Couscous, hi, have just read the article you mention. I notice that people always say you can eat what you want on non fast days, but as I understand it you eat normally, not what you want. There is a big difference. In an interview Dr. Moseley states just this point. (Can’t remember where the article is, but may have been posted by USA, Sorry USA if it wasn’t you). As for it being difficult – well tosh! Ok, some days are tougher than others, but the vast majority of the time it’s easy. Fair point about kids etc though.

@couscous
“saying that fasters could “feast” on non fast days. ”

I think the appropriate term is feed. That would designate more of a fueling the body rather over compensating for fast days.

➰

Hi Couscous,

I looked at the website. I will be going back to check out their slow cooker receipts. I’m not surprised that the site was dismissive of the 5:2 diet and of course recommended the eat healthy way of losing weight that hasn’t worked for the majority of people for the last few decades. Eating healthy is a wonderful goal, it just appears to be unsustainable for the majority of people.

The ease of 5:2 is for me the reason I am able to stick to it. I have been doing it since May 2013, and so far have not missed even 1 Fast day. Weight is going down slowly now but most weeks I see at least a 1/2 lb. loss. It is easy for me to recognize that there are some Feed days that I eat too many calories. But I know that it is not a disaster, I can persevere.

Good luck to all and keep on fasting.

Quick

toms mantis

ur right

re-posted 4 the people who missed interview

Dr. Michael Mosley is a very interesting person. He trained to be a doctor at the Royal Free Hospital in London, and then joined the BBC (British Broadcasting Corp.), where he is a journalist, TV personality and producer. I had an opportunity to do an email interview with Dr. Mosley while he was filming in France. He is as fascinating as his famous diet.
Diet Detective: Thanks so much for agreeing to do this interview. Let’s jump right into the first question. How did you discover this diet — that is, using intermittent fasting? The story behind why you wrote the book is very interesting. Can you give us the highlights?

Dr. Michael Mosley: About 18 months ago I went to have a routine physical, and my doctor told me that my blood tests had revealed that I was a diabetic with a cholesterol level that was also far too high and would also require medication. This was a nasty shock, particularly as my father had died in his early 70s of complications of diabetes. I am 5 feet 11 inches and about 186 pounds, so I was not hugely overweight. I also eat quite well and am reasonably active.

I have never been on a diet, as I know most of them end in failure, and I also know that standard dieting has only modest effects when it comes to delaying the onset of diabetes. So I went looking for alternative approaches and came across researchers in the U.S. and the U.K. looking at intermittent fasting. The idea is that instead of cutting your calories every day you cut your calories every other day, or perhaps only twice a week.

I decided to make a documentary for the BBC tracking my progress. It would be a reverseSupersize Me, the documentary where Morgan Spurlock put himself on a diet of junk food. I tried different forms of intermittent fasting before settling on a version that I felt I could stick to. This consists of cutting your calories by one-fourth for two days a week. On a Monday and a Thursday I would eat just 600 calories a day. For the other five days a week I would eat normally. I called this the 5:2 Fast Diet.

On this diet I lost 19 pounds of fat over three months, and all my blood levels returned to the normal range.

★☆Diet Detective: The diet seems so simple. Is it really just eating normally five days a week and restricting calories (500 for women; 600 for men) the other two days?

Dr. Michael Mosley: Yes, it is that simple. Actually doing it can be quite tough, particularly at the start. The foods you eat on your fasting days are also important as they should keep you full but also ensure maximum nutrition. I recommend protein (eggs, meat, fish) and lots of vegetables. I have a website, thefastdiet.co.uk, that provides support and more information.★☆

★☆★☆Diet Detective: Can you really eat whatever you want on the five unrestricted days?

★☆★☆Dr. Michael Mosley: No, you can’t. If you overeat on the other five days you will not lose weight or get benefits. Cutting your calories to one-fourth two days a week means you will cut your calorie intake by about 3,000 calories a week, which translates into around 1 pound of fat lost.★☆★☆

Diet Detective: What’s the theory behind the Fast Diet? What does it do for you physiologically and psychologically?

Dr. Michael Mosley: Many people find it easier than standard dieting because instead of being on a diet seven days a week you are only dieting for two days. People say they can exercise their willpower and resist pizza today if they know they can have it tomorrow.

On a physical level this pattern of eating seems to better mimic the way our remote ancestors would have eaten, i.e., feast and famine. Our bodies only get on with essential spring cleaning, getting rid of old and broken down cells, when we don’t have food in our system. That’s why eating lots of small meals a day is not a good idea.

Diet Detective: What are some of the tricks or tactics you use to make sure the Fast Diet works?

