Why does prolonged dieting or semi starvation (under 1800 calories a day) increase my chances of any cancer?
Our bodies have an automatic system which kicks in when food is not available. This is basically an emergency system designed to merely keep the body alive for short amounts of time until food becomes available. When employed as nature intended it, as an emergency system during short periods of famine, it works well. In today’s society, however, where excessive ‘thinness’ is a fashion statement, many women abuse this automatic system to keep their bodies at a lower than healthy fat level (The fashion standard dictates 6-12 percent bodyfat – 23 percent bodyfat is healthy). The way this bodily anti-starvation system works is that the body basically cannibalizes itself to provide itself with the food which is not available from eating. It cannibalizes first from the areas less needed for basic survival. This likely includes the higher thinking processes of the brain and might, in part, explain the high incidence of Alzheimer’s in our society (dieters have been observed to have dulled ment
