How to Stay Young as Long as Possible: The Longevity Diet Part 2

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). 

This is based on a large 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

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. 

Multiply your weight by 15 and subtract 500 to maintain weight, and 1000 to 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. 

In addition, twice a year 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.