5-Day Fast Mimicking Diet Plan

diet
October 23, 2023

This article will review the application of a method known by the name of “Fast Mimicking Diet”. I will share with you my experiences with the recent fast of 3 days, that was later extended to five days.

white ceramic round plate on brown wooden table

The goal was to employ to apply the “Tim Ferriss method” ( explained in this article). The goal was to accelerate the transition from burning glucose into fat-burning as fast as you can, while avoiding negative physical sensations that come with the transition time. ( 60-second video primer on ketones, if unfamiliar).

In the course of examining the determination of blood ketones and blood glucose I realized that it’s possible to play around with it.

There’s been some great research conducted by Valter Longo and his associates in the University of Southern California on the possibility of doing fasts without stopping eating completely.

In essence the participants were well aware of the health benefits that come with fasting, but they wanted to address the issue of compliance. Today, for most people it is a daunting thought to being unable to eat for five days is too much.

They have devised the 5-day diet, which is moderate enough in calories and carbs, that the user receives the bulk of the benefits of fasting.

Actually, they’ve registered their particular diet – prolonfmd.com – and they are offering it for sale to hospital for them to give to patients. The first thing you think of is probably…huh? It’s much more of “playing the game”, and finding ways to bring people to go fast in hospitals, rather as opposed to focusing on the money. I’m sure Valter has gone as in the direction of pledging his earnings from the project to charities. For more information on Valter Longo and his FMD diet, check out Rhonda Patrick’s podcast featuring Valter.

Fortunately for us, we can take advantage of Valter’s study on fasting, but without an order of his food. In the study which they have published to cell.com they provide particulars of the diet

Human FMD diet is comprised of a 5 day regimen beginning on day 1. the diet provides 1,090 kcal (10 10% protein 56 percent fat, and 34% carbohydrates)
Days 2-5 are similar in the formula and offer 725 calories (9 9 percent protein 44 percent carbohydrate, 47% fat).

Damien from Quantified Body, figured out that this is akin to the composition of macronutrients in avocados. In other words you could consume two medium-sized avocados a day for each of the five days.

It doesn’t need to be avocados however it can be anything that is compatible with the macros mentioned above.

The other intriguing piece of the puzzle, which helped to create this speed time, was the research paper written by Dr. Seyfried on treating brain cancer.

They concluded that if they were able to keep their patients in what is called “nutritional ketosis”, then they might be able to achieve remission in certain patients. It is not the same as monitoring blood ketones, instead, it analyzes the ratio of blood glucose to ketones in blood.

My 5 Day Fast Mimicking Diet Details

The main point of my study is that incorporating calories or nutrients makes the entire process much more simple. You can also make it happen in a planned method.

Here’s a rough outline of the food I consumed:

The first day (after 24 hours) 2 tablespoons MCT oil (C8)
On the second day, 2 tablespoons MCT oil (C8) + 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Third-Day Avocado (with Himalayan sea salt + apple cider vinegar) + 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Fourth Day Two avocados (again with Himalayan sea and apple cider vinegar) + 1 tablespoon coconut oil, and one tablespoon MCT oil (C8)
The Fifth Day was a day of rest, nothing, not until I broke my fast at night.

It is evident that I did not adhere to the strict fast mimicking diet, and generally fell below the recommended amount of calories. However, despite my lack of complete adhering to the diet that mimics fast I was above a basic water fast.

At the end of day 1 my ketones increased (no doubt due to MCT oil). The maximum they achieved was approximately 4.4mmol/L and blood glucose also at 2.8mmol/L.

The determination of blood ketones as well as blood glucose comes to be useful for three major aspects:

The process of tracking your ketosis journey and then comparing your feelings to your current ketosis level
You will have a objective to work towards and to keep! (this is a huge amount)
You can utilize blood tests to determine the effect of various foods and sources of ketones on them.

Regarding #3, When I consumed my second avocado day three my blood tests indicated that I was out of ketosis nutrition. Even though ketones were 2.5 millimol/L My blood glucose was 4.3 millimol/L. This is an amount of 1.72 instead of the desirable ratio of 1.0 or less.

After Thoughts

Overall, the experiment proved to be a huge success.

It’s becoming more evident that fasting is an essential instrument in our arsenal to fight diseases. At one time when we were hunters and gatherers the state of fasting was required by our environment. In today’s affluent natural world we are forced to create them artificially. Similar to every “medicine”, one of the biggest hurdles is ensuring compliance.

The last fast of 5 days I took part in was back in November the experience was difficult, to put it mildly. I certainly wasn’t at a loss to complete another one. But this time I felt much more efficient throughout the speed and can envision the possibility of making this more frequent. Regular is something on the region of two times every year.

Exiting The Fast + Ketosis

The most unpleasant portion of my diet this time around was exit. I believe it’s due to the brutal way in which I transitioned from ketosis to nutritional to consuming fairly high amounts of carbs. In the end, I’d make a meal that included vegetable and meat that is fatty. It will satisfy my need to eat everything and won’t trigger the dreadful crash that follows.

There’s been times when I’ve not been a firm belief in the ketosis state but I’m not. However, there’s something about watching the impact on your body’s physiology as it transitions from ketosis to burning glucose and makes you wonder whether you’re doing your body to benefit yourself!