The Hunger Games: Starved To Life

In keeping with my last post, I figured I'd give the title of this post a little cinematic touch.

Today (Saturday, June 24) I'm starting another round of the Fasting Mimicking Diet that I did last month. For those who missed  last month’s hoopla, I wrote posts recounting each of the five days of the diet, starting with a comprehensive explanation of how’s and why’s of the plan which you can read by (clicking here).

I’ll be using the same prefab diet marketed by Prolon (click here). A few people asked if I’m being sponsored by Prolon, and I promise you, I am not. I understand that the price of the diet kit is prohibitive for a lot of people, and I plan on getting in touch with the company and seeing if we can work out some kind of deal to make the kits more affordable for people with MS who want to try the diet but find the price too steep. Seems like it would make for good publicity for the company and be of benefit to many patients, a classic win-win situation. Meant to do that earlier this month, but, as usual, the days somehow got away from me.

Just a quick recap of what the diet entails: this is a strict reduced calorie diet, done in the hope (expectation?) that forcing the body into a fasting state will allow it to recalibrate some of the out of whack processes seen in diseases like MS, reduce inflammation, and jumpstart the body’s own stem cells to do some regeneration of damaged tissues. On day one of the diet consumption is restricted to 1150 calories. On days 2-5, this is cut further to 800 calories. The diet consists of prepackaged high nutrient soups, protein bars, kale crackers, olives, and a glycerol based energy drink. Other liquid intake is restricted to herbal teas and water. All of the food provided is vegetable-based.

Last time around I found getting through the five days surprisingly easy, and instead of feeling weak at the end of the diet, as I expected, I actually felt quite energized. So, this time around I’m going to take an even more draconian approach and try to extend the diet by two days, consuming only the energy drink, water, and herbal tea on days six and seven. I am doing this under medical supervision, and, rest assured, if I find that things aren’t going well during those extra two days, I’ll pull the ripcord and eat a fruit salad. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and my Creeping Paralysis isn’t showing any signs of relenting.

I was inspired to extend the diet after reading a 2012 article from Harper's, which recounts the long history of fasting for medicinal purposes and tells the tale of the author’s own successful 19 day fast. Incredible stuff. You can read the article by (clicking here). I plan on engaging in at least one more round of the diet after this month, probably more. My naturopath said she’s seen patients start to respond after the second round. Here’s to hoping. I didn't see any additional benefit from the first round other than some lost weight (5 pounds) and a temporary increase in energy levels, but for whatever reason I have found the idea of eating red meat absolutely revolting since doing the diet last month. Go figure.

For those foodies out there, I chose as my last meal before starting this month’s diet a very yummy Thai dish, crispy duck in red curry sauce with lots of pineapple, lychee nuts, and veggies. One of the great things about living in NYC is that you can get pretty much any type of cuisine delivered right to your door, and the aforementioned deliciousness arrived about 25 minutes after we placed the order online. The wonders of modern technology.

I’ll not recount every day of this month’s diet as I did last month, but I'll check in again when this cycle is over. Hopefully, I’ll make it through the entire seven days.

Here’s mud in your eye…

The Starvation Chronicles: Day Four

A Basket of Bialys

Well, that’s four down, one to go.

I’ve finished the fourth day of my five day Fasting Mimicking Diet, and I’m happy to report that today was relatively easy. Much better than yesterday, when hunger pangs and a lack of olives on the menu had me out of sorts. Today I’m in sorts. And shorts; it’s hot in my apartment.

According to the company that markets this diet, Prolon, the body adjusts to the program’s reduced caloric intake after a few days. As is evidenced by how I feel today, I suppose they know what they’re talking about – despite their sadistically depriving me of olives on day three.

Speaking of olives, today was chock full of them. I got to scarf down a whopping 10 olives today. For those who are undoubtedly wondering, the olives supplied in this diet are of the green variety. I typically favor black olives, Kalamata olives to be exact. But the greenies will do in a pinch, and in a martini. Which I can no longer drink because of my MS, as alcohol consumption makes my nervous system go kablooey. Cruel, dastardly disease. If I were to wake up magically cured tomorrow, I’d go on a bender that would put even Hemingway to shame.

After yesterday’s Starvation Chronicles diatribe about olives, I received some very interesting comments and emails. Much to my surprise, it seems that some people hate olives. I can’t even imagine. Have the olive haters ever had really good salty briny delectable fresh olives, not the horrible rubbery bland things that come out of a can? And do olive haters also hate capers, which are kind of like tiny olives supersaturated with flavor? I would think it would be impossible to hate olives and like capers, or vice versa. Please, report back, inquiring minds want to know.

