Last week I gave you seven of my top tips for living longer (and living better!). And thanks to everyone who commented so positively on the first seven! Here are seven more of my favorites. Hope you like!
- Go wild and green
- Make berries and beans a part of your regular diet
- Take vitamin D every day!
- Develop an ikagi
- Do 4 minutes of deep breathing a day
- Weight train twice weekly
- Take 250 mg a day of trans-resveratrol
Wild as in salmon, green as in grass. Let me explain.
Wild salmon is a very different food from farm-raised. Wild salmon has higher levels of a potent antioxidant known as astaxanthin, which the salmon get from eating their natural diet of krill. Wild salmon has lower levels of inflammatory omega-6 fats– farmed salmon is loaded with omega-6’s due to their “factory farmed” diet of grain. According to studies by the Environmental Working Group, farmed salmon is highly contaminated with PCBs. Get your salmon from pristine Alaskan waters – I have it sent to me frozen from Vital Choice!
Grass-fed meat is the meat counterpart to wild salmon. All the studies showing meat associated with higher rates of cancer are talking about factory-farmed and processed meat, which is loaded with steroids, hormones and antibiotics. Grass-fed meat has omega-3 fats, a cancer-fighting fat called CLA (completely absent in feedlot farmed meat) and is virtually free of steroids, hormones and antibiotics. It’s more expensive, but worth it. I’d rather have one grass-fed burger a week than daily portions of mystery meat from the supermarket.
Berries are one of the original “Paleolithic” foods- in the human diet since forever; high fiber, low sugar and absolutely loaded with antioxidants and valuable phytochemicals. Blueberries in particular are a “memory” food, and all the berries have various plant compounds that show anti-cancer activity in the lab (like ellergic acid from raspberries). Beans are a staple in the diets of people living in the Blue Zones where folks routinely live to 100.
Right up there with omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D is one of the most important supplements to take on a daily basis. Over 75% of Americans don’t get nearly enough of this super nutrient, which has been shown to increase measures of physical performance, improve mood, strengthen bones and help prevent cancer. I recommend a minimum of 2000 IUs daily which you can get from a tiny, inexpensive gel the size of a tic tac, or- my preference- from the new emulsified liquid drops which you can put into any beverage; 1 drop equals 2000 IUs!
One of the secrets of long life discovered among inhabitants of the Blue Zones was a highly developed sense of purpose that gives life meaning. In Okinawa, they call this sense of purpose an “ikagi”. Find yours- and connect with it on a daily basis.
Stress kills- or at the very least it diminishes the quality of life. The most effective stress-reducer in the world is meditation, but if you can’t do that you can still bring down stress hormones considerably by doing some deep breathing every day. Just four minutes of calm, relaxed, focused breathing a day can make a difference. Sit quietly- breath in on a count of 7, hold for a couple of seconds, and exhale out for the same count.
It’ll keep your muscles from atrophying, raise your metabolism, help fight fat and increase your energy. Train smart and you can get a lot accomplished in half an hour twice a week.
Probably no other supplement has gotten the attention in the anti-aging community that resveratrol has. This plant compound- found in red wine and the skin of dark grapes- turns on longevity genes called the SIRT genes, working much like calorie restriction does. Not all resveratrol supplements are created equal- you want to pay attention to how much trans-resveratrol is in the capsule, as that is the specific compound that has been shown in the lab to have positive effects. Taking 200 mg (or more) a day of trans-resveratrol is a smart strategy.
I’ve put everything I know about living longer and better on a 2 DVD set called “The 7 Pillars of Longevity”. There’s also a third disc which contains the mp3 (audio) portion of the 2 hour presentation so you can listen anywhere, in your car, on computer or on your iPod. And I’ve included transcripts of the presentation, complete with yellow highlighting of the important points. Check it out here!
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I was wondering if I follow a high omega3 diet six days a week (typically from grass fed beef) is it still necessary to supplement with a pill?
Hi
I think it all depends. Grass-fed beef is fine, but not necessarily the highest source of omega-3′s on the planet (much more in fish and fish oil).
