The Dr. Hyman Show - Eating For Longevity

Starting point is 00:00:00 Coming up on this episode of The Doctor's Pharmacy. It's important to get quality protein as you age because you lose muscle. So it's really critical that you don't have a deficit of protein as you get older because one of the keys to longevity is keeping muscle. And the only way to build muscle is with other protein. Hey everybody, it's Dr. Mark.

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Starting point is 00:01:37 and more excited about every year is personalized medicine. Now, when I began practicing functional medicine over 20 years ago, it was clear to me we have to look at how unique each body is. Now, with technology advancing in amazing ways, we can truly take that concept to the next level. Like one of the tools that I recently discovered that can help us all do this from home is InsideTracker. Founded in 2009 by top scientists in aging, genetics, and biometric data from MIT, Tufts, and Harvard, InsideTracker is a personalized health and wellness platform like no other. It's purpose-built to help you live a longer, more productive life. Their cutting-edge technology analyzes your blood, DNA, your lifestyle,

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Starting point is 00:03:17 Right now, they're offering my community 20% off at insidetracker.com forward slash Dr. Hyman. That's I-N-S-I-D-E-T-R-A-C-K-E-R.com slash Dr. Hyman. That's me, Dr. Hyman. And you'll see the discount quote in your cart. Now let's get back to this week's episode of The Doctor's Pharmacy. Hello, everyone. Welcome to The Doctor's Pharmacy. I'm Dr. Mark Hyman. That's pharmacy with an F, a place for conversations that matter. And if you've ever wondered how to eat

Starting point is 00:03:48 for longevity, then you better listen up because I'm going to tell you about what I learned as I researched my new book called Young Forever out February 2023. I will encourage you to go pre-order right now, youngforeverbook.com. There's all kinds of bonuses and free things you get with it. And this week on our special Health Byte episode of The Doctor's Pharmacy, we're going to talk about eating for longevity. My favorite topic is food, as you know. I like to eat it. I love to talk about it. So what do we need to eat to live a long, healthy life? Now, nutrition is a very controversial subject. There's more opinions about it than pretty much anything else. I think between religion, politics, and nutrition, you've got the most controversial areas in life. And the truth is, we know a lot, that it doesn't have to be so controversial. And there may be disagreements around the edges of nutrition science, but for the most part, it's a pretty well-established field

Starting point is 00:04:50 where most people really agree. And people bring up controversy in order to actually sell stuff. But I think we need to understand that there are certain principles that are universal. And I found what those are, particularly in my travels around the blue zones which are the areas in the world where people live the longest when I discovered about nutrition there was fascinating and also what I discovered about the science of how to eat of when to eat and what to eat in order to live a long healthy life so the question is what should I eat and what should I avoid I've I've written lots of books about this, from Food, What The Heck Should I Eat, to Eat, Fat, Get Thin, to the Blood Sugar Solution, to the Vegan Diet, to the Ultra Simple Diet, to the 10-Day

Starting point is 00:05:30 Detox Diet. I mean, you're probably sick of me by now, but I think I've distilled all of it in this book, Young Forever, which is really important, which is answering the question, what should I eat for longevity? Now, I've been studying this for decades. And I studied, I saw actually, I think I first came across the whole idea of nutrition and disease when I was in college. I read a book called Nutrition Against Disease over 40 years ago. That's a long time ago. And it highly influenced my thinking. And I've been on this path ever since. And the truth is that there are really important principles that we can agree on that are foundational.

