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old dog

Distinguished member
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
313
Reason
DX UMND/PLS
Diagnosis
08/2011
Country
US
State
OR
City
Scio
I have read on this forum that many PALS do better on a high fat diet. I assumed that was because maintaining weight is such a problem for many.

Today's local paper featured an article about a high fat/low carb diet that has stopped seizures in children with epilepsy. It went on to explain that this is nothing new. Doctors in that field have known about it for years, but the diet is extremely difficult to follow so treatment with anti-seizure drugs is the preferred method.

In the case described, the prescribed drugs were not stopping the child's seizures, so the diet was recommended. It requires measuring all food to be consumed on a jeweler's scale, preparing food from scratch, and keeping meticilous records--not something everyone is equipped to do.

With this diet, carbs are almost completely eliminated, so the body buns fat for fuel instead of carbs, a process called ketosis. This process benefits the brain in some unknown way. The child has stopped having seizures. Other people have had success with less stringent versions of the diet, a modified Adkins diet or the low glycemic index diet.

My first thought was, "Would this type of diet help those of us with MND?" When PALS say they do better on a high fat diet, do they mean it helps prevent weight loss or do they actually feel better as well?

I'm certainly not touting diet changes as a cure for MND but am wondering if anyone has tried a low carb/high fat diet. If so, have they felt better?
 
I know my Nurse dietician at the ALS Clinic where I attend to, told me that it was beneficial for me to have a high fat diet because (per her own words) it would help slow the ALS progression a little bit. Those were her words.

I don't know if whether that has slowed down my own disease progression but I've been eating a high fat diet and it hasn't hurt me.

NH
 
Thanks, Nighthawk.
 
Some weight-loss diets are nutritionally sound and consistent with recommendations for healthy eating while others are "fad" diets encouraging irrational and, sometimes, unsafe practices.
 
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