When I was a small child, my mom would buy meringue cookies every time she went to the city to withdraw her salary. The experience felt so magical that I never imagined these could be made at home. Thanks to the internet and the wealth of information available, that magic is now a reality in my kitchen.

Believe it or not, I could devour an entire batch of 56 cookies if my wife doesn't intervene. In the end, it's just 4 egg whites—sans the yolks. The real magic touch? Replacing the original recipe's sugar-heavy syrup with my homemade zero-carb maple syrup. This swap not only makes the cookies taste sublime but also gives them a beautiful maple brown hue when baked.

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 egg whites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 3/4 cup keto maple syrup

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 225°F.
2. Add egg whites to a large, clean, dry bowl. Add cream of tartar. Beat until the mixture is foamy.
3. Slowly add the keto maple syrup while continuing to beat the mixture. Beat until very stiff peaks form (around 3-5 minutes). The meringue should be so stiff that you can flip the bowl upside down without it falling out.
4. Transfer the meringue mixture to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe little stars onto a parchment-lined baking tray, spacing them about 1/2 inch apart.
5. Bake for 2 hours on the highest racks in the oven.
6. After baking, turn off the oven and let the meringue cookies sit undisturbed for another hour. This allows the cookies to set and harden further.

Pancakes, a staple in the American breakfast. Yet, many options combine sugar and fat, potentially causing AGEs and oxidative damage to our mitochondria. After moving to the States and starting my family here, pancakes weren't on my breakfast table. But for my 9-year-old, born and raised in the US, how could he enjoy this tradition without health risks? The solution? My keto pancake recipe, paired with keto maple syrup. Not only is it healthier, but my picky eater gave it two thumbs up! Embrace the tradition, without the health worries!

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 tbsp swerve sweetener
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Start by separating the egg whites from the yolks. Whisk the egg whites until they are sticky and won't flow.
2. Add the softened cream cheese, egg yolks, swerve sweetener, cinnamon, and vanilla to the egg whites. Blend until smooth.
3. Heat a pan with some butter. Pour 10 tbsp of the mixture for each layer. Repeat to make a total of 5 layers.
4. Cook for about 1 minute on each side or until golden brown.
5. Top with keto maple syrup.

Indulge in the tradition, but keep it healthy!

Indulge in this homemade maple syrup recipe with a hint of cinnamon for that extra warmth and flavor. This keto-friendly delight has received a stamp of approval from my 9-year-old son, a notoriously picky eater, which attests to its deliciousness. The blend of Swerve confectioners and a touch of cinnamon ensures a delightful, guilt-free treat for your breakfast needs.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Water (500 grams)
• 2 Cups Swerve Confectioners
• ½ tsp Xanthan Gum (1.25 grams)
• ¼ tsp Salt (1.5 grams)
• ½ tsp Vanilla Extract (2.5 grams)
• 1 tsp Maple Extract (5 grams)
• ½ tsp Cinnamon

Preparation:

1. In a medium-sized saucepan, set it over medium-low heat and pour in the 2 cups of water. Allow the water to reach a simmer but ensure it doesn't boil.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the 2 cups of Swerve Confectioners, ½ tsp of Xanthan gum, ¼ tsp of salt, and ½ tsp of cinnamon.
3. Once your water begins to simmer, gradually start adding the Swerve mixture to the pan. It's essential to add one spoonful at a time, ensuring the previous one has completely dissolved into the water before adding the next.
4. Refrain from stirring too rigorously to prevent the sweetener from crystallizing.
5. After incorporating all the mixture into the simmering water, turn off the heat and blend in the vanilla and maple extracts.
6. Let your syrup cool slightly before serving. As it cools, it will achieve a more syrup-like consistency.

To prevent crystallization when making syrups:

• Clean the Sides of the Pan: As you cook your syrup, sugar crystals might form on the sides of the pan. Use a pastry brush dipped in warm water to wash down the sides of the pan, or put a lid on the pot for a couple of minutes to allow condensation to wash away the sugar crystals.
• Avoid Stirring: Once the sugar has dissolved and your syrup begins to boil, stop stirring. Stirring can cause sugar crystals to form.
• Use lemon juice. The acid in lemon can interfere with the crystallization process.
• Monitor Temperature: Use a candy thermometer to ensure you're cooking your syrup to the correct temperature. Overcooking can lead to crystallization.
• Cool the Syrup Properly: Once done, don’t move the syrup until it has cooled to the desired temperature. Disturbing it can cause crystallization.
• Filtering: If you notice any crystals in your syrup after it's cooled, you can reheat it and then strain it through a fine mesh strainer to remove any crystals.
• Remember, if crystallization does occur, you can usually fix it by reheating the syrup until the sugar dissolves again.