Starting point is 00:06:08 Um, we need to kind of personalize nutrition. It's not that one size fits everybody, but there are a few universal principles. First is whatever you're eating, focus on quality. You know, the highest quality food is going to create the highest quality input to your biology. If you're running, for example, your car on dirty fuel, it's not going to run well. If you run on premium gas, it's going to create the highest quality input to your biology. If you're running, for example, your car on dirty fuel, it's not going to run well. If you run on premium gas, it's going to run better. So what is a premium gas for our bodies? It's high quality food, which is defined,

Starting point is 00:06:34 my view, as the nutrient density of the food. So that's phytochemical richness, the fiber, the vitamins and minerals, the quality of the fats, the quality of the protein, the quality of the carbohydrates, the quality of all the things in our food really matter. And that's because food is information. And it's literally sending instructions with every bite to regulate every function of your body, including the biological process of aging. The second thing is when you eat, think about your food as medicine, not just calories. Think of it as actually medicine that's going to heal or harm you. And it can be good medicine or bad medicine. So make sure you're thinking about your food as medicine. And we'll talk about what

Starting point is 00:07:15 that means. And also personalize your approach because we're all different. We're all different genetically, metabolically. We're different for our preferences, our culture, what we like, what we don't like. It's important to personalize your approach to diet. There's no one size fits all. And also, by the way, your needs change over time. Your needs change as you age. So it's important to make sure you focus on what works. Now, I've jokingly called my approach to eating the pegan diet, which was basically a joke because there were so many diet wars. And I was on a panel with a cardiologist who was a vegan. Another doctor was a paleo doc.

Starting point is 00:07:49 And they were fighting. I'm like, wow, if you're vegan and you're paleo, I must be vegan. Everybody laughed, thought it was a good joke. But then I realized it had some staying power because they're really the same in terms of their principles, except for where you get protein, right? Eat quality, lots of fruits and vegetables, lots of nuts and seeds, good quality fats, you know, no processed food, sugar and starch are not so great for you. You know, really simple principles that we can all agree on. And the whole idea is that it's an inclusive, flexible framework that's built on

Starting point is 00:08:20 quality principles, but basically food is medicine and based on personalization. And it's designed to be low glycemic, low in starch and sugar, because those drive aging, as we talked about in the last podcast on Young Forever. It's rich in good fats, which we need for our health. It's anti-inflammatory. It's detoxifying. It balances your hormones. It boosts your metabolic health and energy. It heals your gut and microbiome. These are things we know how to do with food. We know what foods are detoxifying, which foods are anti-inflammatory, which foods help your microbiome, which foods balance your hormones. It's not that hard. We have the science

Starting point is 00:08:53 of this. So you want a nutrient-dense diet that's rich in a whole host of phytochemicals that we now know are critical in activating some of these longevity switches and pathways in the body. Things like polyphenols and antioxidants and also things that help our microbiome, which is really important. So we can eat foods that regenerate human health and also planetary health, which are really not separable. I mean, we really have to understand our bodies are part of the earth. We are the earth. The earth is us. And if we're growing food that's destroying the planet, that food's also destroying us.

Starting point is 00:09:30 Think of like all the cornfields and the processed soy and the immense amounts of ultra-processed food that comes from wheat, corn, and soy that are killing us, but also harming the planet by our industrial agriculture. So it's all, all, all these principles are, are really important in terms of, of what we should be eating. So, um, let's talk about what we should eat from the plant world. Well, pretty much everything. I mean, our, most of our diet should be plants, lots and lots of plant foods with lots of colors, lots of variety and lots of diversity and even wild foods. So most of your plates should be veggies, 70, 80% and lots of colors, right? Non-starchy veggies are the best, but sometimes winter squash, sweet potatoes are fine in moderation if you're not diabetic. Lots of colors, green, blues, purples, yellows, oranges,

Starting point is 00:10:21 all that stuff. Try organic when you can, regenerative when possible, which is being more available. Eat wild foods when you can, which are way higher in phytochemicals. Use the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 lists from the Environmental Working Group, ewg.org, so you can learn which foods you can consume that aren't all contaminated with pesticides. And some foods like bananas or avocados doesn't matter so much because you can peel them, but things like strawberries are terrible if you eat them that are not organic, really important. So we can, we can really upgrade our diet by focusing on a nutrient dense, colorful diet full of plants. And I mean, if you can grow your own great, if you go to farmer's market, great. If you can get them from a community as far as agriculture system, that's great.

