Chapter 4 Eat, Drink, Glow

Nutrition to Make Your Cells Younger

The words detox and cleanse are used so often that, to many, they have become meaningless. You’ve seen them in every magazine. You’ve heard them on the news. You know they are used to tout juices and spas and all things healthy. But while these words are often used to promote healthy behavior, nothing they are being used to promote will actually flush out toxins from your cells.

That’s okay, because you naturally have the ability to get your body to “detox” and “cleanse” itself. And you can control that process.

All you need to do is get your body to eat itself—eat away your wrinkles, eat away your exhaustion, and eat away brain fog—and, yes, eat away your body’s own fat, too! Remember, autophagy literally means “self-eating” and it is a natural detox process that allows for the removal of toxins from your cells.

So how do you get your cells to self-cannibalize? The answer, strangely enough—and yes, I get that this is strange—is in what and when you feed them. Understanding how nutrition can activate autophagy gives you the power to detox your cells and slow aging.

Glow15 is not a diet. A diet is all about numbers: the number on the scale, the number of calories you eat and burn, and the number of foods you’re allowed to eat. On a diet, success is defined in terms of how well you stick to your numbers. Instead, this plan is all about results: energy, vitality, weight loss, beauty, and strength. I’ll give you the guidelines and nutrients to add to your existing food plan for maximum youth benefits. On Glow15, success is defined in terms of how well you feel, look, and thrive.

In this chapter, I will take you through the Glow15 way of eating. Backed by award-winning scientific research and made easy to follow by leading nutritionists, it is designed to be cyclical, turning autophagy on and off. You’ll find that in a very short time, it will become as easy as breathing in and out.

Guidelines to Get You Glowing

So how do you get your body to eat itself? Autophagy is activated in “stress mode,” so you’ll want to stress your cells a little bit in order to get them to start dining on your fat, wrinkles, brain fog, and exhaustion. One of the best ways to do this is through smart nutrition.

Smart nutrition starts with understanding that there’s value in all the macronutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrates) and micronutrients (vitamins, polyphenols, and minerals) found in natural foods. Again, instead of getting into a laundry list of “do” and “do not” and “don’t you dare” foods, it’s best to think about what foods will do the most to boost your youthfulness. It’s also important to learn more about timing as it relates to your diet, because when you eat can make the biggest impact on how youthful you look and feel.

1: IFPC

The acronym may sound like it stands for some kind of international health organization, but IFPC serves as the Glow15 approach to eating to activate your youth. IF stands for intermittent fasting, and PC stands for protein cycling. While it may sound complicated, it’s not in practice. Together, IF and PC serve as your autophagy on/off switch, the ignition that gets autophagy going. As with any fire, you need the spark to start it—and IFPC is it. As your body cycles through IFPC, you create a rhythm to your nutrition that allows autophagy to do its job—and this makes your cells act younger and healthier than they actually are.

Let’s take a look at how IF and PC work separately and then what happens when you put them together.

Intermittent Fasting (IF): IF is the practice of shifting between periods of unrestricted eating and restricted eating and is a key activator of autophagy. This is a natural and extremely effective way to put your cellular cleansing cleanup crew to work. If you’re constantly eating—which is the case for many of us as we graze throughout the day—it doesn’t give your cells a chance to repair and clean up the waste and toxins they have accumulated. Short periods of not eating give them the time to take care of those tasks.

Specifically, IF works by activating glucagon, which works in opposition to insulin to keep your blood glucose levels balanced. Think of a seesaw: If one side goes up, the other goes down. In your body, if insulin goes up, glucagon goes down, and vice versa. When you give your body food, insulin automatically rises and glucagon starts to decrease. But the opposite happens when you deny your body nutrients—insulin goes down and glucagon rises. An increase in glucagon triggers autophagy. This is why temporarily withholding nutrients, or intermittent fasting, is one of the best ways to boost the youth of your cells.

Research has shown that many of the benefits of IF—like burning more fat, providing more energy, and decreasing your risk of developing diabetes and heart disease—can be attributed to the activation of autophagy.

A fascinating finding from the journal Obesity is that in many cases, IF encourages the body to burn more fat while sparing muscle. In fact, it is four times better than caloric restriction at helping your body burn fat while preventing lean tissue loss.

In practical terms, here’s how IF works on the Glow15 plan: On three nonconsecutive days (your Low days), you will intermittent fast for 16 hours and eat during an 8-hour period. You can begin your intermittent fast after dinner the night before so the majority of your fasting hours occur during sleep. For example, if you stop eating at 8 p.m. and fast overnight, your first meal will be at noon the next day, so essentially, you’ll be skipping only breakfast. As long as your intermittent fast lasts for 16 hours, you can adapt your IF to your schedule. If you prefer to eat breakfast, you can start your intermittent fast earlier by skipping dinner the night before. Make the hours work for you, your body, and your lifestyle.

