Bodyholic with Di | Your Health and Fitness Beyond Myths

Episode 12 Longevity and Paul Long's New Way Forward

Di Katz Shachar, MPH Season 1 Episode 12

Text Di

Paul Long describes New Way Forward as Paul Long’s life version 4.0. 

 

V.1 Youth and third generation storyteller. Grew up in the news business (father & grandfather).

 

V.2 Award-winning major market television news reporter, anchor, weatherman and special projects producer.

 

V.3 Emmy award winning Content Creator for www.paullongproductions.com. Created and produced just about every kind of film and video (short of a motion picture) you can think of for major companies. Emmy for Best Documentary A Passing of the Torch.

 

V.4 New Way Forward is Paul’s new way forward. Bringing to bear all his experience, skill and talent as well as what he has learned himself and from thought leaders over the past 15 years on what it takes to live a life with joy, purpose, passion and income. 

 

Paul lives with his college girlfriend/soul mate. Together they raised two exceptional sons.

 

References: 


Hellhammer, Dirk, and Juliane Hellhammer, eds. Stress: the brain-body connection. Karger Medical and Scientific Publishers, 2008.


Antonovsky, Aaron. "The structure and properties of the sense of coherence scale." Social science & medicine 36, no. 6 (1993): 725-733.


Windsor, Tim D., Rachel G. Curtis, and Mary A. Luszcz. "Sense of purpose as a psychological resource for aging well." Developmental psychology 51, no. 7 (2015): 975.


Aschbacher, Kirstin, Aoife O’Donovan, Owen M. Wolkowitz, Firdaus S. Dhabhar, Yali Su, and Elissa Epel. "Good stress, bad stress and oxidative stress: insights from anticipatory cortisol reactivity." Psychoneuroendocrinology 38, no. 9 (2013): 1698-1708.


Begley, Sharon. The plastic mind. Hachette UK, 2012.


Pauwels, Lisa, Sima Chalavi, and Stephan P. Swinnen. "Aging and brain plasticity." Aging (albany NY) 10, no. 8 (2018): 1789.


Cohen, Haim Y., Christine Miller, Kevin J. Bitterman, Nathan R. Wall, Brian Hekking, Benedikt Kessler, Konrad T. Howitz, Myriam Gorospe, Rafael De Cabo, and David A. Sinclair. "Calorie restriction promotes mammalian cell survival by inducing the SIRT1 deacetylase." science 305, no. 5682 (2004): 390-392.


Weil, Andrew. "Three breathing exercises." DrWeil. com (2017).


Clemente, Jose C., Julia Manasson, and Jose U. Scher. "The role of the gut microbiome in systemic inflammatory disease." Bmj 360 (2018).


Reilly, Norelle R. "The gluten-free diet: recognizing fact, fiction, and fad." The Journal of pediatrics 175 (2016): 206-210.



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Episode 12 Longevity and Paul Long's New Way Forward

Di: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Body holic with Di, episode number 12. My name is Di Katz Shachar. I am a public health promoter. I attained my MPH H from Tel Aviv University on the research track. I'm a fitness trainer with over 17 years of experience, and I hold specializations in corrective exercise, women's fitness and Pilates.

I am also the founder and trainer of Body Holick, the global health and fitness platform and community. I'm the author of Rip It Up For Good, and this podcast is a part of my effort and mission as a public health professional because I believe that. Real [00:01:00] science-based information and knowledge is power, and my job in this life is to empower you.

I want you to have high and sustained energy throughout the day, and I want you to feel better than you've ever felt before, during, and after your workouts, in and out of your clothing. And I also want you to feel good not only physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. Today's guest is the latest version of Paul Long, and I say this because Paul calls his guide and platform new way forward.

He, he describes it as Paul Long's life, version four point. So version one, being youth and third generation storyteller. He grew up in the news business, version two, award-winning major market television, news reporter, anchor [00:02:00] weatherman, and special projects producer, version three, Emmy Award winning content creator for Paul Long Productions.

He created and produced just about every kind of film and video you can think of for major companies. He won the Emmy for best documentary. A Passing of the Torch. Version four. New Way Forward is Paul's new way Forward, bringing to bear all his experience, skill, and talent, as well as what he has learned himself and from thought leaders over the past 15 years on what it takes to live a life with joy, purpose, passion, and income.

Kick back and enjoy the interview because Paul has a passion for life and a strong sense of purpose that is absolutely [00:03:00] contagious. So without further ado, here's the interview. Paul, Paul, long, how are you today? 

Paul: Vertical and, uh, feeling well. Thank you, . Wonderful. I love that. Oh, my first part of gratitude in the morning I woke up.

Right. 

Di: And, but, and you were vertical. That's that's right. Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. This is why we connect. I love your attitude, . 

Paul: It starts with the basics. , there are several hundred thousand people who didn't this morning. So yeah, we're the growth fortunate. 

Di: Absolutely. Paul, the first thing I want us to get into is, I, I would like you to share with us, please, how you manage to get into Health Longevity.

And I, I feel like when I read your stuff, and I have spoken to you before, you [00:04:00] are just all health. You're the, you're the poster Child of Health and longevity, . 

Paul: You know what, I appreciate that because I'll, I'll give you a secret. I'm trying to, if that's part of my why is to, to be the poster guy, uh, for well being healthy period plus redefining, uh, actually bringing about the new reality of what's possible in older hood, uh, which is kind of where all this started.

So, uh, I know we don't have a two hour program, so I'll try to keep it kind of short , but. What happened was, first of all was about 13, 14 years ago, actually a little bit longer than that. I was coming out of a very toxic situation. Toxic, toxic, very difficult business situation, toxic relationship, just too much going on and I was being toxic with my health and it was like, oh my gosh, look in [00:05:00] the mirror.

And you know, I was watching a program and it was Dr. Daniel Aon, who's kind of the brain doctor. He is, got a number of books out and things of that sort. And, and he, he had these two slides up of all this healthy food and all this, we know, not healthy food. And he's like, look, it's simple. Eat a lot of this as much as you want, and don't eat any of this, or just eat a little bit of it.

