Stan Goldfarb
Introduction by Vince Giuliano
Stan Goldfarb is a friend and a colleague who often contributes to online longevity discussions, particularly ones concerned with dietary supplements. Although not a scientist he has strong and sometimes unique views on what makes for longevity, and I invited him to write one or more guest blog posts expressing them. Here are Stan’s first-post comments, only lightly edited by me. What Stan writes and how he writes are quite different than what you might expect from me. I agree strongly with some of Stan’s points, agree less with others, and find a few new to me.
——————————————————————————————
I am not a scientist. Simply a person who wants to live the longest healthy life I can. I’m 76 chronological years old and everything I currently do, I do to slow down my biological aging and make me healthier.
In the years that I have known Vince, I have found that most of our views are the same or similar. When I finally got to meet him face to face, the time flew by. He asked me to write a blog for him and I was flattered.
What I write might not be for most of the people who are currently reading Vince’s blog. It will be mainly for people who want to start on this both wonderful and sometimes frustrating journey. To feel that we now can partly control aging is exciting to me. I have also largely geared my advice here for people who have a limited budget.
You will hear all sorts of claims if you start on this journey so you need to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible. Always remember that this is a young field and we’re continually learning new things about our amazingly complicated bodies. If any product claims huge benefits, be very skeptical.
Go online and key in various terms; such as, “supplements”, “things to do for better health” etc. Also, go to https://www.longecity.org/forum/wrapper/184 where you will find more than enough topics to keep you busy. Many but not all people have varying degrees of knowledge and you will soon learn to gravitate to certain ones.
While I don’t use the popular term “reverse aging” – it’s way overused – I do believe many people who do what I will eventually be talking about will have a good chance of living past 100 years of age and be in better shape than many younger people who are not pursuing “anti-aging” now.
I will try to build you up to what I am going and this will take time. If you try to do too many anti-aging interventions too fast, your body will let you know (it may do that anyway as mine did).
You’ve all heard not to eat too much – and I’m going to add protein to the list. At 5’8’’ 137lbs, I try to eat around 35-45 grams of protein per day. When you hit puberty, you had a growth spurt and needed more but once you reach 30-35 too much stimulates your IGF-1 pathway (Insulin Growth Factor) and does shorten lifespan (yes, it does help build muscle). All the supplements in the world don’t take the place of a good diet rich in vegetables and fruits as they have micronutrients and roughage not found in supplements that are important – vital in fact.
I even maintain one day weekly where, in a 38 hour period, I only eat a total of 500 healthy calories. For those who care, after an early supper and sleep, I eat at around noon, two scrambled (or sunny side up) eggs with lots of broccoli (just cook for a minute). I also eat two tiny bits of powdered mustard to enhance the benefit – you don’t need to use more than that. For dinner it’s tilapia with lots of green and yellow squash. I drink 3-4 cups of green tea daily and my use warm water with my supplements. At first, the ghrelin waves (Hunger) will test you but after a few months this lessens. This regimen also induces slight starvation and makes the body more efficient up to a point which I probably don’t reach. Broccoli by itself is also believed to induce such slight starvation. When an insect bites into the top part of a broccoli plant, a chemical signal tells the broccoli stalk to produce Sulforaphane. This can kill a small insect but induces slight starvation in us.
I drink 3-4 cups of green tea decaf tea a day and add an Erythritol sweetener.
It’s important to know how to swallow pills when you are taking a bunch (take one at a time unless they are small – forget what you might see on TV). Use water or tea that is lukewarm but not cold or hot. This will relax your throat. If the supplement doesn’t go all the way down don’t panic. Just take a larger gulp and “push” the water down. Always have extra water, etc, than you think you will need. Drink 1-2 swallows before taking anything to relax and clear your throat (I learned this the hard way in the beginning). I’ll discuss taking powders in a later blog.
I’m going to mention a few dietary supplements to start with and will include some of the notes I’ve gathered over the years:
D3 – 5000iu (telomerase activator)(helps clear cells of ROS) the most important thing about taking vitamin D is not whether it’s dry or in oil, but that you take it with a meal, as that can increase absorption by about 30 to 50%. Improves bone health, reduced risk of heart attacks, reduced inflammation. May reduce aging in bones. Plays an important role in the body’s utilization of carbohydrates and fats and in the synthesis of protein for the growth, maintenance, and repair of cells and tissues. It is also crucial for the production of ATP a molecule the body uses for energy. Take with meal that contains fats. ALL BRANDS ARE PROBABLY ABOUT AS GOOD. I take this daily
DHA – Your brain loves this fat. Take it for breakfast and dinner with food. The findings, in mice, underscore a role for the body’s fat tissue in controlling the brain’s response to food scarcity, and suggest there is an optimal amount of body fat for maximizing health and longevity.
Vitamin C500mg – Vitamin C is an essential micronutrient, a free radical scavenger; while it has functions such as blocking oncogenic transformation induced by carcinogens. Deficiency in vitamin C is seen in cancer patients frequently, thus, adequate dietary vitamin C in these patients is needed increasingly. This novel epigenetic function of vitamin C needs to become recognized by the general public. Future studies needs be done for greater understanding of vitamin C impact upon TET and the epigenome which have medicinal relevance in cancer and other diseases.
A multivitamin
These are all very easy to buy.
Next time I’ll discuss some specific supplements I take and why. Also, how I stack (group) them for maximum benefit.
Remember, it’s not just what you take but how much you take them, when, how often and with what (nobody said that this would be easy but it’s worth it).
I love life! Here’s why I’m showing this picture: 1) Many of the supplements I take are pluripotent (they have more than one action and in several that is to act as “diet mimics” so I have to eat more food just to keep my weight – 5’8″ at 137 lbs). I weighed 197 forty years ago and was putting on weight a few pounds each year. 2) I also believe that you need to treat yourself well so once in a while I do this – shows I am human.
Stan