There is no need to intermittent fast for any longer than 16 hours. Research shows that 16 hours is optimal for creating the caloric restriction that happens during intermittent fasting and can activate autophagy through different nutrient pathways. A study published in the journal Cell Metabolism, led by Valter Longo from the University of Southern California with the participation of other researchers and clinicians from around the globe, reported that cycles of intermittent fasting have numerous positive effects, such as decreasing visceral fat, reducing cancer rates, improving the immune system, slowing down the loss of bone mineral density, and increasing longevity.

Protein Cycling (PC): PC is the practice of alternating between periods of low protein consumption and normal to high protein consumption. On Glow15 you will limit your protein intake to about 25 grams on the same three days you practice IF (your Low days). The other four days (your High days), you will eat normal to high amounts of protein.

PC has an effect similar to fasting. Creating protein deficiency also lowers your insulin levels—it’s that seesaw again—and that, in turn, boosts your glucagon and activates autophagy. This means your body will not store the foods you eat as fat, but instead work to build muscle and burn fat.

One of the main reasons PC works to enhance youth is because your body can’t create its own protein. Instead, it is forced to find every possible way to recycle the existing protein you’ve already provided it. If you deprive your body of protein, it will enhance autophagy, kicking your body’s recycling program into overdrive.

The problem is, we don’t normally deprive ourselves of protein. Actually, we generally eat enough protein to keep autophagy in “maintenance” mode. On average we eat 70 grams of protein daily, which is more than one and half times the amount typically recommended for women. But our bodies can handle periods without protein—if you think about it, this goes back to our ancestors, the hunter-gatherers who often had to survive for periods without a successful hunt. (Interesting note: Breast milk, the ideal and most complete food for babies, meant to be consumed when tiny bodies and brains need the best possible nutrition and are growing the fastest, derives only 6 percent of its calories from protein.) Now we have to choose to deny ourselves protein.

To be clear, low is not always the way to go. Being in a constant state of low protein will actually contribute to aging in the form of muscle wasting, accompanied by increasing weakness and immune deficiencies. So you need to have both high and low protein days—that’s the cycling part. There is evidence that protein cycling can help reduce the risk of diseases, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, in addition to enhancing autophagy.

IFPC: Picture the ocean. Those waves, big or small, are mesmerizing as they roll up onto shore, then retreat back. Up and back, up and back. High tide and low tide. Strong, then soft. The beauty of the ocean comes from that serene rhythm. Autophagy—like the ocean—is driven by cycles and rhythms. It needs to have an ebb and flow, which is what IFPC allows your body to do—rolling in and out of autophagy cycles. Remember, you want to turn autophagy on and off—inducing autophagy without ever inhibiting it is like always inhaling without ever exhaling.

When autophagy is turned on by intermittent fasting plus protein restriction, it creates a true shortage in your body that can be corrected only by your cellular cleansing cleanup crew doing its job. Of course, eventually the restriction must end to prevent overworking the system and damaging your cells, but for the entire restriction period, autophagy will be at work, since human cells must constantly make new proteins, regardless of conditions, in order to function.

Research shows that withholding specific nutrients from your body is actually better for your metabolism than continuous caloric restriction: Markers of metabolic health experienced greater improvements, including improvements in cholesterol, blood pressure, and inflammation, from intermittent fasting and protein restriction than from calorie restriction alone.

On Glow15, your three nonconsecutive days of fasting and protein restriction will be your Low days, and the four remaining days will be your High days. These can be any days you choose, but I like to be specific, and the majority of the women on the program picked Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as their Low days so they could indulge in unrestrained eating on the weekend.

High Days (4 days a week)

Unrestricted eating (no time window)

Eat average to high amounts of protein (10 to 35 percent of daily calories, or 45 to 55 grams)

How to calculate higher protein Multiply your weight (in pounds) by 0.36 (grams of protein recommended per pound of body weight). For example, for a 130-pound woman: 130 × .36 = 46.8, or approximately 46 grams of protein

Low Days (3 nonconsecutive days a week)

Fast for 16 hours (followed by 8 hours of eating)

Eat low amounts of protein (5% of daily calories, or less than 25 grams)

How to calculate lower protein Multiply your weight (in pounds) by 0.36 (grams of protein recommended per pound of body weight) and divide by 2. For example, for a 130-pound woman: 130 × .36 = 46.8 and 46.8/2 = 23.4, or approximately 23 grams of protein

2: Fat First, Carbs Last

Remember that one of the key principles of Glow15 is “timing matters”— when you eat what is more important than what you eat when. This is especially true of when you should have nutrients like fat and carbs to best activate your autophagy.

