The Longevity Diet [Paperback] Paperback – January 1, 2018

Valter Longo is a renowned scientist in the field of human longevity. He did not only published over 100 peer-review articles, but was also nominated for the Nobel Prize recently. As a matter of fact, he is a humble scientist. For example, 100 percent of his book royalties and all his shares in his fasting mimicking diet company are committed to charities and nonprofit organizations involved in cancer research.Now let's share some thoughts about the book. First I wanted to say that it is a short and easy-to-read piece. The goal of Longo's book is to present a realistic and sustainable diet/lifestyle program to promote health benefits over long periods of time.He starts with an interesting and worth-reading introduction that about his studies—and how we could properly apply them. Then he explains the "5 pillars of longevity" which create a strong foundation for dietary recommendations based on the evaluation/filtration of thousands of studies related to aging and disease. These 5 pillars are: Juventology Research, Epidemiology, Clinical Studies, Centenarian Studies, and the Study of Complex Systems. Applying these pillars in combination, his team was able to determine a specific combination of nutrients/foods for optimal longevity.After that he digs deep into the longevity diet itself, and how physical movement can also bring some positive benefits. The climax is when he explains in good detail the positive effects of fasting. But here is the caveat, we don't need to starve ourselves all the way to improve our health markers. Through his extend research studies, he discovered that we can actually mimic the benefits of water fasting by eating a small but well-designed diet for 5 consecutive days to bring virtually the "same" benefits. And these cycles could be done once a month, to even twice a year, according to our own needs.Explained that, we can either buy our own food by following the meal plan based on the right type of food and adequate quantities during the 5 days, or even better, we could purchase a 5-day natural pre-packaged meal plan he developed to make it easier our compliance and therefore amplify the benefits with accuracy during these days. Again, 100 percent of his profits go directly to nonprofits organizations towards cancer research and charities.Finally, the last chapters are dedicated to the benefits of fasting, in this case the mimicking diet, concerning weight management, prevention and treatment of many diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative disorders, as well as autoimmune diseases.Finally, he finishes up with a closing chapter on how to stay young which can be summarized in a few points:– Eat mostly a vegan diet, and consume some fish if desired.– Consume low but sufficient proteins.– Minimize bad fats and sugars by maximizing good fats and complex carbs.– Add enough nutrients to be well-nourished.– Eat a variety of food that were common to grand and great-grandparents.– Eat twice a day plus a snack.– Restrict eating time to 11-12 hours or less per day.– Take advantage of periodic prolonged fasting mimicking diets.– Exercise moderately for at least 2.5 hours a week.– Try to stay connected to family, friends, and social circles.In my case, I have done already two cycles of his fasting mimicking diet and can't express how happy and grateful I am. Together with his work, I do love Gundry's "The Plant Paradox" approach, as well as Mercola's "Fat for Fuel" principles. These three experts bring, in my humble opinion, strong knowledge to help us thrive.I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I did, and if you do so, please try his 5-day fasting program at least once.Sincerely,Haical

I have been absolutely fascinated for the past 3 weeks since the night I discovered Valter Longo and his research by watching the documentary (free on amazon prime) for "The Science of Fasting". I am not sure when they added that title, but I am so incredibly grateful to have discovered this very important research and all the implications that I have learned over the past weeks! I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017 in the early Spring and my life has taken that difficult path of trying to get a cure from the typical "standard of care" type of treatment. Before I learned about the concept of starving around your chemo sessions, I had already endured 4 rounds of Adriamycin/Cytoxin and 1 round of Taxol. I was in the depressing situation of being numb in my feet, starting to get numb in my hands, and totally freaked out about it. Also, that first round of Taxol had almost crippled me for 3 days, making all my joints unstable to the point that I had to use a walker. I am only 47, so I started to think that I'll be left so numb in my feet that it wouldn't be safe for me to ride my bicycle anymore, which would truly be sad to me. So about 3 weeks ago, I was depressed about those thoughts and desperate to find something to watch other than "The Walking Dead" (terrible show now), and I found a documentary that I could watch for free on Amazon Prime ("The Science of Fasting") and I decided to watch it. I was kind of skeptical until I saw the interview with Valter Longo, who was showing the lab mice who had been starved versus the lab mice who had been allowed to free feed prior to and during a massive overdose of a chemotherapy drug. Then I knew that I had to consult