Ketoflex12/3

ReCODE protocol: Dale Bredesen, M.D., created this protocol (short for Reversing COgnitive DEcline) and presented it in his book “The End of Alzheimer’s.” He asserts that anyone who follows this program as closely to the letter as possible will either prevent Alzheimer’s or fully reverse it in its earliest stages. He even says while his ReCODE can’t cure the disease for those in moderate or late stages, it will reverse it to a certain extent and slow its progression. He claims more than 200 documented cases of people who either had been diagnosed with early cognitive decline, a precursor to Alzheimer’s, or with full-blown Alzheimer’s and who later tested free of any cognitive disease, with full cognition restored, after following ReCODE. Bredesen then provides multiple first-hand accounts of his patients who have stopped Alzheimer’s in its tracks.

This astounded me, and I wondered why this wasn’t headline news and why the medical community seemed to have no idea that Bredesen and his work even existed. (Bredesen, by the way, is an expert in neurodegenerative diseases with more than 30 years experience in studying the human brain and Alzheimer’s disease. He had directed the Program on Aging at the Burnham Institute before founding the famous Buck Institute for Research on Aging in 1998 and serving as its president and CEO.) The words “to good to be true” rang in my head when I first heard about his book, but he explained every detail of his research so plainly that by the time I had finished his book in the fall of 2017, he had me convinced.

ReCODE is an extensive overall health regime that basically breaks down as eating the proper diet, getting enough exercise and sleep and ensuring vitamins and hormones in the body are at optimal levels and toxins in the body are at a minimum. I plan to go into detail on each of ReCODE’s steps in future posts and how I fared trying to follow them, but today I will begin with Bredesen’s diet plan since (as I’ve stressed in previous posts) I believe it is the cornerstone to preventing cognitive decline.

Mark Sisson, author of the blog MarksDailyApple.com, agrees that diet plays the biggest role in health.

“Eighty Percent of your ability to reduce excess body fat is determined by how you eat, with the other 20 percent depending on proper exercise, other healthy lifestyle habits, and genetic factors,” he wrote in his book “The New Primal Blueprint.”

While Sisson focuses on overall health from the neck down – weight loss and preventing heart disease and diabetes – his message definitely extends to cognitive health.

Bredesen calls his ReCODE diet plan Ketoflex12/3. “Keto” refers to achieving a mild state of ketosis by eating a high healthy fat/moderate protein/very low carb diet. The ketogenic diet actually extends well beyond Bredesen’s book and is gaining popularity across the country. The “flex” refers to a flexitarian diet, which follows a mostly plant-based diet, especially nonstarchy ones, and limiting meat consumption to no more than a few ounces a day, essentially making it a condiment. (I was not pleased with this notion!) I will have more on protein and meat in the future. And the 12/3 refers to intermittent fasting: ensure at least 12 hours between your last meal of the day and breakfast the following day and make sure you finish your last meal of the day at least three hours before bedtime.

Ketosis is “the process in which your liver produces specific chemicals called ketone bodies (acetoacetate, beta-hydroxybutyrate, and acetone) by breaking down fat,” Bredesen writes in “The End of Alzheimer’s.” “This occurs when you are running low on carbohydrates, your body’s first source of energy. Mild ketosis, it turns out, is optimal for cognitive function: Beta-hydroxybutyrate increases production of the important neuron- and synapse-supporting molecule BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), among other effects.”

Ketosis is achieved by combining moderate exercise and intermittent fasting while avoiding all carbs except those found in fruits and vegetables and limiting the starchy, high-carb fruits and vegetables, such as bananas, pineapple, white potatoes and corn. Bredesen lists sweet potatoes as a “green-light food” to eat as much as you want, as long as you don’t douse it in sugar. This made me a little giddy as baked sweet potato is one of my favorite things on the planet! However, other keto diet plans recommend limiting sweet potatoes and along with winter squash (except spaghetti squash) because over consumption can turn a “fat burner” into a “sugar burner,” reversing the ketogenic process. For me, I eat them on a semi-regular basis, perhaps one a week average. I always buy the smallest I can find and eat half per serving, saving the other half for the next day.

I’ve explained in my previous posts on sugar, gluten and dairy that I was already largely following this diet with great success by the time I had read “The End of Alzheimer’s.” Everything Bredesen described in the book had fallen in line with what I had experienced by adhering to a keto diet: the complete disappearance of anxiety, depression, brain fog and forgetfulness and improved cognition (not to mention extensive weight loss and an improvement in my overall health and well-being). My body was clearly telling me this was the exact diet I need to be following to achieve optimal health.

Sisson also recommends a keto diet, or as he calls it, a primal diet, because the human species has evolved to function at its best when eating the way our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate: fruits, vegetables, nuts and animals. He says, and I agree, that this diet will work wonders for the vast majority of people.

“While the overall impact of poor lifestyle habits, including outward physique, vary widely due to luck of the draw, we all share an evolutionary genetic predisposition to suffer chronic disease when we eat foods that are misaligned with our genes,” he writes.

A very small minority, however, can’t handle eating higher amounts of fat no matter how much they try to adjust to that lifestyle and will gain weight, he adds. This doesn’t mean people should give up if the keto diet doesn’t show immediate results as it did for me. For many a transition period needs to be allowed as the body becomes fat adjusted, and they must cut carbs and add fat and protein gradually. And those who find themselves gaining weight should closely evaluate whether they are truly cutting carbs to the extent they need to before assuming the diet isn’t for them. It can be shocking just how many carbs are consumed in a day when you sit down and do the math. Adding fat to the diet while trying but failing to cut added sugar will result in weight gain every time.

Bredesen insists his Ketoflex12/3 diet, coupled with the rest of ReCODE, will prevent cognitive decline if followed properly. He says in all his cases, those who did not show results and claimed ReCODE didn’t work, later came to realize they were not following his plan as they should and began to show results after buckling down and following it more strictly. Bredesen recommends purchasing a ketone meter and test strips to determine if you are achieving mild ketosis. I’ve considered it and may still, but I haven’t purchased it yet because I believe my results speak for themselves.

As difficult as it may be abandoning the Standard American Diet and following a plan that goes against everything that’s been drummed into our heads for the past decades (the U.S. Department of Agriculture – choosemyplate.gov – still recommends grain as a top staple in the diet – second only to vegetables), I promise it’s worth it. It’s worth stopping Alzheimer’s in its tracks.

Next week I will continue my discussion on Ketoflex12/3 with my experiences with intermittent fasting.

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