Paul runs the popular website HealthAliciousNess (“Nutrition Simplified”) and is coming to Personalized Life Extension 2012 in part to get our input on his new project, science-of-aging.com:

What first got you interested in life extension?

My first job out of college was as a quality improvement analyst in the long term care setting. This involved doing analysis to improve quality of life for patients in nursing homes. During the course of my work I began to wonder what caused a decline of health in people, if aging had been studied in a formal way, and what could be done to keep people healthy so there would be no need for nursing homes.

Which areas of life extension most interest you?

The scientific advances in understanding the biology of aging and how those advances can be applied to increasing health span.

Tell us about science-of-aging.com.

I am a web publisher and own a health and nutrition informational site ( http://www.healthaliciousness.com ) that focuses on lifestyle changes for better health. This property gets more that 1 million page views a month. I would now like to focus on providing information about aging via a new website (science-of-aging.com) and I would love to hear from attendees what information about life extension and aging they wish was on the web but they can not find.

My goal with science-of-aging.com is provide a place where ideas and experiences with life-extension and the science of aging can be freely shared. I also hope to inspire other people to study aging and do what they can to increase their health span.

Although the informational website I am constructing is still in its beginnings, I would very much like to get feedback from the attendees as to what topics in aging and life extension interest them most, and what information they can’t find on the web that they wish was there.

Find Paul on Twitter at @boreas555.  We look forward to helping with your new site, Paul!  —Christine Peterson, Conference Chairman

Josh is “an entrepreneur with a bent for social and ecological reform.” He is the founder and CEO of TransLoc, a company making mass transit easier to use.  He is also co-founder of Raleigh City Farm: “an urban farm start-up that aims to grow food right here in the city. We believe that every city needs an urban farm to reduce waste, improve our diets, and re-connect urbanites with agriculture.”  He lectures frequently on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Check out Josh’s TEDx talk on mood issues as a possible signal for change; see also his blog posts on health.  We asked Josh what is bringing him all the way from North Carolina to Personalized Life Extension 2012:

What got you into life extension?

I remember the first time I heard about the calorie restriction experiments on rats when I was in my early twenties. I was floored. I had already come to understand that what we eat affects our quality of life. But I had never imagined such dramatic effects on quantity. The whole concept was riveting. Despite being a software technology entrepreneur, it suddenly seemed to me that diet and lifestyle technology was even cooler.

Which areas of life extension most interest you?

The amount of knowledge to gain about life and the universe is truly awesome, as is the capability of the human being to pursue such knowledge. But faced with all that potential knowledge the human lifespan is outmatched. Life extension, to me, means that people who truly want to learn, grow, and contribute to moving society forward can do so for much longer. The cumulative knowledge base being formed by such people, could make them the wisest, most effective people in the history of the human race.

Thanks for putting on the conference!

Thank YOU, Josh, for coming so far to work with us on life extension!  Find Josh on Twitter at @joshwhiton.  —Christine Peterson, Conference Chairman

Jeremy, best known for his work on arms control, human rights, and foreign policy as long-time president of the Federation of American Scientists, and inventor of the cross-section method of linear programming, has now moved his focus to health and longevity. Since 2009, he has been President of Catalytic Longevity.

He was the first Patron of the Personalized Life Extension Conference series and briefly explained his Carbohydrate Concentration project at the 2010 meeting. He found that conference to be “stimulating, well designed and well run” and will be attending again in 2012, this time bringing along colleague Mark McCarty.

Their work can be found “on the website www.catalyticlongevity.org on carbohydrate concentration–a low carb diet fashioned on the Carbohydrate Addict’s diet but describing its caloric restriction bonus for longevity.”

Tell us about Carbohydrate Concentration.

The Carbohydrate Concentrated Diet is not so much a new “diet” as a beneficial and practical way of eating the same foods one is already eating save only for the condition that one concentrates almost all of one’s daily carbohydrates in one of the three meals.  This follows the famous “Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet” created by the Hellers in 1990, but can be employed by all persons on all diets, even vegans.  It produces long daily periods of low glucose – and hence low insulin – which facilitate weight loss and, in general, better health.

Our treatment of it on the website www.catalyticlongevity.org provides new insights into the benefits of this eating strategy.  An important recent Israeli study shows that this distribution of carbohydrates achieves faster loss of body fat and better blood risk factors.  And it seems likely that this way of eating will induce protective autophagy throughout the body – perhaps including the brain as well.  It should have desirable effects on risks of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and dementia.

My colleague and partner in building the website, Mark McCarty, will be joining me at the conference to answer detailed questions about the biochemistry and nutritional effects of this diet.  Also joining us will be Dr. Terry Grossman, who is part of our team and is writing a book on this subject and will be speaking at the conference.

Welcome Mark, and welcome back Jeremy and Terry! —Christine Peterson, Conference Chairman

Please help us spread the word about the proposed online service via email and your favorite social media.  Your friends can sign up for online service emails on the healthactivator.com page.

See you in March in person, and online before that!

—Christine Peterson, Chairman, Personalized Life Extension Conference

The website is now under construction at http://lifeextensionconference.com and we will let you know when registration is open.

Meanwhile, your suggestions for topics and speakers are most welcome.  Send to peterson@lifeextensionconference.com.  Speaker suggestions are most helpful if they include a link to a video clip.

If you attended the first conference, please send a SHORT quote we can use to let new people know that you found it valuable.  If you made a positive change as a result of the conference, include that!  Send to peterson@lifeextensionconference.com

Please help us spread with word about the conference via email and your favorite social media.  Your friends can sign up for conference emails on the lifeextensionconference home page.

Thanks in advance — we hope to see you in March!

Best wishes,

Christine

Christine Peterson

Chairman, Personalized Life Extension Conference

President, Foresight Institute

peterson@lifeextensionconference.com

http://hplusmagazine.com/editors-blog/two-days-among-immortals

Two little tweaks: although Foresight Institute was a partner, it wasn’t the main sponsor of the meeting.  And the goggles to wear at night are red, not blue.

Thanks, Ben, for a great summary!  —Chris Peterson, Conference Chairman