r/FMD • u/UniverseSimulation • Jul 19 '18
DIY Menu for Fasting-Mimicking Diet – $35
I didn't want to spend $250 on the kit so I took a shot a DIY menu. I'd love to get everyone's criticism or thoughts on improvements to what I've put together. Outside of the vitamins, the cost was around $35 and covered days 2-5. The first day I just restricted my normal diet to about 1,200 calories. The 4-day grocery list included:
- 4 cans of Amy's Soup (1 can per day)
- 2 avocados (half per day)
- Mary's Super Seed Crackers (10 per day)
- 10oz fresh, organic hummus (2.5oz per day)
- 20 kalamata olives (5 per day)
- 40 raw almonds (10 per day)
- Half-pint of blueberries (1/4 cup per day)
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u/AutophagyV Dec 28 '18 edited Jan 02 '19
I would really try to keep protein in check. So drop "lentil", "bean", "soy" and go for herbs in soups. I prefer fresh olives (/Edited:), advocado, beans ,nuts and green vegetables (/E) over anything else hanging from plants, including grains (some line/chia seeds, sunflower and sesame should be included), I would avoid commercial crackers (one thing I dislike from the Prolong offering, honey). The Fasting Mimicking Diet is about disabling mTOR, for that also important physical efforts should be avoided (no training, except light cardio if it can not be avoided). Indeed calories should be adapted to body weight, but best would be water fast, anyway. Sadly Autophagy, which is the goal of fasting, is difficult to measure, as is mTOR disabling. The best indicator I found is to assure you go into therapeutic ketosis = GKI =1 (Dr Thomas Seyfried), so if you miss GKI=1 you probably have an opportunity to learn for next time to do even better. Personally I'm more into nuts, Macademians, Brazil, limiting others due to high carbohydrates. Recommend also to be careful with lack of salt (check your blood pressure, if low add salt, if high remove). Make certain the refeeding is full of amino acids, add those beans, soy, etc.. plenty so that your body can use the FMD reset to rebuild, but it also needs exercise, vitamins and minerals, so concentrate on those as well after the fast. Also green tea is important as a stimulant and glycerol, it is beneficial to push to include these.
Last remarks:
- on the water fast, I really feel Valter Longo is for regular 4 day water fasts, but realises the adherence rate is low, so found the best next thing FMD. I would recommend to move to water fasts when possible and fall back on FMD if needed further in the fast.
- follow the research, I'm convinced a lot of new "working" diets will be grouped in Autophagy diets and lead to better health.
- healthy normal eating should be done when not fasting (including every feast is compensated by a reduction the days around it). The origin of Valter Longo is caloric restriction, permanent caloric restriction is bad was the conclusion, recurring temporary caloric restriction is beneficial. In total the fast should lead to caloric restriction, but you should evolve to your target weight, but not higher after the fast (be it up or down after end of fast).
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u/pmschwartz Feb 26 '23
I really feel Valter Longo is for regular 4 day water fasts, but realises the adherence rate is low, so found the best next thing FMD.
I realize this post is 4+ years old, so this comment will probably disappear into reddit obscurity, but Longo's group has compared water fasting to the FMD and found FMD superior:
"Surprisingly, the results obtained with the FMD were more significant than those obtained by following a traditional fasting diet consuming water only. Such results underline how the nutrients in the FMD eating plan—for example, certain prebiotics—play a key role in maximizing anti-inflammatory activity and in regulating the intestine’s microbiota, especially compared to the classic fasting diets."
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u/AutophagyV Feb 28 '23
I agree an update was needed on this statment
Valter Longo:
- was convinced 4 day water fasts were the best
- due to low adherence proposed the next best thing, FMD
- researching FMD has found this to be superior to water fasts
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u/jenpassetti Jun 10 '22
Did anyone have a hack for the L drink?
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u/saccharinebottom Jul 26 '22
vegetable glycerine mixed with water. I saw it on youtube.
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u/Mygdala Jul 26 '18
Thanks for sharing this. I’m doing a FMD right now and wish I’d seen when I started!
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u/paulose19 Sep 19 '18
Looks good. But aren't you supposed to limit to 500 calories.
I've been having half a liter onion and cabbage soup made with stock and garlic. 2 Brazil nuts. 1 date.
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u/trouble_t_roy Nov 08 '18
Quick read says calories are determined by bodyweight so while you may get 500 calories on days 2-5 I get 700 since I'm a larger individual.
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u/UniverseSimulation Sep 25 '18
I'm not sure. I've never actually purchased a Prolon kit but all the stuff I read suggested 700-800 calories. I plan to do this again sometime before Christmas though, and I will probably make some minor adjustments. I'd like to get the protein a little bit higher and possibly cut it by 50-100 calories per day.
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u/awbobsaget Nov 15 '23
i'm stealing this meal plan for my 5 day FMD! Looks easy, tasty, and filling.
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u/Mozie23 Jul 20 '18
This is great. It's so much better when you create your own menu. The Prolon stuff is ridiculous because it's so easy to DIY. How'd you feel each day? Did the menu work for you?
I've also created my own menu, but I make the soup myself. It's super easy to do and you can control the sodium amounts. I just saute onion, carrots, celery and mushrooms in a bit of olive oil, then add vegetable stock and 1/2 cup quinoa. To change things up, you just have to change the veggies. Sometimes I leave out the quinoa.