So to jump ahead, I started taking baby steps. I'm not one of those super disciplined, perfect people. In fact, I'll fail if I even try to. Mm-hmm. . So I just started eating a lot more of the really good stuff and a lot less of the bad stuff. And I, I, I started getting momentum. I started feeling the effects of it, and then I started looking.

I, I, I started becoming more and more interested in it. I started getting into it. So I was, you know, if you read James Clear's [00:06:00] Atomic Habits, I was atomic meaning little bitty habits that built into big habits. That's what I was doing. I was doing, instead of 10,000 steps a day, I was doing 10,000 baby steps.

Mm-hmm. . And the other thing is, is that one of the things I got into to recover from that situation, I'd come from. I said every morning I was meditating and I was doing yoga, stretching, um, and while I was doing yoga, I put on people on YouTube and listen interviews, speeches, stuff like that on all kinds of issues, you know, uh, the success and business, spirituality, but health.

And I really got into and was really stunned by what I was learning about not only what goes on with us when we're being unhealthy, but more what you can do. And this really what I thought was new way of thinking and approaching health. And that became the [00:07:00] why. Why does this work? Why is it that when I do intermittent fasting or a hot and cold shower, or just even a little bit of a workout and on and on and on actually makes us healthier?

And I was really surprised with the answers that I got, which intrigued me. And really just ended up making me buy into it. The last point at which I'm happy to discuss, but the last thing was a quote that I heard from Dr. Steven Gundry, former President of America and Heart Association cardiologist, how he turned his, his father's health around.

A lot of us don't eat glutens and lectins, but, uh, a quote of his Longevity Paradox book, the subtitle of it is, and I love this, and it became my mantra, I want to die young at an old age. Right? And when I looked at. The heck with extended longevity. If the [00:08:00] last 10 or 20 years of your right life is miserable and you're sick, y you know, I, I want, I want my morbidity rate.

Instead of being like this, to be like this, I want to go to bed one night after having a great day, you and I have done an interview with me cuz you're checking in on me when I'm 107 years old or whatever. Right. I had a busy, great day and I just, it was my time. I die in my sleep. So all of that became a why and a driving, but it was really the 10,000 steps.

I'm not perfect. I quote unquote cheat all the time. Mm-hmm. . And it's okay. And that's the way I am. That's what works for me. Right. Wow. 

Di: Um, I feel like every, there were so many pearls in what you just said. Absolutely. Um, Because you really have devoted, uh, time to researching and, um, finding out as much as you can [00:09:00] about this and actually implementing it on yourself.

Um, could you briefly describe your take and your understanding of the biological environmental factors that contribute to human longevity? 

Paul: Yes, uh, uh, I'll give you the foundation that I alluded to that when I really understood the why, and to me it's been a major trend in medical research amongst people like, uh, Dr.

Rhonda Patrick, and Dr. David Sinclair, and just a whole host of other people. And that is, is, you know, we went through a period in the modern age, uh, let, so let's even say from the. 1950 to now where the emphasis was on treatment. Mm-hmm. first, as we all know, pharmaceuticals, you know, see this guy out digging clams on a beach and saying, Hey, take this pill.

It's gonna make you better. What, five more clams? Yep. Anyway, but it [00:10:00] was on, it was on treatment and dealing with issues as opposed to upstream of it. Well look, I mean a lot of people are seeing that trend that it's all about not needing the dead gum pill or the treatment and everything and feeling great.

And what I saw this emphasis on was the way we as a species in evolved over hundred, well, homo Sapien is 200,000 years, but quite frankly, you could go back to the first amebas and how the fundamental basis for life and survival that, uh, you know, there are two purposes. One, to survive in order to procreate and.

When you look at homo sapiens in, you know, the modern age, which is this much compared to right being on earth. All of this time, we were stressed mm-hmm. and we were optimized for survival. So when we were in that physical stress, that's when our bodies actually optim optimized itself and healed itself.

[00:11:00] Uh, when we graze and eat food all the time, our cells replicate, replicate, replicate, get damage, get damaged, get damaged. When we do something like fast, even just intermittent fasting, our bodies, you know, the mitochondria down to the d n a, down to the telomeres, which keep your d n a from frame, kind of like that plastic on the end of your shoe lace.

it optimizes your body. When you do the hot, cold thermo therapy thermogenesis, what it's doing is tricking, triggering your body to optimize, and you do atopic. You get rid of about a third of your cells that are underperforming, damaged, or dead, on and on and on. And so then when you exercise, when you do aerobic exercise or strength training, that not only gives you good muscle tone and strength, and there's a difference between building muscles and building strength, but it triggers a multitude of other things in nearby.

That's the big thing. All of these things have all of these [00:12:00] results that seemingly aren't even related to specifically what it is. Building more muscle mass means that as we get older, we stop, we slow down producing new blood vessels, you do some resistance training, it triggers ani something in your brain that triggers on and on and on.

Mm-hmm. . So yes, our ancient primal ancestors were exposed to hot and cold environmental conditions. They were feast and famine. They were fasting, they were always working out. Uh, even the mental health things relate back to the way that we were. And so by getting back to that, that was, that was me understanding why and having that, why when I didn't want to go to the gym.

When I didn't wanna turn cold in the shower, when, like right now I'm in an intermittent fast. I finished dinner at six 30 last night, and as soon as we're done, I'm going to eat lunch. It wasn't that hard. Uh, yeah. That, that was, that was the thing that, that really did it. The, the second [00:13:00] point that I'll make through all of this research too, was that it doesn't take much, it doesn't take huge workout regimens.

Uh, it doesn't take, you know, extremes to start having an immensely different impact on you right now. If you're 23 years old, it has an incredible impact. Even though at 23 I was bulletproof, I thought I was in good shape. I bet I would've felt a hell of a lot better and performed a lot better back then.

As you get older now I'm seeing a couple of new recent studies showing that it's never too late. That if you're outta shape and you're 70 years old, or 80 years old, or 90 years old, Hmm. You start doing these things and you will benefit from them, right? Almost right away. 

Di: I'm just gonna repeat that so it's never too late where I'm also gonna, uh, bring, bring over the research and I'm gonna [00:14:00] link it.

Um, it's so important because, uh, when, when I'm out training people and people consult with me, gimme a call, I meet with them. Uh, it does certainly feel like after 70 people are, you know, I'm seeing that number after 70 people are telling me that, you know, it's too late and it's so not true. Especially not these days.