Enjoy this low-carb and keto-friendly syrup over pancakes or waffles for a health-conscious treat. And stay tuned for an upcoming pancake recipe that pairs perfectly with this syrup!

Since embarking on my keto and low-carb journey, I've longed for the comforting embrace of white bread. I've delved into countless recipes, seduced by their promising appearance in YouTube videos, only to be disappointed by their lackluster taste. However, my culinary adventure was not in vain. I've finally discovered the best Keto Bread recipe on YT (link to original recipe), and after a couple of trials, I've elevated it to perfection. I've been consistently baking and enjoying this bread, enjoying its decent taste and texture. One of its standout features? It toasts beautifully.

Pair it with a rich cream cheese spread (keto-friendly, of course), and you're in for a treat. Dive into this low-carb delight and relish the best of both worlds: taste and health!

You will find the incredible macros for this bread at the end of the post.

Ingredients:

• 120g egg white protein powder (1 1/2 cups)
• 30g dried whole egg
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp redmond real salt
• 1/4 cup allulose
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• 4 tsp garlic powder
• 4 tsp Italian spice

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, gently whisk together the egg white protein powder, cream of tartar, salt and allulose.

Using a stand mixer on low speed, gradually add in the water. As the mixture combines, increase the mixer speed.

Continue mixing on full speed for 5 minutes.

Reduce speed to low and slowly add in the the egg yolk, garlic powder, and Italian spice, mixing just until combined and no lumps remain.

Transfer the batter into a loaf pan that has been lined with parchment paper. You don't need to spray the parchment paper; it won't stick.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. I place it into lowest shelf in the oven.

Once baked, remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan for approximately 15 minutes.

Afterward, remove the bread from the pan and place it on a wire rack to cool completely.

Once fully cooled, slice the bread and enjoy!

Nutritional Information:

• Serving Size: 1oz slice (Approximately 16 slices per loaf)
• Calories: 38 per slice
• Macros:
  • Carbs: 0.1g
  • Fat: 0.5g
  • Protein: 6.6g

Since I said enough with yoyo diets and chose low-carb diet as a lifestyle my (total and LDL) cholesterol levels skyrocketed. As of today, I lost 40+ pounds while increasing my muscle strength significantly. I feel great but my test results warranted a cardiologist visit as cholesterol is complex enough for primary physicians to provide a reasonable guidance. Being on a low-carb diet makes it an even more complicated matter for the traditional medical system.

The earliest cardiologist visit was available a couple months later. So this allowed me to go there prepared and know what is expected from the visit in advance: starting statin as a treatment. As my life is on the line (in either accepting or rejecting statin), I had to do the research, collect the data and present them to the doctor and decide the next steps without any bias. As an engineer, I approach health as an engineering problem. So I was hoping to meet a doctor that would play along with this workflow.

Here are the things I have done prior to the cardiologist appointment:

CAC: Calcium Score Test

This CT scan test reveals the calcification which is called the hard plaque in the arteries. It reveals the damage already done by your lifestyle so far. My result was 0, yes, zero calcification in my arteries. It was quite a relief. But my understanding is that this test looks at the past rather than present. Soft plaque is another even more dangerous risk factor causing heart attacks. So I was looking for another test to detect this soft plaque: CTA (Coronary CT Angiogram) [1]  or perhaps CIMT (carotid intima-media thickness test).  

NMR test

The lipid test primary physicians request in annual visits is deemed antiquated by most researchers as it does not tell the whole store. NMR blood test deep dives into LDL and provides great insights into LDL particles and their size. It also gives an insulin resistance score. My NMR test revealed a super high number of LDL particles as I expected. But the size of the particles were in the healthy range which is great news. I was also proud of my insulin sensitivity (very low insulin resistance score) which is the result of my intermittent fasting and low carb diet.

Historical Cholesterol Values vs Body Weight

This is something I did as a flash of genius in the clinic waiting room. I have marked my elevated LDL levels with red and normal LDL levels with green on my body weight chart that spans multiple years.

The result was very interesting. When I started intermittent fasting (not even low-carb diet) in 2019 my LDL was elevated to a level my primary physician recommended statins for the first time. After two years in 2021, when I was rising in the ranks from overweight to obese after I gave a break to intermittent fasting eating carbs, desserts coupled with lack of sleep, over-working and lack of exercise, my primary physician was congratulating me on bringing my LDL to a healthy level through “healthy diet”. And finally in 2022 I doubled down on good habits once again and incorporated my later longevity tips into my own lifestyle; and wait for it; my LDL skyrocketed! So my LDL was inversely correlated with my BMI and well-being.

