Within this post I present and reflect on Fasting Mimicking Diet results after completing my first cycle.
In my Fasting Mimicking Diet Do-It-Yourself Guide I described the diet, the potential health benefits, and my personal and specific reasons and goals for using it. I offered guidance, tools and resources for others considering it. If you haven’t read that yet I recommend doing so first.
I undertook a FMD cycle in order to assess it as a dietary intervention which I *might* choose to repeat in order to enjoy the health benefits. Preparing for the FMD took significant effort and was my first major ‘quantified self’ practice. I needed to:
- Select the potential outcomes / impacts that mattered to me
- Figure out how to measure those outcomes
- Plan out the food I would eat on the diet
- Conduct the diet and track the measurements
- Evaluate the outcomes
There were some significant challenges, not least a motivation crisis on Day Two of the FMD itself. Did my Fasting Mimicking Diet results justify the effort and convince me to do further cycles? The short answer is a yes, with some caveats and with changes.
The remainder of this post will present in sequence my results in summary & detail, learning and next steps, the food I ate on the diet and finally my experience of how it felt. It will be a long post. Enjoy it, and if you have experience or are intending to do the FMD too, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
Fasting Mimicking Diet Results in Summary
My 5 goals and evaluation criteria for FMD were –
- Significant (25%+) reduction in IGF-1
- Significant reduction in C-Reactive Protein (CRP)
- 72 hours+ within optimal ketosis (ketones of 1.5+ mmol/L)
- Reduction in bodyfat by 0.5%+ sustained for at least 1 week following FMD i.e. no immediate bounce-back
- Absence of significant increases in measures of stress, adrenal stress, heart rate variability or sleep quality
I had a very mixed picture of results. I did see the reduction in IGF-1 and sustained body fat reduction. I didn’t have any CRP reduction because as I discovered I had negligible amounts to begin with.
My ketosis target was not met but I think this was due to over consuming net carbohydrates and am keen to put that theory to test in practice. On the measures of stress my cortisol levels cause some concern but may be explained by specific behaviours on the day I completed the test sample.
Fasting Mimicking Diet Results in Detail
Regeneration
Measured by Medichecks IGF-1 & Well Man Checks
FMD trials have shown a reduction in IGF-1, White Blood Cells and Neutrophils, with the latter two bouncing back after the FMD ends indicating cell recycling known as autophagy. Autophagy is literally “self-eating”, and is a normal body process upscaled by interventions such as fasting. Autophagy results in existing damaged cells being recycled and used as the building blocks for new cells. Autophagy is linked to reduction in cancerous cells and lower inflammation.
Measured by Medichecks IGF-1 test, I experienced an almost 25% reduction in IGF-1 between the Day 0 and Day 5 of my FMD. This is pleasing and surprising given that I intermittently fast, exercise regularly and follow a plant-based diet, all things which may lower IGF-1.
However I do supplement with magnesium and zinc and appear to have relatively high cortisol levels, which are things which can increase IGF-1.
Lower IGF-1 is not necessary *better*. There are both upsides and downsides to lower IGF-1. However lowering IGF-1, at least temporarily, was one of my five FMD goals and this one was satisfied.
My White Cell, Neutrophil & Lymphocyte results are puzzling. By Day 5 all my values were increased over my baseline. Notice that my baseline is actually at or below the reference range minimum. In some people this could be a sign of infection or autoimmune disease. However I have had these very low counts for many years whilst also being in great health. In the opinion of a Haematologist who monitored me for several years these are simply my personal *normal*.
The uptick, taking me just above the reference range lows, is curious but I do not understand it. Was there an initial dip and recovery or did the FMD somehow directly trigger an initial increase?
Metabolism
Ketones measured using a Freestyle Optium Neo
Glucose measured using a Freestyle Libre
The biggest disappointment for me was the failure to reach optimal ketosis (1.5 mmol/L+) during the FMD. When my ketones were highest corresponded with when I felt most vibrant and energetic.
From my intermittent fasting practice I have previously observed that at the 18 hour mark I can sometimes feel hungry, cold and fatigued but this feeling departs and is replaced with energy and even elation around the 20 hour mark. I have also observed that my ketones are reaching 1.0+ around that 20 hour mark, so this might be for me the number I need in order to have sufficient ketones to fuel body and brain.
I believe my failure to get into and stay in optimal ketosis during FMD is due to consuming too many carbs overall and perhaps also too many carbs from sugars, even though those sugars were in the form of whole fruits, berries and dates. Individuals differ but keeping net carbs under 50 grams is an established upper threshold to be sure to enter ketosis and I was consuming significantly more than this.
