Cronometer results for the FMD

[mccoy]

Dear all,

By now I've tried Longo's FMD, based upon data drawn from the patent application material and his book, data which I posted in another thread. Basically, as I construe it the daily diet is made up of about 3 pounds of vegetables, either raw and cooked, with few nuts (about 20 grams on the average), limited amount of EVOO, possibly avocado. 

 

I must say that, as far as the practical details go, the diet was a success. I felt the same symptoms of a water-only fast but far milder. Today, on my 5th day, I was pretty energetic whereas in my 5th day of water-only I was totally whacked and mentally unable to focus. I lost about one pound of bodyweight per day, whereas on water-only I lost twice as much. My blood glucose reading on the morning of the 5th day was 81 mg/dl, a little less than my last reading durign a usual day, 86 mg/dl. I'm going to post the cornometer details, On the 1st day I ate 300 Kcal less than the allowed quota, simply because I wasn't hungry. On the last day I ate 100 kCal less, whereas on other days I ate about 750 kCal a day, the allowed quota for my bodyweight range.

 

I'm going to post the cronometer results of the single days, maybe you guys are going to give some useful tips for the next FMD, which I'll make sure to reply at the suggested frequency.

[mccoy]

Day one. Fats=46%, carbs=44%, protein=10% . The suggested ratios are 45-45-10

[mccoy]

Day 2- Fats=37%, carbs=54%, protein=9% . Here I made some mistake and ended up a little far from the optimal fats/carbs ratio

[mccoy]

Day 3- Fats=46%, carbs=46%, protein=8% .

 

[mccoy]

Day 4- Fats=46%, carbs=44%, protein=10% .

 

[mccoy]

Day 5- Fats=48%, carbs=44%, protein=8% .

 

[mccoy]

I'm posting this with delate but someone asked me about longo's reccomandations for the transition day (day 6) after his FMD.

 

He just suggests a prevalently vegan diet with little saturated fats or animal proteins. I'm posting what I personally ate on the transition day, lots of previously forbidden fruits, plus more vegetables, nuts & EVOO in quantities larger than before. No animal proteins. This sticks to Longo's reccomandations, with a very safe margin.

Pls note, after a water-only fast I'd decrease the below quantities to 30% or 50% max, according to one's own digestive abilities.

 

Edited January 6, 2017 by mccoy

[Mechanism]

Edited

Edited July 20, 2020 by Mechanism

[mccoy]

Did you do the formal / official FMD, your own version, or a combination of the two?

 

I think the version can be defined official, since it appears on Longo's own book. He just describes the types of acceptable foods, quantities, macronutrients ratios, calories. Other details I got from the patent submission. Cronometer is indeed a great help to reach the target calories and ratios. It would be very time consuming otherwise.

 

The PROLON version is simply the ready package. I don't know exactly what's in there.  

[Mechanism]

Edited

Edited July 20, 2020 by Mechanism

[Cloud]

 

Did you do the formal / official FMD, your own version, or a combination of the two?

 

I think the version can be defined official, since it appears on Longo's own book. He just describes the types of acceptable foods, quantities, macronutrients ratios, calories. Other details I got from the patent submission. Cronometer is indeed a great help to reach the target calories and ratios. It would be very time consuming otherwise.

 

The PROLON version is simply the ready package. I don't know exactly what's in there.  

 

Thanks mccoy, I will give a look at your crometer settings, taking advantage of the school holidays last week I have also completed (the third time) one FMD cycle. I have used an excel file and every evening I calculated the right proportion of, essentially, my ingredients were:  steamed vegetables, nuts, olive oil, soups . I used to eat in three meals. I have to say that the process is time consuming but also instructive. This time the experience has been better than previously but I think I could not follow a cycle while working, especially if you have also to cook.

