Dr Matthew Phillips - Parkinson's, Fasting, and Ketogenic Diets

[JAS9]

Just found this video from Feb 2021

Comments? Opinions? I'm weighing options and leaning toward fasting or (more likely) "Fasting Mimicking Diet".

youtu.be/AaiyJjKWt-0(Not working as expected?)

[MBAnderson]

Good video. I have watched a couple dozen videos on fasting and the keto diet and have been sold on both for some time now.

[JAS9 in reply to MBAnderson]

Thanks for your opinion! I can't imagine being on a keto diet constantly, but I'm trying a fast mimicking diet next week.

[MBAnderson in reply to JAS9]

We only do a Keto diet a few mos at a time.

[JAS9 in reply to MBAnderson]

Marc, what can you tell me about your response to keto? I know we're all different and that we all have taken different paths, so I'm just looking for a general opinion of keto's effects on you. Thanks!

[MBAnderson in reply to JAS9]

JAS9, I can't say for sure that it has any effect because I do a variety of things, plus, compared to what? I have come to believe I won't feel any difference from (any) nutritional changes. We follow a Keto diet a few months (3 - 4) at a time because the rationale makes sense to me -- as does the rationale for IF.

[JAS9 in reply to MBAnderson]

Thanks. I'm not going keto for very long, but I just wondered what it might feel like in general. Thanks for your input.

[AmyLindy in reply to MBAnderson]

But the big question is… can you live on them? Lifestyle?

I can manage IF but keto is … a bridge too far- for me, anyways!

[MBAnderson in reply to AmyLindy]

me too of late

[bookish in reply to MBAnderson]

Just wanted to say thank you for the inflammation Perlmutter/Hyman link.

[JMSL]

That was a really interesting video. I've read elsewhere that keto diets affect women differently than men, and being a woman I'd be curious about that aspect of the study. Also was hoping they would offer more info on fasting but I am really interested in the philosophy & potential of "Metabolic Therapy."

What did you mean by a fasting mimicking diet?

[JAS9 in reply to JMSL]

FMD or Fasting Mimicking Diet is when you eat just enough and not too much of just the right food to trick your body into "thinking" that you're starving. But you're not. This triggers the whole autophagy, stem cell production, mTOR suppression phase, which most people never ever go into. It was invented by Dr Valter Longo. Here's a link to my recent post that explains it better including a video interview with Longo:

healthunlocked.com/cure-par...

[FawnLily in reply to JAS9]

Please report back on what you think of the FMD.

[Healthynotwealthy]

Let us know how you get on

[JAS9]

This is an update. I had to push the start of my FMD back for various reasons, but I'm ready to start tomorrow. I'll try to update this daily. As a reminder, this is what I'm talking about:

“The FMD is a plant-based diet designed to attain fasting-like effects on the serum levels of IGF-1, IGFBP-1, glucose, and ketone bodies while providing both macro and micronutrients to minimize the burden of fasting and adverse effects.”-Wei, Min et al. (2017) .

This diet is for 5 days. It's low in protein, sugar, and saturated fats as they can interfere with the protective and regenerative effects of fasting. Fat (from a good omega-3 supplement & some nuts) and complex carbohydrates are the major sources of calories in the FMD.

Since you never stop eating, this isn't nearly as difficult as a water-only fast. But it does push you into ketosis for a day or 2. The major reason that PWP might try this is to trigger autophagy (which should recycle dead or too-damaged cells), boost stem cell production (to replace the cells), and reset the immune system (to hopefully get rid of the misfolded proteins). Although this may sound like science fiction, this is exactly how our various sticky bits have evolved to work. Nearly the same system can be found in yeast, worms, and probably everything that's descended from early life on our planet.

An ongoing trial is getting some encouraging results from HUMANS with Alzheimer's! Much of the funding for these studies comes from the sales of Prolon. If you can afford it, I encourage everyone to buy their FMD supplies from prolonfmd.com. Unfortunately for me, I'm not wealthy, so I've put together what I think is a very good DIY kit that uses almost exactly the same components as does Prolon. If you decide to go the DIY way, please message me so I can warn you about a few mistakes I've seen others make.

Most of those who've done it were doing it for weight loss. The inventor of FMD, Dr. Valter Longo, has said that if you're overweight, it will help you lose weight, but if you're underweight, you may still lose weight but not nearly as much. That's good news to most of PWP including myself. I've purposely gained 5 pounds and I'll keep a close eye on my weight during the FMD. A common comment by those who have tried it goes something like this: "I have much more energy and my 'brain fog' is gone!" Combining this with red light therapy (which can provide mitochondria with energy) twice a day might just do something. Who knows? I'm currently planning on repeating this every month for at least 3 months.

[JAS9 in reply to JAS9]

Ok here we goooo!

Day 1 of my DIY FMD should not be a big deal, as it just reduces my calorie intake by about half to 1100 calories.

I would like to explain one more time that FMD has been used many times by many people in several studies ranging from improving chemotherapy results to Alzheimer's. It's based on 25 years of research by several groups of researchers, including its inventor Dr. Valter Longo.

While a 5-day FMD doesn't seem like it would do very much against something as difficult to treat as Parkinson's, the theory behind it, as well as the results from these trials are encouraging enough to give it a try.

