Restricted Eating

There are a number of types of restricted eating.

Some of the main types are:

Time Restricted Feeding (TRF). All calories are consumed in a feeding window. Nothing is eaten outside of this window. An example would be an 18:6 TRF. In the 18:6 TRF all meals are eaten within a six hour window and nothing is consumed in the remaining 18 hours.
Fasting Mimetic Diet (FMD). This entails severe caloric restriction for 5 days. The caloric restriction is supposed to result in similar metabolism and body changes as a 5 day fast. Care must be exercised to obtain proper nutrition/vitamins/fiber during the FMD.
Fasting. Simply not eating for a day or more. This is typically done on weekends or perhaps one week a month. Like the FMD, take care to include vitamins in maintenance doses. Because no food is eaten it isn’t possible to obtain fiber or nutrients. Fasting can also wreak havoc on someone who is diabetic or is otherwise unable to handle a fast. Fasting is the most extreme, and potentially the most dangerous, restricted eating regimen.
One Meal A Day (OMAD):
- All calories are consumed at one sitting. The length of the meal might be 0.5-3 hours. I found that 0.5 hours is doable for me but that it is not maintainable long-term. So I have gone to a 3 hour OMAD.
- It is difficult for me to sleep if I eat the OMAD late in the afternoon or in the morning (overfull stomach or hunger pangs) so I try to eat my OMAD around noon.
- My macros on the OMAD run around 14% calories from protein, 11% from carbs (that includes fiber), and the rest from fat. I find OMAD rather easy to do. It is certainly easier for me than FMD and much easier than fasting. The meal is mostly plant-based and includes lots of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. I include a serving of salmon or even steak once or twice a week.
- I workout a few hours prior to my OMAD and again later in the day.

After not eating for 8+ hours the body switches to Ketosis and preferentially burns fat for fuel. Ketosis can suppress inflammation, improve glucose regulation, decrease oxidative stress, and increase stress resistance. mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) also might be decreased as well as IGF-1. Both of these biometrics are cancer promoting.

Each one has pros and cons. Advanced PCa has mutated to fuel itself primarily off of glucose. Reducing glucose and forcing the cancer cells to work on ketones puts them under metabolic stress.

There are 3 main flavors of the FMD. High carbohydrate, Ketogenic, Standard.

On day 1 the calorie goal is 6 per pound of bodyweight. On days 2-5 the calorie goal is 4 per pound of bodyweight. As an example, I weigh 200 pounds (mostly lean). So for me:

High carbohydrate FMD:
- Day 1: 10% protein, 15% fat, 75% carbohydrate or 30 grams of protein, 20 grams of fat, 225 grams of carbohydrates.
- Days 2-5: 9% protein, 15% fat, 76% carbohydrates or 18 grams of protein, 13 grams of fat, 152 grams of carbohydrates.
Ketogenic FMD:
- Day 1: 10% protein, 84% fat, 6% carbohydrate or 30 grams of protein, 112 grams of fat, 18 grams of carbohydrates.
- Days 2-5: 9% protein, 84% fat, 7% carbohydrates or 18 grams of protein, 75 grams of fat, 14 grams of carbohydrates.
Standard FMD:
- Day 1: 10% protein, 56% fat, 34% carbohydrate or 30 grams of protein, 75 grams of fat, 102 grams of carbohydrates.
- Days 2-5: 9% protein, 44% fat, 47% carbohydrates or 18 grams of protein, 39 grams of fat, 94 grams of carbohydrates.

If you weigh more or less than 200 lbs simply multiply the numbers accordingly (e.g. if you weigh 150 then multiply the grams by 150/200).

OMAD experiments:

I measured cortisol prior to eating and one hour finishing my food. Cortisol pre was 2.5 ng/ml and post was 4/1 ng/ml. The normal range is 1.5 – 9.6 ng/ml.

Ketones going into the OMAD (I was on a 16:8 TRF diet): 0.0 mmol/l. Blood glucose going into the OMAD was 82.5.

Before eating my blood ketones after a week of OMAD averaged 1.6 mmol/l

Blood glucose after a week of OMAD ranged averaged 72.3 mg/dl

GKI average was 72.3/(18*1.6) = 2.5

https://www.insider.com/what-is-intermittent-fasting-skipping-meals-may-promote-health-2019-8

https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/research-intermittent-fasting-shows-health-benefits

https://osher.ucsf.edu/patient-care/integrative-medicine-resources/cancer-and-nutrition/faq/cancer-and-fasting-calorie-restriction

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6627766/

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0209353