I have found a food combination very fast to prepare that is very near to the macronutrients ratios specified by Longo's work: two vegetables soups organic ready from supermarket (about 4€ each , 620 ml), 20 g of olive oil,    4 cakes of brown rice (Also, for the palate!  ). 

A little boring for 5 days, but next time I will try with this, avoiding so to cook anything.

 

This lecture is cited in the Longo's book, but is available only recently: 

 I think it is interesting. 

 

all the best, 

Cloud

Edited January 8, 2017 by Cloud

[mccoy]

Cloud, vegetable soups are a great idea during the winter! Did you have the disc-shaped unsweetened cakes they sell in the organic departments of supermarkets? Do you think they are allowed (there is no explicit reference to cereals in the book)? If you don't want to tell the brands, can you pls send me a private message, I might use that info next time around, it will be march I reckon.

You are almost a veteran of the FMD now, how often are you doing it? Sure it is easier during holidays, I had to work a couple of days but when out I ate carrots, fennels, nuts, tomatoes.

thanks for the linked video, I'm going to watch it soon.

[Cloud]

Cloud, vegetable soups are a great idea during the winter! Did you have the disc-shaped unsweetened cakes they sell in the organic departments of supermarkets? Do you think they are allowed (there is no explicit reference to cereals in the book)? If you don't want to tell the brands, can you pls send me a private message, I might use that info next time around, it will be march I reckon.

You are almost a veteran of the FMD now, how often are you doing it? Sure it is easier during holidays, I had to work a couple of days but when out I ate carrots, fennels, nuts, tomatoes.

thanks for the linked video, I'm going to watch it soon.

Hello Mccoy, here is the link to the vegetable soup available in Italian store here: http://www.catalogoprodotti.coop.it/pam/it/Categorie-PAM/Alimentari-freschi/Verdura/Verdura-preparata/vellutata-di-verdure-Biologica-620-g/p/7215516

I supposed that complex carbohydrates like  whole brown rice cakes are allowed, the first time I tried FMD I based on the recipes provided freely by Josh on his blog on aging. ciao! 

[mccoy]

Thanks Cloud, I'll also post here the FMD recipe webpage linked by Josh Mitteldorf.

 

My interpretation the FMD is a little different, in that I prefer to rule sweet fruit, potatoes and cereals out (not explicitly mentioned in Longo's book) out, so basically it becomes a many vegetables + EVOO + few nuts+avocados diet. It sure is bulky but this helps to fight hunger. It might be correct both ways. Also, I would adjust it to the climate, including lots of warm soups when it's cold and lots of salads and raw veggies when it's hot.

[mccoy]

Well-built presentation in the TED talk. Also very interesting images and facts on Roy walford and his biosphere 2 experiment.

[Cloud]

I have to say that the week following the FMD diet days I have more difficulty to limit what I eat, especially dark chocolate and fruits...

Mccoy, I plan to follow FMD diet only three times a year, the rest of time I do a 32 hours of water fasting a week.

all the best, Cloud

Edited January 12, 2017 by Cloud

[mccoy]

I have to say that the week following the FMD diet days I have more difficulty to limit what I eat, especially dark chocolate and fruits...

Mccoy, I plan to follow FMD diet only three times a year, the rest of time I do a 32 hours of water fasting a week.

all the best, Cloud

 

That sounds to me as a very healthful fasting scheme you have!

[mccoy]

While Cloud plans to make a FMD 3 times a year, since I don't fast weekly like him  I'm planning to do that at least 4 times a year, possibly 6 times a year or even every month, depending on body foodback. These threads turn out to be useful to check the numbers.

[mccoy]

Looking for hints on the contents of the prolon package, it turns out that Victoria Lambert  of the Telegraph has tried the package and described it. 

