q This time my tour of beauty brings me home to Los Angeles. UPBEAT ELECTRONIC MUSIC I've been to 12 countries to explore the ideas of well-being. So how can I apply what I've learnt overseas to my future? Maybe I can find some of these answers in my own backyard. Grow, grow, grow! And will a revolutionary diet help me live longer? I really worry about making you live to 100 years of age healthy. And as for my own personal outer beauty, is it time for some appearance medicine? Gonna have a tighter neck, and I'm gonna have no forehead wrinkles. Yeah, things are looking up today. (CHUCKLES) Copyright Able 2015 UPBEAT ELECTRONIC MUSIC I'm back in my home town in Los Angeles, and I wanna put all these incredible experiences I had on the Tour of Beauty into practice. First up, I wanna make some big-picture changes to my life, starting in my own backyard. So I'm bringing in gangsta gardener Ron Finley to help me. So, Ron, I have travelled to these incredible countries and figured out that farm-to-table is the way to go. Greece ` you know, they had some of the happiest people, and, you know, their produce was brought out of their back gardens, you know. But, clearly, I live in the middle of Los Angeles. Yes. So, Ron, would you be able to help me change my garden into a veggie and fruit bowl? We can make that happen, yeah. Yeah, OK. Ron's known for taking over sidewalks and vacant lots in South LA and turning them into community gardens. Sounds like my kinda guy. How I got into this was basically in the area I live in in Los Angeles, there's no healthy food. We have four corners, but we have six fast-food restaurants. Oh really? Yeah. The drive-throughs are killing more people than the drive-bys. What I call what I do is gangsta gardening. A nice healthy Hass avocado! Because it grows so well in LA, the humble avocado is one of Ron's most successful weapons in the fight against fast food. And we're good. So there we have it. On my journeys, I've found out that I have glycation. My body doesn't process sugar very well. What would you suggest that I kinda start...? Up here, like, a blackberry, raspberry mix to go along this fence. I've already been growing my own herbs, lemons and some tomatoes, so this will be a great addition. So there` she's done. Ta-da! One blueberry bush. Grow, grow, grow! Still got lima beans here. This is a great start to growing more of my own food for that healthy backyard-to-table lifestyle. Fantastic! Gardening has to be the new sexy. BOTH LAUGH But despite everything I've learnt outside America, is there something right here that can help me live longer, be more healthy and look younger? I'm about to meet a scientist who thinks he has the answer. So, I'm intrigued to see what he has to say and what I'm about to do. At the University of Southern California Longevity Institute, Professor Valter Longo is becoming world-renowned for a diet he claims can rejuvenate my body and mind. Plus help me lose a little weight as well. Professor Longo, I know it's a five-day fast, right? Mimicking fast? Is it gonna help me? It's not a true fast. This is between 750 and 1100 calories a day. Normally, I'd be eating around 2000 calories a day, so a huge reduction. It's really about removing very specific ingredients, right? OK. Your body thinks you are out of food, and so it has to go into an emergency mode of saving. It says, 'I'm gonna throw things out, but I'm also gonna eat it,' right? So the body eats itself. And then, when you refeed, the body says, 'OK. Now we're OK again. Let's rebuild everything that we destroyed.' You're remaking everything new, and that's why we think it's so powerful. Wow. There's ancient wisdom in this. In many countries I've visited, people fast regularly for religious and health reasons. Professor Longo believes we can boost the immune system and reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer by repeating his fasting mimicking diet around four times a year. Not just worry about you losing weight or you having lower cholesterol; I really worry about making you live to 100 years of age healthy, right? But have I got the willpower to do this? The most difficult days are the first two days, right, because your body's switching from a sugar-utilising mode to a fat-utilising mode. I think that I'd like to try the fasting mimicking diet. I mean, I'd like to reboot the system, get all the bad guys out and kind of regenerate my system and see how I feel, for sure. Right. And if I needed more convincing, Valter's diet has been trialled on these little creatures with spectacular results. These mice eat a regular diet; these little round mice are fed only a fat-rich diet; while these ones are on the same fat-rich diet, but for five days a month, they go on Valter's fasting mimicking diet, and they are the healthiest group here. These guys are a lot more investigative and, like, a lot more alert; whereas these guys are just, I mean... What the hell's going on here? This is what I am now, and I wanna be that. Fasting mimicking diet, it's based on the combination of ancient practices and modern science and clinical trials. You know, I like to think of it as in tune with evolution, right? This diet is also an opportunity to rethink the way you eat, and in fact, move to a much healthier diet, closer to the ones that centenarians eat. Now, this diet is not for everyone. You need to get your doctor's OK first. 