Fasting and Fasting Mimicking

What Is It?

With water fasting, you eat nothing at all for several days and drink only water. With fasting mimicking (Fasting Mimicking Diet), you eat a small number of carefully composed calories for five days, about 650 a day, so the body reacts much like it does when fasting. Both are meant to stimulate the cells' self-cleaning process, called autophagy.

What Does the Research Say?

In animal studies, fasting protected the dopamine nerve cells. There are hardly any studies in people with Parkinson's. Longer fasting should only be done after talking with a doctor, especially if you are underweight or have other health conditions.

My Experience

October 2022: seven days of water fasting. It was very intense physically, mentally and emotionally, but I didn't notice any direct effect on my symptoms.

November 2025: five days of fasting mimicking with the SaluFast package, based on the concept of Prof. Dr. Andreas Michalsen of the Charité. After just the first day I became calmer and more relaxed, even though I felt hungry the whole time. In the weeks before, I had been taking more and more supplements and noticed that overdoing it was making me restless rather than helping. So I left them out completely during the fast. My tremor values quickly went back to normal, I walked more smoothly and moved more loosely. For me this was an important fresh start, including the lesson to use supplements in a targeted way and not overdo them.

June 15 to 19, 2026: fasting mimicking again. Afterward my symptoms were clearly better this time too.

On top of that, I skip breakfast every day.

Effort and Costs

The SaluFast package makes the five days easier because everything is prepared. Cooking for yourself is cheaper.

My Conclusion

I think fasting makes sense, especially with a long, healthy life in mind. Fasting mimicking is the more pleasant form for me, and I plan to do it at least twice a year. If you want to dig deeper, I recommend the books by Prof. Michalsen.