I just read an article by Julian Dibbell on the New York Times website about his experience with a Calorie Restricted diet for 9 weeks [The full article is HERE if you’d like to read it yourself]. I’ve read about Calorie Restriction [CR] before, and how in lab mice their lifespans sometimes doubled on a calorie restricted diet, so I can see the allure of it with humans. It’s not the same as say, Anorexia – you eat enough calories to survive and it becomes a game of getting the most nutrition possible within your calorie allotment vs. just plain old starvation. But it means weighing everything and accounting for EVERY calorie you put in your mouth.
I happened to watch a show last night on the Science Channel that I had recorded about the human mind and all the ways it works to keep us alive, even in the most dangerous, life-threatening situations. One of the examples they used was of a man that fell into a cave and couldn’t find a way out. He was alone in the dark for over 3 weeks or so. He found water, but there wasn’t any food to be had, so they demonstrated with fancy 3D effects, what happens to the body and what the brain does to ensure survival – including cannibalizing it’s own body to stay alive. This man lost over 40 lbs of fat and muscle in the 3 weeks he was down there, but it kept him alive, and one of the theories behind how was a specific chemical the brain releases during starvation that slows every process in the body down. And in so doing, can remarkably prolong life. So, if we can keep ourselves on the brink of starvation, it is assumed we can live much longer.
Exercise[The]Demons 