I’ve now been on the 5:2 for about four months and the results are very pleasing so I thought an update might be useful.

I’m a lung cancer patient and it is essential that I keep my protein levels up to avoid getting cancer cachexia. Cachexia puts you off eating, you lose weight and eventually just sort of fade away, it has happened to at least two people in our local support group who were confirmed medically of having it, there are also a few others who may have had it but have also gone now. What I have tried to do is to achieve a balance between calorie reduction and maintaining my protein levels.

My normal weight for many years was around 75kgs, would have liked to have got it down to about 70kgs because that would have given me a perfect BMI. Last year I was hospitalised for pneumonia and whilst there I caught pseudomonas aeruginosa which caused my weight to drop to 60kgs in about two weeks. They stabilised my condition and I was discharged from hospital, all hospitals are dangerous places. I’d been maintaining my weight with Sustagen Protein Supplement, I used to take took ten scoops each day. When I started on the 5:2 diet I still needed to take the same amount of protein, that is 70 scoops per week so now on the 5 days of the diet I take 14 scoops each day then none on the 2 calorie reduction days. It seems to work for me, I’m still getting the benefits of the 2 calorie reduction days. I have very comprehensive pathology tests every three weeks when I go in for chemotherapy. During the last few years many of my blood levels have been wrong, too much or too little on many measurements, I also have myelodysplasia. Since going on the diet my haemoglobin has increased from 70 up to 110, my platelets have gone from 50 up to above 100 and more importantly my CEA which is a tumour activity indicator has dropped from 7.8 to 4.1, this might mean that my tumours have dropped in size but I will not know for sure until my next CT Scan towards the end of January. Many other blood levels have also moved, either up or down, to more normal levels, most are not yet perfect but they are heading in the right direction. A few weeks ago arrangements had been made for me to have blood transfusions, cross matching had been done but then the latest blood test indicated that I no longer needed them; I believe it was the 5:2 diet that enabled me to avoid the blood transfusions but a bit more monitoring over the next three months or so may confirm this.

Fasting for health reasons is not something new, it has been around for hundreds of years but can be severe to some people and full fasts of more than three days need to be medically supervised. The 5:2 diet is a real good balance, it is long enough to reduce the EGF-1 but not too long to cause any other medical problems. Since being on it I have been feeling so much better. According to the literature fasting will not help chronic diseases like cancer, it is most effective with the autoimmune diseases and there are at least 200 of them. I believe that I’m feeling better because it is curing a few minor things for me that I didn’t realise that I had and this has taken the pressure off my body so that it can get on and deal with the cancer.

I’m thoroughly enjoying the 5:2 diet, gives me a feeling of peace and calm with improvements in my medical condition. With the right equipment and careful planning it is possible to have very satisfying meals. Can’t put photos on this website but there are some in my blog at http://nkwaring.blogspot.com.au/p/the-52-diet.html, this is a special section that I’ve devoted to the 5:2 diet.