Is there a longevity diet?

4 dietary keys to living a longer, healthier life

Imagine this.  You’re 90 years old and surrounded by your kids, grandkids and spouse.  You’re sitting in a log cabin on a big plush couch in front of a roaring fire. 

Despite your age, you are far from frail.   In fact, you and your family just spent all day skiing, and you gave every one of your kids and grandkids a run for their money.

The trip is a yearly tradition you started in your 60’s and now spans nearly 3 decades.  You’ve had a lot of practice and made a pile of memories.

As you sit enjoying the moment, your granddaughter asks if you eat something special to stay so fit.  She asks, “Is there a longevity diet?”

Indeed there is. 

In fact, your diet can dramatically affect your longevity.  It can add 10 years to your life.  And it can help ensure that those extra years are good years. 

A longevity diet can help ensure that you’re out skiing the slopes, hiking the trails and exploring the reefs, rather than spending your golden years sitting in hospital waiting rooms. As you’ll see what you eat matters.

In this article, I’ll show you the four keys to eating a longevity promoting diet. 

1. Don’t eat like a frat boy

2. Don’t eat too much

3. Plant powered longevity

4. You can have your steak and longevity too

This article is part of a series on longevity.

• If you’d like the bird’s eye view of longevity and lifestyle, check out my article 5 keys to living longer: a complete guide to longevity

• And if you’d like a deep dive into exercise and longevity, check out my article Maximizing Lifespan: The Essential Guide to Exercise for Longevity

1) Don’t eat like a frat boy (It could add 10 years to your life!)

First things first.  You probably already know of ways you could improve your diet.  You probably know that eating pizza and cheesecake until you feel like exploding isn’t an ideal path to a long, healthy life.  But you may not realize how much it matters.  And if you’re like everyone else, you’re probably struggling to eat healthfully.

So before we get into some of the more advanced stuff, let’s look at the basics of a healthy diet, why it matters so much and how you can start eating better starting today.

The science of food quality

A recent Harvard study showed that lifestyle could have a massive impact on life expectancy.  In fact, a healthy lifestyle predicted a ten-year increase in the participant’s life expectancy!  (If you’d like to see all five factors, take a look at my Complete Guide to Longevity.)

Of course, one of the lifestyle factors they looked at was diet, and the study did something really interesting.  They removed the recommended limit on healthy fats and placed a limit on the amount of added sugar.  From there, instead of focusing on measuring macronutrients like fats, carbs and protein, they focused on food quality.

They made the changes in response to changes in research.  It turns out ultra-processed foods aren’t great.  (Surprise, surprise.)

When you eat more ultra-processed food, you increase your risk of all-cause mortality (i.e. you’re more likely to die).  In one recent study, a 10% increase in consumption of ultra-processed food led to a 14% higher risk of all-cause mortality.

In other words, it doesn’t matter so much if you eat high fat, low fat, low carb or whatever the latest internet fad suggests.  What matters is food quality.

According to the Harvard study, here’s what that looks like in practice.

Protein: eat more fish, poultry, beans and nuts.  Eat less red meat.  Avoid processed meats like bacon and sausage.  In other words, not all protein is equal and salmon trumps bacon.  (Check out my Protein Guide.)

Fats: healthy fats like olive oil are in.  Unhealthy trans fats like margarine are out.  (Check out my Healthy Fats Guide.)

Carbs: veggies, fruits and whole grains are in.  Processed foods, deserts and surgery beverages are out.  In other words, not all carbs are equal.  An apple isn’t white bread.  They both contain carbs, but the way your body handles those carbs is wildly different. 

You can also check out Harvard’s guidelines HERE. 

How to put it into practice today!

The trick to changing a habit is to start small.  Pick a small relatively easy change and stick to it for 2-4 weeks.  After you’ve demonstrated that you can do it consistently, step it up and add another change.  In this way, you can accumulate small changes, and over time, you can radically transform your diet.

Here’s an example.  Pick one meal.  Let’s say breakfast. Find one small way to remove some processed food and/or add some healthy food.  Maybe you add an apple or a handful of berries to your breakfast.

That’s it.  Keep it simple.  Keep it achievable.  And in a few weeks, make another small change.  If you keep that process up, you’ll soon be eating an all-star breakfast.  Then you can shift to lunch or dinner.

Take home messages:

• Eat more whole foods and eat less ultra-processed food. 

• Become a longevity-diet-ninja by making small achievable changes one at a time.

2) Don’t eat too much.  (And ideally even less than that.)

