As a registered dietitian I preach mindfulness and reaching your highest well-being and with that being said the path to get there looks different for everyone. Having this online space I want to share what my experience on Prolon was for the curious minds and I’m stating this is not an endorsement for the fast mimicking diet. I hope my non-diet culture colleagues respect and understand my decision to try out a fast mimicking diet and share the experince.
When my body asks me for ice cream, to Van Leeuwen I go, recently my body was asking me for a reset. I thought about a juice fast but wasn’t too keen on the idea. I ordered Prolon after reading some of the studies on FMD and their beneficial claims on cellular regeneration and longevity. I listened to functional doctors talk about their experience and read about registered dietitian’s experience on the 5 day fast. I had the box sitting in my living room just staring at me for about 2 weeks. Even though I had made an informed decision to order Prolon I was pretty hesitant to start this because whatever way you look at it, it is a restrictive diet and I am so far past dieting. I feel like I have a great relationship with food and I can confidently say that because looking back over the years that was not the case.
Let’s dive in! Prolon Day 1 was going to be Saturday but I woke up awfully hungry and craving my morning latte. So I decided to wait until Sunday. Sunday I woke up feeling fine and ready for Day 1. Side note: I track my menstrual cycle and have come to learn that there are points in my cycle I am ravenous and others around ovulation where my appetite and cravings are lower. The timing was great as I was ovulating around the start of Day 1.
Things I did that are not part of the instructions: I took my Renew Life Probiotic every morning and I started making the soups with bone broth after Day 1 lunch. I had more than one coffee on some days.
Day 1
I started with an iced Lungo and Vietnamese cinnamon around 10-11am ish (*instructions allow a caffeinated beverage if needed) I wanted my coffee and wasn’t going to compromise. I had the bar with a decaf espresso around 12pm with the Algal oil and skipped the tea. I did not like the vitamins as I kept tasting fish randomly throughout the day.
Lunch was around 2pm while making the first powdered soup… I kept thinking what the heck, why am I voluntarily about to eat powdered soup. The soup tasted like ketchup water so I added lemon and chives and had them with the crackers followed by the NR-1 supplements.
I had the olives a couple hours later with the lemon spearmint tea.
At around 5 pm I made myself another iced decaf lungo (I LOVE COFFEE) it was a rainy day and I couldn’t find a reason not to have the decaf coffee with the second nut bar of the day which btw I love the taste of.
For dinner around 8:15pm I made the minestrone soup and added lemon & nutritional yeast. I was definitely hungry at this point and would even say fatigued. This soup I made with ¾ cup bone broth & water, some of the vegetable pieces in the soup tasted undercooked (dehydrated). I had the choco crips right after, it was not that great, kind of like stale rice krispies.
Finished the night with my own peppermint tea.
I had about 4 liters of water which is more than I normally have.
At one point in the night, after the second bar I felt woosie and was concerned for the following days.
Day 2
I woke up feeling fine. I made myself an iced lungo to sip on. I wouldn’t say I wanted a latte on this day but I was definitely missing my morning ritual. Day 2 was pretty simple and uneventful, this day included a lot of olives and the first day of L-drink. L-drink is a solution of glycerin based on your body weight mixed with water. During the morning I was sipping the L-drink and it tasted funky around mid day, I diluted it with a hibiscus tea and it was wayyyy better. To me the L-drink with hibiscus tea tasted like a kool-aide refresher. I was waiting for the hunger and fatigue to strike but it never did, I’m guessing the L-drink really provides some sort of energy. The lunch mushroom soup was one of the best tasting in my opinion. I had it around 3pm with olives. About 2 hours later I had more olives for a snack and lemon spearmint tea. I was very full at dinner and felt like I didn’t need to finish the soup and forgot about the choc crisp. I was going to skip the choc crisp but thought it was best to consume everything provided as food is restricted and I shouldn’t omit anything containing energy.
Day 3
I was nervous for day 3 not only because I heard it was the worst/hardest day but because I have a 12 hour work day on Tuesdays. I barely had an appetite and had no food thoughts or cravings this day. I started the morning with a hot black coffee, had a nut bar around 12pm and sipped on the L drinking. I had soup around 3pm which felt like the longest I’ve gone without eating. I really wasn’t hungry since I was so busy working. At around 9PM I needed food, I was a bit fatigued. I quickly made the soup and while it was cooking I sipped on a lemon spearmint tea and took an EPA/DHA supplement (I normally take this as part of my daily supplements). After dinner I felt fine, there was no choc crisp on day 3.