There is also a difference between having ketones and being keto-adapted, the latter meaning your body and brain is ready to use the ketones for energy rather than glucose. My intent for my second cycle of FMD is to spend the week prior on a keto-diet without reducing calories in order to make it into optimal ketosis and *then* begin the FMD. My hope is that this will make the FMD a more pleasant experience since my body & brain can continue to run on ketones during the period of caloric deficit.
Body Composition
Measured using Taotronics Smart Scales
Although less important to me than other goals I was interested to see if FMD would result in a positive change in body composition meaning fat reduction without loss of muscle. Here the outcome was more pleasing than I hoped for. On each day of FMD my bodyfat % decreased and that decrease persisted post-FMD. 4 weeks following FMD, my bodyfat is now at 13%, roughly a 1% decrease from my pre-FMD baseline.
I attribute this to two factors. First is that I inevitably lost some weight during FMD due to the caloric deficit and this appears to have come mainly from bodyfat rather than muscle. Second is that the radical change to my eating patterns enabled me to ‘reset’ some of my habits which had been allowing my bodyfat to creep upwards in preceding months. Monitoring revealed that my bodyfat increases each week day, peaking on Friday, then drops by almost a full 1% over the weekend. I think this is because I am far more active on the weekend and overeat slightly during each weekday, with my evening meal as a *reward* for surviving the day!
In order to maintain my bodyfat at the reset lower level and potentially decrease it further I am now planning an ‘intervention’ day mid-week where I will have a caloric deficit and consume only very easily digestible foods such as soups. I have been at 10-11% bodyfat in prior years and gained several % points following a surgery and subsequent period of reduced activity. One reason for me to re-run FMD therefore is to enable a return to these levels. I would prefer several brief repetitions of FMD to a longer and slower calorie restriction plan.
Inflammation
Measured by Medichecks Well Man Check
I was very, very interested in this one. About a year prior to FMD I also had a high sensitivity C-Reactive Protein test which returned a result of 0.93 mg/L. This is not a high result but I was still hoping for a reduction. High levels of CRP indicate an acute infection or chronic inflammation and have also been associated with coronary heart disease risk. Lower is better.
I received my pre-FMD baseline result on Day 2 of FMD. The graph shows 0.3 but my actual outcomes was provided as <0.3 / unmeasurable. Seeing that my hs-CRP is so low already is great and welcome news but does of course mean that FMD cannot possibly improve it! Given that a reduction was one of my five main goals this knocked my motivation to continue especially as it coincided with the day I felt worst during FMD.
The result is however not surprising. Although I have the autoimmune coeliac disease I rigorously follow a gluten free diet. I exercise regularly, have no ongoing health issues and I supplement with curcumin, magnesium, Omega 3 fatty acids and consume probiotic foods such as kefir and sauerkraut, all things which may lower CRP. So whilst FMD cannot help me here, this is a welcome affirmation that my CRP is already low.
Stress
HRV Measured using EliteHRV and Polar H10
Cortisol measured using Adrenal Stress Profile test
My last FMD goal was for something I did *not* want, namely excessive stress that could impact on sleep quality and therefore general wellbeing. Here I had a mixed picture. Subjectively, I felt absolutely terrible on Day 2 and the first half of Day 3, then felt terrific from Day 4 AM onwards.
Heart Rate Variability is a bit of a ‘magic number’ indicating general wellbeing. It is influenced by very many things, exercise, emotions, food, state of mind, breathing and more. It can be used as a tool to help understand better what things stress you and what things relax you. I intend to continue monitoring and learning about HRV in order to use it to inform my exercise frequency and recovery in particular.
Corresponding with how I felt, my HRV score showed significant upticks on Days 4 and 5. A confounding factor for the spread across the 5 days compared to pre-FMD baselines is that I ceased resistance exercise during the FMD period. The absence of this stressor may have enabled my HRV to increase.
I also saw on the 5th day a *perfect* balance between my sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems according to the EliteHRV app. This is something I have not seen before or since.
On the less positive side, I am concerned by the results from Salivary Cortisol tests. My first test was taken about a year prior to FMD and the second on Day 5. I plotted above the reference ranges on three out of four measure points. Day 5 was the day that I performed High Intensity Interval Exercise (HIIT) in the AM followed by lighter exercise before breaking fast around 1100 and this might help explain the elevated levels. Intense exercise increases circulating cortisol.
