
Photo: Ronan Furuta
3 Biological Years Younger In 8 Weeks On A Surprising & Nerdy Plan:
Two of the things we’re all worried about are weight-loss and aging.
But in a strange twist, science has recently started referring to aging as a disease,
Which means in many ways, they’re beginning to think they can treat it; -a little.
Lots of us are already trying this by doing things like avoiding ultra-processed foods,
And also getting into eating plans with interesting health-benefits, like intermittent-fasting.
But a team at the Helfgott Research Institute are experimenting with a very specific anti-aging program with some interesting results…
The Short Answer:
- We all worry about weight & aging.
- Science has declared aging a disease and hopes to treat it.
- Many of us do this already by reducing salt, sugar, and ultra-processed foods.
- Intermittent-fasting has also shown promise.
- Leafy greens and Mediterranean diets are also big favorites.
- Science is going after some very specific targets to combat aging.
- One of them is represented by a DNA Clock invented by Steven Horvath.
- The focus of this clock is a chemical reaction called Methylation.
- DNA is not destiny, so choices and behaviors matter for your body’s “aging computer”.
- Kara Fitzgerald’s team ran a study on 40+ men between 50-72 for 8 Weeks.
- The specific meal, activity, & food-supplement program reduced their biological age by about 2 years.
- Relative to people who ate an average diet, they were just over 3 years younger.
- The program relies on sleep, exercise, relaxation, and food instead of supplement-megadoses.
- The basis for under-Methylation based-aging has already been proven in mouse experiments.
- It’s probably much better to get your vitamins & minerals from food instead of pills.
- Soon, Dr. Fitzgerald’s “The Younger You” program will be available to the the public after a public-beta phase.
Read on to find out the details…
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The (almost) Primary Past-Time Of Our Species. To Extend Life:
So as long as humans have been alive, we’ve been trying to live longer.
From the crazy cryogenic experiments, to Ancient Egyptians, to meditating Buddhist monks,
It’s been a core-pursuit of our species for awhile.
Even if you’re a recent human trying crazy things like Dr. Neal Barnard’s superfoods for your brain,
Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s insistence on big salads and micronutrients,
Or just a fun, tasty, low-salt, low sugar, Mediterranean Diet,
Many of us are looking for the same goal.
Fancy Science Is Getting More & More Into The Act Of Youthfulness:
So then it should come as no surprise that some increasingly-fancy scientists are getting in on the game, too.
And they’ve chosen a really-interesting angle.
If you’ve read anything here before about aging & diet, your Telomeres & their health and length gets referred to a lot.
Either when it comes to calorie-restriction or the wildly-unexpected impacts of ultra-processed foods.
These little protective parts on our cells’ power-generation units are thought to be a very high-resolution way of measuring how old we actually are compared to what the calendar has to say about it.
But there is also another measure that’s not tied to the way you look on the outside.
Steven Horvath’s New Hi-Rez “Biological Clock”:
In 2013, Dr. Steven Horvath came up with a measure that looks at 353 different parts of our genetic code,
And checks them for a type of chemical reaction called “Methylation”; or lack of it.
According to the study’s chief author, Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, these little checks represent the best type of aging-odometer we now have.
Because they are tied to the idea that DNA is not destiny, and that behavior and choices count.
The type of scientists who study this idea would say that the whole mess of your unique individual DNA is like a set of computer programs,
Your body is the computer,
And your behavior and decisions make the choice of which programs get run and how often.
It’s to this end that Dr. Kara & her team designed their plan to target the high-resolution body-clock invented years ago by Horvath.
The Surprising Results With An Equally Surprising Run-Time:
Following that plan, here are the results she & her team achieved.
In the short, short time of !Just 8 Weeks!,
The team took a small group of just over 40 subjects and put them on the clock-targeting plan.
These were all healthy men between the ages of 50 and 72.
At the end of those 8 weeks, they then measured the men’s biological clocks with the Horvath method.
In that short span of time, they managed to both stop AND REVERSE their own aging process to become almost 2 full years younger than they were those two months ago!
That was just The Average. -Some of the outliers did even better!!!
And to A/B test this vs. a group of normal people eating +/- a “standard Western Diet”,
They were just over 3 years younger than the “average” people as a comparison!
One Of The Few Studies That’s Not Based On Unobtanium:
You think that’s great? Hold on to your hats.
Because the best part about the whole study is that it doesn’t rely on some magical lab formula that won’t be available to the public for 30 years.
It doesn’t even rely on truckloads of supplements!
The Fitzgerald plan works just with lots of very targeted nutrition, some behavioral changes, and a few food-based supplements & probiotics. -That’s it!
To take it one step further, here is a list of what they specified:
1) Liver, Eggs, Dark Leafy Greens, Cruciferous Veg, Colorful Veg, Beets
2) Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Berries, Nuts, Low-Glycemic Fruit
3) Rosemary, Turmeric, Garlic
4) Green & Oolong Tea
5) Grass-fed Organic Animal Protein
6) Organic Foods wherever possible.
7) Good consistent Hydration
8) Only healthy Oils
9) Phytoganix brand organic fruit/veg/seed/herb/enzyme+fiber Supplement
10) UltraFlora brand Probiotic Supplement
11) 2x20m Daily breathing & Relaxation in the style of Dr. Herbert Benson, extremely similar to Mindfulness Meditation.
12) 7 hours of good Sleep
13) Moderate Exercise
14) Positive Social Connections
15) Avoids: Sugar, Candy, Dairy, Grains, Legumes/Beans, Plastic food containers
Oh Yeah, It’s Based On Actual Experiments & Evidence, Too!:
But wait, it gets even better!
Because this isn’t just some moonshot based on a very nerdy biotech guy’s DNA counter.
The experiments on mice have already been done to support the idea, years ago.
The ones they used had a special mutation that Drs. Robert Waterland and Randy Jirtle were able to reverse,
And even change over the course of several generations, just by going after the targets laid-out by Dr. Horvath’s “clock”.
ACHTUNG! This Program Is Done With Diet & Behavior, Not Supplements!:
But here we get to an important caution and confluence.
Many doctors and researchers recently have been chiming-in against supplements & vitamins.
And the overwhelming consensus is that it’s a much better idea to get them from the foods you eat,
Instead of taking them from pills.
That way they are in a more natural state, they are buffered, and it’s very hard (if not impossible) to overdose on them.
And the Vitamin E Prostate Cancer study was just one incidence of that phenomenon.
Furthermore, Dr. Kara herself points out about the mouse studies, that there are real dangers to very high doses of supplement pills related to methylation and that improving it really should not be tried that way.
Younger In 8 Weeks, & The Program Will Soon Be Available To Everybody:
If you thought all of that wasn’t awesome enough,
Check this out. Dr. Kara is taking the results of the studies and turning them into both a larger study,
And a program first for beta-testers, and then THE GENERAL PUBLIC!
-Which is right the hell over here at The Younger You Program
BOOM!
So we’ve had at least a few posts over time on the health-affirming benefits of all kinds of great stuff, including green vegetables, leafy greens, meditation, and intermittent-fasting.
But it’s still a huge boost when another team comes along with even more research to support those ideas,
And show that even in a time as short as 8 weeks, you can really improve your health and maybe even reduce your biological age, if you’ve got the right science behind you!
References & Links:
Source: Aging US
More Coverage: Dr. Kara Fitzgerald | The Younger You Program
Source Study: Aging – Potential reversal of epigenetic age using a diet and lifestyle intervention: a pilot randomized clinical trial
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