Calorie Restriction to the Extreme

Anyone heard about the new "lifestyle" known as Calorie Restriction? It's called CR for short. The idea is that consuming a low number of calories on a daily, life long basis will create health and anti-aging benefits... basically increasing a person's lifespan. In fact, there is an entire advocacy group centered around this idea -- the Calorie Restriction Society. Nutribase.com (fitness and nutrition company, associated with the CR Society) describes it as a diet, "in which people eat fewer calories while maintaining - and often improving - their nutrition. The CR Diet is not a weight-loss program although weight loss is usually a natural consequence."

Sounds great in theory, however recent research published on webmd.com suggests that "drastically cutting calories greatly boosts longevity for rats but probably not for people." Plus, this isn't just any calorie counting (meeting daily suggested calorie intake goals) lifestyle. Men on the diet typically consume around 1,500 calories a day, while women typically consume around 1,100 calories a day -- depending upon their height and weight -- a number much lower than the average suggested calories for healthy living and meeting nutritional needs.

It does sound like an interesting concept for those who can hang with it. I for one could not exist on simply 1,100 calories every single day. But all personal mexican food and beer cravings aside, researchers are saying the costs are far greater proportionally than the benefits. It just seems to me that if you want to reduce calories, eat healthier -- vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean protein, and reduced-calorie foods. Finds ways to cut extraneous calories with light products. At least, that's the type of calorie restriction I can handle -- diet soda instead of regular. Probably nothing as extreme (or hardcore) as CR.