IT’S SO EASY TO STAY SLIM — FOR EVER!

OVER the six years since I wrote the Fast Diet, millions have found 5:2 intermittent fasting a great way to lose weight. People have also told me that they find it an easy plan to return to if the weight starts to creep back.

But the original 5:2 was by no means perfect. So I’ve written a new book, based on lots of cutting-edge research, which I believe has made this approach to weight loss even more flexible and doable. The result is the Fast 800, which has been serialised all this week in the Irish Daily Mail.

One of the changes I’ve made is to increase the recommended levels of calories to 800 on fasting days. This figure is high enough to ensure you get all the nutrients you need and don’t feel hungry, but low enough to trigger the metabolic benefits of fasting. I also now recommend making your fasting days easier — and more effective — by narrowing your daily eating window to around ten hours a day.

The great thing about intermittent fasting is that it doesn’t require you to give up many food groups or buy lots of expensive ingredients, and it’s something you can dip in and out of as your weight naturally fluctuates through life.

Nearly seven years ago I lost 20 lb and returned my blood sugars to a healthy level by adopting this approach. I’m proud to say I’ve remained the same healthy weight since, by sticking to a largely Mediterranean-style diet, which is naturally quite low in carbohydrates.

I extend my night-time fast as often as I can, and I do throw in a few 800-calorie fast days to get everything back on track if I ever end up with a period of over-indulging.

MAINTAIN YOUR HEALTHY STATE

LET’S be honest here — losing weight and then keeping if off is not easy. But it can be done! So once you have hit your targets, make sure you celebrate. Tell your friends. You have achieved something really important for your health and your longevity.

By using my Fast 800 programme to lose weight, you will have lost lots of harmful visceral fat from around your organs, and you will have reduced your risk of many chronic diseases. If you had high blood pressure, you should have seen significant improvements and your cholesterol profile is likely to be looking better, too. Many people with type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes tell me their blood sugar levels have returned to normal, without medication. People with a fatty liver will have seen their liver health transformed (rapid weight loss is the only effective treatment for Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, also known as NAFLD).

There are plenty of other benefits too. Intermittent fasting has been shown to reduce inflammation, improving conditions such as arthritis, eczema, psoriasis and asthma. Once you reach your target weight, you can relax a little and fit in a few ‘treat days’, but do go carefully.

Occasional lapses are absolutely fine, but be warned: if you return to your old ways, you will inevitably return to your old pre-diet body.

If you’re happy on a 5:2 regime, there is no reason why you shouldn’t stick to that or switch

to the ever-popular 6:1 (where you fast one day a week) long-term. This is an excellent option for keeping your body in good shape, particularly if you haven’t found intermittent fasting too stressful.

If you found Time Restricted Eating suits you, there is no reason why you shouldn’t keep going long-term too. Most people find 10:14 (eating only within a ten-hour window and extending your overnight fast to 14 hours) or 12:12 is doable, albeit with occasional lapses. If you find yourself having a late-night meal/ snack/drink one day, then delay your breakfast the next day to extend your fast.

A MEDITERRANEAN DIET — FOR LIFE

ONE of the very important aspects of my new Fast 800 regime is the fact that it encourages you to eat healthy food. The recipes, created by Dr Clare Bailey and nutritionists Joy Skipper and Justine Pattison, are based on a Mediterranean-style diet, which is rich in healthy natural fats, nuts and fish, as well as vegetables and legumes, and packed with disease-fighting vitamins and minerals.

This abundance of fresh ingredients means the food you make tastes as good as it looks, but it also boosts your health, so I urge you to continue to eat according to Mediterranean diet principles when you successfully lose weight.

There is so much solid scientific evidence that adopting this lifestyle cuts your risk of heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, depression and dementia. Even when taken up later in middle age, it has been shown to increase life expectancy.

In 2013, a major Spanish study of 7,400 overweight, middle-aged Spanish men and women found that those who stuck most closely to a Mediterranean diet stayed slimmer and healthier, slashing their risk of a multitude of diseases (risk of a heart attack or stroke reduced by 30%, type 2 diabetes by 58%, breast cancer by 51% and a lower risk of cognitive decline).

All volunteers were given an ‘M score’, according to how closely they stuck to the Mediterranean diet. It’s definitely worth aiming to keep your M score as high as possible.

HOW TO BOOST YOUR M SCORE

WHETHER you cut your calories or not, a simple way to boost your M score and therefore your health is to adhere to the following simple rules:

1. Reduce sugars and starchy carbs: Cut right back on sugary starchy foods, such as cakes, sweets, biscuits, crisps, fruit juices and soft drinks, as these rapidly turn into sugar in your blood, causing sugar spikes, a surge in insulin and weight gain. Aim to have them less than twice a week.

Watch out for foods that get rapidly converted to sugars in your blood, such as:

Potatoes, bread, white rice and white pasta.

Most breakfast cereals and ‘instant oats’ (rolled oats are okay).

Sweet, tropical fruits such as mangos, pineapples, grapes, melons and bananas as these are high in sugars (fructose). Instead, opt for berries, apples or pears. Aim for a maximum of 1-2 pieces of fruit a day, ideally after a meal.

Minimise processed foods. More than 70% of processed foods contain added sugars. You have to read the labels, although the problem is that there are more than 70 different names for sugars. 2. Increase consumption of natural healthy fats: Enjoy healthy fats in foods such as olive oil, salmon, tuna, full-fat dairy, avocado, nuts and seeds. These natural fats are good for the waist and the heart, and will keep you feeling full for longer. 3. Eat decent amounts of protein: This means eating generous amounts of foods such as oily fish, seafood, chicken, some red meat, eggs, tofu, beans, pulses, dairy and nuts (at least 5060g of protein a day, every day). But restrict your intake of processed meats such as sausages, bacon and salami, as these are not particularly healthy sources. Most contain high levels of salt, nitrates and other preservatives.

4. Eat plenty of green and coloured veg: It is especially important to eat plenty of dark-green leafy vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, cabbage, kale and salads, as well as coloured vegetables — these are very low in calories and contain many essential vitamins and nