I’ve posted one of the interviews of Dr. Valter Longo and Dr. Rhonda Patrick. I’m not sure if this is a re-post or the part 2. Much of it was somewhat familiar. BUT, even if a repeat, what “woke me up” was at the 48 minute mark it sunk in that they said they fixed Type ONE Diabetes in a mouse model. That’s when you are missing the cells to make insulin as opposed to Type TWO where it is insulin resistance. It also improves Type 2 Diabetes, but Type 1 is generally thought “untouchable”… Thus the wake up WT? moment.
What’s going on is the periodic fast (5 days a month) causes a cyclical repair cycle of “take out the trash and damaged cells” followed by “rebuild from stem cells”. It’s that rebuild from stem cells step where the magic happens. That’s where the pancreatic cells were repaired and it is also how auto-immune white blood cells get replaced with naive white blood cells that are no longer auto-immune. That’s how it reduced arthritis problems.
So I finally “got it”. The diet is 5 days of about 750 to 1000 calories, low on sugars and proteins, followed by 25 days of a more normal diet.
The video goes through a lot of the metabolic details. One other “take away” for me as that up-regulation of IGF-1 in a high protein diet. That is a promoter of things like autoimmune cell growth and such. So just going “low calorie” for 5 days doesn’t work (well?) if you do it on all meat. Bummer.
So all that in mind, I’m going to dig into the FMD (Fasting Mimicking Diet) details a bit more and then start working it in (one day at a time). It looks like “buttered vegetables” are fine as there’s a decent fat level allowed.
There’s extensive show notes (so you can just read it all) here:
https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/valter-longo-2
Or order the book:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525534075/
Here’s the interview:
The idea that I can spend 5 days out of a month, for 4 to 8 months, having salad and buttered vegetables (or whatever…) and reset my cells by growing new ones devoid of defects via genesis from stem cells is kind of a big deal.
I think the book is going on my Christmas List ;-)
Musings from the Chiefio 
If you are type 1, can you go five days on 1000cals? You don’t have a way to convert fat to energy other than with sugar, as I understand it. I’m type 3c, which has much the same problem. I maintain a slim frame on 2400 calories and some insulin.
I read from E.M.’s notes that it was 5 days reduced over a 30-day period. Is that still an issue @rhoda?
@Rhoda:
IIRC, the lack of insulin for Type 1 is separate from the issues of a fast (changes of GF, IGF-1, Autophagy, etc.) so it has more to do with getting glucose IN to cells and not ketosis. Basically, ketosis is a completely different metabolic pathway from glucose / insulin.
I’d not try it without some M.D. Facetime and a lot of pondering, and even then I’d start with a 1/2 day “fast” and then a 1 day. The key is to get into ketogenisis so you have ketone bodies as fuel and the whole glucose cycle becomes irrelevant. It is a very different kind of state. I end up “not hungry but thinking about food”… You can get there via a diet that just leaves out all carbs. All sugars and starches. So meat and leaves and stems. Plenty of food, but you end up in keto anyway.
The body can turn protein into the needed glucose to turn a fat into fuel. So you can just eat fat and protein and it works. IFF you don’t have enough protein it’s an issue. If you don’t have enough fat, it’s an issue. If you don’t have enough sugars and carbs… you are healthier and no bad thing happens…. but your pants get loser ;-)
https://jackkruse.com/reality-14-warburgs-proof/?fbclid=IwAR2sdIFGAPJ_tHi0yf34UqDYti0RANv1qh8U2l1uRjTTiSg-ILf33yfphLw
I would be a bit skeptical of studies on animals which are nocturnal like mice
I’ve been on my version of the Fasting Mimicking Diet since 1 September. I’ve lost 12 kilograms. I may not live any longer, but it sure as Hell seems like it.
@Sabertoothed:
Yes, mice are not men; however:
Mice are a very good biological model for a lot of primate biology as they are fairly closely related to us. More than ruminants, cats, dogs, and a whole lot of others.
That’s why rats, mice, and rabbits make such good lab animals. We were once also a “hind gut fermentor” (that’s what the appendix was, the cecum of the rabbit is very important…).
Oh, and you can make a very good case that I am nocturnal, like a whole lot of other folks ;-)
But the reality is that many of us rodents are not really nocturnal so much as crepuscular. Active at the transitions from night to day to night. Dead of the night not so much. The Siesta or middle of the day sleep was a common thing until the industrial age.
Basically, we are not biologically driven to be day creatures and are a lot more like the rodent clan than folks like to know about ;-)
@EM:
The Siesta or middle of the day sleep was a common thing until the industrial age.
I am all over that, especially if I have a short term, hard-deadline programming project underway. Wake at 4 am, coffee, work to 11, lunch, NAP until awakening (however long) rise, coffee, work to 11, sleep… repeat as necessary.
Happy Turkey Day everyone!
Needless to say, nothing about today will even be sharing the room with “fasting” anything ;-) and the only diet on the table is the “Massive Quantities” followed by the Mid-Day Sleep ;-)
I’m busy cooking and we get to dash between houses today (meals at two places…) so my presence will be sporadic.
I’m in charge of “Pies and vegetables” so have cooked a “Claimjumper” brand Razzleberry Pie and Pumpkin Pie. (They are owned by Marie Calendars and yes, it’s their Razzleberry ;-) and will be making baked yams and Esteamed Broccoli also ;-)
With that, I’m having my Jump Start Coffee and prepping for the day. Sunny and clear in California with a light dusting of frost on the neighbors roof. Very glad I’m not going further than 1/4 mile today and not in the mess of storms in the East.
Hope all finds you well.
P.S.: For those of you not in the USA – it IS OK for you to just have a nameless feast too ;-)
Morning Chief enjoy your holiday feast – was 18 deg F when I got up a little while ago, clear and about a foot of snow. Had dinner with a friend last night to avoid the rush.
A Nap sounds like a good idea.
Merry Thanksgiving All!
@ jim2:
Back atcha!
LOL…I see what you did there! :-)
500 years ago Nostradamus made remarks about a Great Hesperian Nation to the west that celebrated Thursday, There is only one Nation that has ever celebrated Thursday, Americans.
Celebrate a wonderful Day of Thanksgiving Everyone…pg
@p.g. – That’s interesting. Over on our side of the pond, all we ever get on a Thursday is an election. This is allegedly to catch the working classes during their sober midweek rather than their celebratory weekend …
Wishing everyone just the right degree of excess (and a quick recovery tomorrow! ;-)
Just sitting down with my bachelors thanksgiving dinner – I give thanks that I have a chance to chat with such a wonderful crew here on the the good ship Chiefio!
Happy Thankgiving to all of you.