Pre-FMD Test
FMD Day 5 Test
I have discussed this outcome with my GP and we agreed that it may or may not be a cause for concern. I will be re-running the Salivary Cortisol test on a day when I am neither fasting nor exercising intensely in order to see what my *true* baseline looks like.
Reflections & Next Steps
The published results of the human trial of FMD note that greater benefits are experienced by those with greater disease risk, for example people that are overweight and people with poor cholesterol or blood glucose profiles. My ‘very healthy’ starting point in combination with regular practice of intermittent fasting made me an unpromising candidate for significant benefits. Nevertheless I was pleased by some of my results.
I will run another FMD cycle within a few months. Prior to doing so I will rerun an Adrenal Stress Test on a day I don’t also exercise intensely in order to get a better baseline for comparison of this one metric which causes concern from my first cycle.
When I do repeat the FMD however I will make several adjustments to how I do so based on my experience, falling into the categories of preparation, Food and Activity.
Preparation
I will begin FMD on a Friday or Saturday, assuming I will be working Monday-Friday. This way if I experience the lethargy and brain fog on Days 2-3 like I did on the first cycle it will not interfere with functioning at work and I will have the ability to both stay active and rest as needed.
I will avoid doing FMD during any period I expect to need to deal with additional stress, such as the run up to a holiday or major work deadline.
I will repeat the practice of partnering with another person to do FMD together and having specific goals in mind to achieve, both of which help reinforce commitment.
Food Choices
I believe ketosis was suppressed by consumption of too many carbs and too many carbs as sugar. I will therefore reduce the carb intake to about 50 grams of total carbs (including fibre).
I think it may be useful to begin a ketogenic diet in the week prior to the FMD itself in order to begin the transition to ketosis prior to the calorie and protein restriction. My expectation is that if I begin FMD already in nutritional or optimal ketosis then there will be a ready source of energy for my body and brain.
I will emphasise soups and broths. These are more satiating and comforting than the solid food I ate. Being able to slowly sip on a big mug of hot soup was so much more pleasant than having a tiny bowl of veggies.
I will also more carefully supplement sodium, potassium & magnesium to see if this helps reduce or eliminate the headaches experienced.
Activity
I think it important to find a way to stay active. I fell into a trap of slumping into a chair, oppressed by lethargy, but when I actually moved and exercised I felt much better. Walking, yoga and light interval exercise are the best candidates in my opinion – refreshing without being draining or challenging.
Food eaten on Fasting Mimicking Diet
Within my publically shared Google Sheets FMD Do-It-Yourself file there is a detailed macronutrient breakdown of the food I consumed throughout.
I ate a lot of greens but also tried to eat a ‘rainbow’ of colours to maximise my micronutrient intake. I favoured nutrient dense vegetables, some fruits, and mostly made use of olive oil for additional fats.
For convenience purposes only I made use of Marks & Spencer packs of vegetables & soup. If you want to use the same they are named in the Do-It-Yourself file and shown in the pictures. They are also very easy to replicate using the vegetable ingredients themselves.
The root vegetable rich soup I started consuming on Day 3 was a minor revelation. Compared to other meals it felt highly nourishing and satisfying. I think this was partly just due to being able to nurse a big mug of hot soup for a long time, rather than very quickly consuming a small portion of solid foods. It enabled my body & mind to realise that indeed, it had been fed, and could now be happy.
Fasting Mimicking Diet Experience Diary
Day One
This day is a gentle introduction to the FMD, coming in from a regular eating day and consuming almost half as many calories as a regular day. Mentally I am excited and anxious, like the feeling before a race. I have prepared well but the preparation is now over and the killer question is, can I really do this?
I feel highly attuned to my body state. Energy. Temperature. Mental clarity. I cycle commute to and from work, about 25 minutes moderate intensity each way. By the time I arrive home in the evening I feel ‘light’ but not faint or dizzy, with blood glucose reading 3.8 mmol/L. I decide to not cycle on the remaining days, fearful that doing so might be too demanding, particularly in the evening.
There is little difference in physical sensation. Instead I am anticipating greater challenge to come in the lower calorie days.
Day Two
After 8 hours of unbroken sleep I feel great and my Elite HRV indicates a ‘perfect’ score of 10 reflecting balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system stimulation, the first time I have seen this since I began monitoring. I definitely feel ready to cycle commute but wary of how I will feel in the evening, choose not to, instead commuting via a short walk and tube journey.
