What is Caloric Restriction (CR)?
Caloric restriction, as the name implies, involves consuming 30-40% less than the average Western intake of calories/day, but at the same time avoiding malnutrition. In other words, for an average 150-pound person who consumes about 2,200 calories/day, CR would mean limiting calories to 1,500-1,700 per day. To maintain maximum health, the method prescribes a nutritious diet including lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, legumes, protein from lean meat and fish, polyunsaturated fat (omega3:omega6 in a 1:1 ratio, 2% of total calories), monounsaturated fat (20-25% of total calories) and little saturated fat (<10%). The amount of carbohydrates, 44-46%, is rather high when compared to currently popular diets. The Atkins and South Beach diets recommend a much lower level of carbohydrates. Nevertheless, the caloric restriction diet results in weight and body fat loss. We discussed caloric restriction in the very first issue of the Juvenon Health Journal in July 2002. We return to it now b
