If you have been trying to follow the diet associated with the Bredesen Protocol for awhile, you may be in the same predicament as my mom: struggling to keep on enough weight. Hungry all the time? Tired? Clothes are too loose? Constantly cold? Maybe you're not eating enough of the right stuff.
I'm not an expert on the Bredesen Protocol. Far from it. I'm just a daughter that loves her mom and wants to see her getting enough calories so she can be happy and have the energy and do all the other stuff the Bredesen Protocol is about... exercise, brain stimulation, etc. This website is my personal experiment in finding hearty, tasty recipes that are easy to prepare and have all the nutritional information you need to plan a meal rotation that works for you as you strive to follow Dr. Bredesen's guidelines. I'm not a certified practitioner, I don't know Dr. Bredesen personally, or have any background in nutrition or medicine. I'm probably pretty much just like you, trying to figure out how to do it all when as of yet there are not a million websites devoted to eating on the Bredesen Protocol.
The Diet
If you haven't yet read Dr. Bredesen's book, The End of Alzheimers, that's where you need to start. I'm not even going to attempt to summarize it. If you've read it, then most of what I write here is going to make sense to you.
Some people trying to follow the Bredesen Protocol find The Plant Paradox by Dr. Gundry to be very helpful. Personally, I find the Bredesen Protocol to be hard enough without worrying about lectins. Instead, on this website I'm going with the guidelines given to us by our certified Bredesen Practitioner at FoundationMed in Raleigh, NC (they aren't affiliated with this website).
Some people trying to follow the Bredesen Protocol find The Plant Paradox by Dr. Gundry to be very helpful. Personally, I find the Bredesen Protocol to be hard enough without worrying about lectins. Instead, on this website I'm going with the guidelines given to us by our certified Bredesen Practitioner at FoundationMed in Raleigh, NC (they aren't affiliated with this website).
Information you need to know about using these recipes:
- Try to use organic/pesticide-free pastured produce and meat and eggs.
- We have been told not to use coconut oil or MCT oil due to our specific genetics (APOE3/4). So in all these recipes, where it calls for oil/fat, we use avocado oil or olive oil. Regular olive oil for cooking, extra-virgin for salads. Ghee is also okay too (even though it is dairy).
- This diet avoids all dairy (except ghee) and soy
- This diet avoids all gluten and most grains except millet, sorghum, and white basmati rice in moderation.
- Carbs should be restricted to 50 grams or less per day to maintain mild ketosis. Keep this in mind as you plan your menu for the day.
- Lectins are minimized. As I said, we try not to worry a lot about lectins, though we try to do a few things to minimize them: we eat nightshades in moderation (removing the seeds), and utilize a pressure cooker (the Instant Pot) to cook legumes.