The day is not pleasant. Feelings of emptiness and hunger grow and concentration and energy levels suffer throughout the day. They are joined by concern about whether my state will stabilize, improve or worsen in future days. I balance hope that higher levels of ketones will transition me to feeling better with concern that as the calorific deficit accumulates I will feel worse.
Other people’s food smells amazing. Someone in my office is having baked chips or potatoes and I feel like a cartoon character able to float through air on the aroma towards the food. On my way to my tube station I walk through an eatery area I have walked through hundreds of times and notice entirely new aromas. My body is clearly helping prepare me to ‘hunt’ so it can end this period of semi-starvation. Thanks for looking out for me body, sorry I am letting you down, hold in there!
My mind generates lots of very good reasons that would justify quitting. One of these is prompted by the receipt of my Well Man Check results which indicate that my hs-CRP is already at a level too low to be detected so I cannot possibly observe any improvement. Three things anchor me. One is going through FMD together with David. Another is to see the impact on IGF-1. The last is intent to complete this experiment and share the results with others. If I did not have these things I would probably quit.
Day Three
Despite solid sleep, I wake up feeling only partially refreshed. I am notably lethargic. At work I struggle to focus. I am not exactly sleepy but I do feel listless and tired and have a dull pain behind and above my eyes. In my adult life I have no memory of suffering a headache so it is only after I google this that I realise what the sensation is. Perhaps I have insufficient electrolytes, or am experiencing the phenomenon of keto flu, or both.
I choose to wear a long sleeved base layer underneath my shirt as a means of staying warmer as body temperature drops. This seems to work well and I am not bothered by chills during the day.
I switch the order of food by consuming a veggie dish first instead of fruit to break my fast. This matches my conventional approach to meal planning which is to always start with low glycaemic index and high fibre foods and if I am going to eat things higher in simpler sugars, eat those at the end of a meal. There is good evidence that the order of foods eaten influences the insulin / blood glucose response.
By mid-day, even before eating, I am feeling stronger and more alert. My confidence is renewed. For lunch I have a very big bowl of salad – cherry tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce and shredded carrot with a tiny drizzle of olive oil – coming in at a tiny 67 calories prior to the olive oil. I follow this with my berries. A very odd thing happens. Post meal, my blood glucose spikes higher than I have ever seen – all the way to 8.8 mmol/L. Seeing this is like reaching the top of a rollercoaster. I brace for the breathtaking plunge down. I reach a low of 3.7 mmol/L by 6pm but do not have accompanying faintness as with other times I have had blood glucose below the 4.0 mmol/L threshold.
For an evening meal I switch to a root vegetable based soup. This just *feels* so much better than other dishes. I am able to savour the hot soup for a long time and it leaves me feeling relatively satiated. I wish I had gone for soups earlier and reflect that I may promote them to a regular go-to for evening meals thanks to their easy digestibility.
Day Four
Sleep was again complete and deep. I am still groggy in the morning but I feel far better mentally and physically than during Days Two and Three. My HRV is also up, 82 compared to 69 on Day Three. I feel no immediate desire to eat and delay breaking my fast until just before midday and performing some gardening and yoga.
Whilst neither weight nor bodyfat loss are my primary goals I am encouraged to see bodyfat % continue to decline. I am already lean but notice that my stomach is far flatter than usual which I expect is due to a mostly empty gut.
After my first meal of soup I actually feel strong, energetic and ready to exercise. In the afternoon I perform a High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) style workout followed by dynamic yoga.
In the evening I boardgame with a friend and remain mentally alert until around 2100. From there I fade rapidly.
Day Five
On waking I am still not as refreshed as my pre-FMD norm but the grogginess is greatly reduced. My fasting blood sugar is 3.6 mmol/L and ketones are at 0.9, being the lowest and highest respectively so far. Completing the FMD no longer feels imposing or demanding.
Shortly after waking I performed about 30 minutes of HIIT style exercise followed by dynamic then restful yoga. At 1100 I finally break fast. I am not at all hungry and could have continued fasting in comfort. Mental alertness and energy both felt high.
On this final day I also prepare my Cortisol Stress test samples throughout the day. I find producing enough saliva quite challenging and it takes me 5-10 minutes to prepare each sample.
I travel to Central London to get my Day 5 blood draw and walk for about 5k in total. I’ve consumed about 300 calories and expended approximately 700 yet I feel barely hungry by evening and find my ketones are are 1.1, highest yet.
