What a longevity expert eats in a day

By Anahad O’Connor

The Washington Post

What do you need to eat to become a super ager?

If anyone would know, it’s Eric Topol, a cardiologist and author of the best-selling book “Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity.” Topol has spent years studying what it takes to become a super ager — someone who lives into their 80s or beyond without the debilitating chronic conditions (heart disease, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases) that strike so many adults.

Topol’s research suggests that almost anyone — with a little effort — has the potential to become a super ager. He and his colleagues at the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, which he founded, have been studying a cohort of 1,400 adults between the ages of 80 and 105 who have not developed any major chronic diseases. They found that genetics played almost no role in their exceptionally good health and longevity.

Instead, what separated them from their less-healthy peers were their lifestyle habits.

That means that becoming a super ager isn’t simply a matter of inheriting the right genes: It’s a matter of creating the right habits. Those habits, Topol said, are exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet, getting around seven hours of nightly sleep, and developing strong social bonds with family and friends.

To increase your odds of becoming a su...