Right? 70 is so young. These 

Paul: days. Oh. I mean, you know, you hear the expression sixties, the new 40. Right, right. Um, I, I take the point except sixties now, the new 60, because everything else has changed and, and I'll go ahead and throw that in. You know, I, that, that, that part of what I'm doing is trying to, you know, bring the awareness, awareness out there of the new reality of what it is to be in, for lack of a better term, I don't even like this one, but let's say older hood, you know?

Mm-hmm. that, you [00:15:00] know, if, if, if you're thinking, oh, I'll retire at 62 and you've got 30 or 40, now you right. You, you will live easily into your hundreds and active, fully mobile on your own, doing something. By the way, that's the other thing I discovered, that the number one precursor, the most fundamental thing that leads to good health.

is living a purposeful life, having a reason to, you know, nothing kills, like retirement. People lose their purpose, they lose their relevance and everything else. Right. When you're doing something like I, what, what you're doing right now at your age, what I'm doing right now at my age mm-hmm. , it becomes two things.

Number one, it's a prime motivator. I, I'm not gonna be able to do this or enjoy it if I'm not in good health. Right. Pretty simple, but hugely true. Mm-hmm. . But the second thing is, is that they're finding out [00:16:00] is that the emotion and psycho psychological aspects of it actually, because now they're finally coming around.

They meaning medical researchers, the medical industry, whatever, is realizing that there is a brain, body, brain, stomach, brain, gut, brain, heart connection. Mm-hmm. all connected in terms of what it does with your physiology and metabolism, emotions, stress, so on and so forth. Negative stress. And so yeah, that, that can happen at, um, at amazingly, I mean, for your entire life, quite frankly.

So decline, other than certainly there's some environmental and congenital issues that are outside of our control, but overall, even in a lot of those cases, people can improve their situation. So here's the thing, it's choice. It just comes down [00:17:00] to you making the choice, how do I want to be and feel for the rest of my life, however long that is.

Right. 

Di: When you and I talked previously, um, I was telling you about, uh, my version of what you were saying, the the why factor of writing down, asking why you wanna do this and finding that true purpose of. And then answering the why, and then asking again, and asking again, and asking again until you really are at the core of why am I doing this?

And, um, purpose is extremely important for overall wellbeing, not necessarily happiness, but your overall wellbeing. 

Paul: Yeah, I, I, uh, uh, and I think I mentioned to you, so I have an interview on my site with a guy named Paul Kasner, uh, who lives out in the San Francisco Bay area. And, um, at age 66, he [00:18:00] became an entrepreneur, a social entrepreneur in fact.

And, um, he, uh, he was approached by a major, did one of those global holding firms that own all these, you know, all the insurance comp, a bunch of insurance companies around the world. Okay. They, they contacted him and maybe do some marketing, which didn't happen, but he was having a conversation with the two top researchers.

Now, insurance companies are very quantifiably spec, you know, they're looking at actuarial s, you know, health, longevity. I mean, they're some of the best researchers for that kind of stuff that exists. And they're looking at him very real terms. And they said to Paul Kasner that by doing what he's doing and having this purpose, this aspiration, this sense of relevance and accomplishment, the contrast of working hard, taking time off, things of that sort, they said, Paul, according to our research and data, this is the number one thing you can have in order to have great health during your [00:19:00] longevity.

Having that purpose, that intent, that relevance, because mm-hmm. , you hear that when people retire and why? I mean retirement, traditional retirement, as we think of it as very suitable for a lot of people, I honor that and acknowledge it. I know some of you congratulations, God's speed. But for most of us, especially in this day and age, especially with what my generation grew up with, with that sense of relevance and change and making impact and stuff, it really didn't exist before.

All of that. You put it together. It's no wonder that you hear that such a common thing around the world has become that people, first of all, don't really think through, what am I gonna do with retirement? It's just, oh, I'll get to sleep in. Oh, I'll travel, oh my golf game. You know? And it's like, that's got a very short, relevant, you know, that's contrast to where you are right now.

We go through all life as strategizing and planning, but we don't do that. We don't really think about that. And what happens is, is there's what a lot of [00:20:00] people call the retirement honeymoon of about a year or so, whereas wonderful. Right? And in all of a sudden, There's depression and alcoholism and drug abuse and, uh, divorce because your life has changed.

You're not as relevant anymore. You're not as purposeful anymore. You don't have the contrast of working and going after something and taking time off it, a meaning thing to you anymore. And that's where we see the health declining too, because you lose that why. Right. 

Di: Um, I just wanna back up for a moment because you mentioned negative stress and I, I just want to, it's kind of like a double backup.

You mentioned negative stress and then you also before where you were talking about the fact that longevity is linked to stress, basically to us overcoming, um, certain difficulties [00:21:00] like working out and making the muscle work hard. We've got the micro tears, uh, or. The intermittent fasting. Um, and, and so could you talk a little bit more about what negative stress would be then versus that stress that we were talking about?

Paul: Well, I, I, yeah. The, the, the stress I was talking about was distressing the bodies in very controlled and positive ways. Mm-hmm. , by the way, if you're older, I'm not saying this so that we don't get sued, but you really should check with your healthcare practitioner, uh, because we're all different. And there may be some things where it's like, don't do that, or don't go that far.

Seriously. Right, right, right. But absolutely. You know, so there's the healthy stress of stressing your body in terms of fasting and lifting your weights. That's stressing your, you know, briskly walking, that's stressing your body. Mm-hmm. the negative stress. [00:22:00] Well, first of all, it can be overdoing it, uh, or doing something that you're not in the place of health to do it or to the degree that you are.

But there, there, there's the stress of life. There's the stress of anxiety, there's the stress of depression. There's the stress of, uh, old crap, you know, that we can't get rid of. And one of the things that I advocate with new way forward, which is all about by the way, which is what I did, I'm like, what am I gonna do with decades of healthy living ahead of me?

What am I gonna do next? And in researching it's like, oh, this is what I'll do. I'll share this stuff with people. Right? But. One of the things that I advocate, and I think we're seeing this too, and, and Covid accelerated because it's not just people my age or people who are, you know, approaching or in their fifties.

