The Fasting Mimicking Diet For My Brain
While I wait for the provincial healthcare system to get its act together, I’m trying a new fasting protocol to try and improve my symptoms.
I’m still waiting to have my MRI re-booked. I had an MRI booked for June. It was requested urgently in November of last year and finally granted for June. Cuz, you know, it’s urgent. Then someone with no medical education just went ahead and cancelled it. Obviously, they know better than three neurologists and a primary care physician with a medical degree. And yeah, I’m still really angry about it. That MRI determines what kind of MS I have and what my course of treatment is, based on comparing it to the one I had in March. It could take months to reschedule a diagnostic appointment that took nearly 8 months to get in the first place. It shouldn’t have been cancelled in the first place, and certainly not by someone lacking a medical degree.
So more waiting and stressing. thanks to the inefficient medical ‘organization’ that is Alberta Health Services. When they first formed just over a decade ago, they sucked. They haven’t improved to this day. Because doctors are continually hamstrung by a stupid system that prefers a million redundant middle managers and no input or consultation with the front line workers who actually treat patients, I feel like I have very few options except to keep trying to improve my own health on my own, because AHS doesn’t give a crap that I’m sitting here disabled and possibly forming more lesions while the system dicks around with my health and well-being.
AHS: Not Giving A Sh*t About Your Quality Of Life Since 2009!
I hate being a patient in this system because the system sucks. I have no control over it, nor do I have the money for a private MRI. The only thing that keeps the splendid rage monster at bay is to control what I can, and that includes doing what I can for my health. Lately, this has included a nutrition protocol that mimics fasting.
Lots of people have heard of the new trend of Intermittent Fasting or IF. IF is often where people fast for 16 hours and have an 8 hour ‘eating window.’ I like to call it, ‘skipping breakfast.’ There are other time ratios but 16:8 seems to be popular.
A few weeks ago, I tried a protocol where I mimic fasting for 72 hours. During the 72 hours, I stuck to 500 calories a day so it’s a fasting-mimicking diet, not a true fast. I’m doing my second fasting cycle now. The first cycle, each fasting day I had an avocado, a handful of strawberries, and a cup of homemade bone broth. I had my morning coffee (black) and I drank lots of water and unsweetened peppermint tea throughout the day, as well.
I’m not sure how a Fasting Mimicking Diet showed up on my radar, probably while I was researching something else, but once it was on my radar I had to look into it. I’m a nutrition nerd, and have been for years.
I found a protocol online about the benefits of 72 hours fasts on the immune system and then I was down the PubMed/NCBI research rabbit hole for days.
I started with learning how a 72 hour fast essentially ‘resets’ the immune system. It benefits people with autoimmune disease by decreasing inflammation. It also seems to modulate immune cells so they’re less likely to go looking for a ‘make work’ project. Much like all the middle managers at AHS, I think. In my case, my immune system’s ‘make work’ project is viewing my brain and spinal cord as a pathogen and attacking it. Splendid, right?
Even my immune system suffers from rampant over-achievement tendencies.
From there, I found studies that explored the effect on stem cells after a prolonged fast. A fast longer than 48 hours promotes the regeneration of stem cells.
Stem cells are like raw materials. They can become any kind of cell, whether it’s heart cells, muscle cells, or nervous system tissues. I like to think of stem cells as kindergarten cells that haven’t yet decided their life path but they have so much potential!
Then, I wanted to know more about what regenerating my stem cells might do for me. I found a couple of studies that seemed to demonstrate that fasting promotes regeneration of oligodendrocytes. Those are the cells that form the myelin sheath around my nerves, and I really want my myelin in good shape. MS attacks the myelin sheath around the nerves in the central nervous system.
I’m really familiar with ketogenic diets because once upon a time, I worked as a coach. I had clients that I helped with nutrition and fitness, and I’ve always been really interested in how a ketogenic diet protects the brain and treats refractory epilepsy in children. I’ve been in ketosis plenty of times.
Once I’m in ketosis, I like the mental clarity that comes with it. I also notice a lift in mood, which I’m all for.
In the 72 hours of fasting, I go into ketosis at about the 24 hours mark. The upside of being ketogenic is it decreases the appetite so the last 48 hours of the fast aren’t terrible.