To allow your cellular cleansing cleanup crew to work efficiently, start your day, your first meal, with fats first and save your carbs for later. Let’s take a closer look at why the timing of these foods is critical in defying aging.

For years, dietary fat was portrayed as the primary adversary to our health. Fat is bad for you. Fat is evil. Fat will, well, make you fat. That was the hallmark line of thinking during the “low-fat diet” craze—a movement that saw food manufacturers remove fat from products, only to replace it with loads of sugar and other junk that were intended to fill the flavor void left by fat (they had to find a way to make their low-fat and fat-free products taste good, after all). In the end, that’s what messed up our bodies so badly: too much sugar, not enough fat. We all saw this push in markets and restaurants and everywhere we looked, with all those “fat-free” or “reduced-fat” labels and products (which stimulated cravings and led to overeating). Well-intentioned people passed along this message and this practice by saying that it was a means to better health. But they made a major mistake.

While many of us have been conditioned to think of dietary fat as our enemy, this is simply not the case. The truth is that fat does not clog our arteries, it does not raise cholesterol, and it does not make us gain weight. Dietary fat isn’t a villain. In fact, fat is our friend—it’s absolutely essential to optimal health. Fat is your body’s preferred fuel. It’s satiating, making it protective against cravings for unhealthy foods. It’s a nutritional hero with incredible powers to help you achieve optimum health.

My mantra is “fat first, fat most, everyday in every way.”

And, notably, autophagy is promoted by fat. Studies especially link fats like MCT (medium-chain triglyceride) oil and omega-3 fatty acids to the promotion of autophagy. These natural, unprocessed fats are found in real foods like avocado, butter, nuts, salmon, Alaskan cod omega-3 oil, coconut oil, and tea seed oil. Whereas eating protein or carbs can trigger insulin to be released—which, if you recall from the explanation of IFPC, works counter to autophagy-activating glucagon—fat does not. It does not promote the release of insulin. Instead, fat can prevent erratic spikes in blood sugar as well as keep you satiated.

Thankfully, I grew up with fat as the most abundant food in every meal or snack I ate. My parents never bought low-fat anything—ice cream, yogurt, crackers, or cottage cheese. They believed in full-fat foods and saw low-fat foods for what they were: overprocessed garbage that was masquerading as healthy food. My four children start every day the same way I did—by eating full-fat breakfasts. My eldest child, Megan, has started with fat first since she was in a highchair. Avocado was the first solid I gave her, and she continues to eat it to this day. Luckily for me, the rest of the children like to follow in their big sister’s footsteps, and I knew I was setting them up for a healthy life.

When You Eat Fat: This is nearly as important as the intake of fat itself. Eat fat first and make sure you incorporate it as part of every meal. A study in the International Journal of Obesity found that mice fed a high-fat meal at the beginning of the day had normal metabolic profiles, in contrast to those that ate a carbohydrate-rich diet in the morning. The latter resulted in increased weight gain, body fat percentage, and glucose intolerance, along with other metabolic markers. Fat intake at the time of waking can kick-start fat metabolism and keep you satiated throughout the day. This is why you will always have fat first on Glow15—regardless of whether you are on a High day or a Low day, the first thing you eat or drink will be full of fat. I start every day with AutophaTea. Adding fat to my morning tea provides satiety without adding more protein or carbs that could cut into my daily allowance on Low days—and it tastes good every day and curbs my cravings! Along with my tea, I like to eat an AvocaGlow or one of my Egg15 muffins.

On my Low days, I eat around noon, and on my High days, I’ll indulge soon after waking. Also, on my High days, I often like to add a nitrate-free bacon, which has some protein, but also gives me some additional flavorful fat. Perhaps one of the most interesting and helpful reasons to have fat first is that it carries the flavor in the food. The more fat you eat, the less sugar and salt your taste receptors require to register satisfaction. We’re biologically wired to feel pleasure from food, and fat is the macronutrient that most satisfies this need for pleasure.

Activating your autophagy with fat first not only gives you sustained energy, regulates your metabolism, and fights the signs of aging, it can also hydrate your body. One by-product of metabolizing food is water. More water is released when we consume fat than when we eat carbohydrates or protein—which means fat can help you glow.

What Kind of Fat You Eat: Embrace some of the good fats that the world has. They are found in fish like Alaskan cod, salmon, and sardines, in olive oil and tea seed oil, in nuts like macademia, in seeds like flax and sunflower, and in avocados—all important, youth-boosting foods that are part of Glow15. (For more details on the types of fats to use and when and how to use them, refer to chapter 9.)

