Longevity Hacks: Ten tips for healthy nutrition

Few health topics are as emotionally charged as nutrition. Vegan, Paleo, Keto, Carnivore – every dietary style has its own church. Our bodies may look similar, but the ecosystems inside our guts couldn’t be more different.

So here are not universal rules, but the personal health stack of our author Markus Sekulla. Built around three things that consistently work for him: blood sugar regulation, gut health, and food selection.

Hack 1: Put Your Cutlery Down

Let’s start with a mix of mindfulness and nutrition. Most people don’t overeat because they’re hungry – they overeat because they’re fast. The classic “chew longer” advice appears in every mindfulness guide. Here’s something new.

Hack: After each bite, place your cutlery on the table and wait until your mouth is completely empty before taking picking up the cutlery for the next bite.

This shifts the meal from “shoveling” to slow eating. Suddenly, normal portions become enough. Works 99 percent of the time. Well, except maybe at Christmas or Thanksgiving.

Hack 2: Fasting – It’s Not What You Eat, It’s When

There are countless studies now showing that the amount of food we eat matters less than we think. Yes, “calories in, calories out” still applies. But the pauses between meals are often more impactful than the total quantity.

For many, intermitting fasting 16:8 is the sweet spot: practical for daily life and highly effective. In the longevity bubble, you often see 20:4, but that’s about as realistic as finding healthy food at a train station. My personal eating window is typically 10:00 to 17:30.

Hack: Set a 16-hour timer on your phone when you finish your last meal.

Extended fasting over several days seems powerful as well, but I’ve never done it myself. So no claims and no anecdotes to share. Definitely get medical advice first… and not just ask Chatty.

Hack 3: Walk for 20 Minutes

If you eat late, at least do one thing: move afterward. Digestion while lying down is a bad idea. There should be at least two hours between your last meal and bedtime.

Studies show that a short walk after eating can reduce blood-sugar spikes by around 15%.

Timing matters: ideally within 20 minutes of your last bite.

Hack: Take someone with you. If you can talk easily: good. If you can sing: too slow. If you can dance: perfect.

Hack 4: Apple Cider Vinegar

Staying with glucose spikes: I love my morning oat bowl, but if you layer fruits the way I do – like a pile of Oreos – things can get sugary quickly.

Hack: 15 minutes before a carb-heavy meal, take 1 tbsp of organic apple cider vinegar diluted in 200 ml of water.

It works surprisingly well: glucose spikes are softened, the body stays calmer. Jessie Inchauspé turned this simple mechanism into a global career with her book The Glucose Revolution – and rightly so. It’s one of the easiest hacks to implement.

Hack 5: Eat the Rainbow – Without the Fructose Overkill

“Eat the Rainbow” sounds like Pinterest advice, but it works: aim to get as many colors on your plate as possible each day. Color means different polyphenols, vitamins, and plant compounds that protect our cells and stabilize metabolism.

But: I try to stay below 100 g of fructose per day. Fruit is healthy, but some varieties pack a lot of natural sugar (looking at you, dates).

Hack: Teach this to your kids. They love colors and remind us intuitively.

“Dad, we haven’t eaten anything yellow today!”

Hack 6: 30 Plants per Week

Now it gets more demanding. If there’s one scientifically solid, unequivocal longevity hack, it’s this: More 30 different plant foods per week.

The American Gut Project (10,000+ participants) shows: people who eat over 30 plants weekly have significantly higher microbial diversity than those under 10.

Each plant feeds different microbes, which then produce substances that reduce inflammation, aid digestion, and strengthen the gut barrier.

Hack: Track your meals for one week, then gradually increase the plant count.

A good salad alone can give you a major boost.

Hack 7: Fermentation – Cooking With Microbes

Fermented foods are the dachshund of longevity hacks: old, reliable, and suddenly trendy again. Kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt, kombucha – they all deliver living microorganisms that support microbial diversity, a powerful marker for a healthy gut and a calmer immune system.

The practical side: a jar of homemade kimchi takes about an hour to prepare. Once you’ve done it a couple of times, it becomes oddly meditative. Kombucha needs a bit more prep – a SCOBY, a big jar, some patience – but the result is a refreshing, gut-friendly drink.

If you buy instead of brew: make sure kombucha is unpasteurized. Otherwise it’s just tea with a marketing budget.

Book tip: The Art of Fermentation (Sandor Katz).

Hack 8: Good Fats

Fat is not the Lord Voldemort of nutrition. Good fats are more like Harry and Hermione. I try to integrate these five heroes into my diet: nuts, avocado, oils (especially olive and flax), fatty fish like mackerel, and high-quality cacao. All packed with omega-3s, polyphenols, and anti-inflammatory properties.

Hack: Check the polyphenol content of olive oil. Good oils sit above 500 mg/kg.

A slight burn in the throat is usually a good sign. 

Hack 9: Sober is the new black

Now it gets uncomfortable. People happily read nutrition tips… until we talk about alcohol. The data is clear and gets clearer: alcohol is harmful from the very first sip. The myth of the “healthy glass of red wine” sticks around like fax machines in German doctor’s offices. Many reports, that especially young people consume less alcohol than the generations before them. For health reasons.

My personal hack: separate alcohol from reward thinking.

Celebrating without champagne, a summer evening without Aperol, success without “let’s get a round”: it’s not asceticism, it’s breaking a harmful social conditioning.

And yes, your friendships might wobble a bit when you keep declining drinks. It’s a highly individual decision. My circle stopped being surprised years ago, and they still invite me (I think…).

Hack 10: Track Your Nutrients – One Week That Changes Everything

Intuitive eating sounds great, but works only if intuition isn’t hijacked by sugar highs and dopamine kicks. I don’t want to track forever either. But one week of nutrient tracking can be eye-opening.

Tip: There are AI-based food trackers now where you just take a photo. My experience has been… underwhelming.

Especially when compared to apps like Lifesum, which rely on scales and product QR codes which works amazingly well, when you eat at home.

tl;dr + bonus

Nutrition is a tool for stable energy, a healthy gut, and a long life. Once you find a routine that works for you, it becomes – alongside good sleep and movement – a core pillar of longevity.

And yes, you may have noticed: I didn’t include supplements. I’ve tested so much over the last decade and cross-checked everything against bloodwork that I’m well calibrated. But I won’t give supplement recommendations. I can only share what I take.

The hack: test what works for you and discuss it with a medical professional.

I take:

• Vitamin B12 – ideally methylcobalamin or adenosylcobalamin (better bioavailability)
• Daily: D3 (drops), astaxanthin (capsule), magnesium (500 mg)
• On training days: creatine (3-5 g) and plant-based protein (40 g in a smoothie)
• Notice: No NMN, No Rapamycin, No Resveratrol.