After some research, here is my theory which I also shared with my cardiologist. LDL is like a cargo ship carrying triglycerides (energy in the form of fat), cholesterol (repair material for tissues) and vitamins. When I am doing intermittent fasting and/or a low carb diet, fat becomes my primary source of energy. So the liver is loading the LDL with triglycerides. As I hit the gym hard and break my muscles, there is a greater need for cholesterol to reach those broken muscle tissues and fix them. The liver ends up creating more LDL to keep up with this increased demand. These are the symptoms of a well functioning body which itself is an engineering marvel.

The Plan to Lower Cholesterol

I devised two contingency plans:

Bad Plan: I could devour some high carb foods such as pizza, burger, french fries prior to next test (which would spike my insulin that locks down fat burning mechanism) and stop weight-lifting (which reduces the demand for cholesterol in the muscle tissues). This is a bad plan because it would take a week for me to get back to a healthy lower glycogen level. But I am confident that this will work as I am not the first engineer to notice this fact (see Dave Feldman).

Good Plan: After reaching my ideal body weight and fat percentage (below 15%) in a couple of months, I won’t have much visceral fat to burn (the very reason why very low body fat percentages require more commitment). This will naturally reduce the LDL particle number. Going into maintenance mode at the gym will also reduce the cholesterol demand causing the liver to wind down on LDL production.

The how part of the good plan includes some measures such as replacing 6 whole eggs with 1 whole egg + 5 egg whites in my breakfast. This measure is not because dietary cholesterol causes elevated LDL; there are well established researches showing that this is not true (see Peter Attia). It is because I want my body to tap more into body fat rather than dietary fat for energy to reach my goal faster. Regardless I didn’t want to challenge the doctor with latter part; relatively recent research.

The Great Day: Cardiologist Visit

I introduced myself with the high LDL problem while doing intermittent fasting, a low carb diet, walking minimum 15k steps a day and hitting the gym every week day. As a side note, I told the doctor I surpassed my past strength levels of 10-20 years ago in the military: doing 4 sets of 10 pull ups then vs now doing the same with 25lbs attached to me.

It was my lucky day! The doctor was an open minded physician. He thanked me for bringing additional test results (NMR and CAC). My LDL levels on the weight chart also helped him rule out “familial hypercholesterolemia” written on my file as I could manipulate my LDL without any medication. Zero calcium level together with larger LDL particle size and the fact that I am feeling great and strong made him confident that I will be just fine without statins. He also acknowledged that low-carb is relatively new and as physicians they are trying to learn about these special cases. We decided to follow up the result of my good plan above. The doctor ordered another NMR and CIMT (carotid intima-media thickness test) for the next visit.

My experience was great and it was unlike my wife’s visit to the cardiologist with the similar LDL values a few weeks earlier. Her cardiologist pushed for statins. When my wife asked them to order CAC and NMR tests, her cardiologist's response was the same: statins even if the CAC says zero plaque and NMR particle size comes okay. It got me by surprise that her cardiologist did not even talk about checking blood sugar and insulin resistance first to justify their recommendation.

It is obvious that medical science is established on the assumption that humans have to live on a high carb diet with 3+ meals a day. When you confront the system with the opposite, the solutions from their playbook becomes quite irrelevant if they obediently follow the guidelines. So it really comes down to knowing your vitals, parameters and establishing the correlation among those yourself before surrendering to the antiquated, rigid guidelines.

Side note for the reader: if you are not doing intermittent fasting and/or low carb-diet, and still getting high LDL you’d better listen to standard guidelines your doctor is recommending as the above conversation does not apply to you.

References:

1: https://desertmedicalimaging.com/news/closer-look-heart-using-ct-scan-coronary-artery-disease/

This is the hormone responsible for removing the excess blood sugar from the bloodstream. It signals the cells in your skeletal muscles tissues to open up and store or use the blood sugar in the form of glucose.

Total sugar in your blood amounts to 1-2 teaspoons of sugar [1] while an average american consumes around 17 teaspoons of sugar daily[2].    

Insulin hormone is working so hard and doing a great job of reducing this excess blood sugar. If it does not, you’d end up with a lot of inflammation in your arteries.

That said, there is a price for overusing this hormone to regulate blood sugar. When insulin spikes in your body, you will not be burning fat. Because the insulin is a fat sparing hormone. It is clear that our body is trying to get rid of glucose. This process creates a vicious cycle, and you may never burn fat due to frequent insulin spikes.

