Because I intend to undertake some of these myself, and it is a huge an emerging topic, I am making a dedicated page on longevity. This is it.
Eat Less
Between 1970 and 2009, in the US, daily calorie intake increased by 20% to 2520 calories. Obviously, we aren’t needing 20% more energy, as we are probably doing less exercise and physical labor than ever. And when you exclude the base amount of calories we absolutely need, excess eating has perhaps doubled, or worse.
So we need to reduce our average eating by 20% just to get back to the old normal. That is achievable for most people.
When I had a partner who had a lap band fitted, I reduced by calorific intake substantially to fit in with her smaller meals. It simply happened, I wasn’t on a mission. And the result is that my stomach simply expects less, and I am full on less. With her, eating a third of what she ate before had no noticeable effect on her energy levels, suggesting to me that many people eat 3x what they actually need.
So, I could reduce my intake further. I don’t think I could eat less per meal (for breakfast that is often two slices of toast, and a burger fills me, no room for fries as well).
Calorie restriction experiments have increased the lifespan of every animal tested. Mice can live 50% longer.
- Starvation can boots the repair mechanism of cells
- When insulin is released in response to a spike in blood glucose, cell repair gets switched off
- Improved liver function from fewer calories
Intermittent diets work well, and at the very least had 12 hours off each day, say between 8pm and 8am. Valter Longo also recommends 5 days per month on just fruit and vegetables (low sugar, high fat) that mimics starvation. It did work for mice, in that an healthy diet could be “fixed” in those 5 days. And it starves cancer cells, apparently.
Eat Better
From New Scientist, July 2 2022:
Researchers led by Lars Fadenes created a model: People switched from a typical Western diet to an optimal diet that contained more whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and fish, while cutting back on meat, dairy, refined fine grains and sugary drinks to see what happened to the body. The researchers used data from the global burden of disease study, a megaproject research project that analyzed diets in 195 countries and the diseases associated with them, and then found that Westerners typically live longer after changing their diets.
Switching to this optimal diet at age 20 and adhering to it for a long time can extend life expectancy by an average of more than 10 years for women and 13 years for men. It’s never too late to start at any time: changing to this diet after age 60 can extend life expectancy by 8 years, and changing diet at age 80 can be extended by 3.4 years.
Even if it becomes a dietary scheme that falls somewhere between a typical Western diet and an optimal diet, switching at age 20 can allow people to live an extra 6 to 7 years.
That is quite extraordinary. Combine that with not smoking and two lifestyle tweaks can mean decades more living.
The reason it works? Less cancer, and less heart disease, that you get from bad diets.
Protein reduction leads to small improvements in longevity for rodents
According to studies, eating 30 different plants each week is optimal for gut health. And seemingly herbs and spices count, so a good excuse for KFC 🙂
Supplements
Futurist Ray Kurzweil is someone who I trust has put a lot of thought into this. His top 3 are:
1) Coenzyme Q10 is very important, particularly at my age, as an antioxidant.
2) Phosphatidylcholine addresses all by itself a major aging process because that substance depletes from your cell membrane and that’s why the skin in an elderly person loses suppleness and your organs don’t work very well.
3) I’d throw in Vitamin D. It’s very important—maybe the most important vitamin to take. There’s tremendous amount of research and a consensus that that really does help prevent cancer and other diseases.
I am already taking Vitamin D (doctor’s orders) and Q10 has been on my radar for a long time, it supposedly is good for heart health.
Also catching my attention are spirulina – maybe a pill or powder with other “green superfoods”, and kefir as an easy way to get some fermented food / probiotics into me occasionally.
I am wary of daily probiotics… don’t the little critters breed and simply need to be introduced?
Get Tested
A new test for proteins in the blood is twice as effective in predicting near-future events like strokes and heart attacks. It has started rolling out in the US and UK in 2022, via SomaLogic and machine learning. Shouldn’t be too long before it is available everywhere?
The Plan (for me)
Reduce calories via intermittent fasting. Even if that is one skipped breakfast a week. But more likely I will manage two, and maybe a full 24 hour fast once a month.
At least try the 5 day vegetable diet once and see how it goes. Making sure it is food I really enjoy, for example chilli.
Less meat and more beans. I have found that while I like having meat in my meals, the amount is not as important as simply being present.
Less alcohol (already happening, I have virtually stopped).
More plant-based protein:
- Tofu
- Chickpeas
- Peanuts
- Almonds
- Beans
- Spelt and Barley (in bread)
Less sugar.
Less refined carbs.
Snore less! This article seems to be well researched https://www.sleepbubble.com/food-and-drinks-that-cause-snoring/ – it says I should try reducing red meat, dairy, sugar, alcohol and caffeine – all of which were in the general health plan anyway. And there is a link between snoring and heart disease/stroke, so just maybe snoring can cause such things.