We read the first major reason why figuratively “chewing the fat” through conversation and mental stimulation is your best bet to increase your chances of living a long and healthy life. In this week’s post, we discuss how literally chewing the fat can help increase your odds of living forever.

My grandfather, about to turn 97, recalls his days of using lard and butter to cook, or even eating pure lard during the Great Depression. Throughout his life, his meals consisted mostly of home-cooked foods and home-grown vegetables in his organic garden. Processed foods, TV dinners, and pre-made meals didn’t exist and were considered an insult to his wife, the greatest Italian cook in the world.*

Candy and sweets were a rarity, and meals mostly consisted of vegetables cooked in fat, along with a portion of meat. A piece of bread did accompany some meals, more so during the 1930s and before the war when money was tight.

Did this lifestyle helped lead to his longevity?

The short answer is yes. However, the real question is how? Obviously growing your own vegetables and eating whole foods are major contributors to optimal health, as are stimulating your brain and having meaningful relationships with those around you, as we discussed in the first part. But on a molecular level, what exactly was he doing?

What he was doing, unintentionally of course, was limiting the amount of insulin released in his body and channeling the internal mechanisms, developed over millions of years, that allow humans to remain healthy while living and thriving to a ripe old age. In fact, this process likely exists because it was molded by the human diet, which generally consisted of more fat and less carbohydrates than most people consume nowadays (and most physicians recommend nowadays…).

As one eats an overabundance of carbohydrates, insulin rises, binding to specific cellular receptors. In addition, molecular pathways are activated that lead to fat stimulation, cancer growth, neurological damage, and cells burning out much sooner than they should.

Recent studies have looked at people like my grandfather whom lived past 100 to assess what differences these individuals have over the rest of us mere mortals. One thing these centenarians have in common is a frequent mutation in the IGF (insulin-like growth factor) receptor along the insulin pathway.1 In other words, they can have insulin or IGF floating around, but there are fewer functional receptors to bind to and upregulate, or increase the number of cell receptors on, this pathway.

Even if these folks were eating a higher amount of carbohydrates than their bodies were adept at processing, this broken point along the insulin pathway stops the upregulation that leads to cancer, obesity, and poor overall health.

It's safe to assume most of us probably don’t have this insulin pathway mutation, so we need to switch to other methods to keep upregulation as low as possible. The easiest method is, of course, to limit the food that directly stimulates it, and replace the carbohydrates with the food that doesn’t by chewing the fat. However, keep in mind that protein stimulates this pathway to a lesser amount. This is where things start to get difficult and a balance must be reached. We all want to live as long as possible, but we also want to be happy during the process.

Striking a balance will be different for everyone, but my approach has been one of limiting my consumption of carbohydrates, going into periodic ketosis (very low carbohydrate consumption or fasting), and engaging in periodic severe calorie restriction through intermittent fasting, as it has been shown to increase lifespan in all species except monkeys and humans2. It is also is a good method for helping the body rid itself of cancerous cells.3 This generally leaves me happy enough with my meal choices and food consumption while minimizing the insulin pathway and hopefully decreasing my chances of cancer.3

Turning to Jeanne Calment — who was the longest living human ever at 122 years — she seemed to have her own rules, though they were not that all that different from my grandfather's. Calment ascribed her longevity and youthful appearance to a diet “rich in olive oil, and rubbed onto her skin, as well as a diet of port wine, and ate nearly one kilogram (2.2 lb) of chocolate every week.”

Assuming this chocolate was 85% dark; perhaps this diet isn’t too far off. Then again, I love dark chocolate...

Returning to the centenarian study, we must keep in mind that these individuals with incredible longevity had genetic mutations in their IGF1 signaling pathway. Considering that Jeanne Calment was 117 years old, she likely had some unique genetics that pushed her along and kept her alive to nearly triple her life expectancy at birth.

While Calment is a great example, perhaps we should turn to an expert like Nobel Prize winner Cynthia Kenyon, for an opinion on what leads to the greatest longevity. She won the award for her novel work studying the longevity and telomeres in worms and, not surprisingly, she has a similar outlook on what it takes to “live forever.” From a recent article in PLOS Biology, “In Methuselah's Mould” she stated:

“Nevertheless, the discoveries about the role of the insulin/IGF-1 pathway in ageing have had a profound impact on her own lifestyle, which includes a tendency to discard the bread from sandwiches and eat only the toppings of pizzas.

‘I'm on a low-carb diet. I gave my worms glucose, and it shortened their lifespan. [The diet] makes sense because it keeps your insulin levels down.’

No desserts. No sweets. No potatoes. No rice. No bread. No pasta. ‘When I say ‘no,’ I mean ‘no, or not much,’ she notes. ‘Instead, eat green vegetables.

Eat the fruits that aren't the sweet fruits, like melon.’ Bananas? “Bananas are a little sweet.’ Meat? ‘Meat, yes, of course.

Avocados. All vegetables. Nuts. Fish. Chicken. That's what I eat. Cheese. Eggs. And one glass of red wine a day.’

With a Nobel Prize under her belt and almost 97 years of personal experience under his, perhaps these two have learned a thing or two about longevity.

Want to maximize your chances of living forever? Maybe it’s time to start chewing the fat...

To Your Health,

Dr. Colin Champ

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