FAQs

What is your current diet?

I am plant-based, that means no animal products at all – not even trace amounts. I have been eating low to moderate levels of carbs, but I’m about to embark on 8 weeks of severe caloric restriction (5,600 calories a week), low-carb, plant-based, with time restricted eating (an 8 hour eating window) and intermittent fasting (not eating at all on the weekends, starting from 4 pm on the Friday and continuing to 4 pm on the Monday, giving a full 72 hour fast). I plan to continue in 8 week blocks until my diabetes is cured. I do mean cured, not just getting my blood sugars under control, I can already do that. I mean getting my pancreas to function normally again; having a normal insulin response to food.

Do you think your diet is the best diet?

No. It’s the best diet for me at this point in time, but if you’re healthy, don’t eat like me. Due to the caloric restriction, I need to supplement to make my diet adequate, however it is the best choice for me right now at this point in my life, for continuing to keep my autoimmune diseases in remission, while working towards curing my type 2 diabetes and continuing to improve my cardiovascular disease.

Who is your diet suitable for?

Me. Unless you have multiple autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and obesity, it’s probably not going to be an exact fit for you. Look at the mechanisms behind why the various dietary and lifestyle changes are working for me and get some ideas from that for your own situation. Research your own conditions and take the time to experiment carefully one step at a time. Use some of my recipes by all means, but don’t just follow my diet as is, because it is very restrictive, you will need to supplement and it will make your social life difficult. It is probably overkill for the majority of sick people, and definitely completely unnecessary if you are healthy and just looking to stay well.

Ok, I am already healthy and want to stay that way. How should I be eating?

I would recommend a diet with the following features:

• eat within a 12 hour eating window every day
• avoid eating after 8 pm in the evening. I know this is hard with a social life, but at least don’t get into the habit of always eating late – it has a metabolic impact
• eat low to moderate amounts of carbs, so cut the starchy foods down to a minimum
• cut out processed foods – especially anything containing refined grains and sugars – so bread, pasta, pastries, cakes, sweets, all the fun stuff basically
• eat plenty of leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables
• make berries your choice when eating fruit
• eat a variety of nuts on a regular basis (unless you or someone in your house has an allergy to them, obviously)
• you can get your amino acids from animal or whole plant foods from which your body can then make protein. It is perfectly possible to be vegan and have a healthy diet, though you do need to supplement with vitamin B12 and vitamin D3 if you don’t live somewhere sunny. Vegan D3 from algae is available. Vegan bodybuilders tend to supplement with pea protein shakes, in the same way non vegan bodybuilders use whey protein shakes, as building a lot of muscle requires more protein than normal
• cut out all heat-processed vegetable oils from your diet – that’s almost all of the oil sold as cooking oil. If it doesn’t say cold pressed, extra virgin, leave it alone
• add extra virgin olive oil to your diet, this is actually good for your cardiovascular system and is anti-inflammatory – go for quality, and it must say ‘extra virgin’ on the bottle – you can’t cook with it, but pour as much over cooked food as you want. For cooking I use a British, organic, cold pressed, extra virgin rapeseed (canola) oil which has ten times as much omega 3 as olive oil.
• train your body to run on ketones – to become fat adapted. You do this by eating very low carb and using ketone testing methods – I use a blood ketone monitor.
• once you are fat adapted then add a regular fast to your lifestyle – say 72 hours once every 3 months – this will reset the immune system and clear up defective cells, reducing your risk of getting cancer, and promoting a longer, healthier life.
  • *Important note here though DO NOT FAST IF YOU HAVE ESTABLISHED CANCER, unless you are having chemotherapy, in which case it is beneficial to fast for 48 hours either side of each chemo session, but again do not do this without consulting your oncologist as this is not suitable for everyone. Look up Prof Valter Longo of the University of Southern California for further information on fasting with chemo. He also has a fasting mimicking diet which can be used in place of fasting. Do not fast at any other time if you know you have cancer, you could trigger it to metastasise.

Who shouldn’t fast?

• Anyone under the age of 18 unless under medical guidance
• Anyone with an eating disorder
• Anyone who is underweight
• Anyone with type 1 diabetes
• Anyone with cancer, unless using it to ameliorate the side effects of chemo and to make it more effective, following Prof Longo’s protocol
• Anyone with any medical condition or taking medication that could be adversely affected by fasting, unless they’ve talked it through with their doctor.
  • Certain medications must be stopped while fasting, diabetes medications for example. When you fast, your body makes the essential carbs you need through a process called gluconeogenesis. Metformin (Glucophage) blocks gluconeogenesis, so taking it while fasting could, potentially kill you.
    • *Note: If you need to stop medications while fasting, then be sure to discuss this with your doctor. When my blood pressure dropped rapidly while fasting, I stopped the fast and consulted with my doctor about which BP medication I could safely stop and start as needed during fasting.
• And finally, anyone who can’t be bothered to read about how to fast properly: the preparation, what to do on fast days and how to re-feed once fasted.