Yogi says "Eat Your Grapes" or Implementing the Bambeck Defined Modified Warburg/Warrior Diet: A Personal StoryBy Michael Wolfson

"…I love jam and no flim flam…" Louis Jordan, Nat ‘King' Cole

"…Lions, turtles and bears, oh my!"  Dorthy,  a Pre-Doc Oz Whiz, and a Derivative

I would like to offer a few of my personal experiences in my attempt to implement some of the ideas as put forth in the Bambeck/Wolfson article entitled: The Life Extension Pathway, Resveratrol etc. and Cancer Control: Mitochondrial Biogenesis Duality, the Metabolic Mechanism and Practical Applications. The article can be found at , , etc . Please refer to it in attempting to make sense of these comments.  I would begin by saying that, unlike Greg Bambeck, I am not a scientist by training and, to some extent, I am merely along for the ride on these jointly authored papers.  I have made the effort to read some rather complex studies and have contributed what ideas I can. In addition, I have suggested some substantive, analytic and structural changes where I thought appropriate.  But Greg contributed the lion's share, especially as to scientific input.  I would also suggest (and I know that Greg would as well) that a number of folks at our favorite freatery have contributed and inspired thoughts, ideas and suggestions as well, including Robert, H., Lee, Rachel and Tina among others.

I have taken to heart many of the practical suggestions set forth in the new article as referenced/linked above.  Essentially, it recommends good nutrition and exercise, some vitamins and other supplements and modest fasting.  These simple ideas are fine, but timing and dosage seem to matter much more than I would ever have thought possible.  As an example, a physician recently scoffed at the suggestion of taking supplemental resveratrol  before confiding that he has, for years, recommended a glass of wine with dinner.  This reminds me of the old Johnny Carson joke: Would you sleep with me for a million dollars? Yes? OK then would you for $1.49?  What do I think you are? We have already established that and are just quibbling about the price.  Dosage and timing, as with pricing, can indeed be critical and in the quibble lies the rub.

Before continuing I would like to state by way of disclaimer that the information contained in each and every one of Greg's articles as well as mine are in no way intended to serve as a replacement for professional medical advice.  Nor should it.  Any use of the information contained in same is at the reader's discretion.  We specifically disclaim any and all liability arising directly or indirectly from the use or application of any information contained in any of these articles. A health care professional should be consulted regarding your specific situation.

Take the foregoing admonition seriously for your health may be at stake.  Greg and I are not doctors. Everyone who seeks or needs medical advice or has a condition or is considering a life style change should see his/her physician to evaluate his/her unique needs.  As one example, for all I know, various nutritional, exercise and fasting strategies might be potentially dangerous, so if you do things we happened to talk about without first consulting a doctor, you are doing them at your peril.  Don't blame us if you have not had yourself checked out by a family doctor etc. who is fully informed of everything you plan to do.  Greg is merely relating the direction that science points.  I am just telling a personal story of my experiences which, in my mind, have had a degree of success.

Another thought.  Do not break the law.  Do not take prescription substances without proper documentation from a physician.  Do not take illegal substances.  If you need to consult an attorney for legal advice in this regard, do so.

Personal Experience

Of late, I have noticed some positive changes in my life.  I do seem to feel better with vastly more energy.  I now run 27 miles a week effortlessly, whereas before I struggled to do 10 miles per week.  I do 150 push ups without difficulty compared to my usual 40 in the past.  My weight is now at the low normal range rather that the high normal.  HDL is now up to 84.  TC/HDL ratio is excellent.  Resting BP is now at 95/55.  Pulse is at 68.  No feeling that I am nutritionally missing something.  No sugar highs and lows.  Sleep seems a tad sounder.  More relaxed and more positive outlook.  Something indeed seems to be going on for the better.  Just maybe a change of lifestyle is involved?  Let us consider.

Of late, I have become a sort of Warrior dieter, having intermittent fasts which often consist of merely not eating between meals and skipping an occasional breakfast.  I am supplementing with some resveratrol and some antioxidants and trying to watch glycemic load and saturated fat consumption.  I have one or two glasses of red wine a day for medicinal reasons which has crowded out all other types of alcohol.  No exceptions.  I consider myself a co-proportionate omnivore whose serving size adjusts to nutritional value.  Thus, I may allow myself two or three molecules of transfats a year. I expect my taste to adjust accordingly.

