This book is 396 pages and packed full of information! So this summary can only scratch the surface... I try to include what in my mind were the most important points. But what I can say right on the outset is that I highly recommend Longevity Now by David Wolfe for your natural health library.
"How do we achieve extreme longevity like that of the great Taoist masters and the Vedic yogis who lived to 130 and even 252 years of age, such as the Shivapuri Baba, who lived 137 years?
"A big part of my work has been about focusing on the answer to that question. Obviously, they understood the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of longevity, yet it also appears they understood the nature of parasites, hormones, and the dangerous repercussions of calcification on our tissues. Armed with this knowledge, these great masters developed dietary approaches, herbal purges, physical tissue-cleansing strategies, and alchemical techniques; they sought out and bathed and drank from sacred high-mountain springs and glacial melt-water sources.
"All these strategies are similar to what is outlined in this book. Longevity Now contains numerous concepts and strategies that I have learned from twenty years on the road in the health field. I believe that by understanding and utilizing the ideas in this book and by taking action you will be empowered to unlock your body's potential to become younger."
- David Wolfe, p. 1, Longevity Now
Eat organic
Eat wild foods. If you cannot eat at least 25% wild foods, include raw, organic, green superfood powder in your diet, as well as fresh vegetable juices.
If you eat cooked foods, have a salad with it and add cultured foods, seaweeds, and superfoods.
Take high-quality enzymes with meals and in between meals.
Fermented foods are an important part of a healing diet because of the enzymes and beneficial bacteria present in them.
Chard, grown in a pot on a window sill with volcanic rock dust, bone meal, and Ambaya Gold liquid minerals added into the soil to produce a highly mineralized plant. Probiotics and worms in the soil would provide an added benefit. (All images and their captions are mine and not from Longevity Now.)
Eat less food, although this is only possible to do if mineral-rich food is eaten.
Fresh vegetable juices and blended green drinks daily is one of the fastest ways to transform your body.
Root vegetables for neurological health (garlic, onion, burdock, radish).
Ideally eat nuts with or in a green salad to counter their acidity. Soak 6-24 hours until slightly soft. You can also soak and then dehydrate them. Eat with sea salt.
Don't eat soy products, grains or raw/ sprouted legumes.
Hemp seeds and spirulina for GLA (EFA) for super-anti-inflammatory and hormone balance.
Eat low on the food chain to avoid toxins.
Plankton, algae and hemp seeds are the highest foods in protein.
Eat wild grasses: 5-26 days old, before flowering. You can eat powdered grasses for nutrition on the move. Use green powders also in salad dressings.
Superherbs to take: Pau d'arco tea, chamomile tea, chamomile herb (eaten), chuchuhuasi tea (for menstrual irregularities), nettles (diuretic), sacha jorgun (for liver rejuvenation), dried horsetail, mucuna (for dopamine - it's an anti-stimulant), etc. Longevity Now -book lists the effects of these and more superherbs.
Also recommended to avoid: excessive sugar and excessive fruit, drugs, tobacco, caffeine.
Alternative sweeteners you can use: stevia, xylitol, yacon root.
Avoid foods that are likely to be genetically modified ('GMO'): vegetable oil, soy, corn starch, corn syrup, corn oil, canola.
To avoid GMO generally: Eat organic, eat superfoods and superherbs, buy at local farmer's markets and ask where the food comes from, buy wholefoods, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seaweeds, sprouts.
Radish sprouts have a very nice, strong peppery flavour and only take a few days to grow.
One of the most powerful transformative experiences is to move away from hydrogenated oil and onto raw, living oils and fats. Marked improvements in health.
Don't use teflon, it's extremely toxic. Especially not at high temperature. Use 316-T stainless steel (e.g. Salad Master) or borosilicate (e.g. Pyrex).
Avoid processed foods.
Use natural beauty and hygiene products: If you cannot eat it, don't put it on your skin.
Avoid sulphur dioxide by only eating organic goji berries.
Watch out for sodium nitrate in smoked fish.
Forage for wild foods.
Soy contains trypsin inhibitors, and can inhibit protein digestion and affect pancreatic function. Soy can cause many health problems, including: 'thyroid disorders, cancers, brain atrophy, endocrine system disorders, etc. If you must consume soy, have less than two servings per week. (pp. 150-151)
Eat sea salt, rock salt or full spectrum salt. Essential for minerals and hydration.
