Fasting Mimicking Diet
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hellonew2015
Posts: 327 Member
Hi!
Who is following this diet? I like to see how this is working for you
and if you bought the Prolon Kit.
Thanks
Who is following this diet? I like to see how this is working for you
and if you bought the Prolon Kit.Thanks
16
Replies
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According to online sources, it's just a prepackaged (and expensive) Intermittent Fasting Plan with high fat/low calories. Without clicking on the "Buy" button I couldn't really tell what they send with the kit. I'm sure it's not food, probably just info and maybe some supplements? What are you getting? Not sure how they make that claim of high fat and low calories since fat has nine calories per gram, the highest of any macro - but that's not the point.
You can do intermittent fasting without buying anything special. Just eat how you normally eat and stay within calories and lose weight. Weight loss is 100% about taking in fewer calories. Log your food, skip breakfast, stay in calories and you can just send me the $249 start up fee for the consultation. :drinker:25 -
Okay, I found a YouTube promotional video.
They send a box with powdered soups and/or "nutrition" (nut) bars and small packets of olives, tea, and a "supplement" and you have to eat ONLY that for five days? It's powdered soup, tiny packets of oil and some sort of bars (?) UP TO 800 calories on Day Three...uh, no.
Ha.
It's Longo. I should have known.
They say, "We've taken the thinking out of it for you."
Yeah. Ya think?
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I have no experience with it but have read about it and the work of Professor Valter Longo. Agree it’s pricey.
As an experienced and accomplished IF practitioner with amazing results, you can get the job done with IF or any other calorie deficit eating approache advocated here at MFP.
Visit our Intermittent Fasting group here at MFP if you’re leaning towards IF to help you achieve your goals. We’ll give you stellar motivational support.
Wishing you the best.9 -
Up to 800? You mean there is not much mimicking going on?6
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Is that you in your avatar OP? You're doing just fine without giving someone your hard earned money for a plan you (nor anyone??) could really sustain.
You suffer, they laugh and empty your wallet.7 -
I am not going to say what will work for another person and I am not going to tell you how to spend your money.
I wouldn't do it. It would definitely lead me to a minor meltdown and major eating fest. A lot of my past failure I can attribute to not realizing how much of weight loss is mental. I finally smartened up and designed a plan for myself and it takes into account all of my strengths, weaknesses, and eating habits. This plan you are considering I might be able to do it for 4-6 weeks before I rage-quit and then rage-paid my credit card bill.
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I read Longo's book "The Longevity Diet" last year. I have not purchased Prolon or followed a fasting regimen.
I found his book fascinating, in that Longo's focus as a clinical researcher is on understanding aging and how nutrition and weight management can be shown to slow the aging process, fending off diseases like cancer, heart disease, etcetera. The 5 day "fasting mimicking" protocol is focused on treating aging at the cellular level. In the book, he also compares the FMD to other approaches, such as statin drugs or stem cell therapies. It is also worth noting that the "5 day fasting mimicking" topic is only part of a larger nutrition approach advocated by Longo. I believe he suggested a 5 day fast twice annually, so during the other 355 days of the year, Longo advocates a largely plant based diet that also includes some eggs and fish if I recall correctly. Finally, his premise is that there are "pillars of longevity" that can be applied to evaluating any selected way of eating. His goal is to show the factors that have been studied and linked to increased longevity, with weight management being simply one of the tools to support attainment of that goal. I think that is a relevant point for MFP users, since the focus for many people here is weight control/management as a priority.
So while I"m not advocating for or against following his intermittent fasting regimen, I think an understanding of the role it plays in achieving a healthy longevity would be helpful to anyone considering whether or not to buy the product.
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@Djproulx, thank you for your post and taking the time to share. I’ve not read the book but am aware of his work through Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s Found My Fitness website and YouTube channel.1
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@pierinifitness, I also enjoy listening to Dr Patrick. Particularly enjoy her discussions with Joe Rogan.
Regarding the fasting mimicking diet, I was compelled to comment because its easy for MFPers to have a hair trigger reaction regarding anything that sounds like a "lose weight fast" marketing scheme. In this case, Longo has written a 300& page book focused largely on research findings leading him to some conclusions about the role nutrition, lifestyle and genetics play in longevity. The fasting mimicking discussion is only one chapter in the book.
My conclusion was that the book was worth the $20 I paid for it.
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@Djproulx, I’ve been fasting 22 hours a day and abstaining from meat the past 43 days while eating at maintenance and this will end in 2 days. While it’s not the extended fast that Professor Longo writes about, it is nonetheless a prolonged period. I’m toying with the idea of getting some blood work done tomorrow to compare with results I have from my birthday (about 2 weeks prior to beginning this experiment.). If I can remember, big if, I’ll do this tomorrow.
