The Anti-Aging Plan: Strategies and Recipes for Extending Your Healthy Years

For more than 20 years Walford ( Maximum Lifespan ) has studied the effects of low-calorie, nutrient-rich diets in animals. A UCLA biogerontologist, he has opted, at 69, to follow a calorie-restricted diet. Walford began this program in 1987 after studies by himself and others had found that longevity can apparently be extended by following a regime of borderline undernutrition. The author believes that by adopting a diet that includes all the necessary nutrients but is very low in calories, one will extend life. (This dietary plan does prolong life in lab mice, but it has not been proven conclusively to work in humans.) This book, with recipes by his daughter, is designed to bring his program to the masses. Walford promises that by adopting a near-hunger diet, and using the menus and food suggestions in the book as guides, ``you'll lose weight and feel healthier, more energized . . . your resistance to diseases like the common cold will increase and your skin, if you have acne, will clear up.'' One of the questions he poses is, ``If you choose calorie limitation on the anti-aging plan, will you be hungry?'' The answer given is, ``No, at least not for long.'' It's no secret that the top three killers of adults in the United States--heart disease, stroke and cancer--are related to diet, but extending human life by under-eating still needs to be studied. While the book's premise is a bit shaky, the recipes are good. They are low-fat, high-fiber and interesting, covering a wide range of ethnic cuisines. (July)