The Quiet Art Of Longevity with Dr Gene Antenucci

Health advice gets loud fast: fix your gut, fix your hormones, fix your sleep, buy the supplement, follow the plan. What we forget is that the body doesn’t live in compartments, and neither does healing. I’m joined by Dr Gene Antenucci, a health and wellness educator, speaker, author and LSU School of Dentistry faculty member and clinician with over 40 years of experience, to talk about a holistic approach to healthy ageing that actually feels doable.

We dig into why “separate parts” thinking creates confusion, and how energy sits at the centre of it all, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Dr Antenucci shares lessons rooted in Italian culture, where movement is built into normal life and stress is softened by La Dolce Farniente, the sweet joy of doing nothing. We also explore why community ties and relationships affect longevity, how loneliness changes your chemistry, and why purpose becomes essential as we age, especially around retirement and big life transitions.

From there we get practical with Blue Zones research: whole foods over ultra-processed diets, moving more than you don’t move, and staying connected to something bigger than yourself. We also address the hot topic of supplements, peptides and “anti-ageing” hacks, and why they only make sense once the foundations are in place. If you want a grounded blueprint for living longer and living better, press play, then subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:27

So welcome everybody to another edition of Balm to the Soul. I'm your host, Natasha Joy Price, and I'm an energy healer, an author, and a podcaster. And today we have a new guest, Dr. Gene Antonucci. So welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for supporting us.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Now, you are a health and wellness educator, a speaker, an author, a full-time LSU School of Dentistry, faculty member and clinician with over 40 years of experience. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_02 1:05

I wear several hands.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Yes, yes. Yes, that's I think a lot of us do really. And your focus is on overall health, but how that affects the way that we age, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

So it's really about looking at the whole

Why Siloed Health Advice Fails

SPEAKER_00 1:29

holistic whole, basically, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 1:32

As to Yes, it is it is. Unfortunately, today we're pushed in the direction of separating things as if they are of utmost importance in and of themselves. But uh to me, that's doesn't make any sense, first of all, but it's a it's a fallacy. It's it's not a correct way to to approach life.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

No, no, there's a lot of factors that that are gonna come into play, aren't there?

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Yes. And and one is uh each are equally important, but they don't exist in and of themselves.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

No.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

And and that's how when I start to look at things that way, and when I view the world that way, I can I can then I can dissect it down and I can understand many things more clearly from that perspective.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Yeah. So do you think that's why modern health advice confuses us because they do focus. They we get so much advice, don't we? But it tends to be in whatever area that person is.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

And that is the problem. You you you you have a stomachache, you go to the physician or the specialist, they they send you to a specialist to see what it is with your stomach without understanding that that malady, whatever it is that you're dealing with, is tied to the every other aspect of your body. It's tied to inflammatory processes that could start in your mouth, you know, it could start in with a problem on your foot. There's many, many different areas, but all of it can't be looked at separately. And when we do, we do ourselves a disservice because we aren't really looking at true healing. We're looking at taking a medication or some sort of a direction towards fixing something, but not looking at the whole.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Yeah. I actually always I'm an energy healer, and I always think that gets missed off the list, but I'm constantly trying to explain to people that actually that's part of the holistic whole and it needs to be included,

Energy As Physical And Spiritual

SPEAKER_00 3:39

you know.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

It's it's a it's a vital part of the conversation because we can dissect energy, we can look at energy, but there's so many components to energy. It it's a on the physical realm, which is tied to our nutrition, it's tied to it's tied to biology and physiology and all the systems we have, but it's also on a spiritual and an emotional and a mental sense. And then there's an aspect of energy I don't pretend to understand that's beyond me and you and and the world that we are we're connected to. So there's so many aspects of energy, and to say it's just one thing and to focus on one thing is the same as going to a physician and being folk focusing on one aspect of of health.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Yeah. So I've I saw that you said health is built quietly day by day. I really like that. It's it's a gradual, you know, it's changing habits, isn't it? It's a gradual sort of step by step.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

Yes, and it's counter to the viewpoint that health is can be hacked or can be can be fixed by following one mentor or one guru or or taking one supplement or following one program for for exercise. Health is is how we live, it's it's what we do on a daily basis, which is integral to the energy that we feel, the energy that we sense, the energy that we give off. It's integral to how each of our cells respond. So when we look at when I look at and I view overall health, uh many of my lessons were learned from my connection to to Italy. I'm a second-generation Italian. My dad was born in Italy, my dad was a physician. We lived in kind of a limbo in

