ב''ה,
The "cosmic joke" is that what's left of science and the medical industry keeps finding that, to a point, caloric restriction tends to extend life in mammals and people.. although it's a shitty quality of life, perhaps. People can really go on a lot less food than Americans/Europeans might think but hard to say if that's a good life. Met a decent amount of folks from cultures that aren't so food focused who get by on like ≤1000 US calories a day, sometimes a lot less.
There's also something out recently about swallowing supposedly improving mood and brain chemistry, as might explain why I'm always with a tea, coffee, or water to slurp on, though I was once fat and just always being in fluids to ignore hunger was ancient advice for that that still seems reasonable.
Anyway, point being starvation is something anyone can try and probably be lauded for the health of, and until toughing it out for a month or more there's probably a roughly equal chance it's "life extending" for the misery, go figure.
Now in reality, if, say, doing really active factory work, this is kind of stupid and if burning 2000 calories a day it certainly feels healthier to get those in, it goes to muscle etc., but nonetheless the economy is trying to make that a 'sometimes' thing while it does take an entire WWII or more to specifically die of the caloric restriction if your heart doesn't give out, you'll just probably feel like shit.