August 18, 2024, Mount Shasta, CA: Today, after I’d facebook-posted a chart of longevity-promoting foods, my very smart brother David Strickland posted that he thought the list was propaganda funded by big agricultural corporations. Because in my list, no mention was made for meat or eggs which are some of the most important foods to eat for healthy, long life, he said.
Well, David Strickland, there’s good reason to believe that meat and eggs are FAR healthier than processed foods, inflammatory seed oils, and the cheap ingredients in fast food.
That’s why I eat them. BUT …
Protein Requirements and Long Life
a) The level of protein required for muscle growth, and yet avoiding the mTor-pathway signals that promote inflammation, immune-system difficulties, and the major diseases that kill Americans, is actually rather low. Somewhere between 30-50 grams per pound of bodyweight. (You can calculate how much steak or eggs that translates to using Cronometer, a free online tool.)
b) The longest-living peoples on earth *mostly* fuel their bodies with slow carbs and high-fiber, high-nutrition, anti-inflammation foods. And that’s what’s listed here.
For More Information:
1) About longest life, from demographic studies, research studies, and three other approaches, see Valter Longo, “The Longevity Diet.”
2) About the mTor-signalling pathway, see Longo plus “The Switch” by Clement, which also discusses how to trigger autophagy in your body to remove broken cells … which is related to this subject and long life.
3) About mTor and other stressors that lessen longevity, including toxins, molds, and more see either “The Wahls Protocol” (Terri Wahls), or “The End of Alzheimers Program” (Bredesen). (I’m not concerned with immune disorders or alzheimers, but turns out that the same gut and nutrition hacks underlie repair for, apparently, all or nearly all immune malfunctions.)
Any and all of these books are clear and well-written, and they show how to reduce inflammation, extend life, meter the needful but cancer-promoting food items when over-consumed, and how to operate the body to cycle from building to repair to building. All for longest life.
Note that ALL of these discuss the mTor pathway.
The trick is balance.