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Today I welcome the amazing Dr Michael Greger back to the podcast.

Back in E664 of the Healthification podcast when it was my pleasure to interview Dr Greger for his book How Not To Diet, my most valuable take away, was the absolute 100% certainty that a whole food plant-based diet is not only the healthiest approach to eating, it is also the healthiest and most effective approach to weight loss. 

Now as we discuss the scientific approach to getting healthier as you get older it’s time to explore, just how impactful is the food we eat in slowing the ageing process?

To cut to the chase: When Dr. Michael Greger, founder of NutritionFacts.org, dove into the top peer-reviewed anti-aging medical research, he realised that diet could regulate every one of the most promising strategies for combating the effects of ageing.

The anti-aging field is certainly fertile ground for cons, scams and get rich schemes so I am grateful that that Dr Greger and his team of researchers have put the hours – the years – into sifting through all the incredibly complicated data to break down the science of ageing and chronic illness and explain how to help avoid the diseases most commonly encountered in our journeys through life.

In this conversation we cover, the controversial exercise-longevity link, the importance of our genes in ageing, how to reduce IGF-1 with diet, preserving your mind and preserving your joints.

We get through a lot in just half an hour, however of course for an incredibly thorough and detailed account of almost any aspect of ageing you might like to delve deeper into I recommend, How Not to Age, The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthier as You Get Older. It’s available everywhere as this goes live.

• How Not To Age, is dedicated to Dr Greger’s great-aunt Pearl (1911–2015), what anti-ageing strategies did she deploy either consciously or just naturally?
• How important are our genes so far as lifespan?
• Diet is considered to be the most important modifiable lifestyle factor when it comes to ageing, health span and lifespan.
• The exercise-longevity link. Does working out make you live longer or not?
• How to reduce IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1) with diet.
• Creating fasting-mimicking diets designed to lower IGF-1 levels by eliminating the key dietary component that drives them up to begin with: animal protein.
• Preserving your mind and the emerging consensus that “what is good for our hearts is also good for our heads.”
• What about fish oil for brain health?
• The Single Most Important Gene for Longevity.
• Preserving your joints and the role of diet in the management of osteoarthritis.
• Top of Dr Greger’s ANTI-AGING EIGHT, and top of the list: Nuts!
• Green leafy vegetables can match nuts for potentially decreasing the risk of premature death.
• What surprised Dr Greger and what changes has he made?

What a powerhouse! Importantly How Not to Age addresses both lifespan and health span.

To quote Dr Greger: What’s the point of living longer if you can’t enjoy it vibrantly?  It is my sincere hope this book adds not just years to your life but life to your years.

Over the last three years, Dr Greger and his team read more than 20,000 papers on ageing so we don’t have to! The advantage of presenting the 13,000 citations mentioned online is that each one is hyperlinked to take you directly to the source.

It’s an extensive, yet hopeful read. The things we might have thought are unavoidable seem to a large part within our ability to control with how we live our lives. As always Dr Greger remains faithful to the science and I remain faithful to the animals.

Again, thankfully are paths are aligned as diet is considered to be the most important modifiable lifestyle factor when it comes to ageing, health span and lifespan AND whole food plant-based is the diet the doctor and the science recommend.

If you’re yet to connect with Dr Greger via NutritionFacts.org you are missing out. I have you all linked up in the show notes below.

Connect with Dr Michael Greger across the socials: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | TikTok

Visit his website, NutritionFacts.org

Purchase Dr Michael Greger’s books, How Not to Age.

Also, How Not to Die + How Not to Diet.

That’s it for this week in Healthification.

If you LOVED this chat please share it with someone dear to you.

Finally, if you know someone who is plant-based curious or who has been a valuable vegan ally to you please consider gifting them the Plant Positive Journal. It comes in both printed format and now also as a fillable PDF, to escape pesky postage.

It also makes a great gift to YOU!

You can check out the printed version HERE: 

Plus, the fillable PDF HERE: 

Importantly, the journal follows a twelve month format however is not dated so it is perfect to use at ANY time of the year.

With love and gratitude plant friends.

If you liked “Dr Michael Greger and How Not to Age, The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthier as You Get Older.” you’ll also like Dr. Will Bulsiewicz and How To Become Gut Healthy Through A Plant Based, Fiber Rich Diet.

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If you liked “Dr Michael Greger and How Not to Age, The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthier as You Get Older.” you’ll also like E664: Dr Michael Greger and How Not To Diet, The Ultimate Weight Loss Guide.

If you liked “Dr Michael Greger and How Not to Age, The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthier as You Get Older.” you’ll also like Good For Your Gut and Plant-based Approaches to Optimal Gut Health with Desiree Nielsen.