A summary of The Longevity Diet, Discover the New Science to Slow Aging, Fight Disease and Manage Your Weight

The Author, Dr. Valter Longo, PhD is the Director of The Longevity Institute at UCS and one of the top scientists in the world studying aging and how to stay young for as long as possible. Below is my summary of his book. 

The root disease of all other diseases is aging. If we solve for that, we will solve the other diseases so that we can be healthy for longer and die healthy. Longevity is controlled by genes and lifestyle. Among the factors in your control, what you eat is the primary thing that will affect your health and longevity.

The food you eat can determine how you look and function, whether you sleep well at night, whether you’re thin or you gain weight, and what the shape of your body is. It determines whether your brain will use glucose or ketone bodies to obtain energy. It determines your chances of becoming pregnant if you’re female. Food ingredients are molecules that can cause remarkable changes in your body, and can reprogram the function of our cells and organs. 

What follows is the optimal diet for minimizing disease and maximizing a healthy lifespan:

1. Follow a mostly vegan diet with a little fish. Aim for a diet that is close to 100% plant and fish-based, limiting fish consumption to two to three portions a week and avoiding fish with high mercury content (tuna, swordfish, mackerel, halibut). If you are past age 60 and start to lose weight and/or muscle, eat more fish along with other proteins such as eggs and certain cheeses (preferably feta or pecorino) and yogurt made from goat’s milk. 
2. Consume a low amount, but a sufficient amount, of protein which is .31 to .36 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day. If you weight 130 pounds, that comes to about 40 to 47 grams of protein per day, of which 30 grams should be consumed in a single meal to maximize muscle synthesis. Someone who weighs 200-220 pounds should eat about 60-70 grams of protein per day. Intake should be increased slightly (about 10-20% or 5 to 10 grams more per day) after age 65 in people who are losing muscle. Animal proteins (red meat, white meat, cheese) should not be consumed at all with the exception of fish. Plenty of legumes (beans, etc) and nuts, which are high in protein, should be eaten instead. 
3. Eats as little bad fats (saturated, hydrogenated, and trans fats in animal fats and processed foods like mayonnaise) and sugars (pasta, rice, bread, fruit, fruit juices) as possible, and eat as many good fats (3 tablespoons of olive oil per day, salmon, avocados, and 1 ounce of nuts per day) and complex carbs (whole bread, legumes, vegetables) as possible. 
4. Eat foods with lots of vitamins, minerals and micronutrients. The author provides an appendix listing foods rich in important nutrients but it’s too long to include here. As extra insurance, take a multivitamin and mineral pill plus omega-3 fish oil from a reputable company. 
5. Select healthy food among those discussed above that your specific ancestors would have eaten. This will help you avoid foods that you may be intolerant or allergic to based on our geno type. 
6. Eat only twice a day plus one small snack. It’s best to eat breakfast and one major meal per day plus one nourishing, snack per day that has less than 5 grams of sugar and 100 calories. Skipping breakfast is associated with increased risk for diseases in many studies. If your weight or muscle mass is too low, then eat three meals a day. Don’t graze all day. In the elderly, it may be necessary to break the one major meal into two smaller meals to avoid digestion problems. 
7. Follow a time-restricted eating protocol. Confine all of your food intake to a window of less than 12 hours per day. A shorter resting window less than 10 hours per day is more effective for weight loss. Do not eat within 3 to 4 hours of going to sleep. You can drink water and tea or coffee without milk or sugar outside of the feeding window. 
8. Do a 5-day fasting-mimicking diet (see below photo) under the supervision of a trained professional assuming your are under age 70, are neither frail nor malnourished, are not pregnant, or an athlete in training, and are free of major diseases. The frequency depends on your current level of health. 
9. Follow the above in such a way that you reach and maintain a healthy weight and abdominal circumference (less than 33 inches for men and 27 inches for women). 

Fasting has many benefits but also some negative side effects. The fasting-mimicking diet keeps the benefits of fasting while eliminating any negative side effects. It tricks the body into a starvation mode, activating a regenerative self-healing program within the body. In addition to increasing lifespan, people will lose abdominal fat without loss of muscle. Bone density, stem cells and immunity increases. Damaged cells are also destroyed.

Genes are the most powerful factor in determining lifespan. Good genes can often offset a less than ideal diet. Scientists are trying to figure out how to change our genes to live long healthy lives but for now, the food we eat is the most potent intervention available for disease prevention and treatment. 

The second major factor we are in control of that determines lifespan is exercise. What’s important is working all your body parts until you breathe rapidly and sweat for five to ten hours a week. Exercising too hard and too much is detrimental. 

The following are exercise guidelines to increase longevity:

1. Walk fast for one hour every day. 
2. Do moderate exercise 2-1/2 to 5 hours per week with some in the vigorous range. Most of the benefit is derived from the first 2-1/2 hours if that’s all you have the time or energy for. 
3. Use weight training or weight-free exercises to strengthen all your muscles to the point of mild soreness regularly. 
4. To maximize muscle growth, consume 30 grams of protein in a single meal one or two hours after a relatively intense weight-training session. 

Following all of the above can reverse existing health problems and diseases in addition to preventing problems in the future. Much of the book goes into detail about how prevent and treat specific diseases. 

Staying close to family and friends, belonging to organizations, and volunteering to help others are also helpful for a long and healthy life.

That concludes my summary. I think this author is very qualified and I’m definitely going to incorporate as much of his advise as possible. However, in my non-qualified opinion, it seems he’s downplayed the importance of social connections compared to other studies and experts. Moreover, many studies I’ve read indicate that genes only account for 20% of how long we live, yet the author indicates genes are the biggest factor which I feel could disincentivize people from taking control of the lifestyle factors which contribute to longevity. He also doesn’t mention anything about getting lots of good quality sleep or drinking lots of water, which seem crucial to good health and longevity. I’m very curious as to why he left those out. 

Elisa