Yogi says “Eat Your Grapes” or Implementing the

Bambeck Defined Modified Warburg/Warrior Diet: A

Personal Story By 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
www.scribd.com, www.articlesbase.com, 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: mwolfson@stanfordalumni.org

Copyright © Michael Wolfson June 11, 2010.