What is the fasting-mimicking diet?

That is the focus of a recent podcast I recorded, along with its link to lower biological age and disease risk. So far, this has become one of my more popular podcasts, and it makes sense: it seems everyone is interested in fasting and what may slow down the aging process. Of course we all age…but some age better than others. You just have to look around to know that.

On the podcast, I chatted with Dr. Valter Longo about his latest research on the fasting-mimicking diet (FMG) and how it has been shown in studies to reduce biological age and disease risk. In great detail, he describes the fasting-mimicking diet and its components while explaining how it was tested in clinical trials for its effect on biological age and disease risk. Dr. Longo describes the difference between biological age and chronological age and how he and his team measured biological age in the studies. Not attributing the benefits of the fasting-mimicking diet to weight loss alone, Dr. Valter offers theories for how it reduces biological age. Importantly, he comments on the controversial fasting study that suggests 8-hour-time-restricted eating is linked to a 91% higher risk of death from heart disease and closes by telling us what he thinks is the best fasting protocol and why. (If you are unfamiliar with the controversial study, here is a link.)

Dr. Longo, who helped create the fasting-mimicking diet, is a professor of gerontology and biological sciences and director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California, a leading center for research on aging and age-related diseases. He also serves as the Director of the Longevity and Cancer Program at the Institute of Molecular Oncology in Milan, Italy. He is author of the international best-selling book, The Longevity Diet. Holding a PhD in biochemistry from UCLA, his research focuses on the mechanisms of aging, including dietary and genetic interventions to slow biological aging. Read more about him here.

Please tune in to the podcast here! 

As always, feel free to let me know your thoughts on the fasting-mimicking diet and the podcast below in the comments, or tweet (X?) me or find me on Facebook and Instagram.

Remember to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss an episode! And please share this with anyone interesting in fasting, slowing down aging or just looking and feeling better in general. :)

Also, if you missed this podcast on the evidence-based mental health benefits one gets while being in nature, definitely listen to it. Parents, I encourage you to listen to it– you may be surprised at the power of nature in easing your kids’ minds.

That’s it for now–but I’ll be back here shortly to write more on the blog.

Eeks