Because diet is an important element in managing our PD, I had the idea of talking to a dietician to get perspective on my personal situation. My PCP agreed and referred me to a person in my insurance system. My main takeaway was to move from keto to the Mediterranean diet. Unfortunately, there was no other significant, actionable advice. Perhaps it would make a difference if the dietician knew more about PD. I had hope for something a little more programmatic, systematic that is based on research as well as the experience and wisdom of the dietician.
May I ask what your experience has been with dietitians? Are my expectations too high? In a more-perfect world, what should my takeaways from a dietician be?
Thank you in advance for your time in offering your reply.
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Adam78
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I have very low expectations from dietitians as they are primarily trained in a western medical approach to disease, so look at modifying symptoms rather than reversing causes.
In Australia, the dietitians association (regulating body) is strongly supported by groups producing foods we should not consume, so there is a bias in training.
I went to a nutritional therapist who had gone into this field of work after experiencing MS and alleviating many of her symptoms. I felt that someone with a similar chronic condition would have more to offer me. Maybe someone with experience of Parkinson’s would be more helpful to you if you could find them?
was also recommended a Mediterranean diet by my diet and Parkinson’s care book. About to try it out. Hope it works.
You could consider getting this book, “Parkinson’s Unfolded” by Nathan Brooks available on Amazon . Was recommended by a specialist neurologist in los Angeles and it has been a game changer. It covers symptoms, treatments, and daily management with expert advice and real-life stories. I sincerely think it’s worth a try as it has helped me a lot on this journey and it could do the same for you too
I am a registered dietitian, diagnosed with PD this year. I received no training in diet related to neurodegenerative disease and think that is likely typical for all RDs. Unless you find a dietitian with special training or one who is affiliated with a movement disorder clinic, I wouldn't expect much . I personally follow a ketogenic diet with periodic short fasts, but I wouldn't advise that to a client, because the level of evidence for effectiveness isn't great and there's the risk of losing weight and muscle mass. But I'm willing to take my chances because I'm willing to accept a higher level of risk for myself, than I would be willing to advise others to do. I haven't lost weight and was doing well in terms of constipation (taking a large prebiotic fiber supplement twice daily) until I started clonazepam a few weeks ago, and now constipation is very bad. For me, the diet is easy to follow, but I live alone...its challenging when eating with others. I can't say the diet has helped me, but in terms of slowing progression its impossible to know.
That's good perspective on keto, thanks. I have been losing weight and muscle mass so I'll see what switching to the Mediterranean diet does. Do you agree that eliminating grains to reduce gluten is still an appropriate strategy even on Mediterranean? I guess it's near impossible to do Mediterranean without some lectins in beans, corn et al.
I am a Master's level nutritionist who has lived with a slow progressing YOPD for 15 years . Although I never came across the PD diagnosis during my 6 years of nutrition education, later to better understand the disease process, I devoted 5-6 hours a day to researching diet and lifestyle factors. After multiple trial and errors, I realized that there was no "One Size Fits All" diet but I have benefited from a grain-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, high vegetable (fiber rich), moderate protein diet. I have been able to gain 50% of my lost body weight back over 7 months paying attention to the timing & portion a well as type of my protein. I also exercise on average 1 hour a day usually on a stationary bike. Best of luck to all.
I have no Training in diet with Parkinson's, but I've had Parkinson's for 20 years and something I just thought of is with Parkinson's (PWP) possibly don't eat enough protein during the day because it affects their meds. So maybe we need to figure out a way to get more quality protein that would build more muscle and help the overall diet. Does that make sense? Go back to the old pyramid diet? And get rid of so much sugar. I'd say that most people eat way too much sugar? Just a thought??
This is a doctor who completely recovered from MS and his story. I believe the same diet can help with any degenerative disease and lifestyle diseases.
The Overcoming MS diet is a plant-based diet that eliminates meat and dairy (but includes seafood). It aims to significantly reduce saturated fat intake while increasing the intake of omega-3 fats. It is easy to slip into unhealthy dietary habits in our fast-paced world. Our recipes aim to change all that, showing you all the delicious things you can eat and what you can make quickly, easily and inexpensively. There are so many options to explore.
Diet advice for MS
The guidance includes: Avoiding dairy, reducing saturated fat (shown to be linked to the development and progression of MS), avoiding processed foods which contain harmful oils, increasing omega-3 intake, eating a wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables
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Ketogenic Diet
Ketogenic Diet Information
Ketogenic diet for brain health 
This is a follow-up question to my earlier post of a couple of days ago concerning HBOT as adjunctive therapy for parkinson's disease.
Hi everyone. Happy to be here