The only type of dietary fat you should not include in your diet is trans fat. Trans fats are artificial and are created when hydrogen is added to liquid vegetable oil to make it solid at room temperature. These are being phased out by food manufacturers and restaurants, and must be avoided.

Carbs Last: Again, when you eat is important on Glow15, and this is particularly important with carbohydrates. It’s why you will not have carbs in the morning, but instead save them for later in the day.

The reason for this is that ketosis—a natural metabolic state in which your body uses fat as fuel in the absence of carbohydrates—is one of the best ways to boost autophagy. “Ketosis is like an autophagy hack,” says Dr. Colin Champ, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “You get a lot of the same metabolic changes and benefits of fasting without actually fasting.” However, on Glow15, your body does not need to be in a constant state of ketosis to reap its benefits and activate your cellular cleansing cleanup crew. This is because when you first wake, your body is already high in ketones. By skipping carbs for at least the first half of the day, you can take advantage of the autophagy that has already been initiated and prolong this nearly ketogenic state to further benefit from it.

Saving your carbs for later in the day also allows your body to use them most effectively. Carbohydrates can make your seesaw go haywire because they promote the release of insulin. When your blood sugar soars and plummets, you’ll feel tired and sluggish. But you need carbs to function—plus, they’re delicious! Carbs help bring on that stress-response mode, encouraging autophagy, and they make up some wonderful, autophagy-maximizing foods. Carbs also help provide energy for your body and help relax you, so eating your carbs later in the day can help you prepare for sleep.

You can enjoy all types of carbs on Glow15; however, carb quality matters.

To ensure you’re getting the highest-quality carbs, there are a few tips and tricks that I’ve found very helpful. First, eat “whole” carbs instead of processed or refined carbs. Examples include vegetables, fruits, legumes, and grains. Whole carbs contain higher amounts of fiber, making them a high-quality carb. Using Harvard University’s 10-to-1 rule can help you determine if a packaged food is high in fiber. Look at the label to find the total grams of fiber and multiply by 10. Then, compare that number to the total grams of carbs listed. If the amount of fiber multiplied by 10 is equal to or higher than the total grams of carbs, you have a high-quality carb.

How you prepare your carbs can also play a role in autophagy. For example, al dente pasta is better for autophagy than overcooked pasta. A green banana is better than a yellow one. And white potatoes that are cooked and cooled, like in potato salad, have much more impact on autophagy than mashed potatoes. Why? Scientists are discovering that an important fiber called resistant starch is a key player in our digestion as well as in the hormones regulating blood sugar.

By always starting your day with fat first and ending with carbs last, you can reap the cell-renewing, life-enhancing and -extending benefits of autophagy every day, not just on your Low days. You get benefits similar to IFPC by regulating the timing of two macronutrients—fat and carbs—and eating until you’re full. I believe this makes Glow15 enjoyable and feasible enough to practice for an especially long and healthy lifetime.

3: The Ultimate Youth Boost: AutophaTea

There’s a good chance that you already have a morning pick-me-up. For many of you, it’s a cup—or three—of coffee. For others, it might be diet soda. Or maybe you’re someone who reaches for an energy drink. Maybe you choose these beverages because you’re sluggish from a poor night’s sleep (see chapter 7 to improve sleep), or maybe you do it because it’s habit. But what if I told you there’s something better than all those options?

What if your morning pick-me-up could do more than just give you energy? What if it could also help you burn fat, boost your brain power, suppress hunger, increase your immunity, and make your skin glow?

That’s exactly what AutophaTea does.

I wanted to find one simple way to maximize autophagy every day, using the most potent autophagy-activating ingredients and making it easy to start your day with fat first. Plus, it had to taste delicious, be simple to prepare, and have the same top-of-the-morning juju that other caffeinated drinks provide.

I discovered the key to this age-defying drink when I was in Calabria, Italy, to meet with Dr. Elzbieta Janda and other scientists to learn about the powerful cholesterol-reducing whole citrus bergamot fruit. We started our exploration at the birthplace of bergamot, on the sun-drenched slopes of the Aspromonte mountain. The combination of the sea, soil, and air all come together to form unique growing conditions for this amazing fruit. Together we began to climb the mountain to meet with the farmers who grow these rare and potent fruits in their orchards. There we met Hugo, a fourth-generation farmer, who picked the fruit by hand as his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had done before him. As we walked through the orchard with him, Hugo carefully plucked a fruit from one of his trees and gently cut it open with his penknife. He made sure to include the pith—the thin white layer below the rind. This was critically important, Dr. Janda said, as the pith holds the majority of the fruit’s powerful polyphenols. We each took a bite: The bergamot had a delicious, fresh, sweet-and-sour taste.

