The Longevity Diet: Slow Aging, Fight Disease, Optimize Weight

I have been an avid follower of Professor Valter Longos’s work and studies since first seeing a BBC Documentary in 2012 - Eat, Fast & Live Longer. This man is nothing short of a genius. Having gone through my own health problems: Bulimia, then a massive benign tumour in my head which lead me to an operation and then into intensive radiation treatment I found his studies fascinating, insightful & inspiring to me personally & I wanted to know & learn more. Over the past 2 decades I have either been, bulimic, vegan, vegetarian, or now for the last 15 years pescatarian at which time I had no idea that such a name even existed. When I found out that Professor Longo had written a book on Longevity I couldn’t wait for it to be published in English. I have a Kindle copy and a book. His book has given me so much knowledge that I didn’t previously have and the information is easy enough to process if you take the trouble. For me, where his book stands out from many other books is that most of the information in this book is based on his own studies and research from throughout his 30 something years of study & research on Longevity. There are no gimmicks just straightforward facts on longevity & how to proceed with his longevity diet with the everyday fruits, vegetables, legumes etc. that we find in our supermarkets or farmers markets. He clearly explains why & which fruits, veg etc are better for you. How simple can it be to follow a mostly plant-based diet - but the truth be known for most of us is that we will continue to eat bad & fast food until the heart attack hits or our cholesterol is through the roof, or like so many people in the Western World we develop diabetes. He clearly explains how we can avoid or correct these problems by using his longevity diet. The book is entertaining as well as full of necessary, important information for living a longer & disease- free life. Prevention is always better than cure. I am a writer and in my own research I have read many, many articles with misinformed information, on many different subjects & I only want facts & proven studies as in this book. Lastly, 100% of all the royalties from Professor Longo’s books go back into his research, another great reason to purchase the book. I promise you, you will not be disappointed.

Not many books that are so eye opening and easy to read. As someone who is health conscious this has given me a great understanding of foods as a whole, what to look out for/avoid and how fasting really does make you live longer (or is shown across multiple studies which I went on to discover post read) biomarkers are closer to optimal after the fasting mimicking diet and I am even fasting right now as the previous one I did (fasting mimicking diet) after reading this book made me look noticeably younger/youthful as well as feeling ‘cleaner’ and healthier overall. I have gifted this to family as it’s so easy to understand. Thank you Dr. Valter Longo

This book is quite easily readable. The beginning to me seemed to be autobiography, which is fine and usefully informative. Then the tail end seemed to be explaining the same things again to show how fasting for five days at a go might be helpful to various conditions, with seemingly less and less evidence for the actual efficacy (difficulty getting people to run medical trials). The fast mimicking is interesting, but not really to me, as I find it far easier to stop eating than to do a load of faffing about with strange and expensive foods. There are recipe suggestions and diet suggestions for how to run a period of fast mimicking, but this was not of interest to me. I found it quite difficult on flicking through the book to identify any diet, but there is actual information in there. There is also a lot of suggestion about what to eat or not eat to generally prolong healthy life, which after all is the premise of the book. and much of that comes back to what is refered to as "Mediteranean diet" (which by now should probably be called "Mediteranean poor village diet from 50 - 100 years ago") I have been primarily trying to lose weight to remedy T2 diabetes. Fasting has proved a valuable tool in acheiving that, and I am still using periods of fasting with the 5 days suggested here, and in other places being a big player. I can do extreme, it is moderation that I find difficult. Over five days I can watch my blood sugar drop from around 6 to around 3. I have no idea what it looks like for a normal person as there seems to be a complete lack of such information on the internet or in books such as this. The book is of course plastered with the dire warnings and self protection, advising that any diet to be done under medical supervision (as though anyone in the UK can get to see a doctor, let alone a nutritionist or dietician with any idea), so - "Dont do this at home children ! " Periods of fasting can be useful and this book goes a long way to explaining how. It is well worth reading if you want to try improving your health, and most of it is based on sound research.

The book is very well written. I found a lot of very interesting information. Most importantly, the recommendations are supported by peer reviewed research. The author seems to be very careful in the analysis.

Dr. Valter Longo's book is a true gem for those who want to really learn how to be healthy not just now but also well into the elder years. Back up with good science, you get a relatively easy step by step roadmap about what you can do with your diet and lifestyle. I found the chapters on different serious health conditions and the research (both conducted by Longo's team or other labs) very convincing. As I recently became a whole foods plant based diet follower, finding out that his recommendation matches a well thought of WFPB diet was a joy for me. As a fun note, I got so enamored with the message of this book, that I wanted my closest relatives and friends to read this book, so I gifting them the book, which Amazon took as I was perhaps buying the book to sell it! So, they limited how much they would sell me the book! It was unbelievable! I am yet to try the FMD but have partnered with my cousin (the first person I gifted the book to) and her husband to try the ProLon FMD packages. Reading this book is the best thing you can do for your health! Thank you Dr. Longo!!!

The content of this book is amazing, backed by solid research rather than empty talk! Everyone should read it, as it provides the foundation for health and longevity. This is the second copy I’ve bought in English (the first one I gave to a friend), and I also purchased the Italian edition for another friend.

Great health book. This is a must got those who want to improve their health easily.

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

The content confirms some of the practices that I was already doing to manage my prediabetes. Looking forward to practice the rest of the longevity diet.