Daily Habits The Italian Way

SPEAKER_02 5:29

the United States. I was I was brought up American, born in America, but I had this cultural aspect of my father never really fitting into the American scene. He was always somewhere, you know, he was from somewhere else.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

And so the Italian culture is a part of it's a part of me. And as I un we travel there often, and as I as I understood it, I see Italians don't try to understand. Italians don't go to the gym, first of all. I mean, it's it's a membership is so low, but they exercise and they move more than more than anything. So you can sit in a piazza in Italy and you can watch men in their 90s on a bicycle, and you could see women in their 80s going to walking to the grocery store carrying bags and people climbing hills and stairs. And that's living. It's not a a uh me looking in a book and saying, Oh, well, what do I need to do today? My watch says I need 50 more steps, so I need it. That's not how it's it's what we do on a daily basis, yeah. And you you break it down nutrition, you look at movement, you look at the spiritual side of a person's purpose and a person's meaning, which has to do with our own our own energy and our own health, because it's all very closely tied. You look at the relationships that we have, you look at how we how we are uh how we fit with other people, how we how we converse with other people, how we have conflict and how we have love, and everything is all uh comes together, and neither one are an independent silo of health. All are essential and all affect the other. So you have no relationships in this world, and you are lonely. Every uh you're alone, and you're you're just you and your mind and your books and whatever, that's great, but there's something missing because research science tells us that we need that connection because that affects the hormones and the chemistry and the our system, and it affects our longevity. The science studies tell that. If you have no purpose in life, if you retire at 65, which is the goal of so many people around me, they they live to retire and then they sit around and and they wither because and they don't know what to do. You need purpose. Yeah, purpose. You need a you need a a reason to live and to be, because not only for your mental state, but your body needs it because that's how we are. That's genetically, that's what we are our ancestors from hundreds and hundreds of thousands of years ago that created the DNA that reside in you and me, that's what it requires. And if we don't give it that fuel, there's something that's off in the system.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

So and I think we've I I don't know if this still happens in Italy, but it doesn't happen so much in England where we have the generations living together. And I just think that's so important. We, you know, are in England a lot of older people go into homes. And I think that, you know, instead of being with their family, I think it makes such a big difference.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

And as the world has become westernized, or however you want to look at it, that has been the direction, and for for for many reasons, some because of uh economics, because uh distance as well.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

People tend to

Community Purpose And Ageing Well

SPEAKER_00 8:59

move away, don't they?

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yeah, people used to live within a community, and they were that's where they were born, they lived, they got married, they had children, they got older, and they passed. That's that was life. That's no longer the case. People teenagers can't wait to get out of the small town to get to the big town, the big city, or to get leave the big city and go to the small town. But wherever it is, there's somewhere better than where they are, so they're distant from their family. Yeah, so when you when you're not in that, and that's it depends on where you are in Italy, or I'm sure in England too. There must be there have to be communities, but I know there are there are villages and communities all throughout Italy where the old model still exists. Yeah, but uh you know, I I have a uh mother-in-law who's who's in a home, right? She was just put in a home, she's 90 90 years old, she has dementia, and it became too much for the four sisters of the three brook three sisters and one brother and the rest of the family to to manage and care for.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Yeah, and and it's this so they have their place, they have their place, definitely, don't they? My mother's got dementia as well, so she's not in a home yet, but we do have a lot of carers come in because it's a lot, it's a lot, it's difficult, and and there's so much emotional that goes on, and yeah, the difficult, difficult time. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

The studies with that also show that there's longer age, people have higher rates of longevity when they are cared for by their families, because because there's a sense of connection and purpose, and all of these things that our bodies grew with that are not foreign, you know, and in yeah, it's those they're difficult, difficult questions, and there's there's very not clear thinking, uh definitely not in the medical industry, because they just look at if you have an elderly person with dementia, it's a it's a it's a problem that you fix with drugs and you you you you have care partners that do this and that and the other thing, and if they get pneumonia, then you then you give them the drugs to get rid of pneumonia, as long as they're breathing and living, they're fine. But that's not we know that that's not true. That's no there's a lot more to life than that.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Yes, absolutely. And I do think I've recently retired from the law after 29 years, last month actually, and there is um with a view to looking to doing something else, and not you know, not not retiring for good, but there's a real process of decompression because I think we live our lives such as a bead that I think a lot of people get burnt out.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

And what the image that I get when I when I've been talking to you is that much more contentment with life, you know, doing what you have to do, but no, I don't know, there seems less pressure, less stress, less well, and if you think that through, the stress