Back at Dr. Janda’s laboratories, she explained that the juice and the pith were strong autophagy activators that could slow aging. While we were speaking, she offered me a cup of tea made from the fruit. Of course, I said yes—I grew up in England and have always loved drinking tea. Dr. Janda’s tea was a unique version of my favorite Earl Grey, created using the whole citrus bergamot. That afternoon we drank three cups of tea each, and I had to ask Dr. Janda why so many. She laughed and said that since her life’s work was dedicated to researching autophagy, she had to make sure she was activating her own so she could live younger with lots of energy to be the poster child of her work.

I was so excited about what I learned from Dr. Janda that when I returned home, I brought together my research team of PhDs, MDs, and nutritionists, and even had some tea experts weigh in. We realized we could add the whole citrus bergamot fruit to Earl Grey to make it a more effective youth activator. We identified three additional important and powerful ingredients to amplify autophagy’s antiaging effects: green tea, a powerful polyphenol that wakes up your metabolism; cinnamon, an immunity booster; and coconut oil, which is full of good fat to keep you satiated and give you energy. We mixed the three ingredients with the whole citrus bergamot fruit Earl Grey and, from the very first cup, I was hooked!

I could feel its power—I was energized, my mind was clearer, and I was satiated in a way I had never experienced from a drink before. Plus, it was delicious. I wanted to see if other people felt the same way I did, so I had my friends and family (my own personal guinea pigs) brew some of their own. Overwhelmingly, they agreed with my findings. Then we tried it out on the women in the Jacksonville University Glow15 study. Overwhelmingly, they agreed, too. In fact, more than 80 percent of the women who followed Glow15 reported that the AutophaTea was their favorite, tastiest, and easiest part of the plan. I heard over and over again that it was delicious, and I liked that so many women described it as drinking a warm cinnamon roll—an enjoyable and indulgent drink.

Plus, it came with all kinds of benefits. In fact, there’s powerful science that shows that the ingredients in AutophaTea work to boost energy, burn fat faster, reduce anxiety, increase metabolism, sustain heart health, increase immunity, protect your brain, and fight the diseases of aging. Why is it so effective? It all comes down to the main ingredients.

Whole Citrus Bergamot Earl Grey Tea: Using the whole citrus bergamot fruit and oil, this polyphenol-rich tea can induce autophagy to remove toxins from your cells and keep your heart healthy. By doing so, it improves insulin sensitivity to lower blood sugar. With its statin-like properties, it can decrease total cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Earl Grey is a black tea and contains 40 to 60 milligrams of caffeine per cup. Many Earl Grey teas contain synthetic bergamot oil, which will not give you any of the autophagy benefits, so be sure to look for whole citrus bergamot Earl Grey tea.

Green Tea: This powerful polyphenol increases metabolism and reduces anxiety. Active polyphenols like EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) in green tea activate autophagy. EGCG increases thermogenesis (the rate at which calories are burned), and studies show that people who drink green tea burn up to 100 calories more per day than those who don’t drink it. Green tea leaves are heated immediately after plucking, which prevents them from oxidizing. This lack of oxidation is responsible for the very low caffeine content of green tea—only 1 percent.

Cinnamon: This spice, high in antioxidants, has been shown to increase autophagy and have the ability to turn on longevity-related genes. Like green tea, cinnamon activates neuroprotective proteins and can reduce the negative effects of oxidative damage. Cinnamon has been shown to protect brain cells from neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and dementia. Cinnamon can also protect against cell damage, cell mutation, and cancerous tumor growth. Studies have revealed that these health benefits come from an autophagy-inducing compound called cinnamaldehyde, which can inhibit cancer tumor growth by protecting cells from damage, while also encouraging cancerous cells to self-destruct—a process known as apoptosis that works in conjunction with autophagy. Not all cinnamon is created equal: Look for Ceylon cinnamon, as it is considered “true cinnamon” and is of the highest quality.

Coconut Oil: Coconut oil is nature’s richest source of healthy medium-chain fatty acids, making it the perfect ingredient to help you start your day with fat first. It eases your hunger and stimulates autophagy by increasing ketone levels—especially in the absence of carbs. This combo is ideal for getting your cellular cleansing cleanup crew to work, as the MCT in coconut oil permeates cell membranes easily and can be utilized effectively by your body. It’s easily digested because the MCTs are sent directly to your liver, where they are immediately converted into energy rather than being stored as fat. Also, the ketones produced stimulate metabolism, and that promotes fat burning.