Dr. Michael Mosley: The main one is to approach it with a positive mental attitude rather than with fear and trepidation. Much of what you may have been told about short bursts of fasting is simply not true. Your blood sugars will not fall after a couple of hours without food; in fact, after a meal there is a drop, and then blood sugars stay constant for about 60 hours even if you don’t eat at all. Similarly, “starvation mode,” the idea that your body will try to hold onto fat, does occur, but only after many days or weeks without food. The initial reaction of your body to a reduction in food is to speed up your metabolism.

The recipes in The Fast Diet and The Fast Diet Recipe Book are balanced to ensure they give you maximum nutrition for minimum calories

Do it with a friend or family member and you will also find it easier.

Diet Detective: What kinds of results should a person expect?

Dr. Michael Mosley: You can expect to lose, on average, 1 to 2 pounds a week. Most of that will be fat. In fact, the studies have shown that on a 5;2 diet you will lose almost twice as much fat per week as on a standard diet.

Diet Detective: Is there any validity to your critics’ claims that the diet is unhealthy and that it may be bad for the metabolism?

Dr. Michael Mosley: There have been more than a dozen studies of intermittent fasting, following hundreds of men and women for periods of up to a year. These studies all suggest that intermittent fasting is safe and leads to greater improvements in key biomarkers such as insulin sensitivity than standard diets. Some critics seem to be unaware of the research and continue to espouse long defunct theories, such as “starvation mode.”

Diet Detective: You also researched exercise programs; what did you find out?

Dr. Michael Mosley: I found out that you can get many of the benefits of exercise from doing just a few minutes of intense exercise a day. It is called HIT — High Intensity Training.

Diet Detective: Do you have a favorite healthy recipe?

Dr. Michael Mosley: I love breakfast, and one of my favorite recipes is a mushroom and spinach frittata: eggs, mushrooms, spinach, and all for just 270 calories.

Diet Detective: What is your all-time favorite healthy snack?

Dr. Michael Mosley: My all-time favorite is humus with carrot sticks; if I am craving something sweeter it would be a small number of strawberries with a scattering of stevia, the natural sweetener that has no calories.

Diet Detective: What’s always in your fridge?

Dr. Michael Mosley: Milk, eggs, butter, bacon and lots of vegetables.

Diet Detective: What did you have for breakfast this morning?

Dr. Michael Mosley: I am in France at the moment, so I had a croissant and some cheese with a big mug of coffee.

Diet Detective: What is your favorite junk food?

Dr. Michael Mosley: My favorite junk food is hamburgers; I don’t need a lot of meat or cheese but I do like relish and lots of flavor.

Diet Detective: What would you choose for your last meal?

Dr. Michael Mosley: I would choose to eat my last meal with my wife. I don’t think I would be too worried about the food.

Diet Detective: What’s your favorite healthy ingredient? What’s the one thing you’d suggest people keep in their kitchen if they want to cook healthy meals?

Dr. Michael Mosley: My favorite healthy ingredient is garlic. It adds lots of delicious flavor, and the compounds in garlic are said to reduce fatty deposits. Plus, it keeps vampires at bay.

Can you please provide ONLY one (1) to five (5) WORDS on each of the following

Diet Detective: Organic foods?

Dr. Michael Mosley: Not convinced.

Diet Detective: Antioxidants?

Dr. Michael Mosley: If eaten as vegetables.

Diet Detective: Artificial sweeteners?

Dr. Michael Mosley: No.

Diet Detective: Diet soda?

Dr. Michael Mosley: No.

Diet Detective: Food additives and preservatives?

Dr. Michael Mosley: Not bothered.

Diet Detective: Nutritional supplements?

Dr. Michael Mosley: No.

Diet Detective: Glycemic Index?

Dr. Michael Mosley: I’m a fan.

Fact Sheet

Your Website: thefastdiet.co.uk

Where you live: England

Your current location: South of France

Your current job title: BBC Science Presenter

Education: Degree from Oxford University in Politics, Philosophy and Economics Qualified as a medical doctor at the Royal Free Hospital in London

Résumé (brief): I did a first degree at Oxford, worked as a banker, trained as a doctor, joined the BBC, spent 20 years making documentaries from behind the camera, now make them in front of the camera.

Hometown: Hong Kong

________________________________________________________

CHARLES PLATKIN, Ph.D., M.P.H., THE DIET DETECTIVE is one of the country’s leading nutrition and public health advocates, whose syndicated health, nutrition and fitness column, the Diet Detective appears in more than 100 daily newspapers nationally. Dr. Platkin is also the founder of DietDetective.com, which offers nutrition, food, and fitness information. Platkin is a health expert and blogger featured on Everydayhealth.com, Active.com and Fitnessmagazine.com. Additionally, Platkin is a Distinguished Lecturer at the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College in New York City.

http://www.kval.com/news/health/Dr-Michael-Mosley-author-of-The-Fast-Diet-218845341.html