Intermittent fasting - benefits for PN?
 

OK, if you are like me, you might yawn uncontrollably when you hear the word "diet". There are so many diets that are king one day, and then turn out to be dangerous or plain silly the next one.

However, as I'm looking into ways to change my lifestyle (and lower my LDL), I happened to watch this BBC Horizon documentary yesterday... now apart from the potential benefits of intermittent fasting - there are many forms, like every other day, or 2 days a week - one thing caught my attention: scientists start to assume that fasting might give your cells a needed rest to repair themselves. This rang a bell as someone who's suffering from PN.

You can watch the documentary on this page (it contains an ad for a book, just ignore that): http://www.documentarytube.com/eat-f...c-horizon-2012 (I would link to the original BBC website, but iPlayer is only viewable from the UK itself).

Wiki has a page on it as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_fasting

There were some rather fascinating results, like considerably lowering your glucose levels in 3 days.

I myself have noticed - in the last week or so - that my PN gets worse throughout the day, but is almost absent in the morning when I get up. So, it must be something I do during the day, right? Walking around all day (well, trying to...), or sitting, or lying in bed reading doesn't seem to change this. Eating less... sugar does seem to change this. I have completely stopped drinking soda and switched to water and (sometimes) fruit juice, as sugar has been identified on this website and elsewhere as pretty bad for your PN.

I'm not condoning this method or anything, just thought it could be interesting, as with PN the "cure" seems to be: to repair your damaged nerve cells/mitochondria.

I would welcome your thoughts, as I am considering giving it a go... But I will discuss this with my GP first, obviously. The 5 day/2day (as in the video) method seems like it's possible to keep up.

It might just be that fasting, removes some food that you are intolerant of and rests your GI tract.

However, keep in mind that in the morning your cortisol levels are the highest, and as you advance to 4pm they drop to a considerable low. The first low in the 24 hr period. Then you eat again, and they rise a bit around 8pm depending on what time you have dinner. The Brit tradition of "tea time" revolves around this low, in late afternoon.

The lowest low occurs around 4am, then the cycle begins again.

I have usually fasted after a GI episode, which I have had since birth. I have twisted intestines and stomach, which is a congenital defect called malrotation. After one of my mini obstructions I do not eat much the day or two after. Nothing changes with my PN during those times.

Since our bodies run on a circadian rhythm cycle, many hormones, and other activities will change during the day.

If you try the fasting, I would assume you are still drinking juices of some sort?

Well, I'm not at that stage yet, as I want to know a lot more about it before starting it.

Mind you, the "fasting days" that is talked about in the video means a max 600 calorie intake during the whole 24 hours, so yeah, juicing would probably make sense. Mind you, since I found out that off-the-shelve orange juice contains as much sugar as coca cola ( :rolleyes: ) it will mean fresh juices for sure. I think I would also continue to take the supplements I take now BTW.

I don't think that the occasional fast does something - that's not what they claim in the video; it has to be kept up as a lifestyle. But you apparently do see results after a couple of weeks - and I don't mean about weight loss, as that's not really the issue for me.

The main focus in the documentary is IFG-1, and the drastic lowering of it. Already there is an alarm bell of course, as some treatments of PN call for IFG-1 administration IIRC.

I sometimes wish our bodies were a bit more straight forward... ;)

For others here who are interested.. here is synopsis of this growth factor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin...rowth_factor_1

I know what you mean about our bodies being a bit more straight forward. I really don't mean to fast but I do because I was use to eating fast food a lot but when I cut out the burgers,pizza,carbs etc.... There was nothing for me to eat unless we cooked it ourself,so that was probably 3 months ago and I have lost over 35 lbs. so far. I feel much better over all but not my neuropathy matter of fact I think I maybe getting worse but my BMI is in the normal range now lol , you will most definitely feel better for sure!