Every day on Glow15, you’ll start with a cup of AutophaTea. On High days, you’ll have it first thing in the morning, and on Low Days, you can drink it to break your fast. Each day, you can drink up to four cups, though I suggest you switch to decaf versions or stop drinking it after 2 p.m. because of its caffeine content. (You don’t have to give up coffee, if you like that, since coffee activates autophagy. Just have your AutophaTea first.)

Cheers to your youth!

4: Discover Autophagy-Activating Foods

Ever heard of saponins, sphingolipids, or sulforaphanes? Probably not. But they are all compounds found in foods shown to aid in autophagy. While the names may not be familiar, many of the foods are probably already in your kitchen.

The Glow15 way is not about elimination, but instead about embracing all the wonderful foods that you can eat. I will provide easy-to-prepare and delicious recipes that take the guesswork out of the equation, helping you activate your youth. You may even find yourself serving dinner with a “Saponin, anyone?” Here’s a closer look at the best autophagy-optimizing foods.

Glow15 Success Story

Tiffany “Healthy AutophaTea replaced my unhealthy soda habit”

“I never thought I’d be saying this—but it is possible to live without soda! I’ve been a cola drinker since high school—I drank it to get going in the morning, I drank it to pick me up in the afternoon, and I drank it with my meals and for snacks between. My doctors told me to quit—they were worried about my blood sugar and cholesterol. I knew it wasn’t good for me, but I liked the taste and the energy surge. I started Glow15 with the intention to get healthier, so I decided that I would replace my soda with AutophaTea. I was totally skeptical—tea with oil?—but it was surprisingly tasty. Remember cinnamon crunch cereal? I used to love drinking the milk from my bowl after I finished the cereal. AutophaTea tastes like a gourmet version of that cinnamon-y goodness. I drink 2 or 3 cups every day and I’m still impressed with how it keeps my hunger in check. It took a few days to really kick in, but then I found myself getting fuller faster—even on High days. I lost over 7 pounds in the first 15 days and my body mass dropped by 2 percent! But for me, the best part of Glow15 is what I gained: energy and confidence. I had more pep than I’ve had in years—a new ‘get up and go’ feeling! And my mind seemed clearer and more focused. With two young kids who always seem to be on different sleep schedules, I never expected to feel this good. I feel proud, I feel accomplished, and I feel I owe it all to Glow15.”

Polyphenols: These antioxidants protect against free radical stress and damage to cells. Eating a polyphenol-rich diet will activate autophagy to produce similar effects as IFPC in regulating life span and your metabolism. And some of the best sources of polyphenols are also the most indulgent. For example, the polyphenol resveratrol, found in red wine, has been shown to activate autophagy to reduce inflammation, boost heart health, and inhibit breast cancer. Go ahead, pour yourself a glass. And grab some dark chocolate, too—it’s filled with polyphenols that can activate autophagy. It also protects against free radical destruction, increases fat breakdown, and helps stave off hunger.

Food sources for polyphenols include:

Fruits: bergamot, black currants, blueberries, plums, prunes, strawberries
Herbs and spices: basil, cloves, cumin, peppermint
Nuts and seeds: almonds, flaxseed, hazelnuts, walnuts
Vegetables: artichokes, asparagus, black olives, broccoli, capers, chicory, endive, leafy greens, red lettuce, spinach, tomatoes
Other: red wine, cocoa powder, dark chocolate, coffee, green tea

Eat fruit raw and lightly cook vegetables to retain the most polyphenols. A study in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry also showed statistically higher levels of polyphenols in organic and sustainably grown foods compared to conventional varieties.

I believe that polyphenols are one of the best ways to supplement the Glow15 diet. In the next chapter, I’ll detail my favorite types of polyphenols—called Powerphenols—to boost your cellular cleansing cleanup crew and fight aging.

Sphingolipids: Think of a brick wall. Mortar is the sticky substance that holds the bricks together. As the wall ages and is exposed to the environment, the mortar can break down, causing the bricks to crumble and the entire structure to lose its strength. In your skin, sphingolipids are lipids in the cell membrane that act like mortar to keep the foundation of your skin strong. Sphingolipids decrease with age, and over time the cells of your skin are less able to hold their form—and that’s what makes your skin thinner and weaker. This is why it’s important to keep your sphingolipid levels high through the foods that you eat. The benefit? Fuller, plumper, hydrated skin. Beyond the skin, they regulate neurotransmitters binding to their receptors, important in healthy brain function (read: better moods, better decision-making, increased critical thinking, and improved memory). They can also trick your cells into thinking you’re fasting even on days when you’re not, which helps promote autophagy.