Pink Himalayan rock salt has health benefits. One of the easiest way to improve your health is to switch your chemical table salt to natural rock salt or sea salt. Read more here.
The first step in getting the body's chemistry in proper order is to become well-hydrated and with the best water and sea salt ever. Completely avoid tap water in all forms. Get a shower filter.
Raw plant foods, superfoods, medicinal herbs, fresh spring water, laughter, bliss, joy, positive thoughts, hope and unconditional love all exist in a high frequency range.
Detoxify metabolic wastes, heavy metals, pathogenic organisms, volatile organic compounds, distressed emotions, spiritually stuck energy, other energies. Key facilitators of this process are: liver, kidneys, lymph fluid, skin, brain, gastrointestinal tract and the entire immune system.
By decreasing pathogen, viral and nanobacteria -load in our bodies we improve physical and mental energy and acuity.
"Longevity Now approach enables us to step into higher energy states where we feel deeper joy in being alive, a deeper sense of well-being, a return of laughter and [...] hope..."
- David Wolfe, p. 156, Longevity Now
Detoxification tools: fulvic acid, MSM (pine resin), zeolites, shilajit, EDTA, clay, Patrick Flanagan's Crystal Energy, herbal detox systems (Triple Herbal Treasures) designed to remove hardened mucoid plaque from the small intestines, green juice fasting, water fasting, Ann Wigmore -style raw detox diet (low fat, low sugar, high fibre and high alkalinity - should only be done temporarily), sauna, inversion yoga, rebounding, enemas, colonics, deep tissue body work (rolfing, romi romi), grounding, zapper technology (e.g. blood electrification devices), bad hormone removal (beet juice, indole-3-carbinol (I3C), DIM, progesterone cream, fiber.
Some unhealthy food and lifestyle cravings present themselves when we are tired. Be prepared: go to sleep early, drink spring water with lemon and good salt. Break the old cycles. Cravings are always temporary.
Weight-loss can be achieved by eating low-calorie, nutrient-rich, organic foods (vegetables, superfoods, superherbs) instead of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods, such as: starchy carbohydrates (bread, pasta, pastries, etc.).
The richer the food is in minerals, the more difficult it becomes to overeat it.
Thyroid challenges: Get stress levels down; nourish and detoxify the body; stay grounded; build up progesterone (women only), testosterone, DHEA, vitamin D3; eat maca, coconut oil, coconut products, kelp, Brazil nuts (3-4 each day), fruits rich in vitamin C, foods high in B vitamins and enzymes (sauerkraut) and supplements. Detoxify the body and the thyroid by detoxifying bad calcium.
Hormone health: Eat eggs with runny yolk for choline; beet roots, beet juice and goji berries for TMG - or DMG/ TMG supplements; methylcobalamin B12; MSM; Vitamins B6 & B9. These help the liver detoxify bad estrogen. (p. 187-189)
Bad estrogen removers are present in berries, button mushrooms, calcium D-glucarate, citrus essential oil, citrus peel, cruciferous vegetables, defatted flax, DIM, ellagic acid, I3C, iodine, lignan-rich foods and herbs, melatonin, raw carrots.
Lemon peel helps to remove bad estrogen from the body, improving hormone balance, according to Longevity Now by David Wolfe.
Natural hormone builders: Frozen or fresh bee pollen; cacao; chaste or vitex berry alcohol tincture sublingually (for women); cistanche (Chinese herb); coconut fat (cream and oil); deer antler; DHA from fish, krill and algae; fennel; maca; oats; pregnenolone (as supplement); progesterone cream from wild yam root; raw organic butter; reishi mushroom spore oil; pine pollen alcohol tincture sublingually; saturated fat (important); tongkat ali (for men, Indonesian root, significantly increases testosterone); tribulus (for men, increases testosterone); yam/ sweet potato.
Wild yam cream: Begin 12 days after your cycle starts and continue for two weeks. Apply to different body part each time: thin-skinned areas behind the knees, inside elbows, on genitals, belly on the neck, under the breasts and along the breastbone. Men can use progesterone cream too but only 3-5 days per month.
