weight gain

I learned a lot from my experiment with diets. Not so much for PD but for weight loss. No sugar and max 30g carbs each day and I lost so much weight, fast, my wife feared for my health. I have since returned to sugar and carbs (moderation) and have maintained, have not gained the weight back. No calorie counting for me, I found counting carbs was the trick.

I did not exercise.

copy from other resource I used as my primary / cornerstone guide

The Diet

Note, you can eat as much of the foods below as you like, but I’ve found that I quickly feel full eating this diet. Don’t overeat and more importantly, don’t under-eat and make sure you’re getting the calories you need to function.

This is NOT about cutting calories, it’s about releasing fat reserves and teaching your body to burn them.

Drink lots of water during the diet (but don’t go crazy). I find this helps increase my metal clarity and energy.

Taubes and others recommend not starting an exercise program at the beginning of this diet because during the acclimatization period you will not have enough energy and it usually results in people quitting the diet.

During the diet, measure your weight at the same time each day.

One of the most effective tricks during a diet is routine. Eat the same meals over and over or plan your meals ahead for the whole week. I’ve found it effective to pre-make dishes on Sunday and have them ready for the week. That makes it incredibly easy to stick to the diet because I avoid thinking which means I avoid creativity and creativity requires decision making which leads to hard choices. Just avoid the hard choices and have it all planned and some of it ready to grab and go.

The Leafy Green Salad recipe:

This is a recipe for a basic very low carb salad with lots of flavor. It’s great to add to any high-protein, high-fat meal.

Spinach, lettuce and/or mustard greens.

Red peppers

Tomatoes.

Optional raw onions.

Optional green beans raw.

Balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing with salt and pepper. Use lemon and lime very sparingly if you add it. The vinegar actually reduces the glycemic index of this salad (and other foods).

Below I have outlined three days with a total of 9 meals that you can mix and match as you like. At the end I include a list of-safe ingredients you can add or subtract as you like. Remember the key is to have a high fat, high-protein and no-carb or very low carb diet. That means absolutely no sugar.

Day 1 Breakfast: 2 eggs done any way with yolks. Sausage containing no carbs or sugar. Bacon.

Lunch: Chicken with as much skin and oily gooey bits as possible. Steamed spinach or broccoli.

Supper: Steak with cheese. Fried mushrooms. Leafy green salad.

Before bed 1 glass of wine with a slice of cheese.

Day 2 Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with friend mushrooms, cheese and chopped parsley.

Lunch: A whole duck breast if you can get it or chicken again with as much fatty skin as possible. Leafy green salad.

Supper: Hamburger made with high fat mince without the bun. The mince can contain the usual paprika, chopped onions and garlic if you like, but absolutely no syrup or sugar. Add Cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and any other leafy low-carb greens you like.

Before bed 1 glass of wine with a slice of cheese.

Day 3 2 eggs done any way with bacon and usual no-carb sausage.

Steak with cheese. Leafy green salad.

Salmon (or other fish) fried and served with Bok Choy and your leafy green salad.

You can mix and match the meals above and where you will notice rapid weight loss.

Eat as much as you want ingredient ideas:

Beef,

Steak,

Hamburger,

Prime Rib,

Filet Mignon,

Roast Beef,

Chicken,

Duck (awesome if you can get it because it is very high fat),

Any Fish, Tuna, Salmon, Trout, Halibut,

Lamb,

Pork,

Bacon,

Ham,

Eggs,

Shrimp,

Crab,

Lobster,

Butter,

Oils (Olive Oil, Flaxseed oil, etc.),

Salt, Pepper, Soy Sauce,

Spinach,

Lettuce,

Mustard Greens,

Celery,

Cheeses,

Oysters,

Abalone.

Add for variety but in moderation:

Read the ingredients (if applicable) and make darn sure they contain no sugar:

Avocadoes

Mustard (with no sugar or carbs),

Tea no sugar with milk

Coffee black no sugar

Heavy Cream

Broccoli,

Cabbage,

Bok Choy,

Kale,

Asparagus,

Mushrooms,

Cucumbers,

Olives,

Celery,

Green Beans,

Brussel Sprouts,

Peppers (Red, Green, Jalapeno, Habanero),

Onions,

Nuts preferably almonds,

You absolutely must avoid all sugar on this diet because it is the highest GI carbohydrate.

Other foods to avoid roughly in order of damage they will do to the diet:

All sugar.

All Bread.

Did I mention avoid sugar?