Day Six (refeed day)
Despite poor sleep I feel vibrant and strong within an hour of waking. I appear to have shed more bodyfat, unsurprising given high activity levels and low calorie intake on Day Five.
I perform a fasted resistance workout and my lifts are within 5% of my recent personal bests. I perform yoga after. During neither activity do I feel weak. Remarkable.
On Days One-Three I fantasised and daydreamed about the refeed, imagining lot of my favourite foods and treats. If not for the need to enable refueling and repair following my heavy resistance workout I would, at this stage, happily extend the fasting since I feel so good.
After going for a 10k walkabout and having eaten only a light breakfast I return home and check my ketones again before an evening mean – 1.2. Ironic. I have finished the FMD and *now* I begin to approach optimal ketosis (1.5+)
Thanks to the upbeat mental and physical state beginning Days Three-Six I am absolutely willing to trial FMD again should it be a fit to my goals.
Thanks so much for your putting this all up. This is day 2 of my 3rd FMD cycle. I needed to read yoir post today of all days! I’m going to try one of your food plans for day 4 or 5, perhaps after a trip to m&s! Did you notice they take glycerol in the original study… Any thoughts?
Chet
Hello Chetm, I indeed within the patent for FMD you also see this
“The diet should contain 12-25 grams of glycerol per day on days 2-5. In a refinement, glycerol is provided at 0.1 grams per pound body weight/day”
I do not know *why* this is specified. My best guess is that it is a tactical inclusion to leverage the feature that glycerol binds to water and, when combined with liquid intake, can therefore aid in water retention.
By contrast carb restriction, which is a necessary feature of FMD, will result in the loss of glycogen together with the water molecules that is bound to within the body.
So perhaps it is intended as a countermeasure.
After reading about some of Longo’s research, I was undertaking regular extended fasting in 2015. Already being low carb/high-fat, and at one point strictly ketogenic, I found it relatively easy to not eat for five days at a stretch. The only thing I did do was put some butter in my morning tea. At the time I couldn’t find out what exactly was in his diet; I figured a little fat but no carbs and no protein would be along the correct lines.
I’m not surprised you did not achieve ketosis. Dates? Really?
Thanks for doing all the legwork regarding lab tests, etc.
Bulletproof Tea? :-)
I remain a little puzzled by the relatively high net carb thresholds within both the patented and commercial ProLon versions of the Fasting Mimicking Diet. Even with the Dates I consumed fewer net carbs than the FMD protocol prescribed for my bodyweight. However indeed, I believe I simply consumed too many carbs and for my next cycle will reduce to a maximum of 50 g net carbs and make up the calorie delta exclusively with fats.
I thought the FMD guidelines said to avoid exercise. Is that true, and if so, do you think your exercise during the 5 days caused any issues? Personally I would not like to go 5 days without any exercise regardless of the diet.
I have not noticed a specific direction or recommendation to avoid exercise Henry. If you have I would welcome a reference to it. The ProLon FAQ does not include any question about exercise https://prolonfmd.com/faq/
During my first cycle I ceased resistance training and my exercise intensity and volume were far lower than my norm. I would certainly not think it wise to perform any exercise that was likely to require significant post-exercise tissue repair, such as weight lifting or sprinting. What I would want and be comfortable with is being ‘active’, meaning using lower metabolic demand exercise including walking, jogging and cycling.
Hi Benjamin,
I am today on day 5 of FMD, no Prolon. I have done heavy exercise on all days bar day 4. Today, Day 5 I did 2:00 hours of demanding exercise. On each day that I exercised I fely very energised. On day 4 (the no exercise day) I felt lousy, lacked energy and felt very hungry. My take on the matter is that exercise actually facilitates greater ketosis, as fat is the only energy source, especially after the first few days. I think that it matters that I am used to exercising heavily and that people who are not and who are not keto adapted need to watch out and should only exercise to the extent that they feel well. So my advice is to only exercise hard if you are keto adapted. It helps instead of harming.
Regards
Peter
Hello Peter, you have perhaps discovered something via practice that is well known and researched. Exercise is absolutely a tactic for progressing into ketosis at the beginning of a fast, or in this case, fast mimicking. Your body will preferentially use up any remaining glycogen and glucose and once that has been exhausted demand for more energy is a strong signal for your body to produce ketones.
Are you or have you been keto adapted Peter? Here is a downside of FMD. Unless you are already following a ketogenic diet the duration is far too short to adapt to ketogenesis, so people practicing FMD may experience all the initial negatives of transition into ketosis without every experiencing some of the more appealing positives.