Hormone-promoting supplements: Beta-carotene, sea salt, Vitamin D3, Vitamin E (100 units per day).
Conquering estrogen dominance and improving androgenic metabolism: accelerates wound healing, improves athletic performance, improves arthritic conditions, improves lean muscle mass, improves mental facility and acuity, increases anti-inflammatory actions in the body, increases healthy libido and improves sexual performance, increases production of red blood cells, increases sense of well-being, slows the deteriorating effects of aging, supports the cardiovascular system, supports the entire endocrine system.
Avoid soy for hormone health. Avoid coffee, too many cashews, too much flax seed, too much tea tree oil, too much alfafa, and other foods because of phytoestrogens.
Ok phytoestrogenic foods: cannabis (raw), dates, pomegranate, juniper, mistletoe, sprouted and cooked peas, black-eye beans, red beans, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds.
Hormone health: Avoid non-organic dairy and meat, farmed fish and shellfish, unfiltered tap water, laundry detergent, fabric softeners, food colourings, etc. (p. 184)
Bone health: progesterone, weight-bearing exercise, vitamin D3, sunlight (don't use harsh soaps on skin after), amino acid lysine, minerals (hydrogen, boron, carbon, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, silicon, sulfur).
Cellulite: Citrus oils (essential oils) massaged into cellulite to reduce it - also dissolves bad estrogen.
The following prevent the conversion of androgens to bad estrogens: chamomile, damiana, hops, Hops X Factor supplements, nettle root (for men only), olives, olive oil, passion flower and its alcohol tincture, onions, apple skins, berries cruciferous vegetables, dark grapes, blueberries, saskatoon berries, Japanese knotweed root, resveratrol (mostly not from supplements).
Both anaerobic and aerobic exercise is important for hormone health.
Grounding is important for hormone health because the earth regulates our hormones.
For good calcium: Pith of citrus fruit, carob, mesquite, wheatgrass, green-leafed vegetable sources, raw dairy (if you have the enzymes to digest them), pearl calcium supplement.
Silicon and magnesium, which the body makes into calcium, are present in horsetail herb extract, bamboo sap, hemp leaf, cacao/ chocolate, chlorella, green vegetables, oatstraw, silicon-rich waters, silicon and magnesium supplements.
Decalcify - remove bad calcium by 1) following the hormone-health advice in this book 2) zeolites, fulvic acid, mega hydrate, crystal energy, DMSO, shilajit, EDTA to dissolve bad calcium and to break down the shells around nanobacteria.
Zeolite clay - best taken mixed in a glass of water. Zeolite has a mild clay taste.
To strengthen the immune system, to remove 'unwanted guests' (parasites etc.): aged garlic extracts, 'triple herbal treasures' (cloves, wormwood, black walnut), medicinal mushroom extracts, noni seed powder, mangosteen, cat's claw, citric acid, etc.
Rejuvenate cells, remove damaged tissue and remove debris: Enzymes, adaptogenic herbs, probiotics, vitamin C plant powders (camu camu powder, amla, acerola, rosehips, kakadu plum), krill oil, marine phytoplankton, etc.
Use Zapper and grounding technologies to destroy and evacuate bad bacteria and to normalize your circadian rhythms.
Deep tissue bodywork and yoga, rebounding, bongers, rolfing, body electronics, David Wolfe's neckwork protocol, Chinese gua sha, Maori romi romi.
Don't eat processed food regularly, drink pure water (low in calcium and iron), abstain from meat and fish, abstain from pasteurized dairy, abstain from alcohol and coffee, floss teeth regularly, exercise regularly, get a good night's sleep.
Zeolites for liver support and to detoxify heavy metals, environmental and food toxins, VOL's and positively charged problematic things in general. The liquid form is more potent.
MSM cream on the skin to heal wrinkles and scars.
Oxygen therapies, Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS), and ozone therapies are very effective in lowering viral loads, killing deshelled calcium-forming micro-organisms, destroying candida, and destroying cancerous cells. However, the excessive use of oxygen therapies can lead to oxidation and aging.
