Longevity is a hot topic and I guess that’s not a huge surprise. I’m not excited by the prospect of dying anymore than I am at the notion of the Heat Death of The Universe…but some things we have little to no control over.
Or do we? Some folks have suggested for the better part of 50 years that if you calorie restrict (CRAN-calorie restriction, adequate nutrition) protein restrict, fast etc. you may be able to extend not just health span, but total lifespan.
There is a huge amount invested in these ideas, both in terms of money looking at the problem and people talking about the various means of living longer and better. That’s all well and good I guess, I just happen to think just about everyone in this space are dead wrong. I think just about all of the research looking at CRAN, protein restriction, supressing mTOR etc have been making the huge error of looking at the effects of dietary restriction in animals that are feed a terrible diet that simply makes them sick…unless they are calorie restricted. I may be wrong about this, but I’m pretty sure I’m not….I think your best bet for longevity is to focus on health span, eat something akin to “ancestral” lift weights, sleep well, do a sauna, drink some coffee. You get mTOR modulation and autophagy, all while not wasting away.
I know this intro is a bit of a drive-by mugging on a large and complex topic, to better flesh all this out I did a talk in early 2020 with the same title as this post. Take a peek, let me know what you think.
i often think when i listen to anti-aging podcasters, all silicon valley tech billionaires who think they're going to cure every disease and live to be 200, that this whole movement is ego maniac driven.
we're always hearing that there are too many people on earth and yet these guys want everyone to live forever? but no, they want to live forever and they want their buddies to live forever but all you working class people... not so much. it's a kind of new age eugenics.
i'm all for extending the health span, for living well until you die in your sleep after a good last day, eating right (whatever that means at any given time), exercising and staying away from medical interventions where possible.
but some of these live forever people are so obsessed with monitoring every aspect of their biology that it's become a fetish
I’ve been thinking on this, because I’ve adopted much of a Zone approach lately, with great results, but I’m hesitant to do the calorie-restriction part. Omegas, great. Cut back on certain fatty acids, fine. Get more polyphenols, yes. Fermentable fiber and protein, sure. But overall calorie restriction? Is that really necessary for me? So I’m not committing to that part at this point. I’m seeing great results with what I’m doing already. 🤷🏻♀️