the 5:2 fast diet™

‘No fasting for me during the last fortnight. My house, like the rest of the nation’s homes, has been groaning with food – and I defy anyone to saunter past a plate of mince pies without sneaking one in. Ditto sausage rolls. Quality Street. Ferrero Rocher. I also had my annual tussle between brandy butter and cream on the Christmas pud, and settled (as is traditional) for both. But, new year, new me, and I’m back on the programme and fasting today.

It actually comes as a relief. I was beginning to feel stodgy, like a walking, talking Christmas pud myself, and I missed the loose, lean feeling that intermittent fasting brings. There’s a pleasant sensation of control and clarity that comes with fasting, the very opposite of the post-holiday slump that usually descends at this time of year, when you can barely be bothered to reach for the remote.

Today, then, it’s my usual fasting breakfast of muesli (Alpen No Sugar) with unblanched almonds, hazelnuts, dried cranberries (festive) and pomegranate seeds (fashionable). To be honest, I have taken to slinging pomegranate seeds on anything that doesn’t actually move, à la Ottolenghi, Nigella, Nigel Slater, Lorraine Pascal, all of those TV cooks. In 12 hours or so, I’ll have a generous watercress salad with crumbled feta, balsamic and probably more pomegranate seeds. Shame not to. So pretty.

Filed under: inspiration, Michael and Mimi by Mimi
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From twitter: @DrMichaelMosley My partner’s dodgy knee has improved since diet; not sure if cos less weight on it or inflammation down.

My reply:

One of the things that I am particularly interested in is the anti-inflammatory effects of intermittent fasting (IF). A number of studies, in humans and in mice, have shown that IF reduces inflammatory markers (unlike high protein diets which seem to increase them). In a review paper for The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, March 2005, Dr Mark Mattson (whose work I cite frequently in my book as he is one the great researchers in this field) writes:

 “Intermittent fasting and caloric restriction (CR) extend lifespan and increase resistance to age-related diseases in rodents and monkeys and improve the health of overweight humans. Both IF and CR enhance cardiovascular and brain functions and improve several risk factors for coronary artery disease and stroke including a reduction in blood pressure and increased insulin sensitivity…The beneficial effects of IF and CR result from at least two mechanisms — reduced oxidative damage and increased cellular stress resistance.”

I will go into the mechanisms around oxidative damage and what he means by cellular stress resistance at a later date if anyone out there is interested.

Filed under: inspiration, Michael and Mimi by Michael
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A poem on the joys of fasting by Jelaluddin Rumi, who was born in what is now Afghanistan in 1207.

Fasting

There’s hidden sweetness in the stomach’s emptiness.
We are lutes, no more, no less. If the soundbox
is stuffed full of anything, no music.
If the brain and belly are burning clean
with fasting, every moment a new song comes out of the fire.
The fog clears, and new energy makes you
run up the steps in front of you.

When you fast, good habits gather like friends who want to help.
Fasting is Solomon’s ring. Don’t give it
to some illusion and lose your power,
but even if you have, if you’ve lost all will and control,
they come back when you fast, like soldiers appearing
out of the ground, pennants flying above them.
A table descends to your tents, spread with other food,
better than the broth of cabbages.

Filed under: inspiration, Michael and Mimi by Michael
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