So what is the Up Day Down Day Diet and why should I be interested in it?

The Up Day Down Day Diet is way of eating that focuses more on how and when you eat rather than on what you eat. Really! Every other day you eat a regular amount of calories...a pretty generous amount of regular calories.  Then every other day, between THOSE days, you eat a reduced amount of calories.  It's basically like a modified "fast"...every other day.  The research that "backs" this "diet" was discovered by Dr. James Johnson, a leading plastic surgeon in New Orleans.  You can read ALL the scientific details at www.johnsonupdaydowndaydiet.com, but I will explain briefly here.

The Johnson Up Day Down Day Diet, or the book about it "The Alternate Day Diet" (much easier to say) was created by, again, Dr. James Johnson.  By witnessing the difficulties his patients were having with weight loss as well as their health problems related to being overweight, Dr. Johnson was inspired to research other methods of weight loss as an alternative to the stress-inducing, traditional weight loss methods.  Not to mention, the low frequency of success there is with the traditional weight loss methods.  He found a 2003 study on alternate-day calorie restrictions in mice and realized that this could be the answer. He started his own analysis and research of effects that alternate-day fasting has on humans. He has since published several scientific articles on the subject, as well as his FREE website, yeah, that's right..FREE...which tells people HOW to do the diet and he has become the "foremost innovator in this field...also conducting the first study to show how alternate-day calorie restriction can treat disease." (From the website)  Dr. Johnson shows, in his research, how this type of eating plan activates a specific gene, the SIRT1 gene, that is found to be "activated" during times when food is scarce.  It promotes "survival" by protecting the cells during these "scarce" times.  It also repairs damage done by free radicals and prevents cells from dying prematurely.  It also...should I keep going?  It seems like a little "miracle gene" doesn't it?  I'll keep going...it's really interesting!  So this gene ALSO causes the mitochondria, the "power plant" of the cells, to produce energy at higher levels that typically associated with YOUNGER cells. Woo Hoo!   YOUTH!  So as it says on the JUDDD website (Johnson Up Day Down Day Website) the SIRT 1 gene is believe to be a principal regulator of "lifespan".

So those are reasons why this gene assists with health.  And that is AWESOME!  But what does it have to do with weight loss?  Well, it's been dubbed the "skinny gene"...not "skinny jeans"...and it assists with weight loss by inhibiting fat storage and increasing fat metabolism.  Also, it keeps the body from "storing" fat which helps "slow" the aging process as well as age related diseases.  Heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, arthritis and osteoporosis have ALL been linked with excess fat "cells" in the body.  So we would ALL do much better...with fewer fat cells!  And if THIS is the gene that does it...then we NEED to do what we can...to "activate" this gene.  And apparently...the "alternate day diet"...which I will refer to it from now on...does that! 

So NOW do you see why you should be interested in the Up Day Down Day Diet?  :  )   If you are interested in it, I recommend going to the website and reading more about it.  It is FREE...as I said before.  Plus, there is a FREE option, on the "How to Do the Diet" page...that will tell you the EXACT amount of calories that YOU, personally, with your exact height, weight and activity level, can have on your Up Day AND on your Down Day.  I did it...and I lost 30lbs in about 8 months.  That MAY not seem like a FAST weight loss...however...for ME...it WAS...you know, weight loss!  If you have read my profile, you know about my chronic back pain issue, my fibromyalgia...and I also have Hashimoto's thyroiditis.  It's an autoimmune thyroid condition that causes hypothyroidism.  So I had A LOT going against me when it comes to weight loss.  I found the Johnson website and KNEW I had found something!  And it truly worked for me!  Not ONLY did I lose weight...but it helped my Fibromyalgia pain.  Now...why am I saying I need to "do it again" or "start over" or whatever it is I'm doing here on this blog?  Well...the last couple of years has had a lot of stress for me.  And despite KNOWING something that helps...I let 'stress' take over.  I did not gain ALL of the weight back...thank Goodness for that...BUT...I did gain some of it back.  So...now you see why I am here.  I am re-inforcing my beliefs and understanding of what works, journaling while I am 'starting again'...so I can see some of my "stressors' while I am doing this...and maybe help keep me from going down the same road of 'stress eating' I have the last couple years...and maybe..just maybe...I will help somebody out there...in "internet" space.