107/69 and your pulse is 56. > My blood pressure is a little low, but that's OK. There are several tests before I start the diet so Valter can measure any impact the diet's had on me afterwards. The DEXA machine will measure your total body fat, your total muscle mass and your total bone density. Anxiety levels and brain function are assessed as well. Do you see changes within people's brains? The diet itself may actually improve function and augment structure. Wow. Wow. This is remarkable. But can a diet really achieve so many physical changes and give me a healthier and longer life? I'm fascinated to find out but a little worried that it might be hell to live through. So, here we have my five-day diet, and, uh, it's kinda light, to be honest. It's not that heavy. Let's see what's inside. Day one. Day one is 1100 calories. The rest of the days are 700. Professor Longo has designed these scientifically controlled meals containing exact amounts of carbs, proteins and fats. Tomato soup mix and an energy bar. Olives. I'm kinda happy about those, cos I love salt. Minestrone soup mix. It's kinda small, no? (CHUCKLES) I was hoping to get some fresh food, not just packaged. But apparently that's all part of the science behind it. Kale crackers. And a lemon tea. 12 hours into the diet, I'm feeling surprisingly OK. This is the soup. And this is the mushroom soup. Um, the food ` you know, fine. I'm not craving anything. I mean, you know, I mean, come on, I'm 45. There's certain things you gotta do in your life. You, you know, buckle up. I've, you know, gotta do the fast. It's gonna be a good benefits for me. This diet's gonna be a breeze. But on the morning of day two, I'm struggling. I woke up with a really bad headache. And there's a lot of anger that comes up. My body's clearly withdrawing from stuff. At dinner time, I'm feeling shattered but calm. Mum cooked some great rice and chicken tonight, and, uh,... I do want it. I want it bad. (CHUCKLES) The reality as a starvation diet kicks in. I started whiting out, getting those kinda blackout things. And finally I make a decision ` it's time for a visit with my cosmetic surgeon. I mean, I'm not looking to be 30. Absolutely. q In my home town of LA, my fasting mimicking diet is down to 750 calories a day. So, I'm now on day three, but I'm much better today, clearer mind, um, much happier, don't feel irritable any more. I've got two soups, some crackers today, my energy drink, um, some of the minerals and vitamins that I need and some spearmint tea, and that's kind of it. And I'll be needing all my strength today, because I'm making an important decision regarding my appearance. I might push myself a little bit further with this. I don't know. I haven't eaten for a few days, so I could be a little bit of an overreaction or do something that I normally wouldn't do. Who knows? Yes, I'm talking about something I've been looking at throughout my tour of beauty ` cosmetic surgery. I'm consulting Dr Honrado, who's renowned for his sensitive approach. My question to you is what is it that bothers you? Like, when you look in the mirror, what do you see? I'm 45. I guess the areas that have always been of great concern for me are the jowl areas round here. I'm at the perfect age for the starting to wrinkle and sag, and, um, I've always had, kinda, this, um, puffy bit under here. And, I mean, I'm not looking to be 30,... > Correct. ...but I just` you just wanna look fresh and lovely when you wake up. Rejuvenated. Absolutely. Not, you know, 20. What is your favourite treatment that you can see, like, really quick results. I do love Botox. I think Botox is great for the upper half of the face ` the fine wrinklings around the eyes, these 11 signs, the forehead wrinkles. I love filler as well for certain spots. I know, um, the biggest worry is having duck lips. So again that's just a matter of, like, injecting the right amount. But I don't think I'm ready for filler. But what I have been doing now instead of filling is using my radiofrequency machines, or my energy machines, to tighten the skin. I'm in. The ThermiSmooth is a relatively new procedure ` no scalpels or anaesthetics and takes only 40 minutes. This is the probe that we're gonna use. This is the area that delivers the energy. And what we're doing is we're delivering energy through radiofrequency, and what this is doing is causing, essentially, a trauma to the skin, which will cause a healing response, which then will create new collagen. Your body's gonna heal from this trauma. Amazing. But is it, like, liposuction, where the fat comes back? Or is the fat just gonna dissolve into the stream and you can pee it out? Exactly. The fat's just gonna dissolve. Your body absorbs it and just gets rid of it. Whichever way. But there's a new, uh, handpiece that's available now that we can use for vaginal rejuvenation, which has become quite popular. Think I'll pass on that today. Now that we're done, what you'll expect is maybe a little bit of redness in the area that we're treating. It usually goes away in about an hour, two hours. < OK. Um, and that's it. < OK. And I've also agreed to the most popular cosmetic procedure for both men and women here. What would you do? Um, let's see. Def` Little bit around the eyes. Go ahead and scowl. OK. How about a little bit there? I'm gonna get Botox, and I want you guys to check out and see how it's done. The technician has to be highly skilled to deliver exactly the right amount. Too much and I'd look like something outta Fright Night. Muscles of the face are for expression, so it just softens that expression. So that's the balance of it, not to overdo it, cos you still want expression. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Especially in your industry. It will take up to two weeks to see the final results of the Botox, but the Thermi results are incredibly quick. This is me before the procedure, and this is me afterwards. No wonder Dr Honrado gives some of Hollywood's elite a touch-up before they hit the red carpet. It actually feels` Just more elasticity, plumpness. Um, it just looks healthier, basically. I have to give you a hug. And one great thing about getting the Thermi and Botox ` it's taken my mind off food. But on day four, when my body should be adapting to the fast, all I wanna do is hide. I'm definitely tired today, for sure. Yeah, so it's been a bit of a muddle the last 12 hours, I would say, with the` with the less food. I think my blood pressure is a little bit low right now. But according to Professor Longo, it's important to keep to your daily routines. So I'm shopping with Sarah, a dietician, for a family feast I'm planning when my diet ends. I wanna share some of the amazing flavours from my journey with my family. Turmeric. This is amazing. This is one of my favourite things to eat, cos this little guy is super super potent anti-inflammatory. This is such an important food to have in your diet. I love seeing all these different colour carrots now. Aren't they beautiful? They all have different properties. I mean, the red ones are higher in resveratrol. so they're good for a long life, because they're so packed full of antioxidants. Resveratrol ` you know, we really got to see a lot of that in France, because of the grapes. Mm-hm. Well, actually, you know what ` I found this out recently ` if you look, you can kinda see there's a little film on the grapes ` that's actually where a lot of the resveratrol is stored on the grapes, so you always wanna try and find, at least here, organic grapes, which these are. I'm noticing that I never have to leave the perimeter of the supermarket to buy all this healthy food. And with Sarah, I'm seeing things I used to walk right past, like this fermented cabbage. This is establishing your gut flora. And they say the absorption` everything that's impacting your body is in your gut, so when you start with the right foods that can impact it and build the healthy bacteria, then you can see just a tremendous change. It's been great getting a reminder of all the food secrets I've discovered on my travels. But back home, the reality of a 750-calorie diet is taking its toll. Only an hour later, I'm becoming cold and disorientated. It's funny, cos it's, like, 100 degrees out there today, and I'm freezing cold. I started whiting out in my head, getting those kinda blackout things. It's a really hot day here in LA, and apparently people with low blood pressure don't do too well. So I've had to have two crackers and` But I'm cold. So, I just, um, heated up my soup, which is the quinoa. But I'm gonna` trying to hang in there till tomorrow morning, when I get my blood work done, and we'll just see what happens. Was a five-day fast worth it? I wanna get all my cognitive tests done. I wanna be nice to all the people around me again. And to celebrate the end of my fasting diet, I'm cooking my family an amazing feast. But that's awful. CHUCKLING What is in there? Camel? CHUCKLING ROCK MUSIC Today the rest of LA is happily going about its business, while I'm sitting at home on the final morning of my fast. It's the beginning of day five, and I'm going for a blood test. If anything gets too frantic or too much, I wanna pass out. So, um, my environment's very very` has to be very very calm and very very quiet right now, because of the lack of food. Before I can eat, I have to receive tests to see if the fast had the impact Professor Longo expected. But I'm so drained of energy, every step feels like a mile. Um, I am really happy it is over. So, we're gonna start with height. Well, I` I hope I haven't grown. Have I? I mean, for God's sakes, if I've grown in four days, that's ridiculous. I just wanna get this thing done. I wanna get blood drawn. I want my cognitive tests done. I wanna be nice to all the people around me again. And I hate the person I am right now. (LAUGHS) It will take a day to get the results of my fast. But there's one thing I don't have to wait for any longer ` regular food. This is gonna be the best strawberry smoothie ever. Tastes like strawberries. (LAUGHS) But has it all been worth it? Am I on my way to better health and greater longevity? The results are good. For example, your weight dropped by almost 8 pounds. That's just over 3.5 kilos. Wow. But the more interesting thing is that you almost didn't drop at all in