New to site / beginning the journey

Newcomer introductions, personal anecdotes, caregiver issues, lab results, and n=1 experimentation.
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Stavia
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Re: New to site / beginning the journey

Post by Stavia »

About 8 hrs for theophylline. I remember as a kid taking it for asthma and being completely wired.
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Julie G
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Re: New to site / beginning the journey

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Stavia, I’m honored to share. It would be great if other members would also outline their protocols.

Thanks you for your kind words, Theresa. Spending time in nature is my guilty pleasure. I’m often blessed to see herds of deer running through the dunes of Lake Michigan along with a huge variety of seabirds. With our early spring, the sandhill cranes and Canadian geese returned home several weeks ago. Very interesting info about chocolate. Perhaps proof that we should eat dessert for breakfast? :lol:
i looked at your slides- thank you. i had a few thoughts. i believe researchers who are at the forefront of fasting science (Valter D. Longo and Satchidananda Panda) say that any non-water substance consumed breaks your fast. even coffee/tea in the morning is breaking your fast, so your fast is not as long as you think it is.
True, but I hope I’m still gleaning some benefit. I get such a tremendous cognitive and mood boost from coffee that the trade-off feels worth it for me. Part of the reason I stopped adding cream to my coffee was to interfere less with my fast. To be honest, I can’t imagine my first cup of coffee after noon- horrors! The only supplements I take before breaking my fast are fish oil and curcumin, that I combine with outdoor exercise, to increase BDNF.
another thought- you are taking a lot of supplements, and supplements in general are not well-regulated. having worked in the taiwan epa which shares chinese cultural business practices with china (ie lots of lying/bribery/corruption), and given that many supplement ingredients i believe are sourced from china, i believe there is a risk in taking supplements. a strict cost/benefit analysis has to be done. i researched citocoline since i seem to have a genetic tendency to be deficient in the substrate for choline. i didn't find any good research that this supplement was helpful.
Supplements in general are poorly regulated and many have insufficient evidence to prove their efficacy. I try to carefully source the best I can find with compelling evidence. My cognition has improved significantly by using this protocol. I suspect that I am getting benefit. YMMV.
your exercise regime is very rigorous. i love running myself as i was a cross country runner in high school, but i am very cautious about doing anything that will damage my knees as i hope to have them in as good a shape as both of my 94 year old grandparents, who were never runners, but did heavy lifting in the summer as farmers into their 70s, and even into their 80s with modifications. the winter was walking time/housework/etc.my grandfather played vigorous ping pong every day at lunch when he worked for RCA.
I generally agree that incorporating movement and exercise into our daily routines is superior to an intense exercise program. Before I knew about my 4/4 status, I pushed myself very hard with HIIT, boot-camp style calisthenics, running for time, etc. Now, I log 25-30 miles a week with a combination of walking and running in a much more relaxed fashion. I also use yoga/pilates for strength. Im much more aware of my fragility now and try to utilize gentle, nurturing, movement in addition to generally staying active throughout the day.
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Re: New to site / beginning the journey

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I fasted last night from 8pm with just water in the morning. Did an hour long Zumba class and as usual joined the other ladies for coffee afterwards. I had a long black with 1tbsp milk. Tested before lunch at 1 pm 1.3 so coffee dosnt seem to kick me out of ketosis.
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Julie G
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Re: New to site / beginning the journey

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Awesome, Jafa. I could never do a zumba class without coffee first :shock: . Brave girl! Are you noticing an cognitive boost from the ketones? FWIW, I don't think Pro's concern was based solely on interfering with ketosis. I think she was more concerned about not gleaning the heal benefits of fasting when we drink coffee thereby officially breaking the fast.

For those of you who've done Longo's fasting mimicking protocol, did you abstain from coffee? Does he explicitly say to do so?
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Re: New to site / beginning the journey

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Oh right. Will have to read about the other benefits. Julie, I should have mentioned the Zumba class is for 'the over 60s' so probably not as rigorous as any you have been to. That being said, we have 2 levels within the class. A faster version for us 'young 60's ' there are one or two serious tennis players amongst us) and an easier version for the older folk ... one in her 80's. We have a lot of laughs and the quick changes challenge our aging brains. Our teacher is from India and is determined we shall all look like 'Bollywood dancers' one day.

