The Most Hyped Diet Study Ever?

You see, a recent laboratory study indicated that rats who were fed a very low calorie diet lived longer than rats who ate normal diets. Interesting findings, for sure, but not quite worthy of the huge generalizations that were made as a result, with scientists proclaiming the idea that the same principle would apply to humans.

Suddenly, all kinds of magazines and mainstream media have been telling people that the secret fountain of youth is to live on a calorie restricted diet, causing even MORE people to start eating less food, hoping to lose weight and turn back the clock in the process.

Where’s The Proof?

Just How Low Are We Talking?

Living Longer = Living Inactive?

Lastly, even if calorie restriction does help you live longer, you’ll likely be spending those extra years inactive and nursing some disease or disability.

Restricting your calories without proper design and modified exercise can lead to lower bone density, nutrient deficiencies and a lack of the essential fats that are crucial for cognitive and physiological function.

You could very well be more at risk of developing osteoporosis and other debilitating diseases usually correlated with aging – and the research has not yet been done long term to show that this won’t happen when severe calorie restrictions are placed on the human diet.

The Honest Truth About How Long You’ll Live

We all know those people who smoke, drank and ate terribly their whole life and lived to their late 90s, and we also all know someone who was the consummate health nut and died young.

Life span is a product of genetics, lifestyle, medical treatment, preventive healthcare, mental state and a whole host of other factors. To say that prolonging life is all about restricting calories is misguided and frankly unproven.

The Bottom Line

Final Thought

In this blog post I’ve laid out all the reasons why I don’t buy into the calorie restricted diet hype.

But having said that, I understand that you might still want to try it and hey, it might suit you well. So go ahead and try it out for a while if you want and see if it’s for you. But do it intelligently and don’t just run after what you see on TV, blindly believing it to be the truth.

Think, discover, explore and test it for yourself. That’s always the process you should follow when it comes to health, fitness and wellbeing.

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