google to see if this was really true. I expected to only see alternative medicine people talking about it, but I realized it was all TRUE, while also having a sickening realization: many of my loved ones have died of cancer in the past 4 years and there was actually a lot of talk occurring on the internet about this topic, about research and promising results for a variety of illnesses including cancer. I consider the man behind the book to be exactly the type of person we all needed to be doing this, because he can't be discouraged from taking a better and more insightful look at these incredibly important issues. There is nothing more important than living in a way that sustains and protects life, since life is beautiful but delicate and should be held with respect. I truly appreciate that the perspective of this book is that people should live longer and healthier lives, combined with what science says on the topic. By the way, I can't resist adding that I think Lord Byron must have jumped for joy in his grave when this book was published. If only he had known that his habits of starving himself and then bingeing on "fish and vegetables" was actually a huge boon to his health, and not just to his fashion sense. Byron also spoke greatly about the mental clarity he enjoyed when he was in starvation mode, which is fascinating when you learn that brain neurons are created, new brain neurons, when you fast and then re-feed. Imagine this: Byron's worst problem, his hated tendency to get fat, drove him to a cycle of fasting and re-feeding that literally galvanized his poet skill? Not sure about that. But I like to think so, because I honestly would not have even dreamed of thinking about that unless I learned of Valter Longo's research. I'd also like to add that this book is wonderfully written and intelligent. I did feel a slight twinge of uncertainty about the diet but I realized that I can follow the eating plan by measuring ingredients on a scale, and believe me, after you finish a fast... you literally have tons of energy and fascination with preparing healthy and small portions of highly nutritious food. This diet will sound like hell to you if you are already stuffed on a rich diet, but if you actually fast, you will find that this is exactly the kind of food that you crave. I am so grateful for your kindness and fortitude of spirit that you brought this book out now. Bless!!!Edit: I forgot to mention the most important thing, which is that I was able to do a 4 day water fast around my 2nd infusion of taxol. I faster for only 2 days prior to chemo day (I was afraid of getting too run down, and I didn't know what to expect), plus I fasted the day of the infusion and the day after. The first thing that I noticed was that my neuropathy almost totally went away after only 24 hours on the fast! So that neurapathy eased even before I got in the chemo chair. I felt fine after chemo, and pretty ok the day after, and then the day after that (so on my 4th day of fasting), I knew that this method of starving yourself to protect from the toxic effects of chemo actually works. Because I was walking with good balance, in a normal gait, without any limping or feeling like I must walk with the aid of a "walker". That is what happened to me when I had my first taxol infusion, without any fasting. So to me, this was totally proven and I realized this book was coming out within a couple of days, so I ordered multiple copies to share with EVERYONE. Because all proceeds go to charity, and people are being damaged by chemo drugs every day around the world. Patients have the right to know about this!!!! I am so happy and active right now that nobody can believe I just had chemo.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is simply seeking to live a long, healthy life, or for someone who has specific pathology that needs to be addressed and managed if not possibly even cured. Dr. Longo expresses the results of decades worth of scientific testing, both double blind and peer-reviewed studies. He doesn't give blanket statements that one thing works for everyone, and he suggests alternatives to people of different conditions or age. The fact that he bases his conclusions on Five Pillars versus one or two facets speaks volumes. With so much contradicting information regarding nutrition and lifestyle, it is empowering to hear information that is based on studies that are not bought and paid for by various big corporations or that are simply only based on intuition. I believe in intuitive living combined with being concretely informed.As a vegan, I respect that he promotes a plant-based diet with only a very small portion of meat per week... Only two or three small servings per week of fish. He backs his proposal with data sourced from a variety of aspects.The only reason I gave this book only four stars is because it does become a bit repetitive. That said, I find that many non-fiction books with emphasis on nutrition and/or longevity subscribe to the same formula of repetitive writing. I'm sure that is a very helpful method of writing if the information is completely new to the reader.I downloaded this book, and the audible so that I could listen to it while working out at the gym. I will, however, be buying a hard copy so that I can refer to the appendices easily, and for referring to other chapters more readily. Unfortunately, I am not tech savvy enough to do that efficiently. 😃