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Anyone who is going to undergo gastric bypass would be wise to develop a relationship with a qualified clinical nutritionist who is capable of planning a nutrient-dense meal plan of real food, so that starvation can be achieved in the healthiest way possible, as bizarre as that sounds.

Your doctor may tell you that all of this is nonsense, as studies on mice, rats, monkeys and even worms and protozoa (the smallest, single cell animal) have proven that extreme low- calorie diets extend lifespan as much as 50%. In humans, nutrient-dense calorie-restrictive diets are believed to reduce the risk for cancer, diabetes and atherosclerosis. Calorie restriction is said to reduce body weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose, factors that are all associated with good health and longer life. A number of hypotheses have been floated as to why calorie restriction provides greater life expectancy in studies, but so far no one knows for sure.

However, problems associated with calorie restriction are feeling cold, dwelling on food, including engaging in obsessive behaviours, temporary loss of energy, decreased sex drive, and feeling socially isolated, and in human the resulting weight loss can affect fertility and increase the risk of developing osteopenia, leading to osteoporosis as well as loss of muscle mass. These are all symptoms of malnutrition.

There’s great scene in the movie The Truth About Cats and Dogs in which the thin, gorgeous Noelle (Uma Thurman) muses that she doesn’t know what’s inside of her since she never eats anything.

Excerpted from pages 182-183 of ‘Death by Supermarket’ by Nancy Deville