Jude and I recently watched the 2012 Horizon documentary 'Eat, Fast and Live Longer' [1] in which Michael Mosley investigates fasting as a means to living longer, staying younger and losing weight without changing his lifestyle. Inspired by this we have been experimenting with intermittent fasting , with a particular emphasis on achieving autophagy. In fact, as I type this, we're 27 hours into a 36 hour fast. Despite quite enjoying the experience of intermittent fasting I can't really imagine it becoming a permanent part of my weekly routine.
While investigating the 5:2 diet as a more sustainable method of including fasting into my lifestyle, I came across a Telegraph article arguing that the Fasting Mimicking Diet is an even better option for exactly this reason: "The 5:2; it is not bad, but you need to do it every week. With the Fasting Mimicking Diet, you do it every three or four months". [2]
The Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD), developed by academics at the University of Southern California, claims to improve longevity while cutting the risk of cancer and diabetes by half. It is a complex diet that, by mimicking fasting, triggers the same effects in the body. In common with other intermittent fasting diets it reduces insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), high levels of which are correlated with an increased risk of cancer.
A trial of 19 humans placed on the FMD once a month for five days showed decreased risk factors and biomarkers for aging, diabetes, cancer and heart disease with no major adverse side effects.[2][3]
How it works
Day one of the diet comprises:
10 per cent protein, 56 per cent fat and 34 per cent carbohydrate, making 1,090 calories
Days two to five:
Nine per cent protein, 44 per cent fat and 47 per cent carbohydrate making 725 calories
A typical 5-day diet cycle is as follows:
Day One:
FMD permitted calories: 1,090 max
Breakfast: Black or Green Tea; one boiled egg (78 calories) + one slice whole wheat toast (68 calories)
Lunch: black coffee or tea; small green salad with avocado, dressed with olive oil (300 calories)
Snack: two almonds (28 calories)
Dinner: Large helping of mixed green vegetable soup with borlotti beans, and slice of whole wheat bread (616 calories)
Day Two:
FMD permitted calories: 725 calories max
Breakfast: Black or green tea; one poached egg with a grilled tomato (100 calories)
Lunch: Miso soup (21 cals)
Snack: 7 walnut halves (90 cals)
Dinner: Vegetable chilli with kidney beans and two tsp sour cream (514 cals)
Day Three:
FMD permitted calories: 725 calories max
Breakfast: Black or Green tea: one slice whole wheat toast with two tsp of cashew butter (150 calories)
Lunch: Espresso; Smoked Salmon (100g) with watercress (200 cals)
Snack: Blueberries (100g) (57 cals)
Dinner: Large portion vegetable soup (318 cals)
Day Four:
FMD permitted calories: 725 calories max
Breakfast: Black or Green tea; half an avocado on one slice of whole wheat toast (220 cals)
Lunch: Espresso; 250ml glass of almond milk (60 cals)
Snack: two squares 70 per cent dark chocolate (110 cals)
Dinner: Large green salad with 100g prawns, dressed with olive oil and lemon juice (335 cals)
Day Five:
FMD permitted calories: 725 calories max
Breakfast: black or green tea; two boiled eggs (156 cals)
Lunch: Half an avocado on toast; miso soup (210 cals)
Snack: An apple (60 cals)
Dinner: Large portion of vegetable soup with 10g toasted pine nuts (299 cals)
[1] 'Eat, Fast and Live Longer', BBC website, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lxyzc
[2] 'Why we've all been doing the Fast Diet wrong', Telegraph, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/nutrition/why-weve-all-been-doing-the-fast-diet-wrong/
[3] 'Five day 'fasting' diet slows down ageing and may add years to life', Telegraph, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/03/27/five-day-fasting-diet-slows-ageing-may-add-years-life/
February 7, 2020
I don’t think this menu would work to get the protein low enough to initiate autophagy. Especially that breakfast of two eggs. I think Longo says somewhere that protein needs to be restricted to 15 g a day. Even just eating vegetables will get you near that.
May 1, 2022
I also remember reading that you can only really achieve the right macros on a fasting-mimicking diet by not eating animal products. Fasting-mimicking is fantastic, but I wish there were more reliable do-it-yourself recipes out there… I’ve been using it all the way through my cancer treatment to shield my healthy cells from the effects of chemo- and radiotherapy, and I think it’s worked wonders; the treatment was intensive and I’ve had very minimal side effects so far. Just on the look out for more recipes as I’m getting a bit tired of eating the same things over and over!