One of the things I like about going to a spa is that I can stop thinking. Or perhaps, more precisely, I can stop making decisions. When you’re used to being busy and making choices (personal, professional, not to mention dietary) all the time, there’s nothing so relaxing as having a programme that tells you what to do, when to do it and, most importantly, what to eat and drink.
At this time of year – mid-winter gloom, festivities long behind us – the idea of a spa is very tempting. If you don’t have the time, though, you can do your own reset – with a bit of help from ProLon. The idea behind this is a system that imitates intermittent fasting and there’s evidence suggesting that, if you do three consecutive monthly cycles of this, your biological age is reduced by 2.5 years. So, we’re not talking about weight loss here (though this undoubtedly will be a side effect), we’re looking at health.
It is now widely proven that fasting does have a remarkable effect on overall health and longevity. Working from this basis, ProLon have developed a system aimed at improving cellular health that can be used three to six times a year. There are special packages for those with chronic conditions (there’s a medical division called L-Nutra Health) such as type 2 diabetes but the main package is for those looking for improving their health in a more general way. ProLon have now carried out more than 32 trials using a phenotypic bio-age score developed at Yale and the University of Southern California that found even when weight was lost, muscle mass was not and that this plant-based programme delivered the benefits of fasting without the need to stop eating. So, exactly how does that work?
According to Layla Gordon, ProLon’s nutritional practitioner, “The programme works on a cellular level and triggers autophagy, a process whereby the body’s cells literally eat themselves up in a clean-up that promotes cell renewal.” There are wide-ranging markers that show a lowering of inflammation, blood glucose, cholesterol, BMI and (certainly in my case) blood pressure. It’s the body’s way, you might say, of taking out the rubbish.
“Because it imitates starvation mode,” explains Layla, “the body uses up its visceral fat first. This is the fat around the vital organs and the fat that is most dangerous to our health and often leads on to metabolic disease. While most of the food comes in liquid form [soup and drinks], there are some foods – olives, macadamia crackers – that don’t bring about a spike in blood sugar. The body is essentially tricked into thinking its fasting.”
By the second day, the body is in a state of ketosis, using up its own fat stores for energy production and by the third cellular cleansing (autophagy) begins alongside that. The final two days, these processes continue, with the initiation of cellular renewal. Over the course of five days, weight loss is inevitable and seems to me like a far healthier and safer way of achieving that than the ubiquitous fat jabs.
Surely an offer I couldn’t refuse, then? So I ordered my pack and decided to do it through the working week starting on a Monday morning. Accordingly, a rather smart parcel arrived with each day’s consumption in its own box and a book of instructions on what was happening on a daily basis and what to do. There are teas and supplements in the box as well as a concentrated drink you dilute and drink throughout the day.
There are nut-based bars and some delicious plant-based soups though the portion sizes may come as something of a shock (just enough for one cup). Perhaps, though, this is all good training for the post-fasting period and cutting down portion sizes. This you need to get into slowly, preferably with soups and smoothies, followed by light meals. This was the Next Gen version of the programme which I strongly recommend as the original version uses dehydrated soups rather than the liquid versions – and in my experience that does make a difference.
So how was it? For me, by the morning of Day Three I’d lost one kilo which may not sound like much but I actually felt lighter – something perhaps to do with my body not fighting to metabolise my usual diet (which, to be fair, isn’t that bad). I did have a flickering headache – Layla said this was to be expected – and I did cheat with one black coffee in the morning (milk is definitely not permitted). I did wake on Day Four feeling a bit hungry (not normal for me as I don’t eat breakfast as a rule) but this was far outweighed by the effect on my blood pressure. As I wasn’t being professionally monitored for biological age throughout the process, besides weight loss, the obvious indicator was blood pressure. By the afternoon of Day Three, I compared it to the day before I began the programme and the top (systolic) number was down 10 points, the lower (diastolic) down a few less. This I thought was an astonishing result.
By the end of the five days, I’d lost 2 kilos and felt really well. My skin looked pretty good, too. Weight loss jabs may sound an easier way of achieving your ideal weight but they not only come with side-effects, there is serious concern about the long-term results (not to mention being a no-no for those of us who are needle-phobic). This programme, though, seems entirely doable and comes with a range of benefits. I for one am convinced. In fact, I’m just going to place my order for the next two months.
The Prolon 5-Day Fasting Mimicking Programme is £189. For more information, please visit www.prolon.co.uk.