Also, what kind of exercise did you perform? I will reference on request the statement that ketones and aerobic exercise mix well but ketones and heavy progressive resistance exercise do not.
Thanks for the information. I think I can support 5 days eating the same. I need to be simple in my preparation. I live in Spain and don’t have access to M&S. Can you give me a simle idea to prepare 1 o 2 meals for the entire plan? soups prefered as you recomend. Thanks again.
You are most welcome. I prefer variety myself but if I were going to go through the days with just 2 ‘meals’ and consume these repeatedly I might choose any of the following. A guiding principle I would apply is to favor fat over protein and carbs and treat the protein and carb limits as ‘hard’ limits. So if a given meal does not quite fit the macros, go over on fat, not protein or carbs.
Meal 1: Salad of non-starchy & low protein vegetables with mashed avocado & spices
Meal 2: Soup of non-starchy & low protein vegetables prepared with cream (lots of)
Meal 3: Vegetable Bouillon with olive oil, coconut oil or MCT oil
Suitable vegetables include cabbage, cauliflower, celeriac, chicory, kohlrabi, lettuce, rocket, turnip, zucchini. There are others and of course you can include small quantities of veggies with higher protein counts such as broccoli, spinach & watercress.
You could add in a very small quantity of nuts and seeds for snacks too.
Thank you for the examples!!!
Some easy examples:
some soup to be satisfied.
avodado and/or olive oil for the fats.
Some example from LIDL/ALDI? How many grams of each a day?
Thanks again.
Hi, again. Evaluation of different strategies. I guess everything depends on the objectives and contour conditions. Contour condition: healthy life, diet based mainly on plants, routine of 3 meals (8: 00/14: 00/20: 00 – fasting of 12h at night), frequent exercise with HIIT’s on weekdays and 1d of endurance on weekends . Objective: strategy to further improve antiaging (health span, not simply life span) on the previous basis with better relationship complexity / benefits. Options: 1. Do not do anything extra, 2. fasting 1d/w, 3. Fasting 1w/6 months (FMD), 4. Increase overnight fasting to 14/10 or 16/8, 5. A combination of several. Whats your opinion about that and why?After some reading, I think it is not so complex that 1d/w and I start to like the idea. What’s more, I think that if you control hunger and other sideeffects well, it simplifies you that day enormously. You gain 3 more hours a week for not having to worry about the food. In a way, it is a form of make life span. ;). The downside, will I be losing additional FMD benefits? I do not think that in a single day the cycle of ketosis and cell regeneration is so pronounced. P.S. for the moment I’m with option 1 until I’m clear about it. Thanks!!
AWESOME, detailed documentation of your experience on the FMD! I doubt I will do all of the testing. My main goal is a keto reset and weight loss. So I will test blood and of course weight.
I planned to start next week, but based on this, I will probably start Friday or Saturday in case I get foggy so it will be away from work. I don’t know if anyone mentioned, but I saw a video where someone suggested using nutritional yeast to get over the keto flu symptoms. I bought some and will try that to avoid it altogether.
Hola Adrienne, for keto and weight loss goals your testing protocol can be a lot simpler indeed.
I absolutely adore nutritional yeast. I will accept almost any excuse to eat it. I cannot however think of any reason it should help either of the sets of symptoms referred to as keto flu. I am not a keto expert, but I believe keto “flu” refers to one or both of two things.
1. Depletion of electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium) and dehydration – for which the best remedy is replacement of electrolytes, sodium in particular, and drinking plenty of fluids.
At it’s typical serving size of 5-15 grams, Nutritional Yeast doesn’t have enough mineral content to provide a solution. Per 100g it is about 55g protein and 35g carbs, so too high in both to fit into an FMD or keto diet in a quantity sufficient to deliver micronutrients.
2. The gradual transition of bodily organs, at different times and with the brain going last, from primarily using glucose to primarily using ketones for fuel. There is no short cut for this. You could take exogenous ketones to supplement the supply side of the equation, but the demand side takes time. This is why the keto diet experts argue that any studies performed on keto diets that are 4 weeks or shorter are misleading and unhelpful as they will inevitably be observing people that are only partially keto-adapted.
Still, I would kinda like to watch that video to see what the rationale is. Do share if you can refind it?