David Wolfe on intestinal dysbiosis:
"A dysbiosis occurs when natural friendly bacteria are unable to proliferate due to heavy antibiotic or garlic use, or because unfriendly bacteria, yeast, mold, viruses, calcium-forming organisms, and/or other parasites have gained the upper hand in one's digestive tract. Supplementing the diet with friendly bacteria (probiotics) helps heal dysbiosis." (p. 285)
Other causes for intestinal dysbiosis mentioned elsewhere in the book: factory-farmed dairy and meat, stress, high-sugar diets, excessive carbohydrate intake.
Patrick Flanagan's MegaHydrate and CrystalEnergy (contain silica, negatively charged hydrogen ion clusters, silica hydrade) are perhaps the strongest antioxidants known. Increases hydration, allows the cells of the body to absorb more water, improves Zeta potential, i.e. the electronic charge of cells, makes bad calcium soluble.
Long-standing nutritional deficiency of sulfur, silica, ormus minerals, polysaccharides and Omega 3s (DHA, ALA, EPA) appears to be linked to bad calcification.
Herbal immune boosters to help the body cope with nanobacteria, parasites, bad calcium, toxic wastes: aged garlic extracts, garlic, triple herbal treasures (cloves, wormwood, black walnut - use for 100 days to kill parasites and their second-generation eggs), reishi mushroom, cordyceps, agaricus blazei, lion's mane, maitake, shiitake, chaga, tramertes versicolor, noni fruit, noni seed powder, mangosteen, cat's claw, citric acid.
Wild-harvested chaga mushroom (sawn into pieces). David Wolfe has written a full book on the healing powers and medicinal properties of this plant. Chaga is a tree mushroom and it dries hard as wood - thus it is best enjoyed steeped in a tea.
'Clean-up crew support' that will help clean toxins that were released by the above methods: enzymes (metabolic and digestive), angelica root (properly dried), asparagus root, astralagus, brahmi (bacopa), deer antler velvet, eucommia bark, ginseng, gynostemma, ho shou wu, rhodiola, schizandra, tulsi (holy basil).
"Vitamin C is a super-critical part of Longevity Now." Get it from plant powders.
Krill oil, algae oil, marine phytoplankton for Omega 3s (EPA and DHA). The first two are the most bioavailable sources and less toxic than cod liver oil. Marine phytoplankton is a superfood with almost every nutrient we need within it. These are different kind of Omega 3s from those present in flax, chia and hemp seeds.
Marine phytoplankton helps us produce cellular energy without burning calories or using energy for digestion. Benefits include:
"There are hundreds of references in peer-reviewed medical journals detailing the vast array of human health benefits from consuming marine phytoplankton and other microalgae.
"The high chlorophyll content in marine phytoplankton increases oxygen uptake; higher oxygen uptake means more fuel to muscles, which translates to improved performance and endurance. With the smallest nano-particulate size of all microalgae, marine phytoplankton deliver vital life energy at the DNA level and also penetrate the blood/ brain barrier, feeding the high master glands located deep in the brain and increasing mental clarity.
" [...] increase in residual energy builds up significantly when it is ingested on a daily basis."
- David Wolfe: Longevity Now, pp. 291-292
Amino acids for cell rejuvenation: Lysine, tryptophan, arginine (in lower quantity than lysine). Get lysine from: bee pollen, royal jelly, deer antler velvet, raw dairy.
Calcium-stone breaking herbs: Chanca piedra, gravel root, neem, sugarcane, raw butter and cream, honeycomb, molasses, Wulzen Factor -foods. All should be eaten unpasteurized.
This is only a small tip of the iceberg of what Longevity Now has to say and I recommend you buy the book to understand each of the methods discussed above. At the very least, ensure that you research each method, herb, food, supplement, etc. carefully before using, as it is beyond the scope of this article to provide enough guidance for the safe use of these. Please always treat natural remedies with respect, some of them are very powerful.
Please note that all the images and their captions in this article are mine and not from the book.
Wolfe, David: Longevity Now: A comprehensive approach to healthy hormones, detoxification, super immunity, reversing calcification, and total rejuvenation (North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California 2013)
Dr. Brian Clement: How to Stop Aging
"Hippocrates Lifeforce: Superior Health and Longevity" (book)
"Longevity, Enjoying Long Life Without Limits" (book)