I mean, it's people in their thirties and their forties. That's some of my best engagement. Or are people, you know, forties and fifties, let's say [00:23:00] it's is going, wait a minute, what am I doing with my life? What's going on here? Is there something more? Is there something more Right for me? Well, that's a very telling sign because they've kind of gotten to that point based on old beliefs that maybe aren't true anymore.

And beliefs lead to emotions. Emotions lead to actions. Actions lead to decisions. And that all adds up to where you are now. And when we get older, whatever that means, 39, 69, 89, whatever, we're at a point where sometimes it's a crisis where we can step back and say, what am I doing right? Where did I this come from or whatever.

And I think those, that's, that's the core kind of stress, if I'm answering your question correctly. Yeah. That's, it just eats at us. Mm-hmm. , and this morning with, I had to do a, I still have some clients in my content creation business. I had to do something this morning. Why was I so [00:24:00] worried? And therefore having all sorts of cortisol and negative stuff happening to me physiologically, you know, and it's like, oh, it's this thing that I finally figured out and I just need to keep addressing it so that it doesn't have this negative impact on me.

I hope that answered your question. 

Di: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I think, um, I think checking in with yourself, uh, and, and the question of why am I constantly anxious? There's some kind of misfit in your life that has to be addressed. So it could be your workplace, it could be a certain relationship. Um, but yeah, that's, that's exactly how I would think of negative stress.

It's, it's this kind of misfit and uh, there's this sense of mindfulness that can help you identify, just kind of checking in with yourself and being honest with yourself. 

Paul: This is [00:25:00] something I'm really focusing on right now. So, uh, and I'll try to keep it as succinct as possible. So you have neuroscientists now, people like Dr.

Terra Swart, for instance, uh, who wrote a book called The Source. You know, that's talking about why your brain does this. And so let's see how simple I could keep this. So when I talked about that formula that started with your belief, I think the vast majority of every human that's walked this planet has died with incredible self-limiting beliefs because of something that happened to them typically in childhood.

And they applied that belief to the rest of their lives. And, and self-limiting is the word for it. So I can't make enough money. I can't hold down a relationship. I'm no good. Whatever, something a parent said, the way your parents were, whatever or other things that happened. And so again, when you get older again, when you want to get healthier and happier and more, more whatever, going and, [00:26:00] and I've had to do that for with myself.

I'm still doing it. W why is it that I'm this way? Why is it I can't do this? Why is it that I worry about that? And it's literally asking yourself, where did that come from? Mm-hmm. , when was the first time that happened? Some people instantly can tell you, well, my father, my mother, my life situation, whatever.

And it's like, Is that true? Now? Is that really true about you? I mean, you've got people like David Bear and I can't remember the other woman's name. Takes a little bit more of a new age approach for it, but it's still the same thing. It's like, you know, shine a light on that and realize and, and think about yourself as, is that still really true anymore and you've gone got 80% of the way to get re getting rid of it, right?

The second, the second thing is, is I'm a big PA believer in the power of intention. That time I talked about 17 years ago came about by doing the power of intention without knowing I was doing it. [00:27:00] You think of anything in your life, you've changed it because you envisioned and believed in. And, uh, visualized what you wanted and you got it.

So there's a spiritual component to it, to many people, uh, alignment with the universe, God, whatever you want to call it. But there is a neurological thing. Your, your, uh, amygdala, which is the brain processor. It's your intel chips in your brain, and something called the reticular activating. There was a primal defense mechanism.

You would start to recognize things you needed to recognize in order to survive, you know? Mm-hmm. That grass, that tall grass is moving over there. That's either a deer to eat or a savor tooth tiger to eat me. Your brain looks for things to support what you be leave it will look and select when you go on Facebook or a new site, what makes you pick things out to look at and not look at all?

Do you? Mm-hmm. That does. [00:28:00] So conversely, if you want to change it, I love the way Terrace war by actually she's remarried now. Phrases it. Is you have to create new neural pathways. By the way, they used to think neural pathways stop growing when you're in your twenties. The fact is, anytime you learn something new or whatever, if you're 900 years old, you grow your neural pathway.

So what you'd start doing is, is that you start overcoming those old ones and by visualizing what you want, by pursuing and believing in what you want to figure out or think or overcome, you start growing new neural pathways and your reticular activating system starts looking for those patterns to support that.

That's why when I have an attention to not need more money, but to have this and this is what it's gonna be like, stuff like that, I create those neural pathways. It starts looking for it. Same thing with your help you. I know my why. I know the what, and I need to find the how. Mm-hmm. , and I'm gonna look like this.

I'm going to feel like this. I'm going to be like this. You [00:29:00] start, that's what happened to me without me even knowing it. And you start creating those, but here's, here's the end cap. And that is, is that what she says is imagine you're in a meadow of tall grass and there's no path. And every day you start walking that same place.

Right. All of a sudden you've created Yes. 

Di: That's such a good metaphor for that. That is so, and 

Paul: it's, I love it. It's on my vision board, that path. I 

Di: love it. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's gonna stay with me. That's definitely gonna stay with me. Um, and yeah, neuroplasticity is, you know, relevant at any point and paving that path.

I, I think of, I used to think of it as, um, Uh, water beds because when we think, when we try to get over old habits, right? We still have those pathways, [00:30:00] but we can dry them up. So we don't, we have a different, uh, path where that we've paved and the water's going through that new path, and those old pathways have now dried up.

But then people who, for instance, have addicted, addictive issues might wanna be really careful with the old habits or in general, uh, habits. Habits are those pathways. And so we wanna be careful because they're still there. Just the water's not flowing there right now. But yeah, you can keep creating new pathways.

Paul: I, I hope, I hope we got a second for this. There was a woman named Portrait Nelson. And I heard this secondhand from somebody else, that, that was recounting it. And it was something where it's like, you're five stages of life or something. You were supposed to write down briefly on a note card. And here's what she did.