 

 

 

Four tiny, Alice in Wonderland-style bottles of energy drink mix. Six meagre raw nut bars – each about the size of a two-finger KitKat. Thick brown paper pouches of ominous-looking kale “chips”. Vitamin tablets. Capsules of oil. Herbal tea bags. Plus 10 sachets of scientifically designed instant soup. The box containing my prototype copy of the new five-day Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) – which arrived from southern California last week – was all Interstellar meets Gwyneth Paltrow. To be frank, I’ve seen more appetising sacks of guinea-pig food.

 

Main ingredients:

1. Vegetable soups (flavours: tomato, mushroom, pumpkin)
2. Nut bars - mostly macadamia and cashews
3. Kale chips
4. Herbal teas
5. Energy drink

 

My bottom line is that maybe my initial guess turns out to be true: a self-administered FMD should probably rule out cereals and potatoes.

Edited February 25, 2017 by mccoy

[mccoy]

I discovered that the vegan advocate and cardiologist Joel Khan speaks very highly of Valter Longo in his interview in the Rich Roll podcast. He practices the FMD every month, which is really a lot, much more frequently than advised by Longo for healthy, lean people.

 

I've resumed the FMD cycles with springtime. During the winter I had a break, since cold exposure is not very much compatible with a very low caloric intake.

This is my 6th FMD. I developed a strategy which is working for me, and entails the ingestion of 2 to 3 pounds of non starchy vegetables (including carrots), raw and cooked, 1-2 tbsps of EVOO, an ounce of nuts, maybe a tbsp of cacao powder and decaffeinated coffe. This is today's intake, which is lower than the daily allowance of energy.

 

This time I had very little hunger and cravings, but I was unusually sleepy.

 

My message is that a prolon package isn't really necessary, although it may be convenient if you are active and out of home. However, how you can notice, all ingredients are either portable (raw carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, nuts) or can be prepared the day before (steamed cauliflowers, cabbage,  fennels).

 

[mccoy]

I'm over with this FMD episode, my fasting glycaemia this morning was 10 mg/dL less than my starting one and my bodyweight 5-6 pounds less. Muscle mass has been apparently and mostly saved (visual examination only). I've eaten 80% of the allotted energy and yesterday (5th and last day) food definitely nauseated me. Hunger ceased almost totally at the 4th day, the relatively high amount of fibers eaten (30 g daily) probably was a large factor in this, plus the switch to a ketogenic condition.

 

l was active all period but with significantly lower levels of energy and more than usual restless sleep.

 

Right now I'm enjoying warm cacao with dark muskovado. Not hungry yet.

Edited April 25, 2018 by mccoy

[mccoy]

One interesting result is the increased delta from baseline of postprandial glycaemia.

 

For example, this morning fasting Blood sugar concentration was 75 mg/dL

 

After 2 cups of cacao with 2 tbspns dark muscovado, Blood sugar concentration was 115 mg/dL, a whopping increase of 40 mg/dL from the fasting baseline, definitely less than the 10-15 delta I measured in similar conditions but not after fasting.

 

Don't know really its mechanistic interpretation. Less insuline secreted? More insuline resistance from cell receptors after a fast (mild glucose intolerance)?

[Todd Allen]

As hepatic glycogen depletes muscle becomes very insulin resistant to spare glucose for the brain.  It typically takes about 3 days after glycogen repletion before insulin sensitivity is restored.  Typically insulin sensitivity will be better than it was prior, probably due to a reduction in hepatic and intramuscular lipids.

[mccoy]

As hepatic glycogen depletes muscle becomes very insulin resistant to spare glucose for the brain.  It typically takes about 3 days after glycogen repletion before insulin sensitivity is restored.  Typically insulin sensitivity will be better than it was prior, probably due to a reduction in hepatic and intramuscular lipids.

 

Thanks Todd for the explanation, it sounds reasonable

[Sibiriak]

Mccoy,  I was wondering how you integrated your FMD episodes into your bodybuilding program.  Did  you periodize it in a certain way, or take any special steps to lessen the loss of muscle mass?  

 

Also, do you think fasting in any way helped your injury rehabilitation?