Thursday, July 6, 2017

Hunger Games: Back on the Chuck Wagon

I finished this month’s round of the Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) last Friday. This time around, in addition to the five-day prepackaged Prolon diet (click here), I added an extra two days of my own design. I once again found the five day FMD to be surprisingly easy to complete. As was the case last month, the third day on the diet was the hardest but even that wasn’t too terrible, just some hunger pangs and a few wistful thoughts of key lime pie. By the fourth day, though, any feelings of hunger had subsided, and days four and five were a breeze.

Since things went so well over the prescribed five days, I went ahead with my plans to push the boundaries and extend the length of the Fasting Mimicking Diet with an additional two days of even more draconian dieting. On day six I ate about 25 olives over the course of the day, and drank water and a glycerol based energy drink that’s supplied with the Prolon diet. Because Prolon’s glycerol concoction is mixed with water in amounts depending on the dieter’s weight, I had plenty left over from the previous five days to make up a few more batches for my extended version of the diet. One day’s worth of energy drink supplies about 100 calories, and 25 olives provides another 100, so on day six I consumed a total of roughly 200 calories.

On day seven I decided to go liquid only, and confined my intake to water and the energy drink. Even so, I felt absolutely no hunger, and the day was actually kind of anticlimactic. Don’t know what I was expecting, but after six days of extremely reduced caloric intake, adding a seventh during which I consumed only 100 calories presented no problems whatsoever. I wasn’t very active, but then again being stuck in a wheelchair doesn’t make for a very physically active lifestyle. Even if I were to drive my wheelchair 10 miles, the effort only requires a modicum of pressure from my left arm and hand. Not exactly a high calorie burning activity, thus the presence of the bowling ball I seem to be concealing under my shirt.

Speaking of which, over the course of the seven days I lost about 5 pounds, which is exactly what I lost during last month’s five day FMD. I expected to lose more weight given the extra two days of fasting, but for whatever reason my bowling ball seems loath to shrink. I may have to resort to hammer and chisel.

I broke my fast on day eight with a cheese omelette and a bagel and butter, thinking these items fairly easy to digest. Apparently, my body had other ideas, and about 20 minutes after finishing my meal I was hit with a giant wave of fatigue that forced me to bed, where I crashed for a solid four hours of deep, deep sleep. I suppose after seven days of hardly having to devote any energy at all to digestion, suddenly being confronted with an omelette and bagel gave my body quite the shock, and my “awake” circuit breakers were slammed off in order to muster up the oomph to deal with the introduction of some solid food. Dairy and wheat (gluten) might also have presented my body with some problems other foods wouldn't have, but I've never had a problem digesting either. In any event, lesson learned, I’ll break next month’s fast with a simple fruit salad.

As for any changes in my disease state, I think it’s still too early to tell. I did have blood tests taken after day five of this month’s FMD, so we’ll see if they show any discernible signs of changes in my body chemistry. At this point I plan on doing the diet for at least two more cycles, tinkering with the formula in consultation with my naturopath.

Oh, I did reach out to Prolon about discounting their diet kit for patients with chronic illnesses. I was told to send an email to the CEO, which I did but so far have received no response. I’ll try again in a week or so and keep everyone posted if I make any progress in this regard…

11 comments:

  1. Thanks for the update Marc. You really inspire me. I will do my second turn of FMD in 12 days. Let us hope for some effect soon. All the best Johan

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    1. Hey, good luck on your second round of the FMD. Certainly can't do any harm, and the upside potential is great…

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  2. Thanks Marc for sharing the news!
    I personally have had similar experiences and done the same sort of stretch of the basic 5 day because of my 'hope' state of mind that this must be the one, the treatment that will make a shift from the progression state and the disability slide.
    My experience has been that stopping gluten, stopping milk and stopping soy have been the 'hugely' different states that my body wanted from me.
    I personally believe that some foods as above have been the incremental growth of the disease 'fuels' and that when Dr's and MS Specialists (lol) have added, over time, their Pharma Industry products my 'system', immune system or health system, has been overloaded and the spectrum of outcomes became MS.
    I am experiencing that many things are in a stage of recycling and rebuilding that a change in health is 'possibly' occurring.
    Can't prove anything and won't know for potentially a period of 3-5 according to people such as George Jelinek who have observed the diet, mindfulness and de-stress aspect of the body being back on track.
    Hope the period of time gifts you some positives!
    Nigel

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    1. Hi Nigel, yes, I agree that things like gluten and dairy can have a tremendous impact on physical well-being, especially in those with intolerances to them. My naturopath has seen several MS patients with such undetected intolerances improve dramatically once cutting out the offending food groups.

      I also agree that the damages done by the disease over years cannot be reversed overnight. Certainly, mindfulness practices as well as sticking to a good diet can only contribute to overall well-being.

      Wishing you the best of luck moving forward…

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  3. I have been reading the Wahls Protocol book (many pages to go) and as I am new to this space I am finding it fascinating how much our diet can affect us. Thanks so much for continuing to share your experience.

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    1. Hi Dale, diet can certainly have a tremendous impact on the body, and I am all for exploring dietary and holistic approaches to alleviating the impact of the disease. However, few patients have replicated the dramatic turn around described by Dr. Wahl, so please keep your expectations in line. Certainly, the advice she gives in her book has value, but please do remain open-minded to other approaches as well.

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  4. Hi Marc, I was hesitant to write this - but I just wanted to add my 2 cents. I don't know if you're familiar at all with Ayurveda or or Macrobiotics. Ayurveda is the sister science to yoga - a pretty old and very useful dietary umbrella. They would say that your cheese omelette and bagel are all heavy foods, and not remotely considered 'easy' to digest. Wheat, and the gluten in it, is a 'large' protein and is itself difficult to digest. Eggs and cheese - more protein. Way too heavy after a cleanse!
    You might consider some warm vegetable soup - a broth even, to start to ease back into eating. A warm carrot soup or a baked sweet potato. Even raw fruit is difficult to digest - cold and raw - nothing soothing about it. Our digestion at this point really needs warmth and a gentle approach. Anyone doing a 'cleanse' should truly be being coached on how to end it. Your naturopath said nothing about this?
    I'm dealing with PPMS as well, and have always had digestive issues. For me - it's pots of warm / hot ginger or peppermint or fennel tea to keep my tummy happy. Hope this helps a little!

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    1. Hi, and thanks for the sage counsel. I'm actually scheduled to talk with my naturopath tomorrow, and she told me she's going to yell at me because of the way I broke my fast. Said that if she were going to order up a meal to set my brain on fire a cheese omelette with a bagel and butter would be just the items she would order.

      Okay, so I'm a yutz. Next fast will be broken in a much gentler manner. Thanks again for your input, and hoping that the MS beast is being gentle with you…

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  5. Thank you for keeping us posted (and congratulations on the successful extra two days)!

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  6. hi Marc
    Hope all is well, I have been reading your posts for the past year, so first I would like to thank you for all the effort you make to educate, inform,and sharing your experince with us. Also My husband has PPMS and he is same as you.. tried everything available, so far nothing is working. He did the rituxan infusion and no improvement. A friend told us about this center called EmCell in Ukrain (emcell.com) where they are doing stem cell treatment using Fetal stem cells. I was wondering if you heard about it and what do you think. You know most of neurologist at this point are not in favor of going outside USA and I feel our neurologist has nothing to offer us. I see my husband losing himself to this monster MS and nothing i could do.
    Anyway, thanks again Marc really value your opinion.

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    1. Hi, please shoot me an email about this at WheelchairKamikaze@Gmail.com. I prefer keeping conversations about individual patients situations private. Hope you understand…

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