Your insulin will spike whenever you eat something. However, you can control the frequency and the magnitude of these spikes:

• Magnitude: By reducing carbs your insulin levels will elevate much less compared to standard american diet. It will also get back to normal levels much faster.
• Frequency: By skipping meals or eating in a restricted window you will be able to reduce your insulin spikes. Intermittent fasting is a great solution to reduce the frequency of insulin spikes.

Ways to manage insulin level:

• Low carb diet
• Intermittent fasting
• Consume the foods rich in the followings or take them as supplements:

* Apple cider vinegar
* Cinnamon
* Vitamin D
* Potassium
* Vitamin B1
* Chromium

Cortisol

This is the primary stress hormone. In a fight-or-flight situation it suppresses nonessential functions in your body. It increases the blood sugar level to help the brain get more glucose. While it is useful for short-term acute stress, it becomes damaging when the stress becomes long-term chronic stress.  While this hormone is elevated, your body will not be able to burn fat as sugar/carbs are prioritized. [3]

Ways to lower cortisol:

• Good quality sleep
• Walking
• Sun light exposure or vitamin D
• Breathing exercises
• Staying away from toxic people

Leptin

Leptin is a hormone responsible for signaling to the brain that you have enough energy stored in the form of fat, you can stop eating and start making energy out of stored food.

Leptin is produced by white fat cells. Over-signalling of leptin can cause leptin resistance in your body. This makes your brain think you still need more food. [4]

In the case of leptin resistance, your brain decreases your energy levels and makes you use fewer calories at rest; thus causing obesity. Being obese and feeling constantly hungry even after a meal are the main symptoms of leptin resistance. [5]

Ways to manage leptin level:

• Stopping eating/snacking 3 hours before you sleep
• Avoiding binge eating
• Intermittent fasting

References:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2636990/

2. https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/data-statistics/added-sugars.html

3. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22187-cortisol

4. https://www.endocrineweb.com/news/63844-how-hunger-hormones-control-weight-loss

5. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22446-leptin

In our daily lives, we are exposed to tons of information. The economy itself is evolved around you as an attention economy. The worst part of this new paradigm is the analysis paralysis. Filled with too much information you can’t decide which action to take to solve a crucial problem: aging.

The longevity actions we can take today may be the most important ones. Late action may cost you your life. Here, I am sharing some practical information with you so that you can start taking action today.

Intermittent Fasting

This is the #1 recommendation the anti-aging experts will give you. By doing intermittent fasting you can get rid of insulin resistance, diabetes, you can even prevent cancer.

It allows your body to recycle damaged cells. You can try this simple solution today by just skipping lunch and then improving by also skipping breakfast and eating only dinner. Or if it is more convenient, you can only have breakfast while skipping lunch and dinner.

Keto or low carb diet

When I look at the main risk factors affecting people, I see cancer and coronary artery diseases. When we look at the mechanism of these health problems, we can see that carbs are the center stage.

Lowering the carbs would be your best defense against those deadly health problems. By lowering your carb consumption, you can become an efficient fat burner. And this will help shed a lot of weight in the form of fat.

A person following the standard american diet is always filling in their body’s carb stores (in the form of glucose) which is 500 grams. To be able to start burning fat, this person has to burn the carbs first. And it takes 2000 calories of activity to burn all that carb. This requires an extended duration of activity. Well, it might be achievable for young people, but it gets harder for older people to commit themselves to such long exercises.

But once you lower your carb consumption to 50 grams or lower, a much simpler activity such as walking outside makes you start burning fat as fat becomes your body’s primary source of energy.

So what should you eat for a low carb diet? Most people think it is a very restrictive diet to lower carbs. In my experience it is not restrictive at all. I started a low carb diet as a temporary solution, but I like it so much now it has become my lifestyle.

Foods

Let's start with breakfast: Eggs, cottage cheese with nutritional yeast. For dinner, steak, fish especially salmon, chicken and vegetables like asparagus, broccoli, lettuce, kale and many other greens. Nuts such as pecans, almonds, and walnuts are great for snacking. These are going to be your go-to foods.

Here comes the main criticism of a low carb diet: people will claim you will be missing certain nutrients by ditching that much carbs. But you can always take them in the form of supplements. For example, potassium, magnesium (which has a lot of functions in the body and well-established, safe supplement). Also you may want to consume enough sea salt. It is as easy as that.

By using an application like MyFitnessPal, you can count your calories, more importantly your carbs, you will start making smarter decisions about the food you choose. For instance, instead of eating one banana which is 25 grams of carb, you can eat much more stuff within your carb quota.

