007 | I'm taking a new step in my career.
Eleven years after earning my PhD and 15 years after my first client knocked the door, I'm now taking the next step in my career. And this is why.
Life. It goes with ups and downs. You’re probably way too familiar with that.
I recall a moment in my career, I had just started my coaching practice - it must’ve been somewhere in 2014. For three months no new clients reached out.
I was already planning my exit before I had even started.
“Is this dr. Ludidi speaking?”
And this is how it typically goes: right at the moment you think you’re done, magic happens. And it did. The telephone rang. It was the Director of one of the bigger Dutch Hospitals (Máxima Medical Centre - Eindhoven). “Is this dr. Ludidi speaking? I think we need a fresh young kid to do this job. The way you approach health is so renewing. I feel it fits with what I am looking for, for my hospital. We could use your help to update the health & food policy for the whole medical centre. But be wary: there seems to be so much resistance”.
Fearless to push change
At that time, I had no experience in policy making whatsoever, but something inside me told me to not fear the unknown. And so it happened. “Challenge accepted.” Business saved. And, a year later, mission succeeded. Pushing innovations - lifestyle made practical - inside the medical world. With current knowledge, and looking at the bigger picture, the wins we made were only modest, yet it marked a significant milestone both in my career and in the bigger picture of ‘change’. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
“|And this is how it typically goes: right at the moment you think you’re done, magic happens.”
Fast forward
Anyway, fast forward. As years accumulate, one gathers knowledge and experience. I grew, as a human, as an expert and as an entrepreneur. Growth however, never comes automatically and usually not without resistance or a fair amount of challenges to overcome. And so, as an entrepreneur, expert and as a human, I’ve faced many, many challenges. Deeps that went deeper but, luckily, highs as well.
As such, I experienced a challenging period in 2023, business-wise, but of course, such always affects you personally too. I managed to save the business, through applying innovative solutions, but I noticed that it seemed to take a toll on me - even though I respected my foundations and my ‘Emergency Protocol’ a lot.
I was paying the price.
“I felt that the increased load - work & life - slowly grinded my vitality and my energy seemed to fade.”
My foundations didn’t fall, but they simply weren’t enough
I felt that the increased load - work & life - slowly grinded my vitality and my energy seemed to fade. Even though I religiously respected my 8 hours of sleep, my 3 proper meals a day and my movement. It felt as though that simply wasn’t enough anymore to combat the pressure this life has put on me. Don’t get me wrong here: I could still do stuff most people only dream about, movement wise, but that was merely the result of a lifelong investing. Taking good care of my body, so when I couldn’t anymore, my body could take care of me. But that had its limits. I realised that the Superman role was not for me.
I was only human too.
Optimising an already good system
So I asked myself: could we potentially optimise the biological systems so that we can buffer the extra load, as it were. What I’m proposing here is that, having a proper Rhythm, good Food intake, sufficient Movement and sufficient Rest alone may not be enough to compensate for the demanding life I was/ am living.
This is where energy regulation comes into the equation. Eventually, feeling well has a lot to do with having plenty of energy. Looking at the equation, being energetic could mean:
A. Having sufficient energy to compensate for the energy leaks or
B. Being able to recover better to rapidly restore energy.
Designing the energy supplement: can we both get a) more and b) recover better?
And so, a new challenge presented. Was there a possibility to come up with a concept that does either or, even better, that does both? That’s what I wondered.
Why optimise?
I started talking to people, entrepreneurs and athletes first (see sketches from the 2023 archives). Ordinary people too from different ages and my clients. And what I rapidly saw was a clear pattern that, from a certain age onwards, energy tends to fade; an observation that was confirmed by the scientific literature (1). And a lot of this could be related to either sub-optimal lifestyle choices and the depletion of NAD+ levels (1).
So, I asked myself “Could supplementing this substance potentially counteract the loss of energy as, apparently, biologically predetermined?”
Science-to-practice: where innovation takes place
To be honest, this wasn’t the first time I came up with an innovative idea science-based, yet made practical, that I’d love to take to the market. A new generation of supplements that supported energy and recovery was probably something that a lot of people could benefit from, bearing in mind that the foundations would be in order. Back in ‘14 we had PhytoJuice, in ‘15 the Raw Chocolate project and later my best-selling book on Intermittent Fasting (2019). The latter of which became a huge success, despite completely breaking with ruling paradigms. To date we understand that breakfast is not necessarily the most important meal of the day.
But what happened next was, that I just let it all go, because life took over. Running my business. Or rather: saving it.
“Dr. Ludidi, we could use your help”
Fast forward to now. The telephone rang. Again. Dr. Ludidi? I think we could use your help. Your innovative and progressive approach to health is something our company can benefit from. We are developing a novel generation of supplements….
Challenge accepted.
A new era: Meet dr. Ludidi - Chief Science Officer
And so, today I step into my new function as Chief Science Officer at The Longevity Store®. A space where education meets bio-optimisation through foundations and supplementation.
My journey has taken me to many special places and I’m convinced it will take me to many more. Through the Longevity Store® I will keep contributing to educating people on health & wellbeing through emphasising the importance of a lifestyle that aligns with our natural rhythms. Also, I will keep developing means to optimise our biology through science-based, adaptive supplementation in transparency. It will be challenging, but hey, did I ever shy away from that?
This is where science and life come together.
#enjoyhealth
-doc.
PS: Yes, I did start taking one supplement. It contains NAD+ pre-cursors and a blend of bio-active substances (e.g. creatine) that act on the energy system directly, instead of ‘just’ delivering rapid energy through sugar and caffeine. The supplement will adapt as our knowledge and scientific insights advance. We’ll keep optimising.
References
McReynolds MR, Chellappa K, Baur JA. Age-related NAD+ decline. Exp Gerontol. 2020 Jun;134:110888. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2020.110888. Epub 2020 Feb 22. PMID: 32097708; PMCID: PMC7442590.
Continue below: On dr. Ludidi’s take on his new function below:
On taking on the job as CSO at TLS®
What I’m going to do as Chief Science Officer
“Longevity isn’t about “anti-aging.” That skill called health is the true key to longevity. Within this journey, supplementation equals optimisation, not substitution. When I saw The Longevity Store® live this exact philosophy, I knew our joint mission could take longevity beyond fasting as a "hack" and beyond supplements as the solution. Our challenge is to cut the noise and use what’s proven, while staying at the leading edge. As CSO at The Longevity Store®, I lead the science-based work in formulation & efficacy. Pursuing further optimisation, always with lifestyle at the foundation.”
How my personal life affects my work
“Given the fact that our modern ‘Western’ lifestyle is demanding and it is probably not going to change, I started thinking about possibilities for bio-optimisation years ago. Intermittent fasting was a first step through which I already had learned that keeping a solid foundation is essential, in order to make it effective.
But I also respected, and perhaps accepted, the fact that - unless I was sincerely willing to drastically change my life as a whole, quit my career and leave the western way of life - modern life simply comes with an increased demand. It’s not just stress. It’s also, blue light, toxic strain from microplastics, heavy metals, radiation that is abundant, and what have you. If we can find solutions to better cope with that demand, quality of life might sustain instead of deteriorate, as we age. To me, that’s a huge part of my mission at The Longevity Store®”
How this changes my work with you
“Not that much. I’ll still be coaching. Still be researching, also scientifically. I’ll keep working on new (research) projects related to ancestral health & wellbeing (Teaser: Africa 2026). As a result, I will keep educating you through various perspectives on that skill called health. It’s a journey we’ve been on together since 2010 and together, we’ll move on!”
- dr. Samefko Ludidi