Protein and levodopa absorption

[ScribblerCLT]

Suspect food protein is interfering with levodopa absorption. Which strategies do you use? I can get terrible hunger pangs by 4am, which combined with RLS makes further sleep impossible. Is a banana or milk with cereal at one hour after Sinemet or two hours before effective?

[laglag]

1/2 hour after you take your meds, some wait an hour. If you take your meds first, wait at least an hour before you eat protein. If I'm really hungry, I eat a snack of a serving of Carmel Rice Cakes about 20 minutes after I take my meds and I've noticed it helps me kick in a little faster/better. You'll hear this all the time, everyone is different. So experiment with it.

[park_bear]

High sugar content (banana) on an empty stomach is not a good idea. Personally it just serves to make me more hungry. Also not good for cardiovascular health. See my writing here:

Sugar, Fat And Cardiovascular Disease

tinyurl.com/y5cfmygz

[Patrickk in reply to park_bear]

Skip the milk -- high protein -- just eat the fruit. What protein does is put itself first in line to be absorbed -- jumps the line so to speak.

[aspergerian13 in reply to park_bear]

park_bear,

Quintessential interpretation of importantly heretical studies. Shame again on NEJM and its propaganda.

[Hidden]

Save most of your protein for the last meal of the day, and waiting for an hour after the last dose works fairly well... 30 minutes is OK too, but just doesn't work as well...

Before that, I personally favor low glycemic load foods. Some of my favorites are: blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, honey dew melon, and popcorn... Note I favor this because I have high blood sugar (but am not yet diabetic)... Note I can eat these immediately after taking a levodopa does, without reducing its effectiveness...

diabetes.ucsf.edu/sites/dia...

Be careful... some breakfast cereals have a lot of protein... and bagels typically have a lot of protein (2 times that of a large egg!!!)

So, read labels or google "xyz nutritional info".

Note, you may be able to tolerate a low amount of protein (before the last meal of the day), which can be determined though experimentation...

[ScribblerCLT]

Thanks for the tips. I am slightly hypoglycaemic, so regular protein is pretty necessary. The nurse says I “may” be safe with no more protein than an egg for breakfast. Guess I’ll switch to apple juice with dry cereal. And berries add fibre - always a must for PwPs.

[LAJ12345]

If you get so hungry in the night it sounds like you may have gut issues. Have you tried ramping up your vegetable except potato and whole grain intake, and cutting out sugar, pasta, too much fruit, gluten and any processed carbs like white rice and white bread, pizza etc? I used to wake up ravenous but after stopping sugar and gluten I am still not hungry by 9am.

[ScribblerCLT in reply to LAJ12345]

I’m slowly revamping diet. Seems like the things to feed RLS (iron,protein) interfere with levodopa absorption. Plus I’m mildly hypoglycaemic. I’m checking nutrition facts religiously now and checking my timing

[LAJ12345 in reply to ScribblerCLT]

Have you tried going gluten and dairy free? Worth trying for a while to see if it helps then going back to them if not. Very hard though as so many delicious things🥺

Do you eat many green vegetables?

Note changing diet can make you feel sicker for a while and fluey especially if you are losing fat but it subsides after a while.

[ScribblerCLT in reply to LAJ12345]

I eat lots of vegetables. Just made a kale, quinoa, cranberry, almond salad yesterday. Switching to dairy free is doable and I’m trying gluten free, which has meant more work because my family will only touch traditional pasta and white rice. Thanks for the fluey warning - can’t be worse than my reaction to gabapentin.

[LAJ12345 in reply to ScribblerCLT]

Sounds like you are doing all the right things😊

[gginto]

i always eat a banana WITH the pill- it's filling and has the added benefit of relieving any nausea that may come Levodopa. Fruit and low protein cereal with unsweetened almond milk is always good..

[Rosenmu]

I have figured out that I am probably low blood sugar since I wake during the night, I am hit or miss on getting the ldopa in without protein, especially at night. Dr K advised protein for low blood sugar, too many added carbs and it exacerbates the problem with the low blood sugar. Carbs and/or sugar first thing in the AM are not good, it sets the blood sugar off the charts. I do protein small carb in the am, wait, take the ldopa then do it again for lunch and a late dinner since I work. I make sure I get some protein in before bed to try and deal with low blood sugar at night. I'm still trying to find my timing on it all. Seems like I figure something out then have to change it all up again. I just changed to AIP diet to relieve my inflammation so working around that too.