One of the benefits of fasting, and why IF is beneficial for health, is that it increases autophagy.
Autophagy is a process that takes place inside cells. It clears up damaged or dysfunctional cell components by either destruction or recycling and it sets the stage for repair or regeneration. It’s like the clean-up crew for our cells. Our cells do it all the time, but it kicks into high gear when we haven’t eaten for awhile. That’s one of the reasons intermittent fasting is beneficial for health and reducing inflammation.
But 72 hours is a long time to go without a meal and I love eating. How was I going to manage this and not end up divorced when I was splendidly hangry?
My husband’s main job requires him to be gone from home for 48 hours at a time, then home for six days. During the six days off, he works at his second job but he comes home every night. If I wanted to try fasting for 72 hours, I should start after dinner the night before he leaves to go to work. I wanted him to miss the fun of a hangry wife, plus I doubted I had the will power to cook dinner for him and not stuff my face from hunger. I’d continue to fast the 48 hours he was gone, and we’d eat dinner together when he got home from work. Easy!
I figured I have nothing to lose by giving it a try.
The other 4 days of ‘not fasting’, the protocol I found recommends a Mediterranean diet: lots of vegetables and some fruit, olive oil and nuts. I tend to eat a hybrid of Mediterranean and paleo so I’ll keep with that. I figure once I don’t eat for 3 days to set the stage for healing and regeneration, I need to refeed with the building blocks of healthy tissue. I’ll keep eating wild game, salmon, healthy fats like olive and coconut oil, and eating a ton of veggies.
It’s too soon to tell if I’m getting benefits from the nutritional protocol.
The past several days, I’ve been able to get dressed like a normal person, which I haven’t been able to do in a very long time. I haven’t been able to lift my left leg high enough to put on pants unless I sat down or used my hands to lift my leg.
The first time it happened, it was hours later when it occurred to me that I might have put my pants on normally for the first time in a couple of years. (I thought that deficit was related to a hip injury as a result of power-lifting. Turns out it’s neurological, not mechanical. Whoops.)
So naturally I immediately took my pants off and put them back on, as one does.
I was able to lift my leg high enough but I’m a skeptic. To confirm, I went upstairs. I pulled out pairs of pants that I knew I’d had trouble putting on for the last couple of years. Exciting news, I was able to put them all on without sitting down or having to manually assist my leg!
Cautiously optimistic, I gave it several more days to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. So far, I can still dress like a normal adult if I concentrate.
The last several days, I’ve also had an easier time going upstairs.
Since October, going upstairs is slow and takes a lot of effort. My legs are heavy and it feels like I’m slogging through mud.
Almost a couple weeks ago now, I went upstairs for something. Once I got to the top, I thought that it had been easier than normal. But it could be a fluke!
I’ve been paying careful attention to how I feel on the stairs ever since, and it’s definitely easier. My legs don’t feel as heavy and it takes much less effort. Still, I didn’t want to jump the gun so I didn’t say anything to my husband or best friend until today. I try to be scientific and rational but I’m also superstitious enough to not want to jinx it!
It’s possible my body is just doing what bodies tend to do if given enough time and resources to heal. It could be that I’ve had a long MS relapse and now it’s finally subsiding. Possibly, it’s a total coincidence and nothing to do with dietary changes. It could be placebo effect. Maybe it’s all the physiotherapy. Could be all the neuro rehab I’ve done for months finally kicking in. I could be completely delusional in my desperation to not be at the mercy of a progressive, disabling neurological disease. I could be completely obsessed with stopping my body from destroying itself.
All the above might be true. Either way, things seem to be improving and I’ll take the wins regardless of the whys.
I still have difficulty walking and there’s been no improvement in foot drop or balance, but being able to dress properly and walk upstairs more easily is a win.
So now I’m into round 2 of the FMD and I’m not in ketosis yet so I’m still really hungry. But if it’ll benefit my health and calm my immune system in any way, I’ll keep powering through the hunger pangs. Being able to stand up while putting pants on is pretty splendid. You just don’t realize it until you can’t do it anymore.
FMD promotes regeneration and reduces autoimmunity and multiple sclerosis symptoms
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