Have You Been Eating Your Feelings? Jump-Start Your Weight Loss With ProLon, The Fasting Mimicking Diet

My relationship with food isn’t always a healthy one.  I certainly enjoy eating, but there are times of high stress when I can fall prey to emotional eating—like this pandemic for example. Feeling so helpless has had me using food to shove my roller coaster of emotions deep down inside of myself. As a result, I have added about five pounds to my petite figure over the last few weeks. While I didn’t gain the “COVID-15”, as people are calling the pandemic pounds, I wasn’t going to sit around idle and allow myself to gain any more. 

I am aware of the benefits of fasting and have done it successfully in the past. But, the thought of going on a liquid diet for a few days wasn’t really appealing nor did it sound attainable. The last thing I needed was to set myself up for failure. That’s where ProLon, the fasting mimicking diet from L-Nutra, comes in. 

ProLon was launched in 2016 in tandem with the UN General Assembly meeting where many first ladies and global VIP were in attendance. 

“The main challenge was to first tell the world that fasting offers great health benefits at a time where fasting was not a familiar word in health and meant unnecessary starvation. The second challenge was to explain how is it possible that someone can fast while consuming the ProLon® Fasting Mimicking Diet,” states Joseph Antoun, MD, MS, MPP and CEO & Chairman of the Board for L-Nutra. “L-Nutra then marked the launch of the Fasting Market, a new market within nutrition, and because of the supporting science and overwhelming media coverage, fasting became the #1 diet in the United States as of 2018.

ProLon is the first fasting diet ever launched to support healthy aging by mimicking the benefits of fasting and by balancing metabolism and weight that was discovered by the University of Southern California (USC). 

“When USC was conducting clinical trials to determine the health benefits of a prolonged 4 or 5 days of fast, it was difficult for participants to comply with water only fasting and it was difficult for physicians to accept ‘water’ as a therapy because of compliance and safety concerns,” Antoun tells me.  As a result the National Institute of Health funded USC in conjunction with L-Nutra to develop the Fasting Mimicking Diet, which is basically a plant-based 4-7-day nutrition program that nourishes the body while not triggering the food detection sensors in the body’s cells. 

Curious to know how that works, Antoun explains to me, “The cells are being fed but not enough for them to be satisfied. They continue to respond to fasting, which pushes them to rejuvenate, by an intracellular phenomenon called autophagy, a process discovered by Prof. Valter Longo, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2016. Fasting and the Fasting Mimicking Diet are recognized by scientists as the most potent and natural way to activate autophagy.”

ProLon’s diet is rich in good fats including olive oil, pecan, walnut, and macadamia, and contains plant-based proteins and fiber sourced mainly from carbohydrates. Developed by the Longo Lab at UCLA and USC for over 20 years, the meal plan contains more than 60 ingredients that have been scientifically identified and carefully formulated to extend the effects of fasting.

“The Fasting Mimicking Diet mimics fasting by changing the levels of certain ingredients that regulate specific pro-aging and anti-regeneration genes that result in the cells and organs being tricked into a natural way to enter a full fasting response mode,” explains Antoun. “The body is nourished but the cells stay in fasting mode. Now, the latest research by the Longo Lab also confirms that the ingredients we included in ProLon can enhance the effects of fasting by acting on the microbiota. The goal is to make fasting for 5 days safe, effective and relatively easy to do. In mice and human trials the Fasting Mimicking Diet causes many weight, metabolic and cellular benefits that are important for healthy aging and prevention.”

My expectations of the food were honestly not very high. But, I was pleasantly surprised by both the taste and how full I felt after living mostly on soup for five days. 

“The food tastes very good because we spent years using our knowledge of molecular biology and nutritechnology to include the best tasting and healthiest foods while achieving the fasting mimicking properties,” Antoun tells me. The brand also utilizes the highest quality fat available. “Many nutrition businesses have opted to sell us unhealthy fats such as animal sources or fried ones because they are cheaper. The best fats for health and longevity are in foods that are expensive so only a few companies, like us, use these as the main ingredients.”

The included bars are also surprisingly good tasting and satisfied my sweet tooth, which can increase in times of stress. In fact, the company just launched the bars sold under their Fast Bar brand in three different flavors: Nuts and Honey, Cocoa Nuts, and Nuts and Nibs that are perfect for intermittent fasters. With their sweetness, I was curious how the honey used to make the bars didn’t interfere with the fast. Antoun responds, “The Fasting Mimicking Diet contains plant-based sources of protein that were tested and carbs, a portion of which comes from honey, but at a level that does not interfere with the fasting effects.”

Fasting with simply water for five days, individuals typically lose 3 pounds of fat loss in addition to a few extra pounds of water weight depending on hydration levels. However, individuals who fast this way face both challenges adhering to a water-only diet and it typically isn’t safe for most people without medical supervision. 

“We need to be clear that water-only fasting will have lots of benefits, but can also cause problems such as gallstones, hypotension, and hypoglycemia. Prolon was developed to minimize side effects while maintaining or surpassing the benefits of fasting. We are now demonstrating this with over 20 completed or ongoing clinical trials,” explains Antoun.

In contrast, ProLon can be done without doctor supervision in your own own home. In a published human trial, one 5-day ProLon cycle resulted in an average of 5 pounds of weight loss and a 1-inch loss of fat around the waistline.  “In addition, the majority of consumers report experiencing greater energy, mental clarity and focus, with fewer food cravings and healthier eating habits upon completion of the Fasting Mimicking Diet. In the same study, repeating ProLon every month for three months is shown to result in cellular rejuvenation, and support metabolic balance, healthy aging, and a lifestyle of longevity,” says Antoun. 

“The Fasting Mimicking Diet is the only nutrition, as far as we know, to have an issued patent on ‘promoting Longevity and Health span’,” continues Antoun. “It is important that we bring back a specific form of fasting to human nutrition because the constant nutrition that characterizes modern societies is at the center of obesity and disease. Excess weight but also the accelerated aging and inflammation are the main reason behind the increase in diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, cancer, and others.”

After my 5-days of being on ProLon, I lost 4.5 pounds and feel a world better. I will definitely keep this product in my arsenal and use it again the next time I need a jump-start to my diet and overall wellbeing.