Okay, now that I’m sitting here writing about olives and capers, I’m getting hungry. Suddenly visions of a toasted garlic and onion bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon, and capers is crowding out all other thoughts from my mind. Must. Stay. Focused.

One of the things I missed most about New York when I lived in Florida was the bagels. Well, that’s not exactly true, there were a whole lot of things I found sorely lacking in Florida, including brain cells, but I won’t go into details for fear of insulting any Floridians reading these pages. But back to the bagels. They do have bagel shops in Florida, but whatever the things are that those shops sell, they’re not bagels. Good God, they put things like strawberries and cinnamon and raisins and cheddar cheese in their “bagels”! Ugh! Blasphemy!

I’ve got news for you, just because a bread product is round with a hole in the middle does not make it a bagel. If it contains any sorts of fruits, berries, cinnamon, peppers, or cheese within the dough itself it’s a Danish or some other sort of pastry. No self-respecting bagel would put up with such adornments; an honest to goodness bagel is topped strictly with the following, either individually or in combination: chopped onion, garlic, salt, sesame seeds, or poppy seeds. I usually go for an “everything” bagel, which includes all of the above. Also, pumpernickel bagels are allowed, and even preferred by some native New Yorkers.

Now, what really sends me into writhing wriggling culinary ecstasy is a good bialy (click here). For those sadly unaware that such things exist, bialys are a close cousin to the bagel and are a foodstuff I’ve never encountered outside of New York City. Whereas a bagel is boiled and then baked, a bialy is just baked. In place of the bagel’s hole there is a deep depression in the center of a bialy, a vessel filled with bits of garlic and onion, which are mixed in with the dough as well. The damned things are indescribably delicious, positively bursting with flavor, especially when toasted and adorned with just a schmear of cream cheese. There is no more perfect combination in the culinary universe. None.

When I was a kid you could get a bialy on practically every street in New York City, but these days, as the city has changed and mutated into something I sometimes barely recognize, the bialy is becoming an endangered species. My heart bleeds for those untold millions who have never savored the pleasures of the bialy, and tragically, most likely never will.

All right, now that I’ve got myself all worked up, I’d better proceed with just a quick rundown of my food intake for today. Lunch was a nutrition bar, vegetable soup, and olives. Dinner was quinoa minestrone soup, olives, and a Choco crisp nutrition bar for dessert. The Choco crisp bar is just a little thing, and for whatever reason tonight’s was much more chocolatey than the two I’ve previously eaten during this diet. Perhaps the Prolon people were trying to make up for yesterday’s lack of olives.

Unfortunately, tomorrow, the last day of the diet, also includes no olives. I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel, though, so I’ll soldier on, despite the dearth of those luscious green orbs.

As for Wednesday, well, I’m supposed to transition slowly back to a regular diet, but something tells me there just might be a bialy in the offing…

Geez, when wheeled up to the computer I wondered what the hell I was going to write about. I sure can write a lot about nothing. Sorry about that…

The Starvation Chronicles: Day One

As I wrote yesterday (click here), from now through Tuesday I’ll be subjecting myself to a Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD), in the hopes that severely reducing my caloric intake for five days will force changes in my body chemistry and cellular activity, with the goal of reducing autoimmunity and jumpstarting my natural stem cells to regenerate damaged tissues. The diet is also used by some in the hopes of increasing longevity, but that’s not my immediate goal. As far as I’m concerned, life is all about quality, not quantity.

I’m happy to report that day one is in the book. Or, in this case, on the blog. And so far so good, I must say that today’s 1100 calorie intake was easy peasy lemon squeezy (a term that is used all too rarely in medical literature). As I write this, I’m not feeling hungry at all.

I’m using prepackaged foods provided by a company called Prolon (click here). Though the company recommends a daily menu of suggested meals using the items provided for each day, they do state that meals can be combined any which way a person chooses. Which is great, as I am an avowed night owl – I’m writing this at 2:30 AM – and due to of my odd schedule I typically only eat two meals a day, skipping breakfast because I don’t do mornings. As an old jazz man once said, I’d prefer not to know that there are two 10 o’clocks in one day.

So, I combined the suggested breakfast and lunch items into one “big” midday meal. It consisted of a tomato soup that was shockingly yummy, a nutritional bar made up of a variety of nuts, coconut, and honey that was not half bad, some crackers made of kale, seeds, and cumin that had a nice little kick to them, and five green olives. I love olives. My lunchtime beverage was spearmint-lemon herbal tea, and some water. The diet allows you to drink as much water as you want.

