My Prolon Fasting Mimicking Diet Experience
I am starting my 6th month of the Prolon Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) meal kit and wanted to share an in-depth perspective about why I am doing this and what I have experienced since January.
First, you should know that as a nutritionist I have a personal policy that I will try any diet before I recommend it to a patient. I need to have this tangible experience for myself so that I can really know how to translate it for my patients. After all, patients aren’t generally coming to me expecting a canned approach to their problem. They come in search of a personalized treatment that may include a particular way of eating that has a name.
I am not a single-diet enthusiast, life just isn’t that simple. There isn’t one way of eating that works for everyone. And over the years I have developed fluency in sorting through the right approach given the complex patient sitting in front of me. It is from this mindset that I decided to do the Prolon FMD. I had read the compelling research coming out of Dr. Longo’s lab and knew that in certain circumstances, this would be a great option for my patients.
I have some lingering health concerns that I have tried several approaches with and haven’t had any success, so I also thought that I would see what 3 months of Prolon would do for me. A quick review of what Prolon FMD entails:
5 consecutive days of FMD per month for 3 months in a row. While you can do it for one month, to get the deeper shifts in inflammation, blood sugar control, cholesterol, and blood pressure, the company recommends 3 months in a row. After 1 month, everyone that I have seen on it has lost 3-8 pounds which in an of itself would help the conditions listed above.
You eat and drink only what arrives in the meal kit. There is a small box for each day of the fast and a card that tells you what to eat when. There are two supplements that you take as well but they are limited to a multivitamin and algae oil.
You limit excessive exercise. Walking and gentle yoga seem tolerated by most people.
Ideally, you cut out coffee and black tea but some people gets headaches without the caffeine and 1 cup per day can alleviate that symptom.
Dr. Longo has identified a calorie range and diet composition that allows you to eat but at the same time benefit from the deep cleaning processes that happen when we fast. Over the course of 5 days, your body experiences deep cleaning and stem cell renewal.
At first, I bought just one box as I wasn’t sure I would be able to get through the fast in decent shape. I have been fasting nightly for 12-15 hours but generally haven’t done well other times I tried to fast for longer than that. I was pleasantly surprised that I felt fine on the fast. And so I did it for 3 months and got blood work done to confirm if it was helpful. Sure enough, my biomarkers improved on a few fronts which made me very happy; however, not all of them came into normal range. So I decided to do another 3 months to see if I could squeeze additional benefits out of the FMD. The verdict is not back on that but I will circle back next month and let you know if my autoimmune markers and thyroid nodules change for the better.
This is the back story for how I find myself on my last of 6 consecutive months of Prolon FMD. I want to give more of a feel for what the fast is like as I find that it’s been highly instructive of not just my food habits but also the impact food timing and food choices have on our health. This is more focused on the feeling part of the fast, if you want details on the research and benefits, check out my website Julie Wendt Nutrition.
The first challenge I ran up against in doing the fast was finding a 5 day stretch where I could make it happen without there being any important work events or social outings around food that would be awkward. I can handle more social awkwardness than others around food at this point but there is a limit! I also didn’t know how I would feel so didn’t want to be giving a presentation and not feel well. As a working mother of three kids some of you may think, of course you have that issue, but it seems universal no matter what is happening. It’s just hard to find the 5 days for most people unless you can plan ahead. It worked better when I put it on the calendar for 1-2 months out.
In my 6th month I find that there are different challenges that my first month, with it’s unchartered territory and newness, didn’t have - and I can report on both sides of the experience at this point. The first time I did Prolon FMD, I was so nervous about passing out from lack of food that I carried around an extra baggie with olives in it just in case! Turns out, I didn’t need it, but I tend to over-prepare when it comes to access to food. Now, as I get through Day 1, I have traded the novelty for an apathy towards food. This sentiment has been building with each month and now I feel it very strongly. While the food is not horrible, it isn’t the level of yum that I am used to and it feels like there is a natural appetite suppressant that is kicking in with the knowledge that yes, I will eat but it will be sustenance and therapeutic, not fun. I realize I get a lot of enjoyment out of eating good food. And I realize I do that more than I need to :) This has the added benefit of increasing my appreciation for good food when I am off the fast. I find that I am more discerning than I used to be and have the capacity to wait until really good food comes my way. This effect is great as long as you don’t have a history of restrive eating disorders which this would likely trigger. Thus, this isn’t great for everyone but for those of us who like food a little too much, it can be a helpful reset in terms of eating at the level that our body needs, and not more.
What is happening with FMD on Day 1?
On the first day, the calorie count is higher than the others at 1100. The remaining 4 days the calories are around 800. I say around since there is a glycerin syrup that you reconstitute in water to drink throughout the day. The amount of syrup that you use is based on your weight. This is the only personalization that exists in the Prolon FMD. Everyone gets that same box and every month, the food is the same. There have been a few minor things that have needed tweaked such as a few people that don’t like the olives which show up almost every day and so in this case, a reasonable work around is to substitute it with the equivalent amount of calories from olive oil. But otherwise, it’s making due with what they give you!
In general Day 1 is about getting your mind around the next 5 days of the Prolon Fasting Mimicking Diet. I found myself in the kitchen often, only to remember that the contents of the little box where to be parsed out carefully and I would have to do something else to entertain myself. I felt an emptiness in my stomach, hollow, and at times felt my stomach growl. I weighed myself in the morning (something I don’t otherwise do) so I could keep track of any weight loss.
FMD Day 2 brings a new kind of restlessness and my ability to focus on my work wains. Again, I weigh myself in the morning, no weight loss and I am hungry and ready to eat. Instead I go for a long walk and push my breakfast bar off for as long as I can as I know that once I eat that, not much is happening until lunch time except tea and water. I do drink a big water bottle full of no-calorie electrolytes as this helps with the headaches and leg cramps that can result from the fast. Yes, I woke up with a headache. Dull and persistent, resistant to my usual remedy of CBD salve. Eventually I would take a Curaphen tablet to reduce my irritability that is stemming in part from the low grade pain. It reminds me of how lucky I am to not deal with that every day. I feel compassion for those among us who do. After my immediate work is done, I distract myself the rest of the afternoon by catching up on a tv series.
FMD Day 3 starts off well with a little budge on the scale to help encourage my efforts by signaling that by body is noticing that something has changed about my eating habits. I am no longer prowling the kitchen looking for snacks. I am taking long walks and my mental game is fairly sharp but not 100%. The first few days I need a Bubbies Dill Pickle to get me through the afternoon (0 calories), today I am no longer interested. I have broken through to the other side, I can feel a shift in my food attachments and habits that perpetuate a gradual weight creep as I get older.
FMD Day 4 feels like I have really hit my stride. I am not tempted by food and am able seeing nice changes when I weigh myself in the morning. I am looking forward to my first meal on Day 6; but know that all my hard work thus far is starting to pay dividends with deeper healing. This helps me continue onward. Instead of anxiously awaiting my next package of food, I find myself not hungry, having to make myself eat the food and not finishing my soups.
FMD Day 5 is an easy day where I feel lighter in my body and like I could continue on with the fast. While I love eating food, I have found other ways to entertain myself and don’t think about it as often. My mental clarity is improved and I appreciate the steady supply of energy I have. My appreciation for good food, full of color, taste, and texture is enhanced as I miss those aspects of eating real food. I look forward to breaking the fast and hope that the next time I engage with the FMD I will have access to how I feel on Day 4/5 earlier in the fast. I am looking forward to getting my thyroid ultrasound done to see if I have any improvements in my nodules. This is the reason why I am completing 6 months of FMD. Will update this when I get my results!