The Fast-Mimicking Diet

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:

The Longevity Diet: Discover The New Science To Slow Aging, Fight Disease, And Manage Your Weight – by Dr. Valter Longo

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.

See also: Intermittent Fasting: We Sort The Science From The Hype

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.❞

~ Dr. Min Wei et al. ← Dr. Longo was

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:

Eat, fast and live longer? Interview with Professor Valter Longo

Take care!