Hi
Thanks. This is fascinating. I have been a fan of the old fashioned cabbage soup diet for years, I like the way it re-sets my body and mind around food. Is the Pro Lon diet really much different to that diet in what it achieves? Do you think the cabbage soup diet is safe to follow instead of ProLon or your own FMD protocol?
Thanks again
Hola and welcome Cheryl. I am familiar with the Cabbage Soup diet. The short version is that the only food eaten whilst on the diet is Cabbage Soup. You can eat as much as you like. It is a calorie restricted diet because it is practically impossible to consume enough cabbage soup to meet daily calorie requirements and in fact you might expend more calories consuming and digesting the soup than you gain from it. It is therefore a method intended to make running a calorific deficit more tolerable compared to a full water fast.
In my humble opinion the Fasting Mimicking Diet and Cabbage Soup diet share some virtues but FMD offers some key advantages along with some key disadvantages. Sharing my thinking . . .
***Similarities***
# FMD and Water Fasting and Cabbage Soup Diet all result in significant calorie deficits
# All three also result in a major ‘reset’ of your food expectations and daily routine that can be the enabler for sustained change
# On both FMD and Cabbage Soup Diet food can be consumed and this is intended to enable some of the benefits of calorie restriction and fasting without the ‘challenge’ of not eating at all
# Only a full water fast, and neither FMD or Cabbage Soup, will deliver all the outcomes of fasting including after the initial days a massive reduction in appetite and hunger
***Big Differences***
# FMD is carefully designed to fulfil many important micro nutrient needs and supply meaningful quantities of phyto-nutrients too
# FMD is designed to enable progress into and maintenance within a nutritional ketosis state
# Cabbage Soup diet is by contrast nutritionally inferior and will result in significant micro-nutrient deficits. This may not matter much if it is used for periods of days only
***FMD Advantages***
# Because of the superior nutrient density of FMD it is far better suited for those that use it in combination with treatment for some serious health condition such as chemotherapy or diabetes
# For the same reason FMD is a safer to repeat periodically and frequently within an overall diet, making it more sustainable nutritionally
# FMD is also now being applied and studied within human trials so is building up the evidence base for both safety and effectiveness
***FMD Disadvantages***
# FMD requires a lot more planning and preparation
# Depending on how it is followed FMD can involve a lot more cost, for example if the commercial ProLon package is used
# I do like Cabbage Soup, especially if it has enough pepper and salt :-P
Hi Benjamin,
Thanks for sharing and the detailed process you did.
As a practitioner I am familiar with Genova testing. I am not seeing it being acknowledged that Genova “moved the goalposts” between your first and second testings. I like the visual representations that Genova does, but you have to be careful and knowledgable about what they are doing with their reference ranges and representations. Your first test looks like your numbers are high normal, while the second looks like you are all high. But in reality, your second test numbers are all much lower than in the first test. Units of measure are the same. Examining details it appears they have just totally moved the goalposts or reference ranges and visual representations. Need to use only one set of reference ranges and visual representation for both sets of numbers. It is possible that they changed the technology they are using for testing in between these two tests, but absolute values in the same units shouldn’t change this much even with a change of testing technologies.
Thanks much!
Heya Marc, yes, you have it right. Genova Diagnostics included the following advice within the second test I shared –
“Please note the cortisol reference ranges have been updated due to a change in the assay manufacturer”
I have and had no way to actually reconcile the completely different absolute numbers. Instead, I simply observe where I am relative to the reference ranges. I have had multiple cortisol measures since my first FMD cycle and the headline from them is that I am typically high on several of the time snapshots, but also typically within the upper limits of the reference range.
Thanks so much for the post on the first FMD. The Q&A’s after also. I experienced some of the same things on my first 8/16 Daily Limited Fasting with good nutrition, including feeling weak and lacking in desire to get out of my chair in the evenings. I think I may have actually gotten into ketosis without realizing it and was not testing for it. Somehow I have not discovered your second FMD results. If you reply to this please tell me how to find the second one.
Everett, you are most welcome and thank *you* for the comment :-)
I am confident that my weakness and lethargy cleared once I actually made it into nutritional ketosis. This is one of the reasons I would choose to begin another round of FMD with a ketogenic diet and perhaps also make use of MCT oil as part of the fats within the FMD diet itself. So many n=1 experiments left to do . . . . !