Stress Decompression And Doing Nothing

SPEAKER_02 12:09

is stress is such a it's a drain on energy, it's a drain on physical health, it's mental health, and the stress of life that we put ourselves in, we we are a part of it because we live in the world. And if you're if you have a legal case and there's a deadline coming up and you have to do the work and you you're on it, you you you're stressed, and that's the way that it is. If I have a dental, a dental uh big case that I'm dealing with, I'm doing surgery or something, I'm stressed. And if you live your life day after day after day, every minute of your life from that type of stress, and then you go to family stress, and you have children that are driving you crazy, and the teenage daughter is doing this, and the son is doing that, and the husband's saying this, and there's more stress, and and financial pressures, and all of these things of modern life are not conducive to being calm and relaxed and having time to yourself. And that's a you know, lesson that I learned in Italy. There's a saying, I don't know if you ever heard it, but there's La Dolce Vita, which I'm sure you've heard the sweet life. But there's a saying that Italians live by called La Dolce Farniente, which means the sweet joy of doing absolutely nothing. And you can be sitting on a rock in a in a field and just looking nowhere, and and the world is going crazy around you, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't this is my time. And Italians, I think, have perfected that, and many many cultures have. They have their own version of it. But I know in America, it is in New York City, and and you know, even here in the south where I I've I've come to live, it's not a part of it's not a part of life.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

No, I don't think it is over here as much, but I think I think it's really important that we find time to have for ourselves. We we have to find space. It's a bit like that saying, you know, on the planes, you know, put your own oxygen mask on first. So, you know, women, mothers, they need to look give themselves space before doing everything that they do, basically.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

You're of no use to others if if you are spent, if you have no nothing left to give. You're of no use to others. If you're not taking care of yourself, your children will suffer, your family will suffer, and you're you're already suffering. So again, that to me is all connected. There's the the it's tied. But we you know it's it's it's a strange, it's a strange look. When we look at it, when I look at it, I know that I put a lot of weight on how we genetically or or our ancestors created who and what we are. We can't get away from that. That uh we are we are genetically programmed, we can change, and we do change, and we have the ability. The epigenetics is is the science of understanding how our genes can adapt to things, but basically we are have certain needs and and and and that's the way that it is nutritionally, emotionally, spiritually, they're all ingrained within us. And when we veer from that, we we we have we have issues, and part of, you know, part of our genetic makeup is to be a part of a whole. Modern society is that we are the center of the universe, and the whole depends is is dependent on what we want to do. And those two have to find a way of coming together, but they clash because if you view your life as I'm putting on my mask and forget about everybody else, doesn't matter, that doesn't that's not as that's not helpful either. But the perspective that I need to be whole in order to be a part of the bigger whole and contribute to that, that I can I can I can connect that.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

So really what you're saying is we also need to have community ties, don't we? We need to be part of a community, we need to know our neighbors even and chat to people in the village or whatever. We need that as part and parcel of our health.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

It's a part what we you know humans and you look at other mammals that grew up, they grew up in clans or families, and

Prevention Contentment And Body Chemistry

SPEAKER_02 17:55

that over and over and over and over again over centuries is our makeup. You know, we are dependent on others, and we are de we are we are also responsible to others. That's who and what we are. Modern society kind of takes away the spiritual aspect of that. I think religion, whatever, you know, spirituality, religion, that's a whole other discussion, but religions tend to engender or foster that in their own way. But spirituality should do that, but it can also take us in a sense that we are over and above anything, we are gods unto ourselves, and and yes, yes, it it it becomes I think that's a that's a dangerous that's followed that that becomes very difficult to maintain.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

Yeah, and really we should be doing this, you know, prevention. We should be doing this well in advance of when we think we need to do it, don't we?

SPEAKER_02 18:59

Unfortunately, we wake up one day and we say, Oh, like I slept and I got injured in my sleep. That didn't used to happen. So I gotta do something to start exercising. So you out of nowhere, so it's if you move all the time at whatever level that you can, you will your your body will be able to do what it's supposed to do because it did movement, but it it it evolved with movement. But yes, we we kind of the horse leaves the leaves the barn and then we we we shore up the uh we shore up the fences, and it's not the right yeah, you know, i i it's it's a good start, but it's better to have started before.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Yeah, and we need to find sort of I don't know, like a sense of peace, don't we? A contentment we we have to have that as well, I think, in our lives.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

