A 39-year-old who claims his biological age is 26 shares his longevity secrets,
including enjoying pizza and wine in moderation
Story by (Rachel Hosie) •rhosie@insider.com
Chris Mirabile is an entrepreneur who claims he’s slowed down his aging.
Mirabile believes this is down to his lifestyle, not genetics.
He lives a healthy lifestyle but doesn’t over-restrict, he said.
If you listen to some of the most vocal “longevity experts” who claim to have reduced their biological age, you’d be forgiven for thinking you need to take 100-plus supplements, fast for 19 hours, and exercise for an hour a day to live a long, healthy life.
But Chris Mirabile disagrees. Bing Videos
39-year-old man claims reverse aging, says that his biological age is 26 (sportskeeda.com)
Mirabile, a 39-year-old entrepreneur based in the US, claims his “biological age” is 26 and that he has slowed his aging by 37%. As Insider previously reported, some researchers agree it’s possible for a person to have different biological and chronological ages — but whether it’s possible to pinpoint a specific biological age is still up for debate.
1. A doctor who wrote a book on the Mediterranean diet shares his 4 favorite snacks
©Dr. Simon Poole The Real Mediterranean Diet by Dr. Simon Poole – YouTube
The Real Mediterranean Diet Simon Poole – Bing video
The Mediterranean diet is widely considered the healthiest way to eat.
Dr. Simon Poole, a dietary expert, shared his favorite Mediterranean snack ideas
with Insider. He said to try simple foods such as olives, skin-on nuts, and chocolate
(but make sure it’s dark).
The Mediterranean diet is widely considered the healthiest way to eat.
It prioritizes eating vegetables, legumes, seafood, and olive oil with minimal amounts of processed and fried foods, red meat, refined grains, sugar, and saturated fat.
Dr. Simon Poole, a dietary expert based in the UK, told Insider that there was a “very considerable amount of really good, high quality scientific research to show that it reduces the risks of really so many chronic diseases, from heart disease and stroke through to many cancers and even Alzheimer’s disease.”
It’s also associated with longevity, better mental health, and maintaining a healthy weight, so it can improve quality of life in many areas as well, Poole said. He shared four of his favorite Mediterranean diet snack ideas with Insider, following on from his favorite breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.
Olives are a great snack and popular in the Mediterranean, Poole said.
Olive Oil & Cancer – Scientists study 1,000,000+ people,
with astounding results. 2 Olives ©Getty
They are a brilliant source of polyphenols, which can improve digestion
and brain health as well as protect against conditions like heart disease,
and type 2 diabetes, also certain cancers, according to Healthline.
Poole recommends olives that have been preserved in extra virgin olive oil
rather than salt and brine, but it’s easy enough to wash off excess salt.
“They’re a great source of antioxidants that, of course, we get in a concentrated
form in extra virgin olive oil,” Poole said. “They’re also very filling because they contain monounsaturated fats. So a nice filling snack, but plenty of healthy fats.”
3 Selenium, Brazil nuts and cancer – Bing video ©Getty
Crack Open the Science on Nuts and their Incredible Health Benefits! Bing Videos
A handful of unsalted, skin-on nuts is a big part of the Mediterranean diet, Poole said. Nuts provide good quality fats and minerals such as magnesium and zinc.
“They’re best with skins on because the protective and preservative antioxidants tend
to be on the outside of the nut, concentrated in the skins,” Poole said.
Too much salt can also increase blood pressure in some people, he added.
“If you want to have a little bit of sweetness with those nuts, mix them with some dry fruits, which we often see in trail mix snacks,” Poole said.
It was after surviving a life-threatening seizure caused by a brain tumor
at the age of 16 that Mirabile devoted himself to living younger for longer — also known
as increasing HealthSpan — which led him to found Novos, a longevity supplements company (meaning he has a vested interest in promoting anti-aging).
4 Dark chocolate ©Getty
Dr. Simon Poole dark chocolate – Bing video
A square or two of high-percentage dark chocolate is a very filling snack, Poole said.
He recommends choosing chocolate that is 85% cocoa and has a “lovely bitter taste.”
“One square will fill you up, and people will get used to a slightly more bitter chocolate
if they wean themselves off the high sugar, low cocoa chocolate,” Poole said.
Dark chocolate is high in antioxidants, and consuming a small square a day
could reduce the risk of some diseases such as heart disease, Poole said.
Poole recommended snacking on any piece of fruit. ©Getty
“Just carry an apple or a tangerine with you, then you’re going to get a really nice little boost of sugar, but relatively slowly released with fiber and vitamin C, and other minerals,” Poole said.
Related video: 10 Daily Habits of People Who Age Well (Martha Stewart Living).
Mirabile told Insider he had what’s known as the DunedinPACE Test that uses a person’s blood as a snapshot to measure their pace of aging, which was developed by researchers at Duke and Columbia universities. Although Mirabile said he doesn’t look 26, he said his results suggest he has the risk of death and disease of someone in their 20s.