Day 4
Day 4 SUCKS omg!!! I was experiencing all the symptoms of hunger. Obviously Day 3 had less food than the other days. I woke up hungry but not really with an appetite. I was slightly wanting a warm latte so I had a hot Lungo with cinnamon. I was usually doing iced (after drinking water of course).I got to work and started seeing stars not good… but still had no desire to have a meal. I reached for my bar around 11 am a bit earlier than most days and heavily sipped ½ the L-Drink. The bar did not do much for me, so I sipped on an Iced coffee for a little boost. On Day 3 I was feeling pretty good and had planned to take a Pilates class on the 4th day (this was definitely not going to happen). I had lunch at 1:15 and I instantly felt better after the first few sips of the soup. I had the garlic olives in between the soup. *Reminder: I made the soups with a cup of bone broth that provides me with 10 grams of protein and will add anywhere between ¼ cup to ½ water to dilute. I started feeling really sleepy and tired around 3:20pm. I must note it was extremely hot in my office on this day and the heat usually makes me cranky and tired this way.
Oh boy day 4 was rough. When I got home I felt it was too early to have the dinner soup. It was around 6pm, knowing I would wake up starving the following day if I had dinner so early I had ½ a cup of bone broth to hold me over. I made a hibiscus tea, showered and had the dinner soup around 7:30 with lime. After consuming the soup I felt fine, I would say even full. I was so low energy I had my soup in bed while watching Grey’s Anatomy. At around 9 I had a spearmint tea with the choco crisp which on this day I came to love.
Day 5
On the last day I woke up feeling fine, assessing my hunger I was probably at around a 3 on a 1-10 scale (1 being no hunger & 10 being famished). Like I’ve been saying throughout this post I have had no cravings or major food thoughts while on Prolon. I would have definitely gone for an almond milk latte so I just made a cinnamon lungo. I started all mornings with 1-2 glasses of water.
At 10:30am I made a black coffee because my office was freezing (I know bipolar weather in the office) I really only took a couple of sips and had the bar.
At around 3pm I had my last ketchup water (tomato soup microwaved with bone broth) I added ½ lemon, chives and about 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast. Every other day I had followed the order of the meal card but on this day I skipped the crackers at lunch.
Side note I really don’t like the supplements, they kept coming up and left an unpleasant fish taste.
Around 3:30pm it was tea time, I made one of the teas and sipped on it iced.
I had the crackers at around 5pm and started sipping an L drink because I had barely had any all day. I was feeling good and pretty bored so I decided to sign up for Solicore (my usual workout). I took a 7pm class and felt great! I went with beginner’s resistance, didn’t take an amplification and took the workout as an opportunity to move my body rather than push. I was feeling pretty sore right away. I went home, hydrated, showered and made the last soup!!!! End of an era! I didn’t add anything to the soup, the soups have a nice taste to them I wouldn’t say I would opt for them but in my experience they don’t actually need to be drowned in lemon and spices.
Day 6
Transition day! I woke up feeling great! My energy levels felt high and I felt focus. I made myself a Peachy Green Smoothie (recipe on IG Post) to have later at work. I also made myself my beloved cinnamon almond milk latte and after 2 sips I threw it down the drain… I can’t believe I discarded a perfect latte but I honestly did not want it and best of all felt like I didn’t need the caffeine. Breaking my AM coffee habit is something I have been wanting to do for a while but never put much work into it since I do enjoy the ritual of making my coffee. Around 10:40am I had my smoothie, it was pretty filling. I was experiencing a headache about an hour later which I could attribute to no coffee since this is probably the first day I haven’t had caffeine by this time. At around noon I started sipping on a black coffee, I wasn’t craving the coffee but felt it would help my headache and it did. I had lunch at Beyond Sushi, a vegan spot in NYC. I went with the Butternut Squash Soup, it was delicious (topped with pistachios, vegan feta, mint & chili oi)l and also had a few pieces of the Sunny Side Roll (black rice, fennel, sun-dried tomato, avocado, butternut squash, pumpkin seed pesto sauce).
Later that evening I had dinner with friends we went to a Greek restaurant called Kyma, I started of with hummus and cucumbers, had the grilled branzino (maybe 3 fries) and a couple sips of Sancerre.
Day 7
On day 7 you can fully return to your healthy diet. I woke up and contemplated if I should make myself a latte. I am still shocked I didn’t want or need the latte. I went to a 9am OTF class and made myself a Mighty Mango smoothie (mango, cashew butter, greens, plus other goodies catch it on my Smoothie Edit Highlight). After that I went to a Solidcore class where I hit pretty hard at around 1 I was ready for an iced latte. I had brunch out and also dined out. I wish I would’ve had more home made meals but it’s not an easy task when you’re running errands around the city.
I don’t know if I would do Prolon again, my body will be the judge of that. I am glad I gave my body the reset it was asking me for, I feel more in tune with signals, have significantly cut my coffee intake and I’m experiencing less bloating. Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to answer them! Please inquire with your medical provider before engaging in diet and lifestyle changes.
XOXO, Dar
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