It's essential. Yeah, it's it's it's essential because again, there's the chemistry, uh it I look at the human being, the human body, it's it's an exquisite creation, evolution, however you want to look at it. It's it's just amazing. You know, the hormone changes that occur just from if you smile, simple smile, these muscles that create a smile, create hormones that create positive energy in your body. Whereas if you're if you frown and you're angry, that in itself, just that action started the process of creating hormones that follow that. And there's an evolutionary reason for that. But every part of our body is tied in the same way where things that we do, interactions that we have, or lack of interactions that we have affect the hormonal releases. And you know, you look you speak of energy all the time. That's your you know, yeah, the world of energy, but it's not such as you know what is energy, you know. It's a it's a very it's a human energy. What is it? It's comprised of so many things, and as we spoke of earlier, we understand, and some we we we think we understand, and some mysteries that I don't think we'll ever comprehend.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

No. So we really we have to have a really well-rounded, you know, we have to have movement, we have to have that sense of contentment, we have to have a purpose. We we need to look at all of that, really, don't we?

SPEAKER_02 21:22

We do, and I did a lot, I I've uh spent a lot of time researching and studying what are called the blue zones. I'm sure you've you've heard of this. Yes, yes. There are areas in the world that were designated, there were five designated areas in the world where people were seen to live over 100 more than anywhere else. So they said, why? What's what's with Sardinia in Italy, or what's with Costa Rica, or what's with Moma Linda in California, the strangest place that I could think of for people to be living over 100? But what's unique about these communities and their similarities that all of these have? It's nutrition because the body needs the information that the proper food gives. And our food today is not it, it's it's altered definitely from what our genes recognize. So our genes are scrambling. What does that information say? Okay, maybe it says this, but there are oils that we eat ingest, and there are manufactured products and pesticides and all the stuff that assault our body, and they're trying our body's trying to make sense of it, and sooner or later something goes haywire here or there, and you get sicknesses and cancers, and you know, all the other bad things that we have. So nutrition is one, and the nutrition is whole foods and and all the stuff that your mama taught you and your doctor told you. But eat whole foods, limit the sweets, limit the processed carbohydrates, limit the processed foods, lots of vegetables. Meat is okay, but a little bit, if if you don't want meat, don't have it. Fish is really good because of the oils. So that's the diet that these people have in common. They move, they move more than they don't move. Our

Blue Zones Nutrition Movement Purpose

SPEAKER_02 23:00

ancestors were migrating from this country to that, or this place to that place to the other place. They're running away from bears and lions and tigers, and they're running after people to to to plunder their villages and their, you know, there was movement, but movement was a natural part. They're lifting things, mothers are lifting babies, women and men are creating things, and and we don't, if we lose that, our muscles wither because their muscles need movement. Our bones uh don't reform and rejuvenate because they need stress on them, the hormone change, so it's all that's all that then. There's purpose is another thing that they have. They have a reason for living, they have surrounded by a community, and there's a spiritual sense to realize that I'm a part of more than me. There's a greater world. And those are the commonalities. And then they they break down into many different areas. But those are those are really the core of what I view as essential for the potential for living a longer life with health and vitality. Because there's no yes, because that's that's that's the really important, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 24:16

We don't want to live longer and be sick or you know, unwell. We want to enhance those years, don't we?

SPEAKER_02 24:22

And modern medicine can keep us alive even when we're unconscious. We can live, yeah, and that's not a goal of mine. And no, and that's a that's a difficult aspect of trying of working hard to live longer, is that you say, Well, we still have an expiration date. We still we're not going to live forever. And I don't want to live longer if I'm not vital.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Yeah, if you don't have that quality of life, you've got to have that quality of life, don't you? Yeah. Interesting. Excellent. So you've got three books out, haven't you? So The Forever Human, The Italian Long Longevity, Longevity Secret, and Living Longer, Living Better. So are we have do we have more books on the horizon?

SPEAKER_02 25:14

Yes, I I do. The I have a book that I am in the process of writing, maybe three quarters through it. It's called The Quiet Art of Longevity. And it looks at it's really my evolution. My first book I wrote, it's almost a seven years ago, and it's been evolved and changed, but that's the Living Longer, Living Better book. That is those three books are going to be published, should be published by the middle of this month by by a publisher in New York City. They those three books, one looks at the science of longevity, one looks at the Italian, why is it working, what's working in Italy? And I dissect it. And the third book is what we need to do in terms of lifestyle for each of us and breaking down those areas that that that are there. So those these three books kind of work together for a blueprint of health, but the quiet art of longevity is really looking at bigger questions of how basically of our conversation today of what we're looking at, looking at the areas that make us and what what it is that we really need to do to be vital as we age, not just to age, not just to be have a goal of living to be a hundred and taking peptides and and and and all sorts of medications and and

Books Supplements And The Foundations

SPEAKER_02 26:35

it's it's really looking at the foundations of health and wellness and letting our bodies do what they are programmed to do, which is to l every cell in our body wants to live. And that's all it goes to do. And we get in the way all the time.