Due to a family history of obesity and ill-health, Mirabile doesn’t think genetics explain what he claims is his biological age. Instead he credits a healthy lifestyle “accessible to the common, average person,” involving good sleep, a balanced diet, and regular exercise.
“It’s not for billionaires or people spending $2 million a year on testing and so on,” Mirabile said. “It’s for you and me, it’s for all of us.” It’s also not overly restrictive because he doesn’t find a super strict lifestyle sustainable, he said, which evidence shows is a universal experience. “You’re sacrificing so much from life and you’re also taking things away from your loved ones who want to have fun and do things with you,” he said.
Enjoying treats in moderation
“You’re sacrificing so much from life and you’re also taking things away from your loved ones who want to have fun and do things with you,” he said. In his 20s, Mirabile became interested in longevity research and learned that a lot of common short-term health goals related to our bodies aren’t necessarily good for long-term health, such as rapid weight loss.
With this in mind, Mirabile doesn’t deprive himself of foods he likes that, depending on how they are prepared, can be higher in sugar and saturated fats, such as pasta, pizza, tiramisu, sushi rolls, and Thai food. He just enjoys them in moderation, saving them as weekend treats, he said. “I don’t overindulge. I eat just until I feel content,” Mirabile said. He suspects he eats in a slight calorie deficit during the week and a slight surplus at the weekends, meaning his weight stays stable.
When Mirabile does order, say, a pasta dish, he’ll order one with nutritious ingredients such as garlic, spinach, and olive oil, he said. “We want to enjoy ourselves but balance the longevity benefits,” Mirabile said.
The only foods Mirabile never eats are things like greasy fried chicken: “Those types of foods never agreed with me. I get stomach aches from them and have never craved them.”
Mirabile drinks alcohol on special occasions but not every weekend, and he drinks coffee and tea too, he said. According to the World Health Organization, there is no safe amount of alcohol to drink that does not affect health, while black tea has been linked with health benefits such as a reduced risk of heart disease and stroke, and coffee could help reduce risk of chronic illness, according to research.
Mirabile eats a nutrient-dense diet during the week:
During the week, he aims to eat minimally-processed, nutrient-dense foods such as fish, eggs, probiotics such as sauerkraut and kimchi, and a diverse range of plant-based foods, including in his daily protein smoothie.
“The American Gut Project found that those who are eating more than 30 different
species of plants had the healthiest microbiomes,” Mirabile said. Having a healthy
gut microbiome has been linked to improvements to digestion, the immune system,
and mental and physical well-being.
1 WEEK of Intermittent Fasting | My Thoughts, Tips + Before After Results – YouTube
Mirabile aims to intermittent fast every day, eating all his food in an eight-hour window — usually around 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Time-restricted eating has been linked to health benefits such as lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of diabetes.
Supplements-wise, Mirabile takes his own longevity supplements Novos Core and Boost, omega-3s, a vitamin B complex, a multivitamin, and sometimes before bed he takes a low dose of extended release melatonin and some chamomile tea with valerian extract to help him sleep.
Evidence suggests that most supplements are unnecessary for people living a healthy lifestyle with a balanced diet, and overdoing it can lead to nasty side effects.
Prioritizing rest and exercise
Both exercise and sleep are thought to be key for lengthening our HealthSpan,
and Mirabile takes both seriously. He works out six days a week, incorporating both
cardio and strength work into his training, changing his workouts every so often to
keep his body guessing.
“I’m always challenging my body and tricking it, so I’m not going to get as big as a bodybuilder focused on hypertrophy, and I’m not going to be as slim as someone who’s focused purely on strength,” he said.
He aims to be in bed by between 10.30 p.m. to 11 p.m., sleeping for at least eight hours a night and tracking it with an Oura ring and Apple watch. Getting detailed sleep data led to Mirabile cutting down on alcohol after seeing how much it affected his sleep, he said.
To give himself the best chance of sleeping well, Mirabile wears an eye mask and ear plugs so he isn’t woken in the morning when his girlfriend is getting ready for her day, he said. Mirabile also uses wifi-connected light bulbs that dim and turn red automatically an hour before bed.
“It really helps me and my girlfriend ease down and when our heads hit the pillow,
we fall asleep in three or four minutes,” Mirabile said. “It really helps to get that melatonin produced and helps with the sound sleep throughout the night.”
While blue wavelength light, such as that emitted from phone screens and laptops,
is thought to suppress melatonin and keep us awake, red wavelength light has been linked
to boosting melatonin production in some small-scale studies, but substantive research is lacking.
Mariana Figueiro, director of the Mount Sinai Light and Health Research Center in
New York City, told CNN that it could be that by using red light at night, the benefit
comes from avoiding blue light.
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