In this conversation with Gen Seasoned, Dr. Navin Gnanasekaran walks us through why longevity thinking should start in our 30s (and what to do instead if one is already past it), busts the myth that starving yourself is the same as fasting smart, and explains why multivitamins are, in his words, expensive urine. In his book The 100-Year Blueprint: An Indian Doctor's Guide to Longevity, this physician and medical futurist makes the case that India doesn't need to borrow the West's rulebook on ageing — because Indian bodies are simply different. We're the "thin-fat" phenotype, we run on smaller metabolic engines than the processed food we feed them, and our arteries, quite literally, are thinner. He also talks about the quarter-quarter-half plate rule, and why your non-stick pan and paper chai cup might be quietly working against you. Plus, why it may be a good idea to take up pickleball or any racket sport. Listen in! Follow on: LinkedIn | Instagram | Buy the book Timestamps 01:05 – Why India needs more longevity conversations, and why he wrote the book to read like fiction, not a textbook 02:52 – When should longevity thinking actually start? The lifespan vs. healthspan gap 05:35 – What people already in their 50s can still do — managing vs. preventing 07:13 – The Indian "thin-fat" body type explained 08:10 – The Ambassador-and-aviation-fuel analogy: capacity-load mismatch 10:05 – Why Western cutoffs (waist circumference etc.) don't apply to Indians 10:37 – Thinner arteries, earlier heart disease — the cardiac surgeon story 11:56 – What inflammation actually is — and what "inflammaging" means 15:02 – Countering inflammation: oil swaps, omega-3s, stress, fried food 18:02 – Intermittent fasting: separating the hype from the evidence 20:03 – Why crash diets crash your metabolism 22:34 – How time-restricted eating actually works — the 12–14 hour window 23:56 – Time-restricted eating for diabetics 24:05 – Handling hunger pangs: the thirst-vs-hunger trick 26:00 – The quarter-quarter-half plate rule 29:32 – India's protein gap — and how to actually fix it 32:22 – Supplements: why multivitamins are "expensive urine" 33:52 – Vitamin D, B12, creatine — the supplements actually worth taking 34:41 – Collagen: hype vs. evidence 36:22 – Is your kitchen poisoning you? Plastics, non-stick pans, aluminium foil, paper cups 38:47 – Loneliness = smoking 15 cigarettes a day 42:29 – Building a "third place" and real social connections 45:00 – The Copenhagen study: why racket sports (and pickleball) beat almost everything else 48:38 – Brain stimulation beyond Sudoku — novelty, discomfort, and neuroplasticity 52:14 – NEAT: fidgeting, non-exercise movement, and quiet calorie burn 54:04 – Rapamycin, mTOR, biohacks — gimmicks vs. getting the foundations right 56:52 – Haldi doodh: swapping the evening coffee for turmeric milk 58:24 – Closing message: building a nation that lives to 100, joyously To get in touch, email genseasoned@gmail.com Disclaimer: Views are personal. Listener discretion is advised.