I do consider my life to be a work in progress as concerns what I do, how I relate to others etc.  My next plan is to cook up some natto in an old yogurt maker I have lying around.  I do believe that a positive and flexible outlook is a net plus.  In the old days, I would have attributed the changes I mentioned to listening to my doctor's advice to eat right and get some exercise.  Now, my new line of thinking falls more into this pattern:  Is my excess strength and endurance a resveratrol/exercise/modest fasting induced neogenic mitochondrial effect and, if so, how can I best avoid a chronic neo status without significant attendant ROS damage?  Will a large dose of antioxidant supplements be a good idea, just in case?  Also, can I obtain some health benefit by forcing a regenesis default state via a mini-fast accompanied with a wine solubilized subligual resveratrol dose timed with a cardio workout without becoming caloric restricted?  And are these ideas consistent with my other views on healthy nutrition?

Now, I cannot categorically exclude the possibility of fortuitous correlational effects.  Nor is it impossible that some of what I have experienced is internally discovered motivation, placebo, a mid-life crisis or a secondary adolescence.  My instinctive reaction is that my exercise/fast/co-proportionate omnivore strategy is having a grand payoff in a positive direction.  Some other collateral benefits have befallen me.  I am flossing daily to get the resveratrol laden knotweed residues out from between my teeth. Also, I have no time/opportunity left to wallow in junk food or recreational drinking.

Nobel Prize for Greg?

I myself believe that I stand in the presence of greatness.  Should Greg be given a Nobel Prize for his research into the modified Warburg hypothesis in 1980 or for pulling together the current state of science in diverse areas of research including, in one fell swoop, molecular biology, cancer research, diabetes research, caloric restriction and resveratrol studies, and heart disease research into a mind numbingly expansive grand unified theory?  I am not on the committee and, although some at the freatary think he deserves the prize should his theories be fully vindicated, I will await future developments and the committee's decision.  I do think that his lack of direct clinical testing in the last couple years should make little difference, given his rich history in science.  Furthermore, the paucity of references in the articles is of little concern to me, since all these references are readily available on the internet and interested parties can do their own research.  As one example, Einstein's Nobel Prize was without clinical experiments and his result is arguably a finding of less mammoth proportions, particularly as to deferring human suffering.

Suffice it to say that Greg, humble as he is and without an effort here to make a buck, will not take vindictive or sadistic pleasure in watching the scientific communities squirm when they finally accept that he was correct those many years ago when his work was snubbed and the research community decided to flee the hen house.  (In a future paper, I will elaborate on myself having been similarly slighted by someone who has already won a Nobel Prize.  It involves warnings I made concerning the lack of economic substance in certain derivatives and related instruments prior to the Long Term Capital Management contagion scenario, which nearly caused a global financial unraveling, and the subsequent NINJA loan/collateralized loan obligation/sub prime mess from which we are still recovering.  In view of the magnitude of the damages involved in all three scenarios, maybe a very minimouse amount of feather ruffling from the "I told you so" flea and glee clubs would indeed be fitting, but that should be left to the appropriate ethicists.)

Singing Summary:

The Warrior diet essentially restricts food to a very limited period of time each day. No doubt many Yogis practiced such methods with little hunger pains to Bear and with a few NINJAs around.  I will summarize the Bambeck version of the modified Warrior Diet as follows (courtesy of Yogi Bear, it may be sung to the tune of his theme song):

I'll fast (and run/bike fast) till noon, but before it is dark (and time to end my next day's prefast), I'll have every picnic basket (sounds more like a flexitarian than a co-proportionate omnivore) that is in NoFlimFlam Stone Park.  (Jam has little resveratrol despite the grapes.  Nat King Cole and Louis Jordan indeed had metamorphoses from jammer to vocalist, which both also regarded as serious business. As to Jelly, the quibbler described above may have had a similar metamorphosis, reminiscent of a Julia Lee quadruple entendre lyric.  As to Stone Park, I did arrive at this hopelessly tortured and turgid parallel while jogging this sunny morning at the Towner's Woods Park cinder trail, while homing in on an oft spotted NINJA(?) tortoise who could indeed teach me something about life extension.)

Sorry folks for waxing and wailing ad nauseum.  Maybe a good rid-dance with your mouse would improve the forecast.  But I doubt that the resveratrol has caused me to lose my mind or focus.  This is indeed important stuff.  Best of luck and happy endeavors on your research and lifestyle choices.

Michael Wolfson  J.D., M.B.A.  e-mail: mailto:mwolfson@stanfordalumni.org" mwolfson@stanfordalumni.org

Copyright © Michael Wolfson  June 11, 2010.