Hey,

I am researching CR. It seems promising. What I was wondering is, does having a Calorie Restricted diet take you closer to what a normal, healthy diet should ideally be, or does it take you away from it into an unnatural state? That is, are people SUPPOSED to just eat less calories, and what we are calling CR is really the way people should eat anyway to be healthy? Or does CR stray from a normal intake level, thus triggering some sort of emergency self-defense system that is supposed to keep you alive longer during periods or great stress, sustained in this case through continually eating a sub-optimal amount of calories? Or is it, to quote the esteemed Monty Python, something completely different?

Thanks!

Mel

Good question, Mel. CR exploits a completely natural response to food shortage, which is not itself a state that an animal would choose if food were available and the animal didn't know any better. CRON, however, is not starvation. It is a carefully constructed state. If you look at paleolithic diets in comparison to today's typical diet, then yes, people are supposed to eat fewer calories. Fewer than most people eat, anyway. I don't think that people are supposed to be on CR, since it probably wouldn't be ideal for people living in the wild, particularly if they wanted to bear children. For people in the modern world, with access to modern medicine, supplements, and technology, it's a way to extend life. That may not be strictly "natural", but then neither is taking an antibiotic when you have a life-threatening infection.

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