I gave up most alcohol in 2004. Most years I do not drink at all. Over the past 3 years I may have had the equivalent of 6 beers max.
I eat chicken 5 days a week. I eat fish. Salmon is on the menu.
At 71 I have already endured two aortic valve replacements. This was unrelated to the two incidents of undiagnosed disease, which landed me in hospice twice.
At that point, I reconciled myself to the fact that I was on the way out. On the days that I had some energy I started hiking. I also condensed a list of essential foods that I would eat every day in an eight hour window, disregarding calories. The list includes but not limited to the following: a daily shake consisting of a handful of kale handful of blueberries handful of walnuts, large pinch of broccoli, sprouts, three sheets of kelp and between three and 6 g of creatine. Before ingesting I eat some protein, either fish, lean meat or beans I then continue on with a small or half avocado, a kiwi handful of blackberries and raspberries handful of pumpkin seeds and sundry probiotics such as pickles, sauerkraut, and kimchi.
After adjusting all of these, I allow myself anything else I desire within my eight hour feeding window.
What I have found that when I load my digestive system with varied nutrient dense foods by appetite seems to disappear.
I am now at the point where I have to focus on keeping my wake up. I’m allow myself to eat whatever and whenever I want.
I find that when I stop eating by 5 PM. I feel considerably better the next morning. My belief is at my age. I need maximum time for digestion. When my digestive tract is in homeostasis, I usually have a BM. in the first few hours.
I believe the best way to achieve homeostasis is to focus on security, proximity, and consistency.
When I achieved financial security, located myself near a green space and a variety of organic fruits and vegetables and practiced the lifestyle techniques of aerobic and resistance training, mindful, eating, and gratitude and acceptance techniques. My life is far beyond anything I ever imagined.
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Awesome! You are an inspiration and I have added your uplifting message to my personal files on healthcare.
I always say that I joined a SEAL Team with the motto, “Team Never Quit!”
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Consistency and discipline, conquer, desire, and intention
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TBI-CHI,
I’m glad you’ve continued to share your journey with the Rapa community. As you’ve shared more, there are a few things that have come to light that I’d like to comment on.
First, you talk about how you used to be fairly physically active and an athlete. You need to return to physical activity in a sustainable way that works for you. It’s probably a great idea to get lots of daily steps, a few hours a week of Zone 2 cardio, with some time spent in Zone 4/5, along with balance, mobility, and flexibility work - and do whatever you truly enjoy. It’s quite debatable if this will impact maximum life span (it seems like no), but it will certainly impact health span and quality of life.
Your extensive imaging and testing is also of some value, in part because it can give you motivation to change when you see measurable progress (or a lack of progress, or even worse, regression). Be careful about investing too many financial resources into things you don’t have the money for. Your huge supplement list doesn’t mean a lot if the foundations aren’t correct (diet, exercise, sleep, stress management, relationships, and so forth) - or as someone else said earlier, “put first things first.”
Investing tens of thousands of dollars in testing, imaging, and expensive therapies will be of little to no value, and may add financial stress to your life when you don’t have the foundation right. You seem to be on a cocktail of medications to aggressively control some of your cardiovascular metrics, and that’s good given your cardiac history.
I’m really sorry to hear about people dying around you. These tragedies are good reminders of why we should do everything we can to take care of ourselves. Every time someone close to me passes, it motivates me to double down and stay well.
Regarding your valve replacement surgery, this is an area I am quite familiar with, and I want you to consider the following. While it’s possible future heart surgeries may be done via a transcatheter procedure, don’t be so sure of that. Also, currently, OHS is preferable to TAVR in many/most situations. I want to again stress that this is probably the biggest bottleneck in your journey to 120 (if that’s even possible) and I don’t think you are giving it the attention it deserves.
You’ve talked a lot about your weight and your physician’s direction to reduce it. Getting down from 220 to 170 is a great idea and probably one of the most important things you can do. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 220-lb centenarian anywhere. I’m glad you are having success with the GLP-1 medication.