lean body mass. So your muscle mass is conserved, but your visceral fat ` the fat that gives you insulin resistance and all kinds of problems that can lead to metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases ` there was a huge drop. So I've kept the good fats and discarded the bad, my normally low blood pressure is up, and mentally I'm feeling much sharper too. Your brain now no longer uses only glucose for fuel. It also starts using these by-products of fat. This is why we think it also contributes to regeneration of the neural stem cells. I think in most cases people do this because you're gonna lose weight, and then` you know, and then they realise that this is much much more. I mean, I would definitely love to do this again. Yeah, I think in your case, somebody like you, probably once every three to six months. The first time is the hardest. So the second time and the third time are much easier but also start establishing the long-term effects. Thank you so much. You're very welcome. Thank you. To celebrate the end of the fast, I'm cooking a family feast with a little bit of help from a great catering company. Here we have the Moroccan dish. And every flavour triggers a memory from my tour of beauty. The cauliflower with turmeric ` India. I had this all over my face. And as you can see, this beautiful, brilliant yellow. Again, incredible colours in India. So, we're gonna throw this in the oven now. Fabulous. One of my favourite and meaningful places ` Greece. We wanted to honour, really, Greece with the zucchini and feta pie. Eleni cooked the most incredible dinners with so much love and passion. So, Eleni,... ...this pie is in honour of you and all your passion and love that you have. I tip my hat to you. I'm also cooking braised ribs with bok choy from China as well as a special kinda tofu. So, I was first introduced to this dish in Japan by the beauty witch. I wasn't a keen tofu person at the beginning, but the way she did it was just incredible, with the soy sauce, the bonito flakes, which I'd never tasted before, and the silk tofu, which is a much softer tofu. CHATTER, LAUGHTER OK, so, we got food from 12 different countries. How good does this look? All right, let's eat, cos I'm starving. I hope the food isn't too exotic for my mum, Janine, my son, Liam, my daughter, Renee, and sister, Jacqui. There's only one way to find out. Is this camel? No! That's the braised beef. (CHUCKLES) Over all your travels, what was your favourite type of food? I would say... my new one is the tofu, because I wasn't` you know I'm not a big tofu` very rarely do we see tofu in the house, unless you bring it in. What do you like the best? This pie. I guess it's more European. It's not... exotic. But I just like, normally, just plain, ordinary foods. And when it comes to food, most of the family is like Mum ` nothing too spicy. In what you eat` Or actually m` (COUGHS) LAUGHS: I knew she'd hate that! It's disgusting. That's awful. (LAUGHS) Jacqui's just tasted kimchi ` Korean fermented cabbage. What is in there? No, it's fermented` This is what we lack in our diet. I don't care whether it's fermented or not. What is`? What's your favourite? Probably the beef. It was just really soft and went down easy. Naynay? I like the beef. Jaja? I like the tofu. The tofu's amazing. It just melts in your mouth. LAUGHTER These are the people who most matter to me, and this is a special time, us all eating together. Do you want a glass? This is from France, and they say a glass of red wine a day is great for you. It's got the resveratrol in it that's really good for us. Cheers, guys. LAUGHTER There's nothing better and bigger than family, because, you know, where are we without each other? Having gone on this journey, I've had this incredible experience of going into 12 different countries. It was a year that enriched my life. It will definitely always be with me. My favourite beauty product on this journey would be argan oil. It stops my hair going frizzy, feels great on the skin and makes a mean salad dressing as well. The other beauty product that I love was the coal ` just getting that stick, whipping on your black eyeliner. Wow. I'm also a huge fan of dilo oil from Fiji ` very healing for the skin and great for anti-aging. Fasting ` I think fasting is a great idea. For me, it would probably be only once or twice a year. I think my system has definitely functioned better. Was it hard? Hell yes. It was hard. The people that I think are the most beautiful people, they have a complete sense of who they are. Isabelle I absolutely loved. She was completely confident of where she was in her life, her age. But the person that had the most influence on me on this journey was definitely Sadhguru from India. I think the way that he explains things to you is very very simple. Whatever is the shape of your nose, whatever is the shape of your face, however it is, you will see a joyful face is always a beautiful face. So if you want a surgery for beauty, the best thing is make yourself really really joyful. You will see everybody wants to look upon that face which is joyful. This means we can make the entire world beautiful. Maybe Sadhguru's exactly right. Beauty is joy. It's that simple. Copyright Able 2015