What’s the best way to eat and the right way to exercise to ensure a healthy lifespan? Our guest today is Dr. Stephen Anton, a psychologist who has spent his career researching how lifestyle factors can influence not only obesity, but also cardiovascular disease and other metabolic conditions. Steve is an associate professor and the chief of the Clinical Research Division in the Department of Aging and Geriatric Research at the University of Florida. In today’s episode, we talk to Steve about his work in developing lifestyle interventions designed to modify people’s eating and exercise behaviors in an effort to improve their healthspan and lifespan. One of Steve’s best-known papers appeared in the Obesity Journal titled “Flipping the Metabolic Switch.” The study looked at intermittent fasting and suggested that the metabolic switch into ketosis represents an evolutionary conserved trigger point that has the potential to improve body composition in overweight individuals. Topics we cover in today’s interview include: - The increasing prevalence of metabolic syndrome associated with aging. - Why so many hospital health and wellness programs fail. - How fasting and intermittent energy restriction promote autophagy. - The relationship between muscle quality, body fat and health. - How age-related loss of muscle function and mass leads to sarcopenia. - Effects, risks and benefits of testosterone supplementation in older men. - Optimal exercise methods for long-term health. - Therapeutic approaches that potentially can help avert systemic inflammation associated with aging. - Steve’s study that looked at the effects of popular diets on weight loss. - Controversies surrounded calorie restriction as a strategy to enhance longevity.