SPEAKER_00 26:51

Yes, yes. And what about all these new supplements that you know all advertised about that will help us age slower? And do you think that's part of the picture or do you think that's not necessary?

SPEAKER_02 27:07

It is. I look at them, I look at all of that realm as hacks because what we as humans look to do is find the easy way out and not do all the foundational things. So if the foundations are in place, then the supplements make can make sense if you need them. Whether they are there's all sorts of peptide therapies on the horizon, there's all sorts of things where people, where science, physicians, the medical industry, and and and industry itself is look are looking at products and modalities to help us live longer lives. But without the foundation, they're they're they're not uh they're just pieces of a puzzle that don't really fit together.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

So you need the basics, basically, don't you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:57

And the basics are we don't want to hear it, but get your nutrition together. You know, stop. I I live in I live in New Orleans. In I when I fly, I I recently flew out on on a plane and I was in the re waiting area to get on the to board, and there were 12 wheelchairs of obese men and women from 50 years to 75 years old, you know, waiting to be boarded before everybody else got on. And I'm looking up saying, What what you shouldn't be there. There's no God bless you that you're alive and that you're that you're flying and everything, but but there's something wrong when that's our society, that's really where we're going. So get the nutrition in order. Don't take you want a shot to do it, great, but you can't rely on on an injection of of of you know medication that will c you know quell your appetite, and you're gonna live up. That's not a change. No, and it's not sustainable. Um don't think that if I buy a gym membership or I buy a you know, I look at something on a on a video and I do my exercises for a week, I'm in good shape. It's movement all the time. Move more than you don't move. And the same thing. People say to me, you talk about family and the importance of family and connection. What if I'm alone and I don't have well, family doesn't have to be the traditional sense of family, mother, father, daughter, son. It could be the community that you surround yourself with, and there's no stopping anyone from creating a community of close, close, like-minded people who raise you uh on a daily basis and support you. Yeah, and you do the same. So all of these things are foundations, and then with the foundations in place, then considering supplements are I think are valid and helping. And they have the potential to significantly increase our lifespan, I I believe, uh especially as these technologies and modalities come shorter.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

Yeah. Excellent. Thank you for that. So something that I ask all my guests, what is one thing that you do spiritually every day or every week that really just helps you stay centered and balanced?

SPEAKER_02 30:28

I well, every day I walk. We have three dogs. I have an Italian spinoni, which is a medium-sized dog, goofy dog, and two wire-haired dachshunds. So every day at seven o'clock in the morning, I'm out the door with all three, and I take a long walk, and part of my walk goes is in nice, nice areas. So that's just opens my mind. Yeah. I'm moving and I'm breathing and my blood's circulating. I'm with I'm with these dogs that I that I love, and I'm able to think clearly. There's no commotion or anything. So that's the first thing I do. And then the second thing, my route to work, I live only five to ten minutes from my from the dental school where I teach and where I work, but I choose a path by car. I drive by car, but we have a beautiful park called City Park nearby. And I go through the park and being in touch with nature, and uh it's I mean the trees are gorgeous, and the flower beds just just are fading from this time of year from a few weeks ago. But there's something about nature that that stimulates me. Absolutely. Those are the two two things that I do every day that without fail.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Yeah. Nice. I've got sausage dogs as well. Oh, do you three of them? Funny enough.

SPEAKER_02 31:49

I'm surprised they don't hear that right now because not people behaved, they are.

Spiritual Practice Nature Dogs And Closing

SPEAKER_00 32:00

That's another good thing in life, you know, pets, isn't it? We love our pets. I love my pets.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

And and there's a lot of science on that too. What they bring to us and what we bring to them.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

Absolutely. Well, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure to talk to you. I've really enjoyed listening to your your ideas about health and living longer, better. Living better, not living longer, or both.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

Living longer, living better.

SPEAKER_00 32:27

Absolutely. So thank you for coming on to the podcast. So if you've enjoyed listening to us chat, then please like and share. Um and you can also subscribe to the podcast for extra episodes, and I will speak to you all soon.