Jet Lag Diets

Back in the mid 1980's the parental unit was heading to far overseas. A friend of theirs was working in the white house and told them of a method of eating 3 days before your flight and shocking the dietary system on the day of the flight and on your arrival. The first time I used the diet was on an overseas trip. I followed it on the way there and had no problems with jet lag. Coming back I decided not to follow it and got walloped for my efforts. Just to make sure it wasn't an east west phenomena a few years later I reversed it. Didn’t follow the program and was useless at my destination for a few days. Followed it on the way back arrived on Sunday evening reported to work the next day. Well other than having to go to work it proved to me that it works.

The original is this:

http://www.netlib.org/misc/jet-lag-diet

The ORIGINAL Jet Lag Diet

The Argonne Anti-Jet-Lag-Diet

The Argonne Anti-Jet-Lag Diet is helping travelers quickly adjust their bodies' internal clocks to new time zones. It is also being used to speed the adjustment of shiftworkers, such as power plant operators, to periodically rotating work hours. The diet was developed by Dr. Charles F. Ehret (deceased 24FEB2007) of Argonne's Division of Biological and Medical Research as an application of his fundamental studies of the daily biological rhythms of animals. Argonne National Laboratory is one of the US Department of Energy's major centers of research in energy and the fundamental sciences.





How to avoid jet lag:

1. DETERMINE BREAKFAST TIME at destination on day of arrival.

2. FEAST-FAST-FEAST-FAST - Start four days before breakfast time in step 1. On day one, FEAST; eat heartily with high-protein breakfast and lunch and a high-carbohydrate dinner. No coffee except between 3 and 5 p.m. On day two, FAST on light meals of salads, light soups, fruits and juices. Again, no coffee except between 3 and 5 p.m. On day three, FEAST again. On day four, FAST; if you drink caffeinated beverages, take them in morning when traveling west, or between 6 and 11 p.m. when traveling east.

3. BREAK THE FINAL FAST at destination breakfast time. No alcohol on the plane. If the flight is long enough, sleep until normal breakfast time at destination, but no later. Wake up and FEAST on a high protein breakfast. Stay awake and active. Continue the day's meals according to mealtimes at the destination.

FEAST on high protein breakfast and lunches to stimulate the body's active cycle. Suitable meals include steak, eggs, hamburgers, high-protein cereals, green beans.

FEAST on high carbohydrates suppers to stimulate sleep. They include spaghetti and other pastas (but no meatballs), crepes (but no meat filling), potatoes, other starchy vegetables, and sweet desserts.

FAST days help deplete the liver's store of carbohydrates and prepare the body's clock for resetting. Suitable foods include fruit, light soups, broths, skimpy salads, unbuttered toast, half pieces of bread. Keep calories and carbohydrates to a minimum.

Day 1 Feast Breakfast Lunch Dinner:
High protein, High protein, High Carbs

Day 2 Fast Breakfast Lunch Dinner:
Light Foods 3x

Day 3 Feast Breakfast Lunch Dinner:
High protein, High protein, High Carbs

Day 4 Fast Breakfast Lunch Dinner:
Light Foods 3x

Westbound: If you drink caffeinated beverages, take them morning before departure.
Eastbound: take them between 6 and 11 p.m. If flight is long enough, sleep until destination breakfast time. Wake up and FEAST beginning with a high protein breakfast. Stay active.

Avoid Methylated Xanthines aka caffeine unless proscribed in the above
Coffee, tea, cola, other caffeinated beverages allowed only between 3 and 5 p.m.
Chocolate is a caffeine!

Of course now you can go to a web site that was co-created by Dr. Ehret http://www.stopjetlag.com/ pay some $$ and get an up to date bells and whistles personalized version that takes into account information that was not available in the mid 80's. For me I have found the original works just as well and I can save some coin. In addition he updated his book and gave it a new name and web site
http://www.thecureforjetlag.com/about/
I hope he has used a better publisher as the original used high acid paper and my copy is very yellow and brittle.

How to apply it:
There are two sets of parties that will meet in Delhi The first set is having a stop over in London. They will need to use 2 sets of diets. The challenge will be to stay on an abbreviated diet plan during the layover and rest the internal clock.
London is 8 hours ahead of the west coast
Delhi is 5 ½ hours ahead of London
One method is to reset the clock to Delhi and try to live with the time difference. Not likely. The other is to attempt to rest the internal clock twice. Getting to London time will be ok. There is a day to decompress when we arrive in Delhi and that will be put to good use.

The other party is doing a semi-direct flight to Delhi with a 3 hour layover in London. In that case they use the east/west 11-12 hour time zone diet.

So what does the 1983 diet look like?
Catch this pdf LAXUKDELHI
Want a scientific study?