Everything Charles Eugster would have sound to me unrealistic, a little over 10 years ago. Now I know it is not only true, but it also is not that hard to achieve. He talks about building muscles but also about keeping active, healthy, and working. I used to see men in my family and friends that would retire and soon thereafter become progressively less active. Then they’d become less healthy, and die soon after. Now that I am at retirement age, I have no desire or intention to stop doing my work.

The Secret

Mr. Eugster fails to say how to do it. What is the secret to achieving longevity and vitality and a great body pass 50 years of age? I have a secret, I believe, and it sounds very much in synch with Mr. Eugster’s story. First is to deal with obesity. Since obesity is a metabolic disease of hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance the cure would be to bring insulin under control. Intermittent fasting in general and OMAD, in particular, will bring insulin under control, as I have discussed in this blog. OMAD induces HGH by reducing Insulin secretion.

Insulin

Insulin maintains a high body weight set point. If we do not eat enough calories to maintain that set point, insulin makes us hungry. It also reduces our metabolic rate making us sluggish and thus avoiding the use of the energy stored as body fat. Reducing insulin secretion will lead to the utilization of our fat stores for energy. But calorie-restrictive diets do not necessarily lower insulin. I always remember feeling sluggish and with no desire to exercise too much. My diet was always low-fat, high-carb. This is the true reason why exercise is so hard, especially after 50 years of age. But even if we succeed in reducing a few pounds with OMAD, how do we become muscular, athletic and full of life like Mr. Eugster?

Adrenalin

Here again, OMAD is the secret. I have told you that with OMAD I not only lost 28% of my body, but I got progressively stronger. I said that I feel a great vitality after my workout routine, an euphoria after my accomplishments. Over the last 10 years, I have build fitness and a body I could only dream of when I was in my 20’s. I have long given up on that body in my thirties and forties. So how did I get that enthusiasm for working out? OMAD. In fact, fasting increases adrenalin levels, and thus increases metabolic rate. This is the exact opposite of calorie-restrictive diets. The result: increased workout capacity, endurance, and intensity. Suddenly, my body could do things I never did before and with relative easy. I like to say that I started competing with “my yesterday’s self”. That is, I tried more and more intense routines day after day. Even though in my teens I had given up on competitive sports as my classmates were always taller and stronger.

Human Growth Hormone

Skeptics think that fasting, would breakdown muscles to generate the required energy to survive until the next meal. This is simply not true. Fasting will make a switch from your regular glucose-centric metabolism to a lipid-centric metabolism. Fatty acids and ketone bodies generated while in fasting are more efficient sources of energy not only for your muscle but also your brain. More significantly, fasting increases the production of growth hormone (HGH). High levels of HGH maintain muscle mass and lean tissue. Further, HGH increases the availability and utility of fats for fuel. Finally, HGH helps preserve muscle mass and bone density. I finally had scientific support for the changes I have experienced in my body since starting OMAD: fasting is a potent stimulus of HGH secretion.

Is it possible that Mr. Eugster secret is fasting?