How important is maintaining a healthy weight?  What is a healthy weight?  Can you be too lean?

The Harvard study’s second lifestyle factor involved maintaining a healthy weight.  The researchers measured this by looking at participants Body Mass Index (BMI).  The participants who maintained a normal BMI and followed the other lifestyle factors (such as eating a healthy diet) added 10 or more years to their life expectancy.

To calculate your BMI, take your weight in kilograms and divide by your height squared.   Or you can use the free calculator HERE.  

Importantly, BMI is very imprecise.  It doesn’t take into account body composition.  How much muscle do you have?  What’s your body fat percentage?  You could have a normal BMI but still be skinny fat.  Alternatively, you could be lean and muscular and have a higher than normal BMI.   

In other words, BMI is probably best for individuals who aren’t training. If you’re reading this, that’s probably not you. 

For an active individual, there are two points to keep in mind.  First, muscle is great for your health and longevity.  This is why eating enough protein is an important part of any longevity diet.  (See below).  Second, there’s growing evidence that getting really lean (aka a Calorie Restricted CR diet) is also a great longevity strategy.

A CR diet is typically defined as reducing caloric intake while still consuming all of your essential nutrients.  It’s often contrasted with ad libitum (eating at your pleasure) diets.  A good example of this would be the Okinawan practice of Hara Hachi Bu.  Okinawans, one of the blue zone populations, recite Hara Hachi Bu before every meal as a reminder to eat until they are 80% full. 

The evidence supporting a CR diet doesn’t stop there.

• There are animals studies that show a CR diet can substantially increases lifespan. 

• There are studies showing mechanistic links between a CR diet and longevity. [1, 2, 3] 

• And, there is a 2 year randomized controlled trial that showed potential longevity benefits of a CR diet.

Long story short, maintaining a lean muscular physique is a great longevity strategy. If you’d like to learn more about the health benefits of building muscle and getting lean, check out my article, Is the beach body worth it?

How to put it into practice today!

You can lose weight by focusing on eating more whole foods.  

Why does it work?  

One reason is that you simply eat fewer calories.  Unprocessed foods leave you feeling fuller for longer.  In a recent study, participants were allowed to eat as much as they wanted.  One group ate highly processed food (think burgers and fries). 

The other group ate unprocessed food (think salmon salad).  After two weeks, the groups swapped diets for another two weeks.  Both groups were allowed to eat as much as they wanted.  

The group eating highly processed food ate about 500 kcal more per day.  The reason isn’t hard to imagine. Are you more likely to overeat salmon salad or pizza?

More over, whole foods have unique properties, such as more fiber and a higher thermogenic effect, that make them even more physique friendly.

Long story short, eating more whole foods promotes longevity AND weight loss.

Pretty cool!

So what do you think?  Is it worth eating more whole foods to lose some weight?  If you’d like to dive deeper, check out my article, Why is it so hard to stop overeating?

A word of warning

It’s crucial to avoid obsessing over calories, calorie restriction and weight.  It’s also crucial to get plenty of nutrients.  So rather than focus on external measures (i.e. BMI, the mirror or the scale), I recommend focusing on basic daily habits (such as eating more whole foods). 

Additionally, your training performance and energy levels shouldn’t crash just because you’re trying to lose some fat.  If you get too lean, your body will start to shut down.  And if you try to get too lean too fast, your body will find unhealthy ways to compensate. 

Take home messages:

• Don’t overeat, because maintaining a healthy bodyweight is a key longevity factor.

• Getting lean through calorie restriction likely has additional longevity benefits.

• One way to reduce overeating is to focus on eating whole foods.

3) Plant powered longevity

One way to solve a problem is to look for role models.  Is there anyone out there already solving your problem? 

In the case of longevity, there is.  In fact, there are entire communities where people are much more likely to live to 100.  These communities have been named Blue Zones, and they include places like Okinawa and Sardinia.

One of the common features of the Blue Zone communities (aside from a focus on whole foods and not eating too much) is a diet loaded with plants.  In fact, Blue Zone communities typically eat 90-95% of their calories from plants.

This has been backed up by a swelling academic literature. 

• A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that eating 5 servings of fruit and veggies added 3 years of life compared to those who didn’t eat their plants.

• And a meta analyses in the journal Circulation showed a dose response relationship between eating pants and reducing disease risk.  Eating 3 servings of veggies and 2 servings of fruits had the greatest reduction in disease risk.  In other words, the more plants the better. 

