If you want to stop spinning your wheels and actually lose weight, CUT THE SUGAR AND FOODS THAT CONVERT TO SUGAR IN YOUR BODY. Learn about how your liver works (or is supposed to work anyways). Fat does not make you fat, sugar (i.e. grains, high fructose foods/pop, certain fruits) does. I’m living proof. Went Paleo and lost 20lbs in a month, that I didn’t think I needed to lose, just by eliminating grains and dairy from my diet. Can’t put on fat now eating the way that I am even if I try. Both our kids are also living it, and doing very well on it. We’ll never go back. My six pack is back at 42 years old. I work out hard with weights 3 times a week, half hour a day, and do hiking/walking, and biking in the summer (too cold for biking here in Saskatchewan in the winter!). No need to kill yourself with chronic-cardio. Mark Sisson explains it well on his site:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-grains-are-unhealthy/#axzz2mkR8O1f1

And I’m not sure why everyone here is so concerned about cholesterol.

Read this: http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Cholesterol-Con-Disease/dp/1844546101

There have also been several other books/papers written…some LONG ago.
FACTS: fat doesn’t make you fat, and dietary cholesterol does not raise your cholesterol levels! Again, I’m eating eggs every day for the last 7 months, and my cholesterol level hasn’t increased (it’s always been good, although after reading the above book, you will question what ‘good’ is). There is no such thing as ‘good and bad’ cholesterol. It’s just a way for pharma reps (like my brother-in-law in Seattle) to push Statins.

I am interested in the fasting diet however for the possible overall longevity/health benefits, and am going to give it a try. I’m more than a little disappointed after reading ‘The Fast Diet’ as Michael and Mimi seem to be espousing many of the conventional myths that are still out there, mainly regarding fat and cholesterol.

Not really sure how posting facts and my real-life experiences is pompous, but if that’s how you choose to take it, so be it. I laughed out loud when I read that this may be a commercial pitch. If you actually read ‘the Fast Diet’, Michael makes mention several times about improvements to ‘LDL and HDL’ and talks extensively about ‘high fat diets’ in research studies (alluding to the ‘bad’ part of the study) with no mention of carb intake, although there is a good discussion of it later on in the book. Also, espousing a ‘eat whatever you want’ 5 days a week diet is patently ridiculous, although admittedly it may help people transition to a better diet.

Since being diagnosed with an auto-immune disorder 3 years ago (Vitiligo) and told by conventional doctors/specialists that there’s nothing I or they can do about it, I’ve been reading (over 100 books and countless research papers and websites), and trying to find a solution. It coincided with some pretty serious back pain that turned out to be caused by grain consumption (not celiac, I’ve been tested 3 times with 3 different tests) and I don’t believe in coincidences. I’d been eating cereal (Nature’s Path organic, whole grains, blah, blah) and sandwiches (whole grain bread) every day for 39 years. Finally tried paleo (after my wife’s endless prodding – thank you Angie!) for a month and voila, no more back pain, dropped 20 lbs. Actually lost weight so fast I thought something was wrong, but it stabilized at what I now would say is my so-called ‘ideal’ weight, not what doctors say is. Did this all on my own. The only people that agreed with anything I had to say were homeopaths and naturopaths.

Living in Saskatchewan (one of the largest grain-producing regions in the world), I get virtually no support for my decisions, but that is changing. I often call this place the ‘China of agriculture’, although all modern industrial monocrop farms fall into this category. If you actually take the time to see how grain (wheat, pulse crops, canola) is produced in 2013, you wouldn’t ever touch it. For example, they now use Roundup to ‘finish’ (i.e. ripen) crops early in the fall so they can get on with their trips to Hawaii earlier. The problem is hybrid grain and gliadins, look it up.

Do what you want, just remember that carbs cause fat (and inflammation), not fat, and cholesterol has never been PROVEN to be bad for us. The studies are 100% clear all over the world…heart disease victims on average have ‘NORMAL’ cholesterol levels when they die. I suspect the biggest reason people resist is the difficulty eliminating carbs from one’s diet…they’re piled into everything we eat now. You have to be very vigilant where you source your food from. Misinformation is what corporations are all about. Monsanto has a 1.1 billion per year subsidiary that does nothing but go online and spread it…they don’t even try to hide it, relying on the ‘willful ignorance’ of the consumer that too preoccupied with big houses and shiny gadgets to care.

Anyways, I digress…;-)

Yikes, evangelical is certainly the word. I don’t know what supposed controversy there is? There’s nothing to argue about. Several people on this forum are struggling with their weight. I see that in post after post, yet none of them seem to be working within the biomechanics of their own bodies. The gist of my posts are not in debate…fat doesn’t make you fat and cholesterol causing heart disease IS A MYTH. This is not a ‘choice’ I made, it’s a fact. I think many of you need to do some reading by the sounds of things. If you want to lose weight and reduce your inflammation, eliminate carbs…period. It’s hard, yes, but it works 100% of the time. No willpower to do that? Get some.

And I’ve never bashed the 5:2 fasting system at all. As a matter of fact I came on here in support of it (end of my first post). I actually have fasted on several occasions, as recently as yesterday. I re-watched the Michael Mosley PBS special I have taped to re-affirm what he says several times over: “eat whatever you want 5 days a week, reduce your calorie intake to 600/500 on your fasting days”. Same as in the book. He then proceeds to scarf down a beer, burger and fries…the worst part of that meal of course being the bun and the beer. I agree, some people only see and hear what they want to hear…