Food sources for sphingolipids include:

Carbohydrates: rice, rice flour products, sweet potatoes, whole wheat bread, whole wheat flour, wheat germ
Fats: butter, cream
Protein: cheese, chicken, cottage cheese, cow’s milk, beef, eggs, pork, turkey, yogurt

Omega-3 Fatty Acids: These good fats help protect the liver from the toxic effects of bad fats by turning up autophagy, suppressing inflammation, and stimulating fasting in some cells. Omega-3s have been shown to help improve heart health and serve an important role in protecting your brain cells. They work in part by preventing the misfolding of a protein resulting from a gene mutation in neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s.

Food sources for omega-3s include:

Protein: bass, halibut, Alaskan cod, herring, salmon, mackerel, sardines, shrimp, trout, tuna, grass-fed meat, egg yolks
Nuts and seeds: chia seeds, flaxseed, walnuts
Vegetables: Brussels sprouts, kale, spinach, watercress
Oils: tea seed oil, fish oil, mustard oil, hemp oil

Sulforaphanes: These sulfur-containing compounds are released by cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower when you chew or cook them. Sulforaphanes initiate autophagy by turning up processes that degrade old, abnormal proteins. They also behave as an antioxidant, blocking free radicals from causing damage to cells. They help brain health by activating autophagy in neuronal cells. In addition, sulforaphanes boost autophagy in some cells in the eye, which can help with vision issues as you age. You should eat foods containing sulforaphanes raw, because some of their nutritional content can leach into cooking water. My favorite way to get the benefits is to top my salad with fresh broccoli sprouts. If you can’t tolerate cruciferous vegetables raw, try steaming them for just two or three minutes to ensure you get the maximum amount of nutrients.

Food sources for sulforaphanes include broccoli, broccoli sprouts, Brussels sprouts, cabbage (red or savoy), cauliflower, collard greens, horseradish, kale, and kohlrabi.

Vitamins C, D, E, and K: These vitamins improve the quality of cell-to-cell communication and help regulate autophagy, playing an important role in the prevention of cancer. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that is currently being researched as a less invasive and more affordable cancer treatment. Vitamin D is crucial in immune system regulation. Vitamin E plays a role in cancer-cell death and may be useful for treatment in gastric cancers. And vitamin K₂ helps kill off abnormal cells and is touted for its anti-tumor effect.

Food sources for vitamins C, D, E, and K include:

Fruit: whole citrus bergamot, strawberries
Protein: almonds, cheese, hazelnuts, herring, milk, peanut butter, salmon, sunflower seeds
Vegetables: collard greens, dark leafy greens, kale, spinach, turnip greens
Other: Alaskan cod oil, wheat germ

Spermidine: This natural polyamine is found both in plants and in human cells. In humans, levels of spermidine decrease with age, which is important because they directly interact with DNA and turn on genes that regulate autophagy. A recent study showed that spermidine can help increase life span and reverse age-related cardiac problems, and it’s also been shown to help with memory. And as the name implies, spermidine is found in semen—but before this takes an R-rated turn, you can also find it in your local grocery store. Look for aged cheddar cheese, as it has one of the highest levels of spermidine.

Food sources of spermidine include:

Protein: cheese, chicken, steak
Vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, lentils, mushroom, peas, potatoes, red beans
Fruit: grapefruit, pears
Other: soy sauce, vinegar, alcohol, fermented foods

Saponins: These phytochemicals promote an anti-inflammatory environment systemically. They activate autophagy by stimulating your immune system, making membranes more permeable to protein activators. Animal studies reveal the ability of saponins to promote balanced blood sugar. This is crucial to autophagy, as the presence of glucose triggers insulin secretion, which turns on genes that suppress autophagy. These soap-like compounds are usually bitter-tasting and foam when shaken in water.

Food sources of saponins include:

Grains: amaranth, barley, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, oats, quinoa
Legumes: black beans, chickpeas, fava beans, kidney beans, lima beans, peanuts
Vegetables: alfalfa sprouts, eggplant, green beans, peas, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, yucca
Other: garlic, red wine

Probiotics: Probiotics are beneficial strains of bacteria found in fermented foods and as supplements. The use of probiotics increases longevity by suppressing chronic low-grade inflammation in the body. They help with digestion by creating substances that promote autophagy; they do this by cleaning out some of the bad digestive gunk in our body. When bad bacteria take over, your body can’t repair your gut as well, opening you up to inflammatory problems like irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s disease. Probiotics help your gut by sending cellular signals that turn on autophagy and remove that gunk from your cells.