Regarding nutrition - Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, and a love for sugary danish’s? Come on man… there is very little nutrition here, even if your total calorie intake is low. The quality of food matters as much as the quantity. Plain matcha tea (single ingredient) with nothing added is a fine choice, but the moment things start getting added, it tends to reduce/eliminate many of the health benefits. Ditch the sugar and refined/processed food, and go for whole foods instead. Think vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts/seeds, lean protein, healthy fats, etc. And don’t for a moment think that fruit isn’t healthy. This paper on healthy aging and dietary patterns has been discussed at length on this forum, and fruit intake is one of the best predictors of healthy aging: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-03570-5
You also mentioned cheese, which is generally a bad idea due to the saturated fat content and its negative impact on LDL (though it’s probably a bit more nuanced than that).
At the end of the day, let the fact that you had a heart attack and survived be an amazing blessing. It’s a wake-up call to take control of your health and do everything you can to live a healthy life.
Please continue to update your progress. 
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Thank you for you well thought out response!
The target weight given to me by a long time family doctor who is now retired, was 160lbs in 1986. We shall see how great the team of doctors are that I have assembled at 3 different locations to get me to 160 or <170. I’ll put in the effort.
I have a horrible sweet tooth and desire for all things pasta. I have to retrain myself. As @dwglinn said above everything rests on consistency and discipline, conquer, desire, and intention. I’ll try to cut back on all fast food, including Chick fil A. I have my own barista system set up at home now so Starbucks is in my rearview mirror. Will read and follow the details in the paper on healthy eating of fruits. I met with dietitians a few months ago and the biggest hurdle is the amount of food that I consume. I was literally shocked when they broke out the cups for measuring my meal preparation. Initially I thought, there is no way I can eat just that every meal, but I will do it.
I found a private fitness club run by an MD who is in the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and I am going to see what programs they have that include a personal trainer. If they are affordable / reasonable cost-wise and I can meet with a trainer 2 to 4 times a week for 1 hour I will join.
Regarding the imaging and tests, they are expensive. I have never been so “studied” in my life. I wanted to get any indication of possible problems and deal with them while I am at an age where I can recover quickly should anything have to be done medically. My father’s mother lived to almost 102 and she had a simultaneous gallbladder removal and hernia operation in her late 70’s or early 80’s. I’d like to avoid a similar situation if possible.
I am 66 and do not know if I will live to 70. I feel good, better than I have in quite a while, and as I continue to lose weight and gain muscle I hope to feel better. 120 was just a number to kick off a conversation and I don’t know how seriously a number like 120 can be taken. I appreciate everyone humoring me. I am counting on longevity discoveries by doctors, scientists and artificial intelligence, brilliant medical care, the goodness of people to keep me alive and dumb luck.
I’ll keep in mind the possibility of TAVR or OHS.
A few days ago I had my first of 3, RF microneedling sessions. I will wait to order more sessions after I lose all of the weight.
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Sorry to break it you but it ain’t happening LOL. AI, scientific discoveries etc. will go a long way IMO to move the lifespan from say currently at 80 to maybe 90 or even 95 in few/couple decades. But it will do zilch, zero and nada to extend the outer/max limits of life. Yes, there will be many more (maybe 20-50 fold more) people making it to a 100 and even past it, but there will close to ZERO that will make it to 120 or beyond.
As matter of fact when I started this journey (longevity) about 20 years ago I was so optimistic (kind of where yourself are now) that I was openly blabbering that people will soon be living to 120,130, and even 150. But the more I educated myself on the subject the more I kept being convinced that there is no way in hell that humans can live a healthy life (one worth living) past 110. And, to make the matters worse in last 20 years there is NOTHING, absolutely ZERO in the way of science and new advancement in the longevity field that has credibly expanded human life even by one single day and everybody and their mother has been up in arms trying to come up with something.
What has however happened is that many things which contribute to longevity have been brought up and to the attention of way more people and that will go a long way in helping people live healthy lives well past 80’s and 90’s and before the inevitable happens which is to say become a vegetable in the 100’s LOL. And that is a great achievement as not too long ago that state was reserved for the over 80 crowd.
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I thank the Lord above for every pico-second that I get. People will readily dismiss The Bible, but Genesis 6:3 says man will not live beyond 120.
If I live to see 100 and I am healthy all along the way, that would be a small miracle. I used 120 to start a conversation.
Gave up on the cheese Danishes yesterday!!! The only thing I’ve had today are 2 cups of coffee and 2 bananas. I ordered $200+ in ceremonial and standard grade Japanese Macha. I’ll be sure to skip the sugar when I make it.
