Thread by @jakobcigrovski

CRAZIEST EXPERIMENT EVER🤯

After studying how Italians live to 100 years, Dr. Valter Longo was sure Sardinian diet is key to longevity – so he tested it on 100 Americans.

3 months later, most of them reversed aging and drastically improved healthspan.

Here's how they did it:🧵

Valter Longo was born in Genoa, Italy in 1967.

When he turned 16, he moved to Chicago and lived with his extended relatives.

But after observing their health for some time

He noticed something unexpected:

Many of his relatives in America were suffering from diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The reason?

Poor American diet.

Longo simply couldn’t ignore this fact, so he dug deeper.

For years, he:

1. Studied longevity and nutrition
2. Analyzed why Sardinians live longer than Americans
3. Worked on a blueprint every American can follow to increase lifespan

What he discovered reshaped our understanding of longevity:

Longo and his colleagues were sure fasting is a key to increasing lifespan.

So, at first, they tried it on:

1. Yeast - it resulted in a longer lifespan
2. Mice - it resulted in decreased inflammation and increased lifespan

The next logical step was to try it on humans.

In 2024, Longo conducted a study of 100 generally healthy Americans.

After following Longo’s blueprint for 3 months, 71 of them:

• Lost excess fat
• Reduced body weight
• Decreased IGF-1 hormone that leads to aging

Here’s the blueprint participants followed:

It’s called The Fasting-Mimicking Diet (FMD).

He introduced it in his 2018 book, The Longevity Diet.

The diet is based on 25 years of research and 32 clinical trials.

Here’s how it works:

FMD lasts for 5 days and is repeated only once per month for 1-6 months.

It has 2 phases with different caloric and nutrient intakes.

Ideally, the day’s meals would all occur within an 11-12h window.

During each day, you should also consume a minimum of 70 ounces of water.

Here’s why FMD works:

When you’re fasted, you trigger autophagy - a process where the body recycles old cells and generates new ones.

Some of the benefits of fasting are:

• Weight loss
• Improved cholesterol
• Decreased inflammation

Here’s what you should eat on FMD:

• Some fish
• Herbal tea
• Fruits: berries, apples, oranges
• Vitamin & mineral supplements
• Healthy fats: olives, avocados, nuts
• Plant-based proteins: legumes, beans
• Whole grains: quinoa, oats, brown rice

Interestingly, you should exclude meat, dairy, and gluten.

But why?

Especially for people over 65, protein suppresses the fat-burning process in the body.

Longo explains it further in the video:

Many people who should not do FMD:

• Pregnant women
• Underweight people
• People with liver or kidney diseases

Longo suggests consulting with your healthcare provider before trying it.

Along the FMD, Longo suggests 150 min of exercise every week.

• Riding a bike
• Gym workouts
• Every day walks

And his secret to living past 100: Never take the elevator.

Although controversial, Longo’s work is extremely fascinating.

It shows there are always new ways to help people lose weight and reverse aging.

Nonetheless, his methods work and are changing 1000s of lives.

If your goal is also to change more lives, read on.

If you’re a health coach or sell health products but struggle to reach your target audience on X, I would like to help.

In the last 90 days, my threads generated 28M views.

If you want similar results (no up-front risk), click the link to learn more:

calendly.com/jakobcigrovski…

What do you think about Longo’s blueprint to longevity?

Have you ever tried it (or would you like to try it soon)?

Let us know in the comments.

Resources:

science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

gero.usc.edu/2022/04/28/val…

health.usnews.com/wellness/food/…

businessinsider.com/ways-exercise-…

cnbc.com/2017/10/20/sci…

Thanks for reading until the end!

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