Sources of probiotics include:

Protein: kefir/acidophilus milk, tempeh, yogurt
Vegetables: kimchi, sauerkraut
Other: dark chocolate
Supplements: Bio-K, Culturelle

You can find Glow15 recipes using all these autophagy-activating food groups starting here.

5: Sub in the Smarter Sweetener

Sugar . . . it sweetens life. And on Glow15, your life should be sweet. But I want it to be healthy, too. That’s why I am so excited about a little-known healthy sugar—no, it turns out that is not an oxymoron. It’s called trehalose. This naturally occurring sugar is found in plants and mushrooms, giving them a stable structure and reviving them when they dry out via autophagy. Trehalose may work similarly in your body, systematically reviving your cells as you age.

Here’s how it works. Have you ever taken a dried shiitake mushroom and soaked it in water? If so, you know that the mushroom springs back into shape. The secret ingredient that makes this resurrection possible is trehalose. This smart sweetener is now being studied to resurrect the youthful function of older cells in humans.

There are big differences between common table sugar, called sucrose, and the smarter sweetener, trehalose. The most interesting is that while sucrose comes with health warnings, trehalose comes with health benefits. Sucrose contributes to obesity and diabetes; trehalose inhibits fat cell enlargement and the progression of type 2 diabetes. Sucrose can cause metabolic syndrome; trehalose helps prevent metabolic syndrome. Sucrose may reduce your body’s ability to handle fat and cholesterol and lead to heart disease; trehalose may improve artery function, reducing the risk for cardiovascular disease. Simply making the switch from table sugar to trehalose can speed autophagy and slow premature aging.

You can find trehalose in powdered form similar to table sugar. While it is not yet mainstream and may not be in your local supermarket, it is readily available online. Practically speaking, this isn’t a one-to-one substitution with table sugar. Trehalose is about half as sweet as table sugar. The great thing about this is it allows you to adjust your sweetness level better than any other natural sugar.

6: Pure over Processed

You can probably guess where I stand when it comes to clean eating, since you know I grew up eating naturally and organically. I should say that as a teenager, I did what most kids that age tend to do: I strayed. Every single day on my way back from middle school, I bought a candy bar (sorry, Dad). But the foundation my parents built for me really programmed my body to eat the clean way; I just didn’t feel good afterward because my stomach couldn’t handle it (it literally made me sick). I felt good eating the foods that powered me and that made me feel energized and strong.

To this day, I believe that the fewer ingredients foods contain and the closer they are to their natural state, the better.

On Glow15, do your best to follow these pure food guidelines:

Eat whole foods that are more a product of nature than a product of industry (like processed and packaged foods). Look for foods stored in glass rather than plastic.
Use natural sweeteners like trehalose and honey instead of artificial or refined sugars; drink AutophaTea or coffee instead of soda (regular or diet).
Beware of sugar code names, like dextrose, maltose, corn solids, fructose, malt, and maltodextrin.
When possible, eat organic fruits and vegetables and grass-fed/pasture-raised/free-range meat, free of pesticides and herbicides.

By following the Glow15 guidelines, you will see results—from your shrinking waistline to your growing energy levels—in just fifteen days. But making them a permanent part of your lifestyle—and further maximizing the effects with the Powerphenols outlined in the next chapter—will allow you to reap all the benefits of Glow15 for a youthful and very long life.

Glow15 Success Story

Grace “Pure over processed pays off”

“I first tried Glow15 because I bought a ‘goal’ outfit for my son’s college graduation and I really wanted to look good. The yellow sleeveless top and blue pants were a size 8 but I’m a size 10. Or, I was a size 10. In just 15 days, I reached my goal. The pants buttoned easily and I lifted my bare arms and actually pumped a ‘hooray’ when the top slid down just skimming my new flatter stomach. I got so many compliments. Everyone wanted to know the secret to what I’d been doing. I told them all about Glow15 and as I did I realized that it helped me do a lot more than fit into my clothes. I’m in my 50s and had always started my day with heaping spoonfuls of sugar substitutes in my tea. But the Glow15 guideline ‘pure over processed’ gave me a new perspective on what I was putting in my body, so I drank the AutophaTea without any of my usual add-ins. It was really hard. I was tired, got headaches, and I missed my old sweeteners. But after that, I was good—really, really good. I could feel a difference—my cravings disappeared, my thoughts became clearer, and my mood improved—and I lost 8.5 pounds! I have stayed off sugar ever since—and it feels great. I thank Glow15 for helping me make a permanent change to better my health and my life—and making me look good too! On the day of my son’s graduation, when the sugar substitutes were handed to me, I passed. And instead, I shared the coconut oil and cinnamon sticks I now travel with, and got everyone hooked on AutophaTea. Drink-up!”