Summary & Study Guide - The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

By Lee Tang

How can we live longer and still enjoy the physical and mental qualities of being young?

This book is a summary of "The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age," by Steven R. Gundry, MD.

Thanks to medical advances, today we are living longer, but not better. As we get older, we develop common ailments like arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. As a result, we expect to spend our old age in a state of steady decline.

In The Longevity Paradox, Dr. Steven Gundry explains these age-associated diseases were not caused by aging but by the way we live our lives. Our diet, stress, and quality of sleep affect the health of our microbiome, which plays a role in causing these diseases.

The book outlines a lifestyle plan to prevent these age-associated diseases by improving gut health, which controls how long we live and how young we feel.

Read this book to uncover the secrets of living a happy, healthy, long, and vital life.

This guide includes:
* Book Summary—helps you understand the key concepts.
* Online Videos—cover the concepts in more depth.
Value-added from this guide:
* Save time
* Understand key concepts
* Expand your knowledge

• Language: English
• Publisher: LMT Press
• Release date: May 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781988970264

Lee Tang

Lee Tang is a retired executive of a major global insurance company. Prior to his retirement, he has worked as an actuary, a risk officer and a chief financial officer for several major insurance organizations in the United States, Canada, and Taiwan. To learn more about Lee and his work, visit his website and blog at https://lmtpress.wordpress.com. You can reach him by email at [e-mail].

Book preview

How can we live longer and still enjoy the physical and mental qualities of being young?

This book is a summary of The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age, by Steven R. Gundry, MD.

Thanks to medical advances, today we are living longer, but not better. As we get older, we develop common ailments like arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. As a result, we expect to spend our old age in a state of steady decline.

In The Longevity Paradox, Dr. Steven Gundry explains these age-associated diseases were not caused by aging but by the way we live our lives. Our diet, stress, and quality of sleep affect the health of our microbiome, which plays a role in causing these diseases.

The book outlines a lifestyle plan to prevent these age-associated diseases by improving gut health, which controls how long we live and how young we feel.

Read this book to uncover the secrets of living a happy, healthy, long, and vital life.

This guide includes:

Book Summary—helps you understand the key concepts.

Online Videos—cover the concepts in more depth.

Value-added from this guide:

Save time

Understand key concepts

Expand your knowledge

Important Note About This Guide

This guide is a summary and not a critique/review of the book. The summary may not be organized chapter-wise but summarizes the book’s main ideas, viewpoints, and arguments. It is NOT meant to be a replacement, but a supplement to help you understand the book’s key ideas and recommendations.

Title: Summary & Study Guide – The Longevity Paradox

Subtitle: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

Author: Lee Tang

Publisher: LMT Press (lmtpress.wordpress.com)

Copyright © 2019 by Lee Tang

All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.

First Edition: August 2019

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 9781988970264 (ebook)

ISBN 9781095981665 (paperback)

ISBN 9781987065336 (paperback)

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and author make no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of these contents and disclaim all warranties such as warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. The website addresses in the book were correct at the time going to print. However, the publisher and author are not responsible for the content of third-party websites, which are subject to change.

To my wife, Lillian, who is the source of energy and love for everything I do, and to Andrew and Amanda: watching you grow up has been a privilege.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Introduction

Part 1: The Aging Myths

1. Ancient Genes Control Your Fate

2. Protect and Defend

3. The Seven Deadly Myths of Aging

Part 2: Talkin' 'Bout My Regeneration

4. Get Younger from the Inside Out

5. Dance Your Way into Old Age

6. Remember Your Old Age

7. Look Younger As You Age

Part 3: The Longevity Paradox Program

8. The Longevity Paradox Foods

9. The Longevity Paradox Meal Plan

10. The Longevity Paradox Lifestyle Plan

11. Longevity Paradox Supplement Recommendations

Index

About the Author

Introduction

Life emerged on Earth about 3.8 billion years ago. The first organisms were bacteria and other single-celled organisms. They survived by using volcanic heat to make food from inorganic materials like atmospheric gases and minerals. They thrived on a toxic gas called hydrogen sulfide but would die when exposed to oxygen.

Mitochondria

As oxygen levels in the atmosphere began to rise, some bacteria hopped inside other single-celled organisms that could live in the presence of oxygen. In exchange for food and shelter, the bacteria would generate power for their host cell. This enabled the host cell to evolve into more complex cells like eukaryotes, which make up the cells of algae, fungi, plants, and all animals, including humans. Today, these engulfed bacteria still live in your cells. They are organelles that burn glucose to produce energy for the cell. We call them mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell.

Other bacteria escaped the deadly oxygen by moving into the animals' intestines, which resembled the anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment in which they thrived.

Microbiome

Hundreds of trillions of microbes—bacteria, virus, and yeast—live within your gut. We call this dynamic community of microbes the microbiota and the totality of their genes the microbiome. Scientists now use the term holobiome to include the microbes in your gut, your mouth, your skin, and the surrounding air. So you're not who you think you are. Ninety percent of your cells are not human cells.

The results of the Human Genome Project show that complex animals like humans have fewer genes than plants and fleas. This is because they have outsourced most of their functions to their microbiomes. The human genome has 21,000 unique genes, while the human microbiome has 8 million. This means there are 360 times as many bacterial genes as human genes within you. Your longevity depends on having an optimal mix of genes in your microbiome because each of those genes performs a specific function for the human body.

Longevity Paradox

Over the last five decades, innovations like vaccines, antibiotics, and hygiene protocols have extended the life expectancy in the United States from 66.4 years to 76.4 years for men; 73.1 to 81.1 for women.

Perhaps we've ended what modern advances can accomplish. Life expectancy has declined in the last three years! Today we're seeing both a decreasing life span and a reduced health span. Most people now see their health decline at 50. As we get older, we develop common ailments like arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. As a result, we expect to spend our old age in a state of steady decline.

We now know that your gut bacteria influence both how long and how well you live. The Longevity Paradox Program helps you drive out the bad bacteria and grow the beneficial bacteria. These strategies have helped Dr. Steven Gundry's patients:

Lower their blood pressure and cholesterol markers.

Reduce symptoms of arthritis and other joint issues.

Resolve multiple sclerosis (MS), lupus, and other autoimmune conditions.

Improve heart health.

Slow or reverse the progression of cancer and dementia.

Lose weight and look decades younger.

Online Videos

Meet Your Microbiome

How Two Microbes Changed History

Origin of Mitochondria. The Little Engine That Climbed the Mountain of Evolution

Part 1

The Aging Myths

1. Ancient Genes Control Your Fate

2. Protect and Defend.

3. The Seven Deadly Myths of Aging

Chapter 1

Ancient Genes Control Your Fate

A2018 study published in Nature revealed that our genes play a minor role in determining our health. Although our genes predetermine some aspects of our health, it is not set in stone as it can be altered by the environment. The makeup of our gut microbiome is a better predictor of health conditions than genetics. Family history is a good predictor of an individual’s disease risk because family members share genes, lifestyles, and environments that can influence their health and their risk for disease.

A recent study from the China Institute found that centenarians have the healthy gut microbes of a 30-year-old. In 2017, researchers identified specific families of bacteria that dominated the microbiota of healthy centenarians—Ruminococcaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Bacteroidanceae. Unfortunately, we lose most of them as we get older.

The gut microbiome plays an important role in your health by helping you regulate many aspects of your health. An imbalance of gut microbes may contribute to weight gain, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, and other disorders. You have a better chance of sharing the same health conditions as your roommate or your spouse than your biological parents because household members share more of their microbiota