To find that second FMD results post though . . . hehe, well you would need first a time machine set to ‘future’. I have not written it yet! Also since my first FMD cycle I have become convinced, through much reading and research, that a full water fast will be superior to FMD *for me* and probably also for most people that do not have a specific reason not to water fast. I still regard FMD as a marvellous protocol backed by increasingly robust evidence. The summary reason I would favour water fasting is that it offers *all* the benefits of fasting, whereas FMD offers *some*, and I believe after the first rough couple of days water-fasting is no tougher to continue than FMD and in fact, may well be easier. There is some pretty convincing evidence that fasting is more tolerable than consuming some food, but not enough i.e. a caloric deficit.
Thanks for your reply. Perhaps I will go “light” on the first 5 day fast (ie: it will be a water fast unless I feel the need to eat a few veggies, nuts, and/or olive oil, and then only as much as I feel the need of to stay out of lethargy, if I can accomplish that). If that works then on a second FMD I will do the same but perhaps find that no carbs are needed on the second fast. If I am able to get to a water fast on either FMD I will follow that with another CA 19-9 cancer marker test and see if it has dropped back to “normal.” (If I did not tell you earlier, I was measured 40 on a scale where normal is 1-35. I am told that 40 is less than the typical 20% variation between tests so I am not terribly concerned with that test. But I also have some liver and pancreas probable “cysts” and the CA 19-9 is likely an attempt to rule out cancer but it has not yet done so. Your posts have been of considerable help. Cheers.
Everett, let me recommend to you reading The Complete Guide to Fasting by Kevin Fung. It covers wonderfully both the theory and practice of water-fasting. One of the concepts covered is *why* the eating of any food will result in continued appetite and hunger, and why after the first few days of eating no food the desire to eat will diminish and go away. I recommend this in particular in relation to your mention of potentially eating just a few veggies, nuts and olive oil. From the theory at least, if you do this, the rest of the fast will be more difficult because you will continue to experience appetite which could otherwise diminish and go away during a full water-fast.
I wish you very well with what you choose to do and would very much welcome that you return and share it. I find it very useful to try and write and describe experience and reflections. If you do do, write it here! :-)
Hi, I read that the Prolon people are saying the fiber content per day shouldnt exceed 18 gms. I wondered what your take is on this. Seems important since we are trying of course to duplicate their diet.
Thank you very much.
Hola, sorry for . . . gosh a massively belated reply! Can you help me out and link out to the advice about fiber? My speculation, without actually seeing it, is that within the parameters of FMD there could be such a thing as too much fiber. Fiber is generally ‘good’ but can also interfere with absorption of other nutrients and on the restricted FMD protocol ‘too much’ fiber may refer to a threshold beyond which there is a negative impact on absorption of nutrients from the other macros.
Thank you for all of your information on FMD. I am on my Day 3 and the question about the glycerin/glycerol enabled me to add it today’s intake. I’m mixing it in my teas. I cooked 4 different dishes with 3 servings each for my 5 days. They were an oatmeal/blueberry/coconut oi/walnut blend, a bok choy and red pepper stir fry with potato, tomato, cauliflower and cashew cream and vindaloo seasoning, a Aloo gobi of curried/ginger potato, cauliflower, parsley, and a carrot ginger cream soup – using canned organic coconut milk. I put 1/3 of each completed recipe in storage containers and then had 12 meals to pick and choose from. Each meal met the daily guidelines posted by Dr. Longo for macro nutrients. I ended up adding a mid morning stalk of celery, many 12 oz glasses of Redmond Salt water, some green and black tea, peppermint rooiboos tea sweetened with vegetable glycerin. I did check the fist three days levels of fiber…only one day did it go to 23g, the rest of the time was only as high as 18…and I didn’t know about any fiber range when I designed these recipes. I used all coconut oil, sesame oil and peanut oil plus the nuts for fat sources. Next time I will incorporate avocado and mixed green salad because it will be spring. I always encourage people to eat warm, wet food in winter and then crispy raw foods in spring and summer…it’s just more appealing and your body is happier. This FMD do it yourself protocol conforms to any season due to the huge range of choices you can use to construct your daily intake based on your own preferences.
PS: I am a type 2 diabetic since 2003 who has used high fat, low carb to control my diabetes for the last 5 years. My doc says thumbs up on FMD …my last A1C was 7.5 before FMD, with no Rx. My goal…no more diabetes.
Eat with the seasons! Eat real food! Love it Cynthia. Also . . . cashew cream . . . MMmmm :-)
Wonderful that you are achieving good health outcomes with help from a low fat high fat diet. I visit diabetes discussion forums regularly and find more and more diabetics and pre-diabetics following this approach. It does not work for all but it certainly seems to work well for some.