I'll, I'll, I'll keep it short. She's like, here's how I describe my five phases of life. I'm walking down the street, I'm walking down the street, [00:31:00] there's a big pothole. I fall into it. Next stage of life, I'm walking down the street. There's a big pothole. I try to walk around it, but I still fall off into it.

you know, I'm walking down the street. I get to the other side of the street, but I almost fall down to it and I can't remember the fourth one, but the fifth one is I'm go down a different street. Right, right, right, right. And that's just, you know, and so what, you're right. I mean, we could say, oh, I'm, I'm changing this habit, you know, I'm not doing drugs anymore.

Right, right, right. But we're still walking around it. Right. You know, we're still in sight of it. It's like, no, you gotta go down. A different street. You have to have, create that pathway, that trail in the meadow and like maybe put some pr paving stones on it and some guardrails. I mean, just Right to just get the bulldozer and just plow.

Di: Yeah. Yeah. Um, you know, Paul, I, uh, I, uh, a few months ago I had a mindfulness workshop and, um, [00:32:00] oh, the topic was self-compassion and self-love, and I opened it up with . I opened it up with the Porsche Nelson poem.

Paul: So you, yeah. Yeah. I hope I got it. Okay. 

Di: You, I love the way you brought it. I love it. I love that. Okay, lovely. Um, So besides medical advancements, um, and we can get into that. I'm interested in discussing specific science-based lifestyle tools that you contribute to longevity, which you've already mentioned.

Um, but if you want to, uh, get into it a little bit more specifically, like really handing out tools, I'd love us to mention a few. Yeah, I 

Paul: mean, uh, 

Di: uh, [00:33:00] you've discussed intermittent fasting working out, 

Paul: right? I, I think it, it's, a lot of mine is, is almost more conceptual, although it's backed by science and it, and it's prac.

One thing is, it's the practicality of it. You gotta be practical. You know, this thing about I'm going to the gym for next month and I'm going to hit five days a week, and yeah, that's not gonna work. So some of my practical. Terms is that is upstream of that. So I mentioned one of them. It's really knowing the why.

My why is I want to die young at an old age. And also the why, the things that I'm supposed to do to do that are so that it makes sense to me. Then I really go to, uh, James Clear's Atomic Habits. So I look at what's, what's, you know, going to the [00:34:00] gym. Like one day last week I really didn't want to go. I really, really didn't want to go.

Uh, and I know to focus on the first 1%. So even when I say, you know, I'm gonna go to the gym for a month, for five days a week. Okay, fine, you set a goal, but what you need to do is focus on the 1%. My focus on my 1% is to go upstairs and get my gym back. And then what's the next 1%? Next one. And even, and I even said, if I show up for 30 minutes, good job.

Totally. But of course I'm not, or I'm not gonna show up for just 30 minutes. Or Tim Ferris if, if you know who he is, the four hour work week tools of Titans stuff's up there. Um, he has written this, a huge book he hates to write. His goal is two crappy pages of copy every morning, you know, some days.

That's it. So you have to make [00:35:00] it doable. That's why I said I took 10,000 steps. And it really, you know, it's really simple, you know, by doing some resistant training, by doing some aerobics every day. Uh, BJ Fog, uh, is also this micro habits dive. He, he, you wouldn't know a looking at, I do 50 pushups a day.

He does it every time he goes to the bathroom. It does five pushups, you know, so what does that do well in the first place? It gets you going in that habit one all of a sudden, five is easy, it's on and so forth. So I, I really see it as that progression. But I would, you know, what I recommend is, you know, the intermittent fasting, which means, as I said, I, it, I go six 30 to 6:30 PM to noon, two days a week.

Uh, there's also five two fasting where two days a week, uh, or two days a week, you, uh, men have 600 calories and women 500. It's [00:36:00] actually not that hard. Uh, and I still, you know, was able to eat the food that I wanted, the resistance training, building strength, and also building speed. Mm-hmm. , you know, one of the reasons why people fall when they get older and have the fall to begin with is because they've lost their fast twitch muscle.

Abilities so they can't catch themselves or they're too slow in reacting and then they fall. Mm-hmm. , uh, I mean, by the way, there are a thousand things like that. Um, the autophagy, uh, half a, that's why I was filling shower is in, is in cool water and then I do some cold spray. The more you do it, the more, uh, uh, you get used to it and you focus on the why.

Di: Um, I'm smiling because, um, that's my weak spot and I've already talked about it. Uh, I had Dr. Lud Miller Schaffer, who is, um, a brilliant oncologist. I had her on this podcast, [00:37:00] and, uh, she was talking about rewiring yourself and. I, I was saying, you know, I, I have to get into a, an ice bath one day. I mean, I'm, I'm friends with someone who runs Ice bath Workshop.

I am deathly afraid of getting into, and you're telling me you're sitting here and telling me that this is like part of what you do, the hot cold shower. And 

Paul: I'm not quite a hot bath guy though. And certainly the cryogenic things, no, that's too far from me. But for instance, I mean, again, you know, being half my shower, being in kind of cold water, not like this.

Right, right. But then doing that, and I do it all my face, the va, the vagus nerve, which goes through a bunch, you know, a lot of your body and everything mm-hmm. . And it's just because I found trusted sources, people who I thought were reasonable and smart and, and, and trusted. You know, and it was explaining that [00:38:00] you want to do that because this happens.

Well, I sure as hell want that to happen, so, okay. I'll give it a go. Or when I go to the gym, we got a sauna and um, uh, when I get out of the sauna, I go straight into the men's locker room, which is right next door. Goes straight into the shower and, you know, I have to start with a little bit of kind of cool water, but then I do, you know, 10 seconds, warm it up a little bit.

10 seconds. 

Di: Wow. See, that even sounds so hard to me. I have, but I think you're, I think you're my official inspiration. 

Paul: Thank you very much. So I can back. Thank you. Um, and by the way, 

Di: we'll see, we'll see. Lemme try it. I'll let you know. 

Paul: What I have found, by the way, uh, uh, is two things. One, When I first started doing it, the first one, it was really, the first time I did this was really hard.

And then by the third one, you know, it wasn't so hard [00:39:00] over time. The more I did it, the more I just got used to it. I'm no woff if you know who Wyn H is. Yeah, yeah, 

Di: of course. The iceman 

Paul: for 10 minutes. Um, but, you know, the benefits of it are huge and I feel, feel the triggers in my, I, I'll, I'll, I'll tell you two triggers when I know it's really kicked in and I, this is not scientifically proven.