It also depends on what you mean by “high” and what you mean by “necessary”. It’s probably not “necessary”, but i think daily fish oil supplementation certainly couldn’t hurt.
warmly
jb
Thanks Johnny,
It takes a little bit of effort to find suppliers of wild fish and meat (I’m in the uk) but It’s definitely worth it.
Good list of easy things to do.
On the Vitamin D bit, people also need to remember to get outside in the sun. Just 20 minutes a day, a few days a week, is enough to provide your body with a minimum amount. Of course, people need to get outside more often than that for so many reasons!
Regarding the comment on calorie restriction (Point 7), this SENS scientist thinks calorie restriction might only add 2 years to a life, as it won’t “scale up” from the mice testings:
In Pursuit of Longevity video. I’ll take the two years, of course, but what do you think aobut this?
And on point #4: Absolutely. This may be the most important point. And if it does not increase longevity, you’re doing the world and yourself good anyway.
.-= Mark´s last blog ..In Pursuit of Longevity =-.
Great points!
thanks,
jb
I’d like to consider nominating “eat beef liver from a grass-fed cow” once (or possibly twice) a week.
It’s loaded with so much valuable stuff. And the fact that it’s probably one of the few reliable sources of copper is a bonus.
Technically that should merely make it an addendum to your point about grass fed meat
Dr. Jonny,
After being fortunate enough to come across your website, began eating salmon from Vital Choice 2-4 times per week. Usually I will get salmon fillets and cook them, but recently I tried the canned traditional style wild red salmon, and I was blown away by how good it was.
Would the fact that i is canned become an issue if I decided to switch to mostly buying the canned salmon? It’s so delicious and convenient that that gives it a bit of an edge (in my book) over the fillets. I can just grab a can and go. But you often hear about various chemicals leaching into food from cans, so this initially made me think it might be best to stick with the fillets most of the time and only occasionally use the canned variety.
But if you think the can issue is a non-issue, then I will likely make the switch and save myself the bit of preparation time without sacrificing taste at all.
Side note: The can thing is the same reason I don’t make more liberal use of coconut milk and pumpkin. I love ‘em both, but since I can’t get fresh coconuts regularly and have yet to pick pumpkins and jar my own puree, I go with the canned options. Other than when I occasionally forget to prepare beans myself and reach for a canned version, this represents the totality of my “canned” foods consumption.
So essentially I am trying to weight the risk:reward ratio with all of these various canned goods, despite the fact that they are all a far cry from the typical canned fare that represents an instant double whammy.
Then again, I sometimes wonder if elevating my cortisol from wrestling with it is more deleterious than simply going with the canned versions I mentioned whenever I want could ever be
Dr. Jonny,
Can my father who has congestive heart failure and diabetes, take fish oil supplements?
Thank you for your valuable information.
Yes. Plus he should be taking Coenzyme Q10 every day. These are both essential for the heart, and CoQ10 has been used as a prescription med for congestive heart failure in Europe and Japan for decades. If it were my father, i would make sure he were on both those supplements- fish oil and CoQ10.
warmly
jb
Please expatiate more on ikagi and it source.
How many i.u. of Vit D as well as Vit AS is recomnemded for a 60 yrs old and above?
I woulkd like to know how many mg of Vit C you would recomend for the above person daily
How do you weight train twice weekly?
Can somebody take Cod liver oil(high strength together with the Omega 3 oil?
Hi
I personally take 4,000-6,000 IUs daily, would recommend you start with 2,000-4,000 IUs.
Vitamin C i would suggest 1000 mg
I don’t know why you’d need cod liver AND fish oil (omega-3′s)- i’d stay with the high quality fish oil
warmly
jb
lmao sweet info bro.
Jonny,
I read on Wikipedia that there are 2 types of CLA. c9,t11-CLA and t10,c12-CLA. C9 is suposed to be very good for you, c-10 is supposed to be worse than smoking.
Do all the supplements you buy use the c-9, t11 CLA? Or does it all come mixd with t10, c12-CLA? If the labels make the difference clear, can you trust them?
Fred
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjugated_linoleic_acid
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