This calorie restrcition diet crap is nothing but eating disorder propaganda....as a former anorexic i find this to be so destructive. SO WHAT if you live longer.....you live longer being obsessed about food and calories, who wants to live that kind of life? The sad part is, alot of anorexics DONT die prematurely and have to live the hellish existence that they do BECAUSE of their lack of food. So , yea, go ahead calorie restrictors, it is your life and if you want to live a long life without the pleasures of food...then that is your choice.

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anorexia is so much more than calorie restriction. its an addiction....restricting calories is not. and anorexia is a psychologically devilitating disease. it makes me sick when people make comparisons like this because anorexia is really serious and this is a bunch of crap some dumbass model came up with.

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This is absurd. First of all, she is an arts reporter, not a medical expert, yet she approaches this subject as if she is qualified to come to these conclusions.

Secondly, she says, "Forget everything you've ever heard about anorexia. It turns out starving yourself is healthy." This statement is outlandish to say the least. The differences between calorie reduction and anorexia nervosa are vast. It is good for a person to reduce calories to achieve or maintain a healthy body weight. This is not, however, what anorexics are doing. Anorexics have an unhealthy body weight (15% or more below average) but still believe they are overweight. In the case of Anorexia Nervosa, calorie reduction is extremely unhealthy.

Though I understand where she is going with the article, the way it is stated is terrible. She's doing injustice to anyone who reads it, and she's doing even more injustice to anyone suffering from an eating disorder. While there may be benefits to a slow metabolism, the benefits certainly don't outweigh the negative aspects of a serious disease like Anorexia Nervosa.

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I haven't read the article but I would like to address the first comment. Calorie restriction diets have been shown in studies of a broad range of animals and preliminary human experiments to extend life significantly. Not only do they extend life but they also significantly cut down the incidence of cancer and other chronic ailments. So far it is the only strategy known to extend life without articial intervention.

That being said I don't practice it myself. This is the subject of a lot of research and scientists are isolating the processes invoked by calorie restriction diets so that they may be triggered via a drug or treatment. I love food and while I recognize that quantity does not equate to quality I do enjoy eating large volumes (thankfully being a vegan and a long distance runner allows me to do so with gusto). Please don't dismiss this idea off hand because you have had a difficult relationship with food in the past or presently; the science is valid whether you want to subscribe to it personally or not.

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i think that for an anorexic (either consumed in the disorder or in recovery from it) who is trying to change his or her mindset on extreme calorie restriction, it is difficult and even tempting to hear someone trying to prove that calorie restriction is healthy and good for you.

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One of the most important differences between anorexia and calorie-restriction is left out of this article. Anorexics are attempting to starve their body, so it is essentially eating itself. Calorie restrictors do the opposite. They try to feed their body by getting the most vitamins and minerals possible per calorie. Instead of starving, they are essentially feeding their body's needs (aka nutrients) in as few calories as possible.

To illustrate here is an example of a daily diet for an anorexic:
1 apple
2 cups coffee with sweet and low
10 jellybeans
1 piece of toast, spray butter
1 orange
Total Calories: 244 and less than 20% vitamins and minerals

And an example daily diet for a calorie restrictor (my day today):
Breakfast: 1 cup Oatmeal, strawberries, blackberries
Lunch: Large salad with corn, peppers, low fat cheese, tomatoes, onions, salsa, avocado, shrimp, chopped egg. tomato soup on the side.
Snack: banana, plain nonfat yogurt
Dinner: Burrito made with whole wheat tortilla, spinach, zuchini, carrots, peppers, corn, low fat sour cream, black beans, and a little enchilada sauce.
Calories: 1100 and close to 100% reccomended vitamins and minerals.

Not to mention that everything tasted AMAZING and I am stuffed. (Note, I am only 5' tall, so most people doing a calorie restriction diet are above 1100 calories per day)

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Bob, your headline is completely inaccurate. The Slate piece doesn't ask whether anorexia is healthy. It asks whether the Calorie Restriction diet, which is supposed to be healthy, is just a form of anorexia. It's not defending anorexia.

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I think we need to take a step back and reassess our definitions of calorie restriction and anorexia.

On one hand, the reduction of calories to induce weight loss is a fine practice when carefully managed in both consumption and mental health.

On the other hand, the more restrictive the diet, the more like anorexia it becomes or can potentially lead to anorexia. Once a subject becomes obsessed with calorie counting and highly detailed monitoring of intake, a prolonged diet of calorie restrictions could make some people slip into full-blown anorexia.

Anorexia has many stages and visages. The extremely restrictive, the complete starvation method, the obsessive exerciser. The forms and combinations of issues are many. But the defining fact that makes anorexia completely unlike calorie restriction is emotions.

Anorexia, in its vast complexities, has an underlying factor of extremely low self-esteem. It's impossible to tell if (for the skeptics) and how animals are affected by such emotions.

There's also a LOT to take into consideration here for calorie restricted diets. One possible reason test subjects lived longer was the under-exposure of toxins and pesticides found in nearly all our foods. Eating less decreases the amount of toxins and will allow the body to catch up and heal the damage from previous exposures to poisons.

Just some 'food' for thought...

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Bob,
I think your title is grossly offensive and misleading.

Now, on to the topic at hand. CR does encourage obsessive behavior, but I do not think (unlike many 'health professionals') that such behavior is inherently bad. Getting all of your nutrients from food is a VERY good thing, whether you are eating 1200 calories per day or 2400, or 3600.

Finally, many anorexics can and have used CR to help turn things around. If they have a personality that makes obsessive behaviors easy to fall into, converting their anorexia thoughts into CR behaviors can and will save their life.

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