I've been meaning to look it up. I either have, I'm either suddenly really hungry or I feel like I gotta go pee right away. I don't, you know, by the time it's over, both feelings are gone, but I figure something triggered. I don't know if you find that out. Yeah. Well the 

Di: hormones are definitely going off.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'm gonna let you know I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna try it , I, I, 

Paul: I expect, I, I I expect a, a, a report from you. Yeah, no, 

Di: you Absolutely. 

Paul: But to sum up that question, and I mean, again, it's the why. Yeah. You know, we all focus on the what and the how, but [00:40:00] never the why. And it's all about the why, which determines what the what and the how is, and it also the meaning and impetus and, you know, so, so my, my effort, you know, I thought it needed a name and I called it a new way four, because again mm-hmm.

and I was at, at first, at first it was Pro Boomer. Oh, okay. Bad choice. But it was really like, I needed a new way forward for my life. Mm-hmm. , I needed to figure out and, and put the effort into discovering and then executing a new way to live my life. That because I was older, I knew more about myself, more about life, more about everything.

And man, if I got 40, 50 years left, this is like a gift for me to actually, probably for the first time in my life to really, really what was right for me not to take anything Wow. Other careers or raising kids, which I wish I could do it again. I loved it so much. I think, uh, some of it was challenging. Um, and so, I mean, that can [00:41:00] be a, again, a huge why for people.

Because if it's kinda like, well, I'm in a job I don't like, or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Or I, you know, whatever life situation that old beliefs kind of got you into, or the default life, well, I was supposed to do that. And you're all of a sudden going, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It's my turn now. I get to do what I want to do and what's really right for me.

And that's that environmental thing in, in the broadest context of it, that again, all of a sudden it's like, you want to feel good, you want to be healthy, you want to have the energy you want, want, want, want, want, and Right. That's a huge success factor. Rather than, well, I'm supposed to eat better. I'm supposed to be in better shape.

I'm supposed to fit into a, a pair of, of 32 inch waist jeans, some, or whatever. And so I, I mean, I can't, it's, it's, it's all about our existence on earth. [00:42:00] It's all about this life and what we're gonna do with it health's a big part of it that both contributes to it, but also has requirements from it.

Mm-hmm. 

Di: Right. And um, it also reminds me of when clients, uh, show up super guilty, you know, with the guilty face. And, and they say to me, I was bad. I've never said that to anyone. Why are you coming up to me? ? I feel like, I feel like I'm a judge. No, I never ever said you were bad or you were good. I mean, you're always good.

You're always good. And, and part of life is just like you said, um, eat a lot of this. Eat either no or little of this and it's all good. And you don't have to look at the big picture. It's about the baby steps. And 

Paul: by the way, you bring up a huge point and that's brilliant on your part. Guilt, you know, cheating.

Right? Well, you know, I've been gluten free and I haven't [00:43:00] been eating processed foods or red meat and everything. Last night I had a cheeseburger and surprise and a chocolate milkshake. Okay, fine. Right. Okay. Hey, you know, and, and, and the guilt thing is a deterrent. Absolutely. You don't wanna feel guilty, so we just say, screw it.

Right. I'm not gonna, the way I'm not guilty is I won't try and there's no reason to be guilty about it. You know, I, I cheat mm-hmm. , but I'd say that I'm 83.2% being humorous there. Good. And that's good enough. And good enough is good enough. Right. And . You know, overall, obviously, you know, it's been beneficial for me because I in no way, shape or form other than when I look in the mirror, perceive my age physically or mentally or emotionally or whatever.

And so, yeah, I mean, just showing up, you know, I see people at the gym that are in terrible shape and they might just be sitting there [00:44:00] just, uh, you know, doing this right and not even doing it long. And you know what my reaction is, man, absolutely forgot you showed up. Good for you. Because that works and even that was healthy.

Absolutely. 

Di: Absolutely. Um, so let's talk about the steps and, and we'll be a little bit more, um,

we're gonna be a little bit more tangible, maybe the steps individuals can take to optimize, uh, the chances. Uh, right. We don't, we, we don't know what our destiny is or what what's planned for us, or whatever you wanna call it. But, um, what can we do, uh, to optimize the chances of living a longer, healthy life?

Um, and I think I'm also, [00:45:00] because we've been talking about tools, but I think let's, let's also maybe, um, talk to the younger and the older listeners, or maybe use this to sum up everything that we've been talking 

Paul: about. Yeah. And, and you're meaning like, like tangible steps of how I could maybe, uh, get started or get started.

Gotcha. Okay. Well, okay. First of all, let's talk about age. I physically and holistically feel better now than I did pretty much from my entire adulthood. I sure as hell wish I had felt this way when I was in my thirties or forties or fifties, so how's that for one reason. But the other thing is, is that, you know, I started late.

If you're starting now, fill in the blank of what age it is. Mm-hmm. . Just imagine what the benefits are going to be for [00:46:00] you long term. And so there. And yet, by the same token, if you're a lot older than I am, it's not too late to start, right? You have to know you, you, I would almost start with the question of how, how do I do this so that it works for the way that I am?

Don't compare yourself to anyone else. Comparisons suck. Mm-hmm. in some ways, and we do it all the time, you're not them or people. Oh, look at, I wish I could be like her or him. Right? And then you really come to find out, oh, thank God I'm not like they are. Right. But, but, but, but when it comes to this, we're all different.

So by the way, talking to a knowledgeable help practitioner such as you, um, can really help because you understand it and they can, if they're any good and they're really taking you into account rather than, you know, follow this routine and you really, right now, that's [00:47:00] bs. That is bs. What you really want to do is be smart about it.

And it's up to you. You are in total control of this, right? My 10,000 steps was, first of all, doing baby steps. I wasn't going to try to radically change everything and be perfect and do all this other kind of stuff. I just started eating more of this and less of that. I, I heard somebody say, if you're going to eat some meat, treat it like a side rather than.

The entree and living in the United States, we get two big, big A portions. I was leaving food on my plate, all that kind of stuff. And, and so it was taking the baby steps in that. And the same thing with the working out, and the same thing with the aerobic exercise. You know? So I know I can't go running and by the way, running actually I'm going to tell you is really bad for you.