Yes, I think I am noticing a cognitive boost. I suspect it is from the ketones but could be the combination of meditation, supplements, exercise, citalopram, diet and fasting. I have recently started doing weights for upper body strength and increased my calorie intake slightly due to decreasing weight. I feel much better for it and over the past week I had three nights of sleeping 7 to 8 hours. Those who sleep 'like babies' are soo lucky.

Are there any negatives to chia seeds made into a chocolate pudding? I use almond milk to make it go gloopy then add a square or two of 90 percent dark chocolate, a little grated orange rind, and microwave to melt. It adds calories without too many carbs, I think :?
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Re: New to site / beginning the journey

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Juliegee wrote:For those of you who've done Longo's fasting mimicking protocol, did you abstain from coffee? Does he explicitly say to do so?
I’ve not followed Dr Longo’s protocol specifically, but I do practice fasting.

I’m a coffee drinker, have been for (dare I say it!) decades, typically a couple (generous) cups in the morning, so fairly moderate, but keeping consumption to the morning so as not to interfere with sleep.

I’ve heard various opinions on fasting and that anything that breaks the fast “wakes up” the liver, starts the circadian rhythm, etc. But I like my black morning coffee! (insert petulant whine here) :!: So, since it does not seem to influence glucose/insulin response, I’ve continued my morning ritual. I have a couple cups of (black, or have been recently experimenting with adding a bit of MCT oil powder) coffee when I get up, but I don’t eat for a number of hours later in my ~16 hour daily intermittent fasting routine. Coffee also contains polyphenols (antioxidant), so extra added benefit.

When I decided to go on my 7 day fast, I was fully prepared to give up coffee. But before I started, I read the Dr Jason Fung/Jimmy Moore book “The Complete Guide to Fasting.” In that book they said coffee is an appetite suppressor. SCORE! Also, in the book, they said, “in general, we encourage consuming plenty of noncaloric liquids (water, tea, coffee) and homemade bone broth, which is full of nutrients.” So I continued to drink my coffee, and felt less deprived. This is N=1, but it works for me.
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Tincup
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Re: New to site / beginning the journey

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Juliegee wrote: I think she was more concerned about not gleaning the heal benefits of fasting when we drink coffee thereby officially breaking the fast.

For those of you who've done Longo's fasting mimicking protocol, did you abstain from coffee? Does he explicitly say to do so?
In this article they talk about black coffee on day one (which is not full on FMD) and black or green tea on the FMD days. Longo's paper does not mention coffee.

From a circadian rhythm standpoint, in this interview, Satchin Panda says any non-water beverage starts the clock.

I don't drink coffee, so have no experience.

In this paper, they were able to regenerate Beta cells with FMD. BBC article From interviews, including this one, I think, Longo says that longer FMD fasts (4 or so days) encourage autophagy and refeeding the stimulation of stem cells. This paper describes this for Multiple Sclerosis. Here is a press release.

With something possibly related, Prof Roy Taylor at the Newcastle UK MRI Centre put T2 diabetics on an ~800 cal/day for 8 weeks. They observed normalization of glucose response that persisted after return to a normal diet. They attributed the response to decrease by few grams of pancreatic fat. Here is a Google search.
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Julie G
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Re: New to site / beginning the journey

Post by Julie G »

Thanks so much for weighing in, Theresa & George. As a rule, I don't trust non-coffee drinkers. They seem superhuman to me, but I must make an exception for George :D.

I hope I'm still gleaning some benefit from my fast with black coffee. I'm interested in doing a 5 day fasting mimicking trial soon. The health benefits are impressive.
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Re: New to site / beginning the journey

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Juliegee wrote:I'm interested in doing a 5 day fasting mimicking trial soon. The health benefits are impressive.
It's no big deal, actually, especially for anyone who has half an interest in what's going on here on this site. Just stay occupied most of the time and you'll forget you're doing it.

I used these recipes for my FMD's:

http://agingadvice.org/FMD-Recipes.html

It's more of a pain to prepare this diet than it is to endure it. I'd much prefer to just buy the boxes. I did drink loose leaf Japanese green tea during my FMD's.
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