Thanks again for sharing, enjoy your day.3 -
I don't have a problem with a $20 book, it's the $249 box of stuff...Intermittent Fasting as a viable weight loss tool is one thing...fleecing people for a beautifully packaged box that's worth about $10 is a whole other thing. If you know something that makes this plan worth that kind of money, please let us know.
I can (and do) practice Intermittent Fasting and I just eat the food from the Fred Meyer. I stay at weight, my bloodwork is great at age 65. I don't believe for one minute that this particular concoction of ingredients is better or leads to longer life than fresh fruits and vegetables, fats and proteins in the right proportions to maintain or lose weight. If I wanted, I could cut back my food to 800 calories per day for a week and I'd be no better or worse off than the expensive thing.
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Any "diet" that requires you to buy their food is trash. That should be a red flag.11
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@pierinifitness, I also enjoy listening to Dr Patrick. Particularly enjoy her discussions with Joe Rogan.
Regarding the fasting mimicking diet, I was compelled to comment because its easy for MFPers to have a hair trigger reaction regarding anything that sounds like a "lose weight fast" marketing scheme. In this case, Longo has written a 300& page book focused largely on research findings leading him to some conclusions about the role nutrition, lifestyle and genetics play in longevity. The fasting mimicking discussion is only one chapter in the book.
My conclusion was that the book was worth the $20 I paid for it.
Except $20 is not $200+
I water fast sometimes and have very low calorie days sometimes, but it's done for cultural reasons (like during lent) or when I want to experiment with something and have a specific plan to balance my calories out. Most of the people who get suckered into this go in with the promise of "lose weight fast". They are not doing it with a plan, not working on their habits, and do not fully grasp that it can be dangerous if not done properly. Best case scenario is that they end up spending their money and losing some weight only to regain it because they learned nothing about creating a proper weight management strategy. I don't even want to talk about the worst case scenario of starvation diets.3 -
Any "diet" that requires you to buy their food is trash. That should be a red flag.
I agree with you on this point. This is NOT the case. The BOOK is NOT telling people they need to buy Prolon.
IF YOU DECIDE TO READ THE BOOK, I believe it is Chapter 6 that describes the role that fasting (or mimicking a fasted state) plays as part of the overall approach esposed by the author. Remember, this is merely one tool and the thrust of the chapter on fasting is focused on improving cellular function.
The book describes years of research into "blue zone" populations, etc, and attempts to distill those clinical findings into actionable steps people can take to help slow the aging process and be healthy for a the longest possible time. THAT is the overall message of the book.
As far as whether anyone wants to try a fasting mimicking protocol, (with or without buying Prolon) is up to the individual.
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cmriverside wrote: »I don't have a problem with a $20 book, it's the $249 box of stuff...Intermittent Fasting as a viable weight loss tool is one thing...fleecing people for a beautifully packaged box that's worth about $10 is a whole other thing. If you know something that makes this plan worth that kind of money, please let us know.
I can (and do) practice Intermittent Fasting and I just eat the food from the Fred Meyer. I stay at weight, my bloodwork is great at age 65. I don't believe for one minute that this particular concoction of ingredients is better or leads to longer life than fresh fruits and vegetables, fats and proteins in the right proportions to maintain or lose weight. If I wanted, I could cut back my food to 800 calories per day for a week and I'd be no better or worse off than the expensive thing.
I'm certainly not interested in defending or justifying any business's pricing model for a product.
Again, having read the book, I thought some context would be useful based on comments posted here. I believe that many readers would find the book and research interesting. Whether a reader decides to investigate Prolon versus other fasting methods is a separate question.
With that said, I think that Longo wrote that proceeds from Prolon sales would be used to support his research on aging. (He works at USC, but I can't remember the name of his research center.)
Remember, I haven't bought the product, nor have I suggested that anyone else do so.2 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »@pierinifitness, I also enjoy listening to Dr Patrick. Particularly enjoy her discussions with Joe Rogan.
Regarding the fasting mimicking diet, I was compelled to comment because its easy for MFPers to have a hair trigger reaction regarding anything that sounds like a "lose weight fast" marketing scheme. In this case, Longo has written a 300& page book focused largely on research findings leading him to some conclusions about the role nutrition, lifestyle and genetics play in longevity. The fasting mimicking discussion is only one chapter in the book.
My conclusion was that the book was worth the $20 I paid for it.
Except $20 is not $200+
I water fast sometimes and have very low calorie days sometimes, but it's done for cultural reasons (like during lent) or when I want to experiment with something and have a specific plan to balance my calories out. Most of the people who get suckered into this go in with the promise of "lose weight fast". They are not doing it with a plan, not working on their habits, and do not fully grasp that it can be dangerous if not done properly. Best case scenario is that they end up spending their money and losing some weight only to regain it because they learned nothing about creating a proper weight management strategy. I don't even want to talk about the worst case scenario of starvation diets.
