Dr. Valter Longo is an Italian-American scientist and researcher. He is currently Professor of Gerontology and Biological Sciences and Director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California. The 56-year-old is also director of the Oncology and Longevity Laboratory at the IFOM Institute of Molecular Oncology in Milan, therefore dividing his time between Los Angeles and Italy.

His 2018 book, “The longevity diet”, is a New York Times bestseller that recommends a plant-based diet that also includes fish, with just two meals a day plus a small snack, ideally within a 12-hour window. (Longo believes this method is superior to more restrictive methods 16:8 mode of intermittent fasting which has gained popularity in recent years.)

As part of the longevity diet, Longo also advises you to “eat at the table of your ancestors,” focusing on the foods your parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents ate, since they are compatible with the longevity regime. For Longo, whose ancestors are all Italian, that involves a diet “rich in tomatoes, green beans, chickpeas and olive oil.”

The book also promotes a “fasting-mimicking diet” (FMD), a 4-5 day period of eating foods high in unsaturated fats but low in calories, protein, and carbohydrates. It is intended to mirror the effects of a water-only fast while still providing enough calories to be considered safe outside of the clinical setting. In a randomized study conducted at USC Medical Center, people who deployed FMD five days a month for three months showed improvements in muscle mass, cholesterol, blood pressure and other areas.

As Longo writes in the book, many people should not get FMD, such as pregnant women, underweight people, and people with liver or kidney disease. For those who choose to try FMD, Longo suggests it be “preferably under the supervision of a dietitian or doctor.”

GQ I caught up with Longo to learn more about his daily routine, his research, and why he advises eating all your meals within a 12-hour window.

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HQ: What does an average day of eating look like for you?

Dr. Valter Longo: I came up with something called the longevity diet and am following it with a few violations, but not too many. So it starts with: I have this old grain. It’s called friselle. This is bread I get from southern Italy, from a nearby place called Alta Mura, where they make some of the best bread in the world. I combine this with something else from this region of the world, which is an almond spread. So this is whole grain almond friselle which is very rich in almond and cocoa and almost nothing else. And then I have an apple and some tea. I mix green tea and black tea. So this is my breakfast.

What is the reason for combining green tea and black tea?

Because I love the health benefits of green tea. I don’t like the taste so much and I like the taste of black tea more. So this was my way of getting both. I’ve been doing this for a long time.

How did you end up with this breakfast?

I spend all my time thinking about how to make people live longer. Whole grains just provide a lot of nourishment and at the same time they seem really good to me. We have a number of core clinics, and that’s what we’re focused on: not just giving people something healthy, but something that’s healthy and that they can enjoy for years to come, if not forever. of their lives. For me, it’s the whole grain of the region of Italy, where I’m from, trying to choose the place where they make the best bread in Italy.