Starting point is 00:11:09 But the closer they are to their original heirloom forms, the closer they are to being grown in a way that is actually regenerative and organic, much, much better for you. What about fruit? Fruit's great. Fruit isn't bad. It's what you eat that's got fructose in it that's not fruit, like high fructose corn syrup that's bad. So, you know, for some of us who are diabetic or very overweight, you got to be careful, more careful with things like, for example, bananas or pineapples or grapes, which are super sugary. You stick with more berries and kiwis, watermelon. Those tend to be lower glycemic.

Starting point is 00:11:44 But make sure you, if you're going to eat fruit, you eat the whole fruit. You don't eat, obviously, an empty stomach or fruit juice, which is terrible because that actually can absorb sugar more. Dried food, not a good thing. For most people, it's like, think of it as candy. It's okay a little bit, but not too much. If you're not sure about how food's affecting you, you can use a continuous glucose monitor. And they're going to become more and more available. There's a company called Levels that I'm an advisor for. Basically wear this patch on your arm and it can measure your blood sugar continuously.

Starting point is 00:12:14 And you'll be surprised. You'll go, God, you know, if I eat plums, my blood sugar goes off the chart. But if I eat a strawberry, I'm fine. So I think we can learn a lot about how our individual bodies respond to different things by using these continuous glucose monitors. Next up is fat. What should we eat in terms of fat? Well, I've written a book about this, Eat Fat, Get Thin. But basically, you want fat from whole foods. Nuts, seeds, avocados, pasture-rich eggs, small fatty fish like sardines, mackerel, herring, anchovies.

Starting point is 00:12:49 Certain processed foods are fine. Olive oil is a processed food. Extra virgin olive oil, you know, made in a special way that doesn't degrade the oil is important. Make sure you don't leave it out in the light. Avocado oil can be used for higher heat cooking. I mean, I think coconut oil can be fine. Organic, extra virgin. But for example, I'm what we call lean mass hyper-responder where I'm very lean, but my body doesn't like as much saturated fat. So if I eat too much saturated fat, I spike my cholesterol. And many people don't. I've had people drop their cholesterol 100 points

Starting point is 00:13:17 eating a diet of coconut oil and butter. It really depends on your own biology. So it's important to check that. Lots of nuts and seeds. They're great for weight loss, diabetes, heart disease, dementia. They're full of minerals. They've got protein. They've got good fats, lots of fiber. What should you eat? Almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, macadamia, pumpkin seeds, chia, hemp, sesame seeds, all great. Include those in your diet. If we had a salad the other day, I put avocados, I put olive oil, I put

Starting point is 00:13:45 pumpkin seeds in it. What about meat? Well, that's really controversial. I could do a three-hour podcast just on meat. I'm not going to, don't worry. At least not right now. But, you know, meat is not bad. If you're eating industrial meat, that's bad. If you're eating factory farm meat, that's bad. If you're eating meat or dairy from animals that have been raised in ways that are destroying the environment and the climate, that's bad. But if you're eating meat that's regenerative, if you're eating wild animals, for example, your hunter, deer, elk, if you're eating animals that eat more of a natural diet of grass and a wide variety of plants, they actually can be rich in phytochemicals. They can be inflammatory. They can be very important.

Starting point is 00:14:31 And it's important to get quality protein as you age because you lose muscle. So it's really critical that you don't have a deficit of protein as you get older because one of the keys to longevity is keeping muscle. And the only way to build muscle is with other protein or other muscle. Muscle is the best way. You can eat muscle, eating muscle, which is essentially meat. So I think it's important. You can actually supplement with plant protein. Plant proteins can work. For example, I'm in Costa Rica now, one of the blue zones, and I couldn't find the goat whey protein I like, but they had this plant protein, but it was sort of jacked up. It actually was jacked up with extra amino acids and extra leucine. So it had 30 grams of protein, but it had two and a half grams of leucine, which is

Starting point is 00:15:16 important for building muscle. So you can hack plant proteins, but it's much harder to use those for, for building, building a muscle. Um, if you're going to eat meat, make sure it's regenerative, use those for building muscle. If you're going to eat meat, make sure it's regenerative, grass-fed, organic when possible. Better for you, better for the planet, more humane. And you can get these now. There's a lot of places, Force of Nature, Wild Pastures, North Star Bison.