@amusedmonkey . I think your comments (bolded) are probably true and I tend to agree. This is why I felt compelled to write in the first place. I think the string of posts here are largely focused on the Prolon product and price tag, which makes perfect sense, given the OP's question. I was more focused on the book's broader set of topics, many of which interested me and I hoped offered perspective. Therefore I may have muddied the waters by discussing the book and perhaps not doing justice to it. Full disclosure: I'm not a scientist, just a guy who likes to read.
So I take your comments as intended - for those who don't have a plan and some understanding, following a fasting plan will not produce some miraculous "cure", and at worst, could have negative health (and/or financial) consequences.
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cmriverside wrote: »I don't have a problem with a $20 book, it's the $249 box of stuff...Intermittent Fasting as a viable weight loss tool is one thing...fleecing people for a beautifully packaged box that's worth about $10 is a whole other thing. If you know something that makes this plan worth that kind of money, please let us know.
I can (and do) practice Intermittent Fasting and I just eat the food from the Fred Meyer. I stay at weight, my bloodwork is great at age 65. I don't believe for one minute that this particular concoction of ingredients is better or leads to longer life than fresh fruits and vegetables, fats and proteins in the right proportions to maintain or lose weight. If I wanted, I could cut back my food to 800 calories per day for a week and I'd be no better or worse off than the expensive thing.
I'm certainly not interested in defending or justifying any business's pricing model for a product.
Again, having read the book, I thought some context would be useful based on comments posted here. I believe that many readers would find the book and research interesting. Whether a reader decides to investigate Prolon versus other fasting methods is a separate question.
With that said, I think that Longo wrote that proceeds from Prolon sales would be used to support his research on aging. (He works at USC, but I can't remember the name of his research center.)
Remember, I haven't bought the product, nor have I suggested that anyone else do so.
That context is certainly useful, thanks @Djproulx
I'm leaving my orignal comment partly as a reminder to myself that there may be more to the story, but I also stand by the part about purchasing such a diet, although the context you brought would have had me toning it down a bit.
I do support research into how various WoE plans can impact age related concerns...mostly just wanted to say thanks for posting the info about the authors longer term goals.3 -
Any "diet" that requires you to buy their food is trash. That should be a red flag.
I agree with you on this point. This is NOT the case. The BOOK is NOT telling people they need to buy Prolon.
IF YOU DECIDE TO READ THE BOOK, I believe it is Chapter 6 that describes the role that fasting (or mimicking a fasted state) plays as part of the overall approach esposed by the author. Remember, this is merely one tool and the thrust of the chapter on fasting is focused on improving cellular function.
The book describes years of research into "blue zone" populations, etc, and attempts to distill those clinical findings into actionable steps people can take to help slow the aging process and be healthy for a the longest possible time. THAT is the overall message of the book.
As far as whether anyone wants to try a fasting mimicking protocol, (with or without buying Prolon) is up to the individual.
Not sure why you are getting so defensive. My comment was not referring to "the book."
I fast 23 hours daily and do long extended (5 day) fasts a few times a year.3 -
Any "diet" that requires you to buy their food is trash. That should be a red flag.
I agree with you on this point. This is NOT the case. The BOOK is NOT telling people they need to buy Prolon.
IF YOU DECIDE TO READ THE BOOK, I believe it is Chapter 6 that describes the role that fasting (or mimicking a fasted state) plays as part of the overall approach esposed by the author. Remember, this is merely one tool and the thrust of the chapter on fasting is focused on improving cellular function.
The book describes years of research into "blue zone" populations, etc, and attempts to distill those clinical findings into actionable steps people can take to help slow the aging process and be healthy for a the longest possible time. THAT is the overall message of the book.
As far as whether anyone wants to try a fasting mimicking protocol, (with or without buying Prolon) is up to the individual.
Not sure why you are getting so defensive. My comment was not referring to "the book."
I fast 23 hours daily and do long extended (5 day) fasts a few times a year.
Then I misunderstood your comment. My apologies. I was reacting to the "requires you to buy their food" part of your post. That requirement would be a red flag to me.
As I mentioned originally, in the overall approach he suggests including a fasting effort occasionally as part of your overall nutrition plan. Sounds like you are doing something similar.
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I’ve never tried the FMD, I would be worried about how low the protein consumption is, but Longo advocates low protein in general for longevity. I want a muscular body esthetically, I’m not sure I’m willing to give that up to live to 90 instead of 85. His work is very interesting though. And there are diets out on the internet that mimick the FMD if you don’t want to fork over the money. Day 1 of the FMD diet wants you to eat 1090 calories, 10% protein, 56% fat, 34% carbs, then Days 2-5, 9% protein, 44% fat and 47% carbs.1
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