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The Fast Diet: Get Thin Quick By Starving Yourself Two Days A Week
Dina Spector|Mar. 16, 2013
The FastDiet, also known as the 5:2 diet, is based on something called intermittent fasting. This involves eating normally for five days a week and “fasting” for two. On those two fasting days, you eat about a quarter of your typical calorie intake — 500 calories for women and 600 calories for men. The rest of the time you can eat whatever you want.
The book, only recently released in the U.S., was written by Dr. Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer, both of the U.K. They claim this diet will make you lose weight faster than other standard diets — Mosley says he lost 20 pounds within a few weeks of starting the diet.
Although the extreme eating regime has been met with criticism in the health community, Mosley says the evidence to support intermittent fasting is there. The entire first chapter is even devoted to the “science of fasting.”
Still not sure about the craze?
Here we break down how and why the 5:2 diet works, according to its authors.
First, let’s understand what happens to your body when you fast.
When you don’t eat, your body must turn somewhere else besides food for energy and begins to feed on the glucose in your blood.
Once all of the glucose in your blood is eaten up, your body turns to stored glucose — which is kept in complex carbohydrate molecules called glycogen.
And finally, when all of that stored glucose is used up, your body taps into fat stores for energy and glucose.
But, continuing to do this for long stretches of time is not sustainable. In fact, your body might go into starvation mode, where your metabolism actually slows down in response to a decrease in calorie intake.
Source: The FastDiet
The 5:2 diet, based on intermittent fasting, is different from calorie restriction or starving.
Dr. Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer are both on the FastDiet.
Romas Foord
Intermittent fasting is not the same as prolonged calorie restriction, or starving. That would be when our body doesn’t take in enough nutrients to maintain a normal, healthy lifestyle.
Intermittent fasting involves “eating fewer calories, but only some of the time,” Mosley writes.
Mosley admits that prolonged fasting is not sustainable and will ultimately result in muscle loss.
With the FastDiet, you never go for longer than 24 hours without eating.
Source: The FastDiet
Ok, so where’s the science?
Photo courtesy of Atria Books
Intermittent fasting improves learning and memory by stimulating new brain cells in the region of the brain responsible for memory.
In a study with mice, neuroscientist Mark Mattson found that intermittent fasting increases levels of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF.
This, in turn, stimulates new brain cells in the hippocampus, the region of the brain that is responsible for memory. (Shrinking of the hippocampus has been linked to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease).
In the lab, Mattson fed one group of mice a diet of junk food, while a different group of mice ate a low fat diet and fasted for part of the week. The mice fed junk food became fat and had more problems navigating the maze to find food. The fasting mice had more BDNF in their brains.
Source: The FastDiet
Awesome. Fasting is one of the best things you can do. I fast one to two times a week and get compliments on my youthful appearance, my physical strength, etc. Also, I drink distilled water instead of tap water (harmful chlorine and fluoride).
This is nothing new. I’ve known about this for over 30 years. My friends and I used to do this all the time back in the late 70′s and into the 80′s.
i ate tuesday
Here’s a better diet tip – eat less, exercise more and buy fresh foods where possible. Ditch the processed rubbish and these stupid diet fads that cause more misery than they solve.
I want to try it…….wonder how long it will take me to lose 10 pounds????? or maybe even 15?