[ScribblerCLT in reply to Rosenmu]

Would protein before bed interfere with Sinemet CR?

[Rosenmu in reply to ScribblerCLT]

I dunno, I don't take it, I only take mucuna, no meds

[aspergerian13]

Important concerns prompted informative replies.

[LAJ12345]

What cereal are you eating? Make sure it hasn’t got sugar or additives and is whole grain. Organic whole grain oats and blueberries are a good start to the day. And don’t get sucked into these sugar free recipes that are all maple syrup and honey. That’s still sugar!

[ScribblerCLT in reply to LAJ12345]

I generally don’t like cereal but now I’m eating Kellogg’s All Bran or Quaker Oat Crunch with dried cranberries, or

Plain oatmeal with some brown sugar and milk. Thinking of trying Bran Buds. But high protein foods interfere with my Meds, so I load up more at Dinner and have maybe an egg at breakfast.

[LAJ12345 in reply to ScribblerCLT]

Mmm what ingredients have these got? Are they pure whole grain cereal? Some cereals have folic acid added which is a synthetic additive. Or other additives. I didn’t lose my hunger until I stopped sugar totally. Make sure your dried fruit isn’t sugar coated. Most are. We use frozen organic blueberries or sliced banana or fruit stewed without sugar, instead of sugar. At first I thought everything tasted sour but now I am used to it it tastes sweet. And so do vegetables now. It is amazing how once you stop sugar all the vegetables taste so sweet!

[aspergerian13 in reply to LAJ12345]

In "my" nursing home, sugar, artificial sweeteners, and carbohydrates are incredibly overemphasized, served way too often. Even (gmo) fresh fruit seems sweetened by powdered maltodextrin. And all the soda has hfcs.

[ScribblerCLT in reply to aspergerian13]

It is incredibly tragic to give up sugar just as my 16-year-old is mastering baked goods.

[ScribblerCLT in reply to LAJ12345]

Quaker Harvest Crunch might have too much sugar after all; it’s the third ingredient: ROLLED OATS, ROLLED WHOLE WHEAT, BROWN SUGAR, CRISP RICE PIECES (RICE FLOUR, SUGAR, BARLEY MALT EXTRACT, SALT, DISTILLED MONOGLYCERIDES, RICE EXTRACT), MODIFIED MILK INGREDIENTS, COCONUT OIL, HONEY, ALMONDS, DRIED UNSWEETENED COCONUT. CONTAINS OAT, WHEAT, BARLEY, MILK, AND ALMOND INGREDIENTS.

[ScribblerCLT in reply to LAJ12345]

Kellogg’s All Bran is recommended by a lot of people, but there is sugar, Egad: WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT, WHEAT BRAN, SUGAR, CORN AND BARLEY MALT EXTRACT, SALT, VITAMINS AND MINERALS: IRON, THIAMINE HYDROCHLORIDE, d-CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, FOLIC ACID, ZINC OXIDE.

[aspergerian13 in reply to ScribblerCLT]

Consider Post Grape Nuts original.

[ScribblerCLT in reply to LAJ12345]

I thought Kellogg’s All Buds were No.1 for fiber: Wheat bran, sugar, psyllium seed husk, oat fiber, contains 2% or less of salt, baking soda, caramel color, annatto color, BHT for freshness. Vitamins and Minerals: Vitamin C (sodium ascorbate, ascorbic acid), niacinamide, vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), reduced iron, zinc oxide, folic acid, vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B1 (thiamin hydrochloride), vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D, vitamin B12.

Is there anything without sugar? I don’t think that the dry fruit I’m eating is sugarcoated; but I’ll ask in the store next time

[LAJ12345 in reply to ScribblerCLT]

Plain organic whole grain oatmeal. Look at all the additives in the one above. Should be just one ingredient. Oats.

Try and get into the mindset that if a human synthesised it in a lab or factory it isn’t food and your body has to detox it.

They almost always spray sugar on cranberries. If you want a sweetener on the oats try stewing apples with no sugar, or sliced banana. It will take a few weeks for your body to adjust but you will soon realise that they are very sweet.

[ScribblerCLT in reply to LAJ12345]

Like an unsugared fruit compote! Great idea!

[LAJ12345 in reply to ScribblerCLT]

Yes, I stew up a batch and freeze In little containers. Also apricots and plums in season. Plums are a little sour so I mix a bit of apple in.

[LAJ12345 in reply to ScribblerCLT]

What country are you in? If the US be careful of GMO crops too.

[ScribblerCLT in reply to LAJ12345]

Canada