diet advice for newly diagnosed

[1jay]

hello, I’m new here. Husband just diagnosed with ‘mild’ Parkinson’s (Consultant thought it was Essential Tremor but changed her mind). Is there a preferred diet that helps slow the disease? We do eat healthily already (hb also has heart disease) and he is already very active (golf x 2 pw, Pilates, cardio rehab). Any thoughts/pointers to resources would be most welcome. Thanks in advance.

[park_bear]

See: healthunlocked.com/cure-par...

[alexask]

Also search this forum for the supplements to take - melatonin and CoQ10 are good for both heart and PD. Magnesium Threonate and Vitamin B1 are the other top recommended.

[Peter-Jan]

Then I would opt for a ketogenic lifestyle. Last year I gave a presentation about this in the hospital for other PWP at the request of my neurologist. youtube.com/watch?v=FcVMipF...

I am now 4 years after the diagnosis, the disease progresses slowly but I cannot say for sure whether this is due to the ketogenic lifestyle. I'm still not on medication.

My presentation is in the Dutch language, but that may not be a problem because on YouTube you can enable subtitles in the language of your choice.

More information about ketogenic diets can be found from neurologist Matthew Phillips. Here is his website. metabolicneurologist.com/ He was also at no silver bullet: youtube.com/watch?v=iBNNIID...(Not working as expected?)

[Peter-Jan in reply to Peter-Jan]

And now with a working link: youtube.com/watch?v=FcVMipF...(Not working as expected?)

[amykp]

Yes, ketogenic diet. For most people it is a huge lifestyle change, and because of that it sounds difficult, but once you get used to it it is not.

I believe for me it has made an enormous difference. Though it is not a cure, it has really slowed the course of the disease. (As much as I can tell, being only one person!)

If you want how-to tips, just ask!

[JayPwP in reply to amykp]

Tips please

[amykp in reply to JayPwP]

Well, since a lot of folks do keto to lose weight, try this website: dietdoctor.com/low-carb/rec...

If you can't afford to lose weight, make sure to snack a lot--you can still intermittent fast by starting your first meal late and ending your last meal early, but in between, nibble! And drink calories. Smoothies are good, with lots of heavy cream/peanut butter/cocoa powder/frozen berries...etc. No bananas :o(

You can't be afraid of fat, is part of it. If you have problems with cholesterol, you can take a statin--I already was, and my need for it didn't change. So it doesn't happen to affect my blood test results, but even if it had, I would've just dealt with it.

I eat all the green vegetables I can, generally roasted or sauteed in lots of olive or avocado oil. I also eat berries, often in homemade whipped cream, for dessert at night. Also, though I do most of my own cooking, I don't worry about the occasional store-bought keto ice cream or zero-carb-bread loaf or even a diet soda. Likewise, I don't worry about a little splenda or monkfruit--if I want my coffee (with heavy cream!) sweet, then I just add it.

I guess that's because, IMO, the real villain in PD is sugar, in all its inflammatory forms. So anything else is pretty much fair game.

There are loads of recipes for keto breads/pancakes/pizza dough...experiment!

[Squarepushr]

Look into Dr Laurie Mischley's recommendations for the newly diagnosed

[psyche100]

Here is Mischley's seminal study: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

One of her many videos updating the findings is here: youtube.com/watch?v=LdpfNnn...(Not working as expected?)

Going fullly keto does not appeal to me as it would mean missing out on many foods eaten by Mischley's 'positive deviants'. I try to get the best of both worlds by eating keto for part of the week only. I also practise intermittent fasting (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl... every day.

This approach aims to promote metabolic flexibility: bulletproof.com/diet-articl...

[amykp in reply to psyche100]

It didn't work for me! (I mean the video, not the diet :o) Post again?

One of the issues I have with her diet is that it is based only on correlation. . . and with studies like that it's hard to prove much of anything.

And I was IN her study--a lot of the questions were hard to answer properly, like: Do you eat fried food? and that would lump french fries (never) and chicken nuggets (never) in with fried brussels sprouts (as often as possible). Or, do you eat dairy? which lumped skim milk in with yogurt in with heavy cream.

I think she might've refined some of that...I'm hoping...I'd like to watch her latest video.

Here's an interesting paper on the ketogenic diet. One of the things I want to see when data is skimpy is a potential mechanism. mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/9/1952

[Markbit in reply to amykp]

Well, i've been following Dr. Laurie's guidelines for a few years now and i feel they have been a great help!

[amykp in reply to Markbit]

I wish she would do a real study, with people on and off her diet!

[Markbit in reply to amykp]

Well, in fact thats what she is been doing for the last 10 years, And the sample has been growing, and the answers are more and more accurate. She doesn't have a diet. She has a list of foods that, according witjh a scale, increase or decrease progression of the disease, Not all foods are on that list, but we can build or adapt our diet to what is on that list. And that is science.

[amykp in reply to Markbit]

Sure, but it doesn't give me enough information. I'd love a prospective study, where she changes a variable, and then has a specific control.

Correlation, unfortunately, does not prove causation. It can help, but I'd like more. For example: is heavy cream (vs oat milk) going to make my parkinson's worse? Or better? (Keto diet would say better--less sugar)If I eat a vegetable from a can (like tomatoes for sauce) what about that is bad? What about fresh herbs is good that is lost when the herbs are dried?

As I said, I was IN her study for years, so I know all about the scale she builds, but I was frustrated by the broad questions which didn't allow for accurate specific answers.

Here's a pretty good (and short) video that sort of explains what I am trying (poorly) to say: podclips.com/c/observationa...

[psyche100]

Not sure why two of the links don't work.

For intermittent fasting google 'Challenging Oneself Intermittently to Improve Health Mark P. Mattson'.

You'll find Laurie Mischley's video by searching on YouTube for 'Parkinson's disease "What do successful people do to slow down PD progression?” Dr. Laurie Mischley'