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The Fast-Mimicking Diet
Plus: the worst way to wake up (and what to do instead)
The 10almonds Team
June 25, 2024
Today’s almonds have been activated by:
Enjoying tea for the antioxidant benefits? Most people do not let it steep for nearly long enough. If you’d like an iced tea in the morning, consider letting it steep overnight—especially for delicate green teas, for example.
In A Rush?
Today’s 30-Second Summary
If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:
Intermittent fasting is great, but it isn’t suitable for everyone (either because of individual physiological differences (Type 1 Diabetes being a big one as an example) or scheduling issues.
Today’s main feature examines the science of a fast-mimicking diet that research so far suggests can give similar benefits, from just some dietary adjustments, and then 5 days per month of reduced caloric intake.
As we age, our collagen levels tend to get depleted more easily. Collagen is important not just for youthful good looks, but also for the health of bones and joints
Today’s sponsor NativePath are offering high-quality collagen without additives or harmful impurities
Today’s featured recipe is a tasty breakfast bowl of well-seasoned sautéed dark leafy greens with sorghum, millet, oats, and lentils. Breakfast has never been healthier!
Read on to learn more about these things, or click here to visit our archive
A Word To The Wise
Watch and Learn
The Worst Way To Wake Up (And What To Do Instead)
Dr. Tracey Marks, psychiatrist, has tricks to share:
Prefer text? The above video will take you to a 10almonds page with a text-overview, as well as the video!
Tuesday’s Expert Insights
Live, Fast, Live Long
This is Dr. Valter Longo. He’s a biogerontologist and cell biologist, whose work has focused on fasting and nutrient response genes, and how we can leverage them against diseases and aging in general.
We reviewed his book recently:
What does he want us to know?
What to eat
Dr. Longo recommends a mostly plant-based diet (especially vegetables, whole grains, and legumes), but also having some fish. The bulk of our dietary fats, however, he says are best coming from olive oil and nuts.
He also advises aiming for nutritional density of vitamins and minerals in our diet, and/but supplementing with a multivitamin once every few days to cover any gaps.
If in doubt choosing between plant-based whole foods, he recommends that we choose those our ancestors will have eaten.
Read more: Longevity Diet For Adults
When to eat
Dr. Longo recommends time-restricted eating within a 12-hour window per day.
However, he also recommends (additionally or separately; it’s up to us; additionally is better but the point is it still has excellent benefits separately too) his “fast-mimicking diet” (FMD), which involves eating according to what we said in “What to eat”, but restricting it to 750 kcal per day, 5 days in a row, but not necessarily 5 days per week.
For example, the following was a 3-month study that involved doing this for only one 5-day cycle per month:
❝Three FMD cycles reduced body weight, trunk, and total body fat; lowered blood pressure; and decreased insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). No serious adverse effects were reported.
A post hoc analysis of subjects from both FMD arms showed that body mass index, blood pressure, fasting glucose, IGF-1, triglycerides, total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and C-reactive protein were more beneficially affected in participants at risk for disease than in subjects who were not at risk.
Thus, cycles of a 5-day FMD are safe, feasible, and effective in reducing markers/risk factors for aging and age-related diseases.❞
Note: the introduction mentions FMD in mice, but this is just referencing previous studies. This study is about FMD in humans!
Read in full: Fasting-mimicking diet and markers/risk factors for aging, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease
Want to know more?
You might like this (text-based) interview with Dr. Longo, with the Health Sciences Academy:
Take care!
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A Quick Question
What is your opinion of the availability of elective cosmetic surgeries?Taking both physical and mental health outcomes into account... |
We’ll then talk about this on Friday!
This Or That?
Vote on Which is Healthier
Yesterday we asked you to choose between lemons and limes— we picked the lemons (click here to read about why), as did 72% of you!
Now for today’s choice:
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Click on whichever you think is better for you!
Bonus (Sponsored) Recommendation
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Recipes Worth Sharing
SMOL Bowl With Sautéed Greens
Whole grains are good, and gluten is bad for some people. Today’s dish has four whole grains, and no gluten (assuming no cross-contamination, so look for the gluten-free label if that’s important to you). With leafy greens and finely-chopped red onion, it’s an all-rounder. Breafast? Brunch? Lunch? Supper, even? This is good at any time of day, packed with nutrients and full of flavor!
Click below for our full recipe, and learn its secrets:
One-Minute Book Review
Healthy Kids, Happy Kids: An Integrative Pediatrician's Guide to Whole Child Resilience – by Dr. Elisa Song
If you have young children or perhaps grandchildren, you probably care deeply about those children and their wellbeing, but there can often be a lot more guesswork than would be ideal, when it comes to ensuring they be and remain healthy.
Nevertheless, a lot of common treatments for children are based (whether parents know it or not—and often they dont) on what is most convenient for the parent, not necessarily what is best for the child. Dr. Song looks to correct that.
Rather than dosing kids with acetaminophen or even antibiotics, assuming eczema can be best fixed with a topical cream (treating the symptom rather than the cause, much?), and that some things like asthma “just are”, and “that’s unfortunate”, Dr. Song takes us on a tour of pediatric health, centered around the gut.
Why the gut? Well, it’s pretty central to us as adults, and it’s the same for kids, except one difference: their gut microbiome is changing even more quickly than ours (along with the rest of their body), and as such, is even more susceptible to little nudges for better or for worse, having a big impact in either direction. So, might as well make it a good one!
After an explanatory overview, most of the book is given over to recognizing and correcting what things can go wrong, including the top 25 acute childhood conditions, and the most critical chronic ones, and how to keep things on-track as a team (the child is part of the team! An important part!).
The style of the book is very direct and instructional; easy to understand throughout. It’s a lot like being in a room with a very competent pediatrician who knows her stuff and explains it well, thus neither patronizing nor mystifying.
Bottom line: if there are kids in your life, be they yours or your grandkids or someone else, this is a fine book for giving them the best foundational health.
Penny For Your Thoughts?
What did you think of today's newsletter?We always love to hear from you, whether you leave us a comment or even just a click in the poll if you're speeding by! |
May each day see a slightly healthier you than the day before,
The 10almonds Team
