Bulletproof Founder Dave Asprey on Biohacking and Why We’ll All Live Past 100

by SUSAN PASCAL

In his latest book “Super Human,” Bulletproof founder Dave Asprey offers a revolutionary approach to anti-aging. In his youth, Asprey suffered numerous symptoms of aging, conditions which sparked a life-long quest to grow younger, stronger, and healthier.

For more than twenty years, he has been on a journey to find innovative, science-backed methods to upgrade human biology and redefine the limits of the mind, body, and spirit. Now in his forties, Asprey is smarter, happier, and more fit and successful than ever before. In Super Human, he shows how this is level of health and performance is possible for everyone at any age.

1. The intro to your book states that, as a young man, you "suffered countless symptoms of aging." What did you go through and how did you turn your health (and ultimately, life) around? Where did you begin in your research?

I went through a good amount of struggles biologically as a teenager clear into my 20’s; from arthritis in my knees at age 14–lab test showing high risk of heart attack and stroke before I was even 30–to an extra hundred pounds of fat, to even cognitive problems I expected to happen fifty years after they hit me. You could say that I got a brief and terrifying glimpse of what we expect aging to be like. We could have an entirely new conversation about what that did for me psychologically as a kid. Bullying does create significant trauma in the development of children as we all know.

Eventually, I just got sick and tired of being sick and tired, literally. Doctors, nutritionists, trainers–I tried all the things that were supposed to work; like working out for 90 minutes a day, six days a week, for a year-and-a-half, while eating a low-fat diet. I got stronger but my 46-inch waist didn’t get smaller.

Doctors then didn’t have a clue, so I took my life into my own hands. That is exactly what it means to be a biohacker: taking control of your biology by changing the environment around you and inside of you so that you have the power to be whatever you choose. The human body is truly incredible, and it listens intently to the world around you in which you choose to put yourself. When you make small changes to the things you already do, your body will listen.

2. In your new book “Super Human,” you discuss the Seven Pillars of Aging. What are they and can people who are middle aged or older benefit and “age backward"?

We used to believe that aging is something that just happens to us. In the last 30 years of focused research, scientists all over the world have figured out that there are seven things that happen in our bodies that are making us old. To live a lot longer than you think and feel a lot better than you probably believe you have a right to feel as you age, you do things that support those pillars. Before, we just didn’t know what to do, because we didn’t know why we aged. Now we know. And the good news is you don’t have to be perfect–just support each one a little bit and you will see the results.

Without drawing out full explanations that are in the new book, all seven of the pillars surround cellular health and the scientific research that is exponentially advancing–your body losing stem cells you need to stay young, your “power plants” mutating into weaker versions of themselves, or even “zombie cells” that don’t do anything but won’t die all the way to make way for younger cells. After 20 years of running a nonprofit, anti-aging group in Silicon Valley, I am comfortable in saying that we are now able to understand the cause and effect of aging like never before in the history of existence. What that means is that we now know how to significantly slow the effects of the aging process and in some cases, even reverse it.

3. What is the secret to Bulletproof Coffee and how does it contribute to anti-aging?

Bulletproof Coffee has three secrets. The first is Brain Octane Oil, a unique extract from coconut oil that is significantly stronger than MCL oil. It provides energy to your cells in a way different than sugar does. The second secret is the beans themselves–Bulletproof Beans are lab-tested and processed differently to remove toxins that can affect how you feel after you drink coffee. And, finally, instead of milk, which takes away the anti-inflammatory effects of coffee, we use grass-fed butter. Butter has exactly the same fat as milk with all the benefits but none of the inflammatory proteins when you drink it. Instead of having breakfast, it’s amazing how sharp your brain feels and how little hunger affects you.

It’s taken off with people of all ages–more than a hundred million cups served, and people have lost more than one million pounds on the Bulletproof Diet, which includes the coffee.

When you have coffee that doesn’t create inflammation and provides energy without raising your blood sugar, it can help your metabolism to get younger. When your metabolism is younger, your cells repair themselves better. Removing inflammatory things from your diet is a simple way to live longer.

The good news is that Bulletproof Coffee is creamy and delicious so you aren’t giving up anything taste-wise. Definitely worth mentioning, one of the four things that is most likely to end your life early is Alzheimer’s Disease. Women get it more than men. It is now established that a ketogenic diet lessens the impact of Alzheimer’s and may even reverse mild forms of it.

Bulletproof Coffee makes it easy to experience ketones without having to go on an extreme diet.

4. Based on your research, what is the future of anti-aging?

Many people reading this are going to have happy and productive lives beyond the age of 100. There will come a day when we laugh at the term “anti-aging” just like we don’t use the term “anti-Polio.” For the first time in my life, I am 100 percent certain that we can realistically extend our maximum lifespan by at least 50 percent. And that’s why I plan to live to at least 180.

It will require us to build a world that enhances life instead of causing stress, one of the values of wisdom that comes from decades of experience. When people routinely live way longer than they do today, we feel a lot more pressure to care for our environment, because we will have to live in the mess we make if we don’t do something about it.

Just think about it–one hundred years ago, we were still fighting wars on horseback, while today, we are seeing real life Star Wars. That same exponential growth is happening in the field of longevity and biohacking. The tech and procedures are getting better and cheaper every day. Think about where we’ll be in just 10 years time.

For me, living to at least 180 years old with and extraordinary quality of life is conservative. My mission is to open those doors of possibility to everyone on the planet.

SUSAN PASCAL

Susan Pascal is editor of The Sunday Paper. She lives in Los Angeles with her two kids.

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