Peter Attia’s Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity focuses on how to live better longer. A long life without quality of life is just existing. Attia explores the recent medical research and advances that give us more control over our long-term health.
Attia believes adjusting your diet can produce positive health effects. The big culprits are sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Research shows how sugar and high fructose corn syrup adversely affect our glucose levels leaving us sluggish and drained of energy.
Heart disease is the biggest killer in America. Attia suggests several strategies to improve heart health. The two easiest strategies to reduce your risk of heart attacks and stokes are daily exercise and a Mediterranean diet.
Check out the graph below. As we age, our immune systems weaken and the chances of contracting cancer increases. Cancer is most deadly to people over 70 years of age. But Attia provides recommendations to reduce cancer risk later in Life. One factor that can help is sleep. As we age, sleep becomes more elusive. Quality sleep recharges our immune system to fight off cancers and other diseases.
Our most powerful tool for preventing cognitive decline is exercise. As we age, our physical capacity erodes. Our cardio respiratory fitness declines, we lose strength and muscle mass over the years, and our bones grow fragile as our joints stiffen and our balance falters. Daily exercise can stave off physical decline and keep our brains healthy. I found Attia’s advice useful. If you want to improve your quality of Life and age more sensibly, I highly recommend Outlive. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 The Long Game: From Fast Death to Slow Death 7
Chapter 2 Medicine 3.0: Rethinking Medicine for the Age of Chronic Disease 20
Chapter 3 Objective, Strategy, Tactics: A Road Map for Reading This Book 36
Chapter 4 Centenarians: The Older You Get, the Healthier You Have Been 59
Chapter 5 Eat Less, Live Longer: The Science of Hunger and Health 73
Chapter 6 The Crisis of Abundance: Can Our Ancient Genes Cope with Our Modern Diet? 88
Chapter 7 The Ticker: Confronting-and Preventing-Heart Disease, the Deadliest Killer on the Planet 111
Chapter 8 The Runaway Cell: New Ways to Address the Killer That Is Cancer 140
Chapter 9 Chasing Memory: Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases 177
Chapter 10 Thinking Tactically: Building a Framework of Principles That Work for You 209
Chapter 11 Exercise: The Most Powerful Longevity Drug 216
Chapter 12 Training 101: How to Prepare for the Centenarian Decathlon 235
Chapter 13 The Gospel of Stability: Relearning How to Move to Prevent Injury 263
Chapter 14 Nutrition 3.0: You Say Potato, I Say “Nutritional Biochemistry” 291
Chapter 15 Putting Nutritional Biochemistry into Practice: How to Find the Right Eating Pattern for You 307
Chapter 16 The Awakening: How to Learn to Love Sleep, the Best Medicine for Your Brain 349
Chapter 17 Work in Progress: The High Price of Ignoring Emotional Health 377
Epilogue 409
Acknowledgments 413
Notes 417
References 431
Index 471
What a waste of paper! It’s too late for any of us to start living healthy lifestyles! As the man said, the problem with living longer is all those extra years come in at the end of your life when they don’t do you any good!
Bob, there’s also the issue of Quality of Life.
I think good genes are also a factor. My mother’s side of the family are long lived (except for my mother). They are of Scottish descent. My grandfather drank a fifth of Scotch every day of his adult life. Never hospitalised. Smoked cigars heavily. Died of heart failure at 87. I am a lousy eater, but luckily I have never smoked which can also play a part.
Steve, you’re right about smoking. I’ve lost a lot of friends who were addicted to tobacco.
“The secret to a long life is to try not to shorten it”– Nobody (Terence Hill) in MY NAME IS NOBODY. I don’t exercise enough, but I control my blood pressure, have a yearly checkup, never smoked, drink only moderately, and try to follow a fairly healthy diet. So far so good.
Fred, that sounds like you’ll be around a long time! I like your approach.
Genes mean a lot but you can’t so much to correct that. I just lost 20 pounds but keeping it off will be a challenge. And I eat very little sugar and still have a high glucose count–probably from carbs that turn to sugar. Bread is evil.
Patti, Diane loves warm bread. Since I’ve been on Trulicity, I’ve lost 20 pounds and I’m not as hungry as I used to be.
Yes, genes are important, almost mental as well as physical exercise.
Jeff, and don’t forget the importance of fiber!
Absolutely. We are on top of the fiber issue. We try to stick mostly to the Mediterranean Diet, with occasional slips like the BBQ ribs we had yesterday’s. But we usually stick to chicken and seafood, with salads and veggies.
Jackie’s weakness is and has always been bread.
One sign of total decline is cofefe.
Jerry, you’re right. cofefe is a slippery slope.
I started a low-carb diet about three years ago after my A1C crossed the diabetic threshold. I met with a nutritionist who focuses on diabetics (this was covered by my health insurance) where we worked out a plan featuring no more than 90 grams of carb a day—and no more than 30 grams at any one meal. (Full disclosure: I do violate that rule on special occasions—but try to keep those few & far between.) Since then, I’ve lost about 50 pounds and brought my A1C down to pre-diabetic levels. Do I miss bread, rice, pasta, and grain-based carbs? No doubt. But do I want to be on insulin and/or other medications for a chronic condition? No.
Deb, congratulations on reducing your A1C without resorting to Ozempic or the other GLP-1 RA injectables!
Congratulations! Nice job.
I went on the South Beach Diet about 10 or so years ago and gave up all breads for the first two weeks (I think). Then you can add them back slowly, but avoid white bread and rice and pasta. Even now, we eat mostly whole wheat pasta and try to avoid white bread when possible.
At 74 I have reached the place where I could fall over dead and the only comment would be “Well he had a long life. Cover him before he stinks.”
And I find it oddly comforting!
Dan, a friend of mine once told me, “If you’re over 70 years old, you’re in Overtime.”
I think a lot more men would eat vegetables if people stopped calling them veggies.
I have been on insulin for about a decade but I have never been overweight and my last AIC was 6.1. I average about 150 carbs a day. If I eat any less my sugar gets below 100 and I get the shakes, blurry vision, and feel very weak.
Steve, glucose numbers under 100 need to be monitored carefully. My doctor told me if my glucose reading is 70 or lower, I could pass out.
I know someone whose numbers hover around 80 and she is fine with it. I’m lucky that I can tell when my numbers are low. Some people can’t unless they test themselves. I have never at a weight problem. I’m 6’2″ and weigh 178 and I eat a lot of calories.
Steve, 80 is too close for comfort to 70 (where passing out is a risk). Yes, I know people who can’t tell if their numbers are too low, too. I’m like you: if my blood sugar gets too low I feel weak and get the chills.
Good ideas and we try something similar re carbs and fibers and especially for me:
No sugar (just a little spoonful for my coffee) and absolutely no or sweeteners like in those crazy Cola or “Cola zero” etc drinks.
I remember coming to England almost 60 years ago and I was horrified to see and taste their bread – and 20 years later in the USA it was similar.
In Germany we have many variations of dark bread (Vollkornbrot) and in Hungary my wife often bakes with dark flour mixes.
So I’ve managed to stay just below 100 kilos (220 pounds) but I’m trying to get lower.
On the plus side:
Around Easter we had a school class reunion – more than 15 boys and girls, aged 80 – 81 years, turned up!
Wolf, Americans love pills and injections instead of food discipline (Deb is a big exception). Congratulations on staying just below 220 pounds!