Starting point is 00:15:43 I mean, you can get a lot of these incredible online services that will ship to you directly and aren't really that expensive. So really important. What about eggs? Eggs are okay. Don't be afraid of eggs, even though they have cholesterol. That's been debunked. Even the dietary guidelines have gotten rid of that recommendation. They're a great source of protein, vitamins, B12, lots of choline, which is great for your brain, liver. Obviously, buy pasture-raised eggs when possible. Really important. Not pasteurized, but pasture-raised. What about fish? Fish is great. Unfortunately, we've polluted the oceans.

Starting point is 00:16:12 Most fish is full of microplastics and mercury. There is a company that I recently found out about called Seatopia.fish. Go to Seatopia.fish when they've sourced aquaculture that's regenerative. It's clean fish that's tested for every metal. It's super low. So I think it's important. There's also small fish you can eat like anchovies, mackerel, herring, and sardines, which people don't like, but I love them. What about grains and beans? Grains and beans are okay, but it

Starting point is 00:16:42 depends on your biology. If you are diabetic, if you're massively overweight, if you have trouble with belly fat, you might want to go for a short time without them because they can actually trigger an insulin spike. You have to be careful. And you can wear a continuous glucose monitor, see what happens. Oh, I have a cup of rice. What happens? Or I have pasta. What happens? You can see what happens as you eat these foods instead of just guessing. And rather than be connected to some ideology, look at your own biology and find out what's really going on inside of you. So if you're going to eat grains, eat whole grains, not whole grain flours. Like, you know, you can eat black rice, quinoa, teff, buckwheat, Himalayan tartar. Buckwheat is amazing.

Starting point is 00:17:19 You can actually get these ancient forms of wheat like einkorn wheat, emmer wheat, if you're not gluten sensitive. So lots of these are fine. Be sure not to overdose on them because even a lot of grains can be trouble. Unless you're just exercising like crazy, then you can tolerate more carbohydrate. Same thing with beans. Beans are great. Make sure you cook them right. You need to pressure cook them, soak them. You can cook them with kombu, which is a seaweed that prevents some of the gassy stuff that can go on. They have lectins, they have phytates, which can be modified by how you cook them. But I think most of the time it's okay to eat beans as part of your diet. And a lot of longevity, blue zones eat a lot of beans and they're fine, like minestrone soup, which they eat in Sardinia. What about sugar? Well, sugar is pretty much the devil if you want

Starting point is 00:18:03 to live a long time. Not to say, do I never eat sugar? No, I eat sugar. I promise you. But I make sure I exercise plenty. I eat it in a way that minimizes any spike in blood sugar by eating it with food that's got fat and protein and fiber. But be careful. If you are insulin resistant at all, if your insulin level is over five, you can check that with your doctor. You can go to functionhealth.com. It's a company I co-founded to look at lab testing.

Starting point is 00:18:29 You can actually measure your insulin level. But if it's over five, I'd be very careful with eating too much starch and sugar in your diet. I mean, below the neck, your body can't tell the difference between a bowl of cereal, of cornflakes, and a bowl of sugar. So think of pretty much anything that turns to sugar in the same way. Be careful of liquid sugar calories. They're everywhere, whether it's sodas or caffeinated teas that are sweet teas, coffee with all kinds of junk in it. I mean, it's everywhere. Fruit juice is terrible. Don't drink fruit juice. What about oils? Well, I would encourage people to eliminate most processed oils. I think there's some controversy about this, but if you want to

Starting point is 00:19:10 use a little sesame oil or macadamia, wallet oils are fine. Avocado oil is great for cooking, but stay away from canola, safflower, sunflower, grapeseed, corn oil, soybean oil. We've not eaten these for most of our evolutionary history, and we should be eating more of our traditional fats, particularly whole food fats, which we talked about. What about dairy? Well, I would say most conventional dairy we should not be eating. Goat and sheep tend to be better. There's A2 casein, which is a different form of casein in the sheep and goat that doesn't cause much inflammation or issues. So you want to, you know, if you're going to do that, most people tolerate that better, like goat yogurt, sheep yogurt, goat cheese, sheep cheese, if you want to you know if you're going to do that most people tolerate that better like goat yogurt sheep yogurt goat cheese sheep cheese if you want to eat dairy a lot of people don't do

