The Triple-F Longevity Diet

A concise set of steps to maximise your life span…

Ever since the 1980s I’ve been interested in lifespans and what it takes to maximise them.

It was kicked off by a book I came across at our local school gala, and which I bought. Life Extension by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw, printed 1983.

It was an eye opener. There were actually people thinking about the best ways to maximise your life and writing about it. I couldn’t think of a more worthwhile goal and have been collating longevity research since then…

Life is just a fleeting existence in the expanse of time, so just being able to add another decade by making some simple changes is priceless.

There are now quite a large number of studies in this space, and also meta-studies that pull together information across multiple studies, and they look at different activities and foods to see which reduce or increase mortality from all causes, but there are some key findings…

The “Triple-F” Longevity Diet in a Nutshell

It’s called the Triple-F because we can boil down the core essence of building for longevity into two sets of three F’s:

Food = Fiber / Fruit / Fish — Focus is on a blue-zone Mediterranean diet, with foods high in fiber (especially whole grains, vegetables, legumes, nuts), followed by fruit and fish.
Fasting — Fasting and caloric restriction in general. Intermittent fasting using the 16:8 diet. Skip breakfast and eat from 12pm to 8pm only.
Fitness — 150 mins of moderate intensity exercise per week, ie 3 days of 50 minutes and then 10k steps on the other days. Walking as much as possible.

Let’s cover these one by one…

Fiber

My go-to when looking at foods which benefit longevity is to look at populations which already have the longest longevity, ie the so called ‘blue zones’. Their diets are 95% plant based and high in fiber.

Research suggests that fiber might be the secret weapon to losing weight, fighting cancer, improving gut health, controlling hunger, and lowering cholesterol and blood pressure.

A massive review of 185 studies found that people who followed higher fiber diets (only 30 grams per day) would be 15–30% less likely to die of any cause.

Another massive meta-study analysed 266 studies linking food groups and mortality and combined their results into summary graphs (grams/day of a particular food and the risk of all cause mortality).

Pulling this information together gives us four different types of groupings:

Green. No problem eating more of these, you get more benefit as you eat more. The number of servings is the amount you need to get maximum benefit.
Yellow. These have a maximum benefit with the number of servings specified. You get less benefit if you eat more than this, but you never get a negative benefit.
Orange. Similar to Yellow, but if you eat more than the maximum specified, you start to get negative benefits (ie increase in mortality).
Red. Don’t eat these. Any amount of these three will increase mortality, and you can see the increase is proportional to the amount consumed.

The optimal consumption (ie smallest serving with most significant results) of risk decreasing foods results in a 56% reduction in all cause mortality compared with no consumption of these foods.

This is based on a daily intake of:

Whole grains = 3 servings
Vegetables = 3 servings
Fruits = 3 servings
Fish = 2 servings
Nuts = 1 serving
Legumes = 1 serving

We have left out eggs, dairy and refined grains, since the decrease is small and it’s also possible to get into negative territory if over consuming.

This shows that a high-quality diet comprising abundant amounts of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fish is one of the most important factors in preventing early death and disability worldwide.

There is also a super handy longevity calculator here: food4healthylife.org — this will calculate your life expectancy based on the amount of the different food groups you consume.

Fasting

There are a multitude of studies on animals that show reducing caloric intake (ie the amount you eat) increases the animals average lifespan.

This is called caloric restriction, and the numbers usually quoted are that a 30% reduction in calories converts into a 30% longer lifespan.

It’s going to be very difficult and not very enjoyable to mimic this yourself, so the best we can suggest are some strategies like:

Fasting, for example 16:8 intermittent fasting.
Using an app to track calories, so you don’t overeat.
Daily weighing to check you are maintaining your ideal weight.
Stop eating when your stomach is 80 percent full to avoid weight gain.
Eat the smallest meal of the day in the late afternoon or evening.

The key is to limit your eating window and eating less in general.

Fitness

Many studies have shown the benefits of exercise in reducing the risk of cancer, heart disease and overall death.

Studies show how more exercise (ie energy expenditure) correlates into a reduced mortality risk, ie longer life.

The more walking and climbing stairs you do, the longer your life expectancy. Just walk everywhere. 10,000 steps is 8km and this is already almost a 10% reduction. Double this and get to 15%.

Moderate and vigorous exercise also show a benefit up to 20% or so.

The current guidelines suggest a minimum of 75 vigorous-intensity or 150 moderate-intensity minutes of aerobic activity per week.

Similarly another large study including over 600,000 people found that those doing the recommended amount of exercise had a 20% lower risk of death than those who did no physical activity.

Finally

Limit meat as much as possible, ie celebratory meal or special occasion, or a way to flavour dishes.
No sugar-sweetened drinks
No snacks loaded with salt and preservatives
No packaged sweets like donuts, cookies, and candy
No processed meat such as bacon, sausage, and cold cuts
Limit alcohol, i.e. 1–2 glasses a day.
Limit dairy to 1 serving per day, ideally something like Greek yoghurt.
Limit eggs to three per week.
Replace common bread with sourdough or whole wheat bread.
Stick to whole foods, and limit ultra processed foods
Use olive oil for cooking.
Drink as much green or herbal teas as you like.
Plenty of hydration.
Eat with friends and family, socializing over meals.

Finish

Now you can see what it will take to stay on the path of maximum lifespan.

Obviously most people won’t be following all of the above recommendations.

My suggestion is to make 1 change to your diet or exercise regime, and then lock it in for 2 months.

For example, add in 50 minutes of exercise per week, or remove white bread or pastries from your diet.

After 2 months it should almost be habit, and then you can bring in new change.

This is a long process, but it’s a long game we’re playing, and we need to be able to sustain the changes.

Good luck and see you on the other side!