Put simply, there are a lot ways to die.  There is heart disease, cancer, stroke and cardiovascular disease to name but a few.  Fortunately, eating lots of plants can reduce your risk of death from all of those.  

How many fruits and veggies should you eat?

A study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology found that eating 10 servings of fruits and veggies provided the greatest reduction in all-cause mortality.  That’s 800 grams of fruits and veggies.

The study showed:

• 24 percent reduced risk of heart disease

• 33 percent reduced risk of stroke

• 28 percent reduced risk of cardiovascular disease

• 13 percent reduced risk of total cancer

• 31 percent reduction in premature deaths

It also showed that eating BOTH fruits and veggies provided the greatest advantage.

Need help eating more veggies?  Check out my guide Veggies made simple.

4) You can have your steak and longevity too

When you picture a stereotypical centenarian, the words jacked and shredded don’t spring to mind.  In fact, it’s quite the opposite.  If you’re lucky enough to see your 100th year, you won’t have much muscle.  This is because your body sheds muscles as you age.  And the further you advance in years, the more difficult it becomes to maintain or build muscle mass.

If you reach your 100th birthday, it’s perfectly reasonable and probably unavoidable to be scrapping the bottom of the skeletal muscle bucket.  But you shouldn’t be in a hurry to get there.

Study after study has shown that skeletal muscle mass is associated with increased longevity.  Participants, who had a muscle mass index score (MMIS) in the top 25%, had the lowest risk of death from any cause.  The MMIS is similar to the BMI.  You divide your limb skeletal muscle mass (kg) by the square of your height (m2). 

Moreover, muscle mass is protective against a decline in metabolic function.  It might help you survive cancer.  And it’s protective against diabetes.  

 Long story short, you want to preserve as much muscle as you can for as long as you can.

Ok, at this point maybe you’re wondering what does this have to do with a longevity diet?  Well, you can’t maintain muscle mass without protein.

The quality and quantity of protein you consume provides a crucial signal to build and maintain muscle. Thus higher amounts of protein significantly increase muscle growth.  No surprises here.

If you’re training (you are training, right?), then it becomes even more important to eat enough protein.  One study found that athletes eating a higher protein diet (35% of their food was protein) preserved significantly more muscle than the athletes who ate a lower protein diet (15% of their food).

Moreover, as you age eating enough protein becomes even more crucial.  With age, you can develop anabolic resistance, which means you become less and less sensitive to protein and specifically the amino acid leucine.   

Although your total daily protein requirements do not increase, your per meal requirements do increase. 

Long story short, eating plenty of high quality protein is a crucial component to maintaining muscle mass, and maintaining muscle mass is a key longevity strategy.

At this point, you may be wondering, won’t a higher protein diet cause cancer?  And isn’t a vegan diet better for longevity?

Plant versus animal protein

Of course, it’s possible to get plenty of protein from vegetarian or vegan sources.  And if that’s your bag, all the power to you.  Odds are that our descendants will not look kindly on the way we treated the animals we consume.  But having said that, is there a specific longevity advantage to getting your protein from plants? 

It doesn’t look like it.  The studies I’ve seen often compare an unhealthy omnivore diet with a healthy vegan or vegetarian diet, and I think we can all agree an unhealthy omnivore diet is a bad idea.

But what happens if you eat a healthy omnivore diet?       

One group of researchers decided to investigate. First off, they found what everyone else finds: eating lots of red and processed meat is associated with a higher risk of cancer. 

However they also found that consuming the meat with lots of fruits and veggies eliminated the association.  And this was even true, if you consumed a ton of meat.

Long story short, you can have your steak and longevity too. Just be sure to eat a whole food diet and lots of fruits and veggies.

Take home message:

• Eating enough protein will help you maintain muscle mass and recover from exercise. Both of which are strongly associated with longevity.

• Consuming healthy sources of protein in conjunction with lots of fruits and veggies is healthy and longevity promoting.

Need help eating more protein?  Check out my protein guide.

Simple but difficult.

All told, a longevity diet is pretty simple. 

• You want to eat mostly whole foods and avoid the ultra-processed stuff. 

• Avoid eating too much. 

• Eat lots of plants. 

• And eat enough protein to maintain your muscle mass and fuel your training. 

A longevity diet is simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

I recommend starting with a small change and give it time to become a habit.  If you stick with it, those small habits will accumulate.  Before long you’ll be crushing your diet.  You’ll look, perform and feel great. And you’ll be well on your way to being that incredible 90 year old who skis with the grandkids.

Thanks for reading!