Starting point is 00:19:49 well on dairy i encourage people often to do elimination to see how they feel but you can cause congest congestion sinus issues asthma digestive issues acne i mean a lot of stuff so um make sure you're aware of what you're doing and also all the nut milks and all that stuff be careful because those can have a lot of sugar in them. So lastly, let's talk about what we should not eat, right? We shouldn't eat stuff that's not food, right? Packaged food, processed food, all these color-sized shapes of chemically extruded,

Starting point is 00:20:16 colorful food-like substances, just, you know, don't eat them. Whether it's Twizzlers or Oreo cookies, they don't grow in trees. Basic rule is if God didn't make it, don't eat it. If man made it, probably not a good idea to eat it, right? So I talked about this a lot, but get away from foods with pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, hormones, processed ingredients, chemicals added, dyes, artificial sweeteners. They're just not good for us, and there's no reason to eat them and that's really the the

Starting point is 00:20:46 basic foundational principles of nutrition i encourage you to read my book the peak and diet for more the young forever book is really where i go into how these things affect longevity particularly what phytochemicals and we talk about a lot of them like phycetin in strawberries or epiglottic catechins and green tea or curcumin and turmeric or urolithin A that comes from pomegranate or various things like luteolin and quercetin that come from Himalayan tartarine buckwheat. There's all sorts of science about how these phytochemicals interact with our longevity pathways. And I include all that in my book, Young Forever. So I hope you can get a copy, go to youngforeverbook.com. There's all sorts of bonuses. You'll learn about it. There's lots more you need to do that I have in the book,

Starting point is 00:21:28 whether it's exercise, sleep, stress reduction. But make sure you understand that food is medicine. It's the biggest driver. And we didn't even talk about timing of eating. We didn't talk about a lot of things, protein as much as I want to. But it's all in the book. Check it out. Your fork is the most powerful tool you have to change your health and your life. Um, go to young forever book.com,

Starting point is 00:21:50 order a copy. Now tell all your friends about it. Uh, it's my actually, I think most important book I've ever written. And I hope you enjoy it too. Uh, that's it for today's health bite. Uh, and I hope you like this episode of the Doctor's Pharmacy. Be sure to share it with your friends and family on social media. Leave a comment. How have you used food to upgrade your health and reverse biological aging? And please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And we'll see you next week on The Doctor's Pharmacy. Hey, everybody. It's Dr. Hyman. Thanks for tuning into The Doctor's Pharmacy. I hope you're loving this podcast. It's one of my favorite things to do and introducing you all the experts that I know

Starting point is 00:22:31 and I love and that I've learned so much from. And I want to tell you about something else I'm doing, which is called Mark's Picks. It's my weekly newsletter. And in it, I share my favorite stuff from foods to supplements, to gadgets gadgets to tools to enhance your health. It's all the cool stuff that I use and that my team uses to optimize and enhance our health. And I'd love you to sign up for the weekly newsletter. I'll only send it to you once a week on Fridays. Nothing else, I promise. And all you do is go to drhyman.com forward slash pics to sign up. That's drhyman.com forward slash PICS, P-I-C-K-S, and sign up for the newsletter,

Starting point is 00:23:08 and I'll share with you my favorite stuff that I use to enhance my health and get healthier and better and live younger longer. Hi, everyone. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. Just a reminder that this podcast is for educational purposes only. This podcast is not a substitute

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Starting point is 00:23:41 you can visit ifm.org and search their Find a Practitioner database. It's important that you have someone in your corner who's trained, who's a licensed healthcare practitioner, you can visit ifm.org and search their find a practitioner database. It's important that you have someone in your corner who's trained, who's a licensed healthcare practitioner, and can help you make changes, especially when it comes to your health.

The Dr. Hyman Show - Eating For Longevity

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