It's bad for your body, it's bad for your physiology and and so on and so forth. And now they're discovering that like our primal selves, that intermittent doing it intermittently, like, like what I do is, uh, I, in [00:48:00] five minutes on a stationary BA pike, I go as hard as I can, fast as I can for 22nd wait and do it again.

I do it five times in five minutes. Mm-hmm. , that gives me better aerobic performance. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. jogging for 18 miles, so 

Di: Right, right, right. That's it. That's high intensity interval training. 

Paul: Yeah, well I call it shit for short, high intensity interval training. But anyway, , I hope I can say that. You can say that

Yeah. Or you know, some days when I don't have too long to work out in everything, I do that and then I keep going and I'll just say, I'm just gonna ton not tone. I'm gonna do a lot of reps and I'm gonna keep my heart rate up for 30 minutes, you know, at 120. Yeah. And, and I mean, so there are all sorts of ways, but, but I guess the point I'm coming to is, is that I knew that I wasn't that super disciplined, perfect person, and I had to do everything.

In baby steps and, you know, just a little bit better every day. Um, uh, [00:49:00] going a little bit farther, learning a little bit more. Uh, and, and now, you know, like I cut out 90% gluten because I understood, you know, so by the way, I highly recommend that glutens and lectins, we did not evolve eating, and it causes leaky gut, which causes inflammation.

And now what they're saying is, is that the root cause of things like Alzheimer's, dementia, autoimmune diseases, heart disease, many cancers, even diabetes, is because of the amount of inflammation in your body, your body fighting the infection from a leaky gut caused by glutens. And we're gonna, 

Di: we're gonna link, uh, uh, to the research on the podcast.

Paul: Fantastic. Fantastic. Good for you. And so what do I do, you know, well, okay, I, I have some bread, uh, uh, that's not made from any wheat or grain, you know? Um mm-hmm. , it's not ideal, but I've gotten used to it and [00:50:00] it's fine because I know my why. And then also, uh, you selectin. And so nitrate vegetables, uh, are fruits actually, uh, you know, like, uh, eggplant, tomatoes, um, uh, cucumbers, peppers, things like that.

However, they're in the skin and in the seeds, you get rid of those and you're fine, or you eat it on a limited basis. I use that as kind of an example of different techniques that I've done. You know, it's also studying up on certain supplements. Uh, there's still a lot of controversy out there about how effective they are or they are.

And I rely on people like, what's David Sinclair taking? What's Rhonda Patrick taking? You know, if you, if you've ever watched a Dr. Rhonda Patrick, uh, podcast, it's like taking organic chemistry. Cause she gets into the studies. Always the studies. Always the studies. Always the research. Always the verifiable 

Di: stuff.

She [00:51:00] will, she's the first to tell you omega-3 

Paul: great. I grow my own broccoli sprout in order to get the sulforaphane. I put it in a healthy shake every other morning, blah, blah, blah. I think the fasting is huge. Doing some resistance, strength training, even if it's just in your house doing some pushups, even if it's on your knees or a wall push.

Absolutely. I mean, they, you can go on YouTube and you can even say light resistance training or exercises for people over of this age or whatever. And the beauty is, again, once you get going, you get the momentum to do more. So those two things, sleep, hydration, um, and then you, as you talk the course, you know, the mindfulness, you know, I, I get up at five o'clock every morning minimally.

Now I actually am just naturally waking up a little earlier and. [00:52:00] I built a morning routine that was all about me. You know, that was hydration, that was meditation, yoga, and journaling. I look forward to getting up at five o'clock in the morning. Hmm. That's my time. And what I'm also doing is pri priming my mind and my body and my emotions and everything else to perform at my best during that day.

Right. I hope that is also, if you've got some more specifics, 

Di: I'm, I'm okay. Yeah, no, it, it's, uh, there is something specific, but I just want the, the habit of giving yourself what you need when it's time. Hydration moving your body, uh, actually ends up not only benefiting you , but the people around you cause Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

There you have a lot more patience. . You can, you can, um, definitely contain a little bit more. Absolutely. [00:53:00] Uh, John Kazin, the father of mindfulness, the Western mindfulness as we know it, um, as we know it in the West , is that talks about how when we cultivate patients, um, and we do that through mindfulness, we are so much kinder to the people around us who we love most, and who we can lose our patients with the most.

So it sounds like, just exactly what you said, priming yourself, preparing for what's coming and. I feel like it's priceless. I really do. 

Paul: You obviously, I, I figure you know who Dr. Andrew Wheel is cuz he was one of the first people to start breaking through in this realm. And, and I, he probably has a name for it that I can't remember, but, uh, a br breathing technique that he says is proven to work right.

[00:54:00] Um, and, and it's, it's almost like box breathing, but what it is, is it's a noisy four seconds in mm-hmm. , a seven second hold and then an eight second eight. Right. Re it actually over time alters. And you, you can answer this much better than I am. I'm getting it over my head. Uh, uh, the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system that deals with the very reactions you're talking about, it balances your brain.

Di: Oh yeah. And, um, specifically the 4 78 that you're talking about, um, I used to be addicted to falling asleep with it. Oh yeah, I gotta 

Paul: try 

Di: that. Thank you. Yeah, I would, I would lie down and I would just get, because it, um, it's very, very calming. 4, 7, 8. So you inhale for four, you hold for seven, and you exhale for eight.

And so [00:55:00] because you're exhaling for eight, you wanna do it, uh, slowly and almost like restricting the way you're exhaling. Right. So it's, Can you hear me ? Kinda like a, like a whisper. Hum. 

Paul: Yeah. Yeah. You know what, what we're talking about here, to sum it up for everybody, is that we lose sight of what some of the most critical basics are.

We take them for granted, it's understandable, but sleep quality, sleep. Mm-hmm. being one of them. Um, number two, hydration. You know, when I chugged down a bunch of water when I first wake up in the morning before the coffee, but the coffee's great. I, you know, when I chugged that water down within moments, I.

You can't feel it technically, but you notice the difference in your brain because you've lost, what is it, 16, [00:56:00] 18 ounces of hydration. When you sleep, you sleep. And the first thing that's affected by dehydration is your brain, which is mostly fat and water and stuff. Um, and uh, breathing is the other one.

