the pain of calorie restriction pales in comparison.
Why (Not) Do It?
It's No Picnic: Here's a statement from The Longevity Meme, a site dedicated to increased life span: "An article from MSNBC in early 2003 went so far as to use the word 'torturous' to describe the experience of trying CR (calorie restriction)! This is all far from true: Starting on CR is no harder than any other diet change."
This statement would actually make sense to those who struggle in the mentality of anorexia nervosa, because dieting is not torture to them at all. It is something to be relished. For the rest of us, particularly those of us who have tried the 95 percent of diets that have failed, a "diet change" such as this could very easily be "torturous." Also, it usually isn't all that hard to "start on" any eating behavior. It's just hard to keep it going.
Possible Relational Problems: Consider the case of biotech company owner Michael A. Sherman, as related by David Hochman of the New York Times. Sherman believes that he will live longer with calorie restriction, and he also believes that he is getting more out of life now. Of course, starting CR has led Sherman to need marital counseling (his marriage went to the brink of divorce) and he worried many people by his appearance. He has regained a more healthy-looking body. But his wife still doesn't believe he's going to live substantially longer.
Increased Eating Disorder Risk: Calorie restriction can be both attractive and dangerous to a person who tends to be obsessive and/or compulsive. Because eating is a frequent event, a person must be on guard all day, every day. That feeds obsessive thoughts, which can wreak havoc on the quality of life. Obsessive thoughts thrive in the minds of many who have eating disorders.
False Purpose: Self-starvation makes the body go temporarily into survival mode, focusing the mind, releasing endorphins, and lowering metabolism (the body doesn't know if you're dieting or really starving). Endorphins can fool you--sometimes runners experience "runner's high" in the middle of a long run. But this "high" isn't the signal to run an extra 10 miles. Nor are endorphins the signal to keep starving. Plus, you need more and more endorphins to get the same effect on a regular basis. So you would then need to eat even less. And so on. It's also important to note that anorexics often suffer cognitive impairments from starvation.
Lowered Libido: Those who practice calorie restriction often notice a loss of libido. Some take drugs to correct it; others teach themselves to like feeling less driven by thoughts of sex.
The Lifelong Deprivation Plan
The most troubling part of CR is that it glorifies deprivation of the body. And pure deprivation generally leads to an overreaction.
In a culture that encourages incredible consumption, it's natural to have pockets of reaction that go to extremes. It's rare, however, that an extreme is a healthy reaction to anything. And there are healthy reactions to being in dangerously unhealthy situations.
Similarly, there are healthy alternatives to calorie restriction that do not require self-deprivation.