Another important thing is making sure that you are getting 1gr of protein per your body weight in pounds.  So a 200-lbs person should eat a minimum 200 grams of protein daily. If you are building muscles, you need to consume more. As you get older, you need even more protein to compensate for the muscle you are losing.

So during the low carb diet, one of the challenges you will encounter is that while trying to reach your protein goal you will have a hard time staying within your carb limit. There are some hacks I am using.

You can convert your favorite tea into protein jello with zero carbs by mixing it with beef gelatin. After mixing my tea sweetened with stevia together with beef gelatin, I pour it into a plate. And slice it into 8 pieces each with 7 grams of protein. You can also try making gummy bears for more fun if you have time.

Bone broth is also a great source of protein with zero carb. I use powder form which is more convenient. I mix 2-packs (for a more intense taste) with fresh  lemon juice, salt, black pepper and hot water. It is very delicious and one cup of this gives me a whopping 20 grams of protein with zero carbs.  

When it comes to desserts, you can replace flour with almond flour, coconut flour and by replacing sugar with low-glycemic sweetener such as erythritol, you can get great results. Even though erythritol sounds like another chemical, artificial sweetener, it is a natural sweetener and it will not spike your insulin. I use it all the time for my favorite recipes: chocolate mousse pudding and peanut butter cups.

There you go. You have the food list and even the desserts. As you can see it is not restrictive at all and you can start this diet today!

Resistance Training

As we age we lose muscles. It affects the quality of your life, recovery after an injury. When it comes to the muscles the principle is that if you don’t use them, you lose them. So we need to give a clear message to our bodies that we are using our muscles by doing progressive resistance training; which is lifting weight and increasing the weight over time.

If you don’t have equipment or time, another alternative is doing High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) which gives a similar tension to your muscles.

For maintenance, yoga can be used to tone your muscles together with its breathing benefits.

Walking

Walking is one of the most undervalued exercises. Together with a low carb diet, the moment you start walking you will start burning fat. Walking in the morning and exposing your eyes and body also helps you charge your melatonin, which is required for a quality sleep at night time. Ditching your sunglasses for your morning walk is going to help you get more of the sun light needed for melatonin.

Get a fitness tracker to count your steps. Start with 10,000 steps a day as a starting point.There are some apps which gamify walking by challenging you to meet daily step goals through various incentives; you can earn small amounts of money or lose it based on your performance.

And you don’t need to limit yourself to just walking outside. Assuming you can find a place indoors that will allow you to make loops, you can increase your steps indoors. It takes just 10 minutes to make 1,000 steps. You don’t need to walk at once; you can split your steps into 5-10 minute chunks throughout the day.

Sleep Quality

Poor sleep quality acts as a stressor and it is not good for your body. Poor sleep increases your cortisol, stress hormone levels. Cortisol will stop your fat burning. In the long run it may cause adrenal fatigue lowering your energy level. So it is important to get enough sunlight before noon to increase your melatonin during the day and limit your blue light exposure a couple hours before you sleep. Also moving away any device that creates an electromagnetic field from where you sleep will benefit your sleep quality.

Cold Showers

Cold showers act as a short term, useful stressor promoting autophagy which is the process in which your damaged cells and more importantly the mitochondria  are recycled to create new cells with better mitochondria that produces energy in the form of a molecule called ATP (adenosine triphosphate).

It also helps activate your brown fat cells. Brown fat cells create heat without shivering. This process is called thermogenesis. During this process, the brown fat also burns calories. Brown fat cells have many many more mitochondria compared to white fat cells. Brown fat is highly regarded as a possible treatment for obesity and some metabolic syndromes.

You can start small, like one-minute and gradually increase your time in a cold shower. You can start by exposing your arms and legs to cold water first, and expose your whole body to cold water. This will make you hyperventilate at the beginning but you will feel amazing after this cold shower.

Breathing Technique

While there are activities like yoga in which breathing is baked into the stretching of your body to better oxygenate, there are stronger breathing techniques like that of Wim Hof’s.

Wim Hof breathing technique gives your body a boost  for utilizing the oxygen. It is so strong that you can even beat  the headaches using this technique. During this technique, you will start tingly feeling on your arms. At the end of a session you will feel sort of high from oxygen.

Oxygen has been long used to remedy health problems such as damaged auditory nerves as a result of barotrauma. In that sense these breathing techniques give you a similar recovery benefit in a longer, maintainable manner.

So I have included everything the longevity community and experts agree on. You have the option to start today and incorporate some or preferably all of these things above in your life. Instead of waiting for a greater signal, such as a heart attack, or waiting for many years, you can start trying these things. I promise you that you will start seeing very significant results.