We do not breathe well at all. And when we get in stress, it's short breaths because stress used to be it's sabertooth, tiger chasing us. You needed that kind of reaction. Mm-hmm. . And one other thing that I do is, um, that I find just works amazingly well is um, uh, what I learned doing, uh, birthing classes with kiln before our boys were born.

And they called it a deep cleansing breath, which is literally, I gotta turn away from the camera and I go,

Or, and just, just letting it go out. And, I mean, man, it's a rush because you [00:57:00] just, you didn't know how tense you were until you did that. And you can just feel it go. Mm. 

Di: Yeah. So the breathing, the, um, the, by the way, I also, just one more thing about the breathing. Um, I was working with an, uh, a group from all over the world.

They invited me to talk to them. They were here for, uh, doing their M B A in a very, very, very competitive program that was done in one year. And they, you know, they selected people from all over the world to come there. And I'm, they invited me to talk to them because they were. Stressed . So I, we talked about mindfulness and we were talking about stress and attention.

And the thing I said that the [00:58:00] tool that you can walk around with anywhere, anywhere you go, you is your breath and you can just pull it out of your toolbox. And even when you're in traffic and someone's honking and those, those little triggers that can absolutely drive you crazy. Just get into what you know.

You can also Google it. It's, you can do the box breathing, you can do the 4 78, you can do exactly what you just showed me that. And then just letting it go. You know, it's all, uh, it's actually amazing, powerful techniques. You can use any time. So, 

Paul: yeah. You know, 2, 2, 2, 2 quick things that I can't help myself that I add No, please.

Is that with, with that, that first of all, that stress reduction, that's what it's doing in the first place. We did, and you know, better than I've certainly physiological things happen with taking in that air. Mm-hmm. . But the other thing is psychological, mindful or whatever, whatever is [00:59:00] that it, it's, it is distracting you.

It is disengaging you from the roe thing. I mean, you know, Kar tole, you know, he's like, you know, when you're in, in that place, whatever that place is, suffer a moment and feel the life in your right hand. Mm. Right. You know, and it's just breaking that cycle. Yeah. Or I'll do a moment of gratitude and I've done it for time behind the wheel.

It's like, okay, a moment of gratitude. Wow, that's a really pretty tree. You ever really look at a tree, you know, something like that. It, it, it, it breaks you from that cycle. Mm-hmm. , and, uh, by the way, uh, uh, really important. Yeah. Uh, towards that end on Omega scale, something called Yoga Nera, if you've ever heard of that.

And what that is, is lying on your back. And it, it's, I think it's best to do it, find a guided, uh, meditation on YouTube or something like that mm-hmm. To [01:00:00] follow. Mm-hmm. And, uh, what it fundamentally is, is, is that you, without moving, you're scanning your body. You're feeling your little finger on your right hand without moving anything.

You're feeling this da da da da. One, one time years ago when I was first getting into this, I was having just a super stressful day and getting ambushed. I mean, heart rate up, copper taste in my mouth, shallow breath. I, and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is what I was trying to get away from. And I took a moment.

and did that yoga nitra and I went from that. I'm gonna stroke out, have a heart attack, to literally felt feeling like I had taken a couple of Valium. I don't mean I was relaxed, I had a volume buzz. Right. If I literally had taken two pills of that, completely changed everything in my body. And then I was like, okay, let's go deal [01:01:00] with this crap

Di: Right, no problem. Yeah. Take out the garbage too. I totally, totally agree with that. That's, that's what the 4 78 does. Yeah. That's ha that's the same feeling that Oh yeah. 

Paul: Oh, thank you. It's changing the parasympathetic sympathetic nervous system 

Di: response. Yeah. It's, uh, it's, yeah, exactly. Um, so, wow. Uh, , we, I feel like.

We've summed up tools you brought forth, uh, important names by the way. I'm gonna, uh, write this down also so that people have it in front of them. Uh, in the podcast, uh, uh, page. You talked about Davidson Sinclair, you talked about Rhonda Patrick. I'm gonna put that in there. Um, I'm also gonna link to New Way Forward, which is your platform [01:02:00] where basically, if I, if I'm understanding this correctly, you are bringing forth information about health, wellbeing, longevity, uh, and it's, it's basically acts kind of as a guide.

Am I. 

Paul: Yes, I, I would say it, it's, it's, first of all, here's the new reality. Here's the new way of thinking. Here are the new possibilities as we get older. Whatever the hell that means, whatever age you are, uh, it's a different way to look at it and different way to imagine the possibilities than, uh, there's section on passion and purpose with the experts in, in that field.

There's income as we all need it. But what if it was a way to earn an income that aligned with my new way forward? What I really wanted with my life. The health and wellbeing, I must admit right now on the site is very, very lame. Um, I'm also on medium, uh, where I'm getting more of it in, but uh, uh, [01:03:00] yeah, I'm still in launch mode to, uh, to get a lot of that stuff.

And, and best place to follow me on social is on 

Di: LinkedIn. Yeah. Which is, which I have to say please. Please follow Paul Long on LinkedIn because, um, it's rejuvenating to follow you. 

Paul: Well, thank you. And by the way, I wanna throw out another name. I don't know if you're connected to him or not. Scott Fulton.

Um, why is that? S C O t T and then Fulton. Mm-hmm. , F U L T O N. The guy is amazing. He used to work for, he was a data guy with Dow Chemical, and then he started getting into this thing. I mean, he makes me look like a first grader. Uh, and he is sharing two or three or four times a day, just the latest thinking, the latest science, the latest realities.

Mm-hmm. , he's now a professor in Virginia. And, uh, uh, his, [01:04:00] he, if, if, if people are really, really into this stuff, he is a great person to follow. 

Di: Beautiful. And, and also the sense of community of, of saying, you know, follow this person. Follow. It's, it's, isn't it great? It's so great and it adds to our sense of purpose and our togetherness and our relationships, which also is so, so beneficial to our physical and mental health.

So thank you for what you are doing and for being you. Thank you. 

Paul: Oh, I'll have to tell my wife you said that. Thank you for being . 

Di: It's recorded. recorded. Okay,

All right, Paul. Thank you so much. Thank you.[01:05:00]