Last week we
hopefully established the scientific case for adopting the Longevity Diet by
referencing the “Live to be 100” Netflix documentary and the books, Nine
Hallmarks of Aging and The Longevity Diet. This part discusses its ten principles (divided into three sections, what, how much, and when to eat)
and how we implemented them.
What to Eat
We know the
first two principles well: 1. maximize vitamins and minerals (or eat lots of
fruits and vegetables) and 2. minimize salt, sugar, and bad fats (or stay away
from processed foods).
However, I
was surprised by the third principle:
3. minimize proteins before the age of 65
(white meat, but especially).
study of 50–65-year-olds that shows moderate and high-protein diets are
directly linked to significantly higher mortality rates, especially from cancer.
As far as
carbohydrates and fats are concerned, it is recommended that we 4. eat complex
carbs (not flour/sugar but whole grains/beans/legumes) and 5. use olive oil generously.
Finally, it is recommended that we 6. introduce variety to what
we eat, especially those foods from our ancestry. Longo says
that the diet that comes closest to it is the Mediterranean plus the pescatarian diet.
How Much to
Eat
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Another large
study showed that the high-calorie American diet vs. the medium-calorie Japanese
diet vs. the low-calorie Okinawan (Japanese Blue Zone) diet showed a direct relationship
between high-calorie consumption to diseases, especially cardiovascular
diseases.
Therefore, we must
7. restrict calories to just what we need.
lose weight. Recalculate as you lose weight, ensuring a slow but steady weight
loss vs. the drastic results of other flash diets.
We can help
ourselves do this. We must 8. regulate the number of times we eat. Eat It Three meals and
one snack of 100 calories daily are recommended for those over 65 or two meals and one snack
for those below 65.
Finally, we should 9. practice the Blue Zone rule to stop eating
when you are 80% full. Drinking water before meals also helps.
When to Eat
There are
many benefits to fasting. The reason people fast is usually for religious or weight
loss purposes. But the best reason for fasting is to reboot our cells and allow
for repair and recycle times.
Therefore,
10) fasting is highly recommended.
Every
day, we should follow an eating window (8-12 hours) and a fasting window (16-12
hours), more popularly known as intermittent fasting.
a longer fast of three to five days is recommended. To help with longer fasts, we can supplement
with a fast-mimicking diet (FMD) of very very low protein, very very low sugar, very
high good fats).
How We Implemented
the Principles at Home
This is how we
have implemented these ten principles at home. First, I have stopped or minimized the
following (except on my rare cheat days):
1. Drinks: soda, coffee, alcohol, milk,
and sweetened drinks
2. Sweets: candy, cake, chocolate
(except dark), ice cream
3. Carbs: white rice, white pasta, white
bread, potato
4. Proteins: red meat
The only oil
I use is olive oil, and I even deep-fry with it occasionally. I modify recipes
that I love, reducing meats by half and doubling vegetables. Often humming
“Bahay Kubo,” a favorite Filipino song celebrating rural life and Philippine
vegetables, I have brought back to our table a lot of Philippine dishes I love and which Bill has grown to love.
For my
special needs to control my blood glucose and acidity levels, I researched both
the glycemic load and PH level of my favorite foods and listed down those that
satisfy my requirement of low GI (low carbohydrate and sugar load) and high PH
(alkaline). With the resulting list of
proteins, carbs, fruits, and vegetables that I can have, I made another list of
dishes that I can prepare. I came up with 28 different dishes from Philippine
cuisine, American cuisine (Bill’s favorites), and international cuisine (our mutual
favorites) for lunch and dinner. That means we don’t have to repeat a dish in a
month, meeting the requirement of variety and preference for ancestral foods.
We did the same thing for breakfast and snack items.
Lastly, we
eat breakfast at around 7:30 am, lunch at around 11:30 am, snack at around 2:30
pm, and dinner at around 5:30 pm. We don’t eat anything else after 5:30 pm,
giving us a fasting window of 14 hours and an eating window of ten.
I lost three
pounds in August 2023 the first month I implemented the principles, two in September,
and a pound a month since, for a total of ten pounds. My daily calorie requirement
has been reduced to 1,240 calories. My a1c dropped from 6.6 in May to 6.4 in November.
Since this is still at a prediabetic level, I will continue this plan and hope
that it is even lower in time for my May bloodwork.