All traditional carbs like rice, pasta, wheat, potatoes, even the low GI ones like beans and lentils.

Beware of sauces that contain sugar or things like corn starch.

Effects of the diet:

You will see rapid weight loss of up to 6 pounds for a 200 pound person in the first 48 hours. This is your kidneys releasing water as they expel their sodium due to the absence of insulin. It’s what you’ve usually heard described as “water weight”.

Then you should see continued weight loss of anything from 0.25 to 2 pounds per day (an eighth to half kilo lost per day). But this varies greatly between individuals and is affected by a wide range of factors including your current weight and insulin sensitivity.

For the first week you may experience slightly decreased mental clarity. This clears up after a week as your brain gets used to burning ketones for energy instead of glucose.

According to data in “Why we get fat” your Vitamin C needs actually decrease on a low carb diet, so don’t feel the need to massively supplement.

Research has shown (also from Taubes) that LDL (bad) cholesterol will elevate slightly but clump size will be increased which is a net positive because larger LDL is less likely to stick to artery walls. HDL (good) cholesterol is significantly elevated with a very low carb diet like this which is a very strong net positive. This also has other great health benefits e.g. Lower insulin reduces the risk of hardening of artery walls.

[satwar]

In some circles this is called the ketogenic diet. I lost 55 lbs over 1 1/2 years.

Fortunately the elevated blood ketones also significantly reduced my PD tremor. Many of my daily calories come from MCT oil @ 8 tbsp per day. I also try to have a brisk 5 km walk each morning after breakfast.

Many people comment on my youthful appearance and my very colourful skin tones.

[zawy]

Although I could not find that a low carb diet prevented or improved PD, the reduction in sugars and increase in oils (simply replacing carbs with protein is not good) will increase the brain's ability to use ketones which helps the impaired neurons in PD (but not the already dead neurons) same as coconut oil because the impaired neurons are having trouble processing sugars (complex 1 in the mitochondria is not functioning and generating damaging reactive oxygen). If the oils are heavy in fish oil and omega 3, then there is actually very good evidence for it directly helping to prevent and improve PD. Higher cholesterol may not result, but if it does, I would not be concerned because higher cholesterol is associated with lower PD. Excess ketones during weight loss also help remove iron, probably to a small extent, but still a reason to not be afraid of low carb. I would let what carbs there are in the diet focus on blueberries and broccoli because they both low in sugar as far as fruits and vegetables go and have excellent compounds that cross the blood-brain barrier .... and because I feel better when taking them. Carrots improve eye functioning which is usually associated with improved brain functioning (blueberries also help both), but it's a lot of sugar. My near-sightedness significantly improves after two weeks of 2 cups of blueberries per day (I can read two lines lower on an eye chart). Broccoli increases libido when I first start it back up, which I can't find a reference to in the literature, but it's possibly indicating more dopamine. But so far only rasagiline has improved my mood and reduced finger twitching and improves balance, although exercise also improves mood. Exercise and niacin reduce the buzzing in my head which seems associated with confusion, so I intuitively feel that if I can stop the buzzing/confusion feeling, then PD is being delayed indefinitely. Good sleep helps reduce it, but I do not yet think rasagiline is reducing the buzzing.

Lower weight may also allow better blood flow to the brain which may be a strong protector of the brain.

Exercise is still king in protecting the brain from all PD-like diseases, although high levels of green tea extract has similar levels of proof of effectiveness. Imagine someone on a low carb diet programmer verses a professional painter who is on his feet all day coordinating with vigorous hand movements, and then plays aggressive basketball an hour every other evening. Intuition says the painter is less likely to get it. Changing habits towards the things you have not done in the past that have been shown to help is the best hope. For example, a painter who gets it might be really low in something in his diet. Someone overweight is more likely to be helped by losing weight. A programming, non-smoker, non-tea drinker, non-exerciser should have a lot of hope to be helped by the combination of nicotine gum, green tea extract, lots of exercise, vitamin D, getting off the computer, and rasagiline.

[Jupeter]

Sounds like the current fad, the Paleo Diet. This is not a balanced diet, carbohydrates are needed for energy. Consider what athletes eat for energy, pasta is a major part of that.

I would suggest that anyone considering following Roy's diet should consult a nutritionist first.

[satwar in reply to Jupeter]

While I agree with your suggestion to do extensive research on any diet plan, for low carbohydrate diet I would highly recommend The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living by Phinney & Volek. These are peer reviewed scientists who argue that carbohydrate is not an essential nutrient, nor required by performance athletes.