The basic idea is to actually use what evolution has given us to clean up and repair damage. As modern humans, we almost never activate this "system-wide" series of mechanisms, because we never allow ourselves to become hungry much less close to starving. And, while I will not be close to starving, the selection of foods in the FMD should trick my body into thinking I am. This will probably happen around day 3 or 4. My body should then begin the processes required to save me from starvation. Among these many processes are autophagy and increased stem cell production. It should, among other things, recycle dead and damaged cells, replacing them with new ones from increased stem cell production. Past trials have shown that even a 5-day FMD can begin processes that can last weeks. Past trials have also shown that repeating it several times over months can increase its efficiency.

[chartist]

Jas,

Caloric restriction also increases short chain fatty acids in the gut, which increases melatonin and melatonin receptors in the gut, which in turn increases short chain fatty acid producing bacteria in the gut. This healthful cycle helps to repair or maintain, the gut mucosal barrier, gut permeability, tight junctions and the gut microbiome balance toward better health.

Art

[JAS9 in reply to chartist]

Longo gave a TedX talk in which he recalls how he was part of the Biosphere 2 project. Calory restriction was very much a part of that experiment. Here's a link to the video where he describes how their organs reacted to the restriction. Jump to just before 16:00 to see it. youtu.be/dVArDzYynYc(Not working as expected?)

[JAS9 in reply to chartist]

It does many, many things that seem almost magical. We see smaller examples of how bodily systems work together to heal something as "simple" as a cut finger. We all know and accept that inflammation (as long as it's not too severe) is normal and is actually bringing white blood cells to the damaged area. Many other processes work to keep infection down, get rid of damaged cells, and bring in new ones. After maybe a week the cut is nearly an after-thought. We might have a small scar. Magic. But, as Longo says (paraphrasing): "Are we to believe that there are these processes that fix a cut finger, but there's nothing for internal damage? There's not a chance."

[chartist]

That was extreme caloric restriction! He looked terrible when he came out! I think even intermittent fasting will have the positive effects without putting your organs through such extremes and it is fairly easy to keep it going.

Art

[JAS9 in reply to chartist]

Sure. I just thought this was an interesting - though extreme - effect. The data from Auschwitz is really amazing. The survivors were so emaciated that some of them had organs that were shrunk even more, and yet after careful re-feeding, many of them came back from the brink. How did the body produce enough stem cells? How did the stem cells "know" where they were to go and how to change into new cells to replace the old? We are designed through evolution to not only survive extreme conditions but to be fully repaired! That's what we're all trying to tap into (whether through intermittent fasting or FMD) but without so much discomfort.

These days, people seem to think that they'll actually die if they don't get food for a day or two! Inside all of us, there are these processes that can repair so much damage that livers, hearts, and entire bodies re-generate? I want it! I will definitely go hungry for 5 days to get it!

[JAS9]

Update: Rats! After the first day, I've had to stop and recalculate. Sorry for the delay.

I'm doing this FMD test along with my lovely and very smart wife. She's doing it mostly to lose weight and reduce her chance of developing diabetes. I'd done most of the research and she was helping me find the right food products. Our goal was to reproduce the Prolon FMD as closely as possible. And we came very close.

Unfortunately, she's too smart, and when she went over my numbers yesterday, she found a couple of problems that need fixing before we start again. We're looking at this as a good thing because we were never fans of how much processing the Prolon foods undergo. We both prefer fresh, whole food, and Prolon doesn't have any, so we ended up not being happy with our copy-cat food plan.

Fortunately, Dr Longo has written a book that makes is possible to design an FMD of your own, using many different types of food. After searching a bit, we found this site which gives us a very nice start on designing our own WFPB DIY FMD! (Whole Food Plant-Based)

As we recalibrate and recalculate our plan, I'll post our progress here.

Here's a link to this new site, which is written by an incredible, detail-oriented mind:

foreverfreefrom.com/fasting...

chart

[JAS9]

I had to delay the start of my FMD but restarted it yesterday. I've decided to use much more unprocessed and minimally processed foods, so I've found a website that does a fantastic job of guiding us to do just that! I'll start by putting up a few links to this site that I'm now using.

Guide: foreverfreefrom.com/fasting...

Template:

docs.google.com/spreadsheet...

Results: foreverfreefrom.com/fasting... notes:

There were 2 errors in the template. First, he didn't give a value for the amount of asparagus to use. Second, he has a broken link to a supplement that's no longer available.

Fixes: I used 100 grams of asparagus (it is mostly fiber and a small amount of carbs, so doesn't have much effect). When I plugged it into Chronometer.com, all of the macronutrients were as they should be.

The supplement was very minor and should have no impact on the results. I take a good multi-vitamin / mineral supplement, which I'm continuing to take during this FMD. It also contains nothing that should affect the results.

One thing that Prolon has that this template doesn't have (but I want) is a glycine drink. I'll write more about this later.

Day 1 wasn't too difficult, although it's interesting to see how my mind kept thinking about this or that food every few seconds. I highly recommend asking someone to hide all the food laying around your house. But I wasn't really very hungry (the first day only cuts your calories in half) so it was easy to ignore these cravings. However, although I went to sleep easily, I woke up only 5 hours later and didn't get back to sleep. 😪

Even the beginning of day 2 wasn't difficult, except for being very tired. I'll write more after a nap.

😴

[JAS9 in reply to JAS9]

I have been duplicating this thread on a similar topic. It's become too much of a hassle, so you are interested in this topic, please go here to see any further updates from me:

healthunlocked.com/cure-par...