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In case this gives you inspiration:
You have never met another human on earth with a bigger sweet tooth or love of pasta than me.
I am famous for a diet of marinara/pasta and chocolate. When I married my husband, he said, you know, you can’t live on three foods forever :). (I’m exaggerating, but that is how often I was eating that stuff!)
Since then, I forced myself to eat dark chocolate over milk chocolate due to the health benefits. I haattted it at first, but just forced it in. Well, ffwd, I now find milk chocolate disgusting and I can eat 100% dark choc. I also find cheap chocolate kinda gross tasting … think M&Ms etc. Your taste buds really do adjust.
I am so used to eating a plant based whole foods diet now (it’s been many years at this point), while I still enjoy pasta, I now mostly eat it when I’m feeling lazy because it’s no longer even a favorite food.
Same thing happened with diet soda. I used to live on it. Someone told me it wasn’t good for you, so I stopped cold turkey… months later I went to have one as a treat and I dumped it out… tasted like chemicals.
Some people do well by just using moderation. For me, I do best when I just go cold turkey because then what those things used to taste like fades away and then my palate adjusts to the new healthier food. If I had constant reminders of how good the other stuff was, I don’t know that I would have gotten ‘over’ them. I think that is probably more true with ultra processed foods designed to make us addicted.
Also, I do agree with what others have told you… until you fix your diet, most of this other money you are spending is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. I am not minimizing how hard it is, but that is where your first focus should be. I say this not to pile on and beat you up, I say it because maybe it will provide you motivation if more people agree.
I have heart disease and I have given up foods with high sat fat. I’m now vegan and coconut is one of the tastiest ingredients I could use, but unless it’s a special occasion, it’s off the menu. Is it the thing that saves me? No way to know. But the evidence that cutting sat fat lowers LDL is solid. With having heart disease, and with that still being the number one killer, I can’t do all this other stuff while not doing everything in my power to make my foreseeable cause of death less likely.
One thing I’d recommend you check out is https://cronometer.com. Use the free version. For a few days, input what you eat into their daily log and it will tell you a lot about your nutrition. These days, you might be able to do something similar just using AI?
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Diet will be fixed. First Things First.
OK, way to go @Beth you went and got married on me when I wasn’t looking! Hahahaha… 
I thought that I had found my IT-AI tech support doppleganger.
Sorry to hear about your health issues. It’s dogging all of us.
I do better to stop bad habits cold turkey too.
I eat pretty well, better than 50/50 over the last decade but am again weaning myself off all the junk that will kill me. I eat dark chocolate too. I get set straight, then slide right back to bad habits in 12 months. Have to stick to a healthy plan. I’ll take a look at the cronometer app!
I am down to drinking less than one can of pop a week. I gave it up for years, then moved and picked it right back up. 3 cans have been sitting in my refrigerator for months.
My cupboard is full of pasta meals, and I have not made anything since at least January. I even have chickpea noodles.
I called to get a physical trainer for exercise today. Haven’t heard back yet. I’d like a trainer for 2+ hours per week to get me exercising properly. I’ll call again on Monday.
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*Cracking up!!!
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My gf just told me about leaf side meals and I placed an order of 12 of check out.
I normally don’t like packaged foods, but these look different and I thought they’d be nice to have them on hand when I’m not in the mood to cook.
You just add water.
They are whole foods plant based, but… you could definitely add your own chicken or whatever to them to make them a more satisfying meal.
They are kinda pricey at 12.95 per meal. On their site, they have ideas on how to stretch them into more servings.
Because most of us tend to eat unhealthfully when time or effort is the issue, I just wanted to share this resource incase you are interested. I’m a perfect example… I don’t have a kitchen this week due to having work being done, and I’m eating like total crappola! That is why my friend told me about this service… too little too late 
You sign up for a subscription, but you can just pause it or cancel after your first order… that is what I intend to do.
Edit: I wanted to share I’ve had 3 of the Leafside meals @TBI-CHI. They are great for a health shelf stable just add water meal, however… the taste is just decent. They were wonderful when I had no kitchen, otherwise I’m not sure I’d order them again at that price.
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Thank you! I will check out the meals. I will probably do as you say, join, and try them out at least.
I contacted the fitness club with the MDs and sports science degrees. I meet with them in 2 days.
If they let me join, I will, and I will ask that they get me to 160lbs to 170lbs and muscular. We will work on my aerobic capacity too, I’ll be sure of that.
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BTW - here is a great graphic developed from the “Optimal dietary patterns for healthy aging” paper that is worth consider.
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I screen captured it and will try to limit myself to the green items.
Don’t if you ask me. Fruits supposedly being the healthiest, they are healthy but not healthiest especially if they aren’t organic, plus they will make it very hard for you to lose weight. So, if you are skinny/slim go right ahead and eat a lot of fruits, and if you are overweight you better watch fruit intake. you can however eat vegies at will. Vegies are way better, and so is wild caught fish IMO. Whole grains bubble has started to burst lately as I saw couple docs saying that while they are ok, they aren’t what they are made to be which I knew all along. The difference between whole grains and grains in general is the fact that whole grains still have the bran intact (the outer layer), there is literally no other difference, none. While bran is a good choice for fiber (though fruits and vegies provide a lot of fiber and I prefer getting fiber from them) not much else is there in it, plus it contains the antibodies (the protective mechanisms of grains) which is bad for most people. Lately, I’ve seen few nutritionists saying that brown rice (whole grain) is not actually healthier than white rice. Many in the field will actually suggest avoiding brown rice for people with auto immune issues as an example. so take the table with a grain of salt LOL. I wonder if people who put the table together are the initial investors of lab gown meat LOL. So, the field went from always eat natural wholesome foods and NEVER consume highly processed foods to oh never mind forget about natural foods eat ONLY highly/highest processed foods LOL again.
The information is all out there and a Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest choices out there and no there isn’t much of corn oil or soybeans in that diet LOL. Fish/seafood, olive oil, and vegies/greens are the main ingredients of that diet
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As someone who eats enormous amounts of fruit, I strongly disagree.
You can eat:
1 kg (2.2 lbs) of strawberries for ~300 kcal
1 kg (2.2 lbs) of melon for ~250 kcal
1 kg (2.2 lbs) of watermelon for ~300 kcal
Fruits (and vegetables) are some of the best foods for volume eating, in my opinion.
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Well, you picked watermelon and berries which you may be right(not many on these boards are eating watermelon daily lol) but 1kg of pears = 1000 calories (and it is only 4-5 pears btw) and one banana over 100cal. You eat 3-4 of those and you are basically eating an additional meal. Same with some other common fruits such grapes, prunes, figs etc.
I don’t doubt that fruits are healthy and I eat a lot of them (too many but I like them lol) but my qualifier was and still is that if you are overweight you better watch fruit intake. I’m talking from my own experience which is to say i find it nearly impossible to lose weight at say 1500-1700 calories a day (I am a big guy and supposedly need 2500 calories per day) when I eat a lot of fruits. and, I have generally no problem losing weight (1500-1700 cal) when I skip the fruits and mainly eat protein, little healthy fats, and some vegies. I don’t think you are a good candidate to address the weight issue as from the picture you seem like you are fit. btw, @TBI-CHI main issue (and that is a big HUGE issue) is his weight, and telling him go eat gallons of fruit wouldn’t do him much of a favor. As a matter of fact, the most I ever lost was when I did what it is called Dukan diet and I won’t go into detail of what is (can be easily googled) but I lost 40lbs in 7-8 months (about 15 years ago). I have been stuck with a 20lbs that i badly want to get rid of and believe you me I have tried anything and everything (not Dukan this time yet) including eating fruits and vegetables/salads only (literally no other food) and restricting my calories to 1500-1800 only and eating whole wheat etc. and haven’t been able to lose one gram LOL. I think I’ll take the plunge once again into the dukan LOL (which I don’t like because it is very restrictive in first couple months) but that is the only way I’ve been able to lose.
Different people have different metabolisms/immune systems. I remember a girl I was dating a while back and all she had to do is limit the calories and no matter what it was (mix of protein, fruits and vegies) she could still lose weight. Not my experience bud, and I’m afraid a lot of people will fit my profile (those that have weight management issues).
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The issue with fruits are the blood glucose spikes. And why I take empagliflozin and acarbose. See:
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