Longevity Commitment

Since graduating from college in 1992 I have had a growing interest in learning about the personal choices I can make to live longer and healthier. Before I talk about what I do, let me explain why I do it.

Why do I try and live longer?

First, a question: How long do you want to live?

People ask me this question often. I usually counter with a question: When do you want to die?

For my money this is the more interesting question. My answer is “never” provided that life continues to be enriching. Most people, if pressed, I believe would answer the same. The alternative is to have a deadline, a date at which you no longer want to exist. Regardless of your personal belief about an afterlife, are you really ready to go at age 80? Would your answer change on your 79th birthday? The end, when it comes, always comes too soon.

If you are interested in taking personal control of your own health, you’re in luck. You’ve been born into a time in human history with a growing abundance of available resources and knowledge about staying healthy and living longer. Regretably, however, science and medicine have not yet figured out how to keep us young forever. Science will ultimately figure out these mysteries for those lucky enough to be around for them. I hope to be one of those people.

My goal is to stay as healthy and alive as long as I can to take advantage of the science and medicine of tomorrow.

If you want a more elegant perspective of the same goal I suggest Ray Kurzweil’s Fantastic Voyage or Aubrey de Grey’s writings on Actuarial Escape Velocity.

What do I do?

The following is a list of what I believe are the most important personal practices I make. In a nutshell…

Common sense + mild calorie restriction + exercise + good dietary habits + dietary supplements

Keep a Perspective
All of my efforts may very well be for naught and some may do more harm than good. Believing in the possibility of extended longevity won’t make it happen. My choices must be ones that I can sustain for the long-run without sacrificing my relationships, career, occasional chocolate (yumm!) or other enriching parts of my life.

Do the easy stuff
I don’t smoke, drink in moderation, wear a seatbelt, avoid violence, and try to follow every other daily habity of rational, prudent people.

Calorie Restriction
CR is a controversial topic. In a nutshell, it involves eating fewer calories while still maintaining an optimal level of nutrition. I won’t go into the details, but CR proponents believe that the animal studies for the past 70 years suggest that people can live longer by eating less. Critics generally argue that the potential benefits are not worth the sacrifice. After learning as much as I can about CR and practicing it myself, I have found a regimen that works for me.

I picked a target weight for myself which keeps my BMI in the 20-21 range and try to eat the most nutritious foods I can to remain in this range. The odd thing about my practice of “mild CR” is that I don’t actually count calories. Based on my estimates I need about 2000 calories/day to maintain my target weight. Fortunately my basic dietary choices make a pretty easy target.

At this target weight I feel much better and can still play sports and lead a normal life although I occasionally get cold in room tempatures. Hunger isn’t much of an issue. If I drop my weight much more I start feeling cold constantly, look really skinny, and lose strength to the point where it starts impacting my golf game.

KBS!
At least once, and often twice per day I eat Kevin’s Big Salad, or what my wife calls “KBS”. Just like it sounds, KBS is a big - make that HUGE - bucket of raw vegetables, legumes, nuts, and fruit. A typical KBS contains of all types of leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, onions, zuccini, squash, chickpeas, and whatever else I can scrounge up and throw into a mixing bowl. A KBS bowl is the size of a typical salad-serving bowl for 4-6 people. Topped with high-quality extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar it makes a delicious, high-fiber, low-calorie, nutritous, and filling meal.

KBS - A meal fit for a (rather skinny) King

Supplements
Dietary supplementation, like Calorie Restriction, is a controversial topic. After reviewing the research and options, I’ve decided to take a more aggressive approach to supplements and currently follow the core recommendations of the Life Extension Foundation. I try to buy my supplements in bulk yearly during their annual sale. Although it is quite expensive, the cost of supplements falls a bit each year as production methods improve. I take 20-30 pills daily along with herbal drinks.

Moderate Exercise
Believe or not, even exercise is controversial. Some CR zealots argue that exercise has a net long-term negative impact by demanding in increased caloric intake. Since sports, especially golf, are one of the most enriching parts of my life I choose to exercise. From what I have read mild CR + exercise make a combination that fits well into my life. I weightlift, walk (especially whenever I’m golfing), do Yoga, another other golf-related exercises.

Odds and Ends
Lots of green tea…avoid stress…avoid high-glycemic food…spend lots of time with my wife…

So that’s what I do. As I mentioned, I may well be wrong and following paths that are fruitless or even harmful. I am quite satisfied, however, that regardless of the end result I have made my own informative decisions based on the best science I can find.