In this issue, we are going to look at longevity. Not how you can simply just add more years to your life, but more years filled with health and well-being, rather than preventable decline. Plus, we will bring you some exciting news about the launch of our new eight-week Longevity Experiment, starting on August 1st.
And as always, we are bringing you news on what we’re currently reading or watching. For our premium subscribers, in this issue’s Research Spotlight we’ll be looking at a new study showing that spending time outdoors can increase not only mood but actual brain structure!
Plus our paid subscribers also get one of Ellen’s recipes each month and access to a live Q&A call. If you are a paid subscriber, and now that it’s officially summer in North America, we share Ellen’s easy-to-make Matcha “Nice” Cream, which is a refreshing, totally non-dairy plant-based version of Matcha Ice Cream.
The paid option also includes a monthly live Q&A call with Ellen and Denise held on the second Tuesday of each month at 12 Noon Eastern (9 AM Pacific) time. The next call is on Tuesday, August 10, 2021.
Looking for a supportive group that “gets” your interest in IF? Our free intermittent fasting Facebook group, with over 1800 members, is a wealth of info, in addition to our Fast Factor Circle membership.
We are doing something really, really special with our Fast Factor Circle, starting August 1st. How would you like to participate in a little experiment that is designed to help you turn back time?
We're serious!
Ellen uncovered a recent research study (that we talked about to our paid subscribers in our last issue) that actually reversed the biological age of study participants by more than three full years...
in just eight short weeks.
The interventions these folks had to do were simple, all-natural, not invasive, certainly not dangerous, and consisted of...
a list of simple dietary and lifestyle changes almost anyone can do.
On August 1st, we will be leading our Fast Factor Circle group members through this experiment over the subsequent eight weeks...
and participants are free to choose what they want to add from the list and what they don't...
We'll be bringing you all the details this Tuesday (July 20th) about how you can join us...
and learn how to turn back the hands of time for yourself.
What is the IF Insider?
This email is your briefing on the most compelling developments in intermittent fasting as well as innovation in practices that can be stacked with IF, such as plant-based eating, sleep hacks, natural nootropics, brain training, and more, all curated by our team of entrepreneurs and 'future-think' scouts.
Our Mission is to introduce the power of Intermittent Fasting to entrepreneurs worldwide so they can exponentially improve their lives and businesses and the lives of the people they impact every day.
P.S. Please send your tips to our team by clicking here, and send your friends and colleagues to this link to subscribe to IF Insider.
P.P.S. Get our free Fast Factor Primer: The Entrepreneur's Quick Start Guide to Intermittent Fasting by clicking here.
Will Intermittent Fasting Help Me Live Longer?
Most people come to intermittent fasting for weight loss but then stay for the other benefits that come along with it, including…
One - Decreased sugar and processed food cravings, and automatic regulation of appetite
Two - Lower blood insulin levels (insulin is the hormone that signals your body to store fat) and steady energy (instead of the crash and burn caused by sugar spikes)
Three - Increased fat burning
Four - increased growth hormone (important for muscle preservation and growth)
Five - reduced inflammation and improved digestion
Six - better mental focus and mood. Many people who do IF report better sleep and also some say they need less sleep than before. Almost everyone reports more energy to get things done...for us entrepreneurs this is fantastic news!
Seven - activation of autophagy which is cellular cleansing (this finding won the Nobel prize in medicine in 2016!)
Eight - Lower blood cholesterol
Nine - Potential to prevent Alzheimer's disease
Ten - Type 2 diabetics have seen their disease reversed
If you look at all the benefits that come with an IF practice, it makes complete sense that together, these benefits would mean that people who practice intermittent fasting would live longer than those who don’t. But just because something seems like common sense does not mean it’s been proven with a rigorously conducted research study.
Fasting, as well as calorie restriction, has been proven unequivocally in animal models, but proving this with humans is much more difficult. Scientists can’t just keep human subjects locked in a laboratory lab where their meals, activity, and fasting windows are strictly controlled.
But a sweeping review article, published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine in December of 2019, gives scientific weight to the longevity argument. Mark Mattson, Ph.D. who is one of the lead authors of the study, believes the power of intermittent fasting lies in its power to trigger what is known as a “metabolic switch” which enables the body to easily switch from carbohydrate burning to fat burning when food is absent.
Of course, because Americans in particular, eat three meals a day plus snacks most people never train their bodies to take advantage of this metabolic flexibility. But when you begin a daily intermittent fasting practice, over a few weeks your body adapts and then turns on this switch. The ability to do metabolic switching suppresses inflammation, improves the regulation of blood sugar, and increases resistance to stress. All this adds up to a longer, healthier life!
Why It Matters
Flexibility is the key to health and life.
“Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.”
~ Bruce Lee (1940 - 1973) - Chinese martial artist, martial arts instructor, and philosopher as well as an accomplished actor and director. He is considered by many to be the most influential martial artist of all time, as well as a 20th-century icon of pop culture, who helped bridge the gap between the East and West.
What We Are Reading 📚
With each issue, we bring you a short blurb on what we are currently reading or watching, including books, articles, podcasts, videos, movies, and research papers of value.
Denise - I’ve started reading The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson, M.D. It’s a book we’re recommending participants read during our Fast Factor Longevity Experiment. Dr. Benson describes the scientific benefits of relaxation, explaining that regular practice of the Relaxation Response can be an effective treatment for a wide range of stress-related disorders. In short, managing your stress can result in a longer healthspan and lifespan. Here’s an article in which this is addressed.
Ellen- I am a big fan of Tim Ferris and greatly enjoy his long-form interview format podcast with fascinating guests. One of his most recent podcasts was with neurobiologist Dr. Andrew Huberman who is a professor at Stanford University’s School of Medicine.
This particular episode was wide-ranging but I particularly enjoyed the part about sleep optimization and Dr. Huberman’s take on light exposure, as light is a topic I am currently researching so I can bring more information to our Fast Factor Circle members later this year.
Here’s just a snippet of what they talked about:
Dr. Huberman - “The vision and our visual system is perhaps the strongest lever by which we can shift our state of mind and body. And that might at first come as a surprise because we think of vision as this thing that we have to see colors and motion and recognize faces, et cetera.
But the two little goodies in the front of our skull, our eyes, are actually part of our central nervous system. So a lot of people don’t realize this, but your neural retina, the little light-sensing piece of the eyes in the back of the eye, kind of lines it like a pie crust, are actually two pieces of your brain that were deliberately squeezed out during early development. So they’re the only two pieces of your brain that are outside the cranial vault, as we say. And those little pieces of brain have an enormous impact on the state of the rest of your brain.”
And that’s just a tiny fraction of what they covered in this conversation. Highly enjoyable if you’re into science-backed bio-hacking!
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