Managing Parkinson's With Diet

People with Parkinson’s disease often are concerned about fluctuation in their response to medication with their diet, especially protein. Levodopa (L-dopa) is the most used medication to treat the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Dietary protein can compete with L-dopa to cross the blood-brain barrier and decrease the efficacy of the drug. Such problem of protein and levodopa competition usually appears years after the initiation of L-dopa therapy.

In this book, Yuchi Yang, a registered dietitian, offers you a step-by-step food and nutrition guide to managing Parkinson’s with diet:

•Step 1: Risk Factors and Beneficial Behaviors
•Step 2: Research Findings on Managing Parkinson’s with Diet
•Step 3: How to Design Your Own Meal Plans
•Step 4: Examples of 14 Healthy Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, and Snacks

"The great aim of education is not knowledge but action." - Herbert Spencer. This book is designed to be a dietary guide that you can refer to and record your success. Each chapter includes some study findings and the author’s dietary suggestions. There are relevant tools and tables included in this book. When you make your own meal plan, you can refer back to the tables and examples. In addition, this book provides answers to some of the most frequently asked questions. For example:

•How much oil do you need?
•What is a good ratio of different fats?
•How much protein do you need?
•How to minimize L-dopa and dietary protein competition and achieve a day-to-day consistency?

The author, Yuchi Yang, has been a registered dietitian for more than twenty years. She has helped many of her clients manage Parkinson’s with diet. Research continues to explore the science behind diet and nutrition for the risks of Parkinson’s and how to manage it. Further research and studies will result in even more compelling dietary recommendations. In the meantime, this book can be used as a guide to managing Parkinson’s with diet.