Tonight’s dinner was minestrone soup, which actually tasted more like a barley soup. Since I was expecting minestrone, at first the taste was a little offputting, but once I decided I was actually eating barley soup it was much more palatable. We do indeed create our own realities. Along with the soup I had another one of those nutritional bars, and for dessert a different, smaller nutritional bar that contained some cocoa. Spearmint tea was the beverage of choice.

All in all, a very pleasant start to this starvation diet journey. Tomorrow I drop down to the 800 calorie mark, which will be maintained for the remaining four days. According to Prolon, the second day is usually the hardest, as the body then adjusts to the new diet regimen. Call me crazy, or maybe even a nut job, but I feel like today’s easy start has removed some of the pressure I was feeling about the diet. Who knows what the next few days will bring?

Oh, a tremendous thank you to everybody who responded to yesterday’s announcement of my impending diet with comments (both here and on Facebook) and notes of encouragement and advice. I wish I had the time and energy to answer each individually, but please know that they have all been read and greatly appreciated.

Watch this space for tomorrow’s 800 calorie update…

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I'm happy to announce that Healthline.com has named Wheelchair Kamikaze one of 2017's best MS blogs. A big thank you to Meagan Jones and the rest of the Healthline team. I urge all WK readers to head on over to Healthline's 2017 list (click here) and check out the other chosen blogs. There's a lot of really good stuff there!

Healthline

The Starvation Chronicles: Prologue

Starting Friday, May 19, I’ll be subjecting myself to a five day starvation diet, in an attempt to beat back the disease that is slowly but surely consuming me. In effect, I’ll be reducing my consumption of food to near starvation levels in order to stop my illness’s consumption of my bodily functions. Yes, I’ll be crossing the junction of function consumption.

As I’ve talked about before on these pages, I work closely with a naturopathic doctor who is employed at my MS clinic. She's is one of the sharpest people I’ve ever met, and is a heckuva nice person to boot.

She recently approached me with a rather radical idea, but one based on sound scientific research and her own clinical experiences – asking if I would be willing to try a Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD), in which caloric intake is dramatically reduced for five days. I was already acquainted with research which demonstrated that such a diet had increased the lifespans of laboratory animals as much as 25%, and that it had the potential to positively impact chronic illnesses and even cancers as well. When my naturopath told me that she had seen some rather startling results in one of the first few MS patients she had convinced to try this diet, I was all in.

The diet is designed and marketed by a company called Prolon (click here), which supplies five days’ worth of plant-based foods that provide nourishment while tricking the body into thinking that no food is being consumed. Thus, the name Fasting Mimicking Diet. During the diet, food consumption is limited to specially formulated vegetable broths, nutritional bars, herbal teas, and snacks (such as a few olives). Each day’s “meals” come in their own individual box, filled with packets of that day's allotted foodstuffs.

The first day of the diet caloric intake is reduced to 1100 calories, and during the remaining four days this is further reduced to 800 calories per day. On day six regular foods are gradually reintroduced, starting with fruits, rice, pasta and other easy to digest items. For the rest of the month a regular diet can be resumed. Dr. Bates (my naturopath) would prefer me to try to stick as much as possible to a Mediterranean diet (low-fat, with lots of fish and veggies).

In scientific studies, the FMD diet has been shown to promote and maintain healthy levels of a variety of inflammatory and regenerative markers. In an animal model of MS, FMD reduced inflammation, suppressed autoimmunity, and promoted the regeneration of damaged nervous system tissues (click here). The diet appears to stimulate the body’s own stem cells. While all this sounds terrific, what really sold me was Dr. Bates telling me that she had seen verifiable improvements in the mobility of one of the first patients who had agreed to give the diet a go.

I figure that if worst comes to worst and I don’t get any disease benefit from this experiment, I'll lose a few pounds (I’m developing the physique of an elephant seal) and the diet will allow my body to detox. In addition, it’ll be kind of fun to take on the challenge (he says with a full belly). Besides, this will give me the perfect excuse to lay around and binge watch some cheesy 60s and 70s horror flicks (queue up “Gore Gore Girls”). For the sake of my wife, I think I’ll steer clear of any films having to do with cannibalism. I'd hate to have Karen wake up to find that she's missing a finger or two. I wonder how many calories there are in a finger? Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "finger food".

So, I expect that over the next five days I just might experience a few pangs of hunger here and there. I might even get Jewish VD (Veak and Dizzy, said with a Yiddish accent). I’ll report back at the end of every day to tell you guys how it’s going, as long as I have the strength to guide my wheelchair to the computer and put on my voice recognition headset. Of course, if I do experience any benefit, it won’t be for several months, but I’ll keep y’all apprised of all such developments (hey, I managed to affect Yiddish and southern accents all in the space of four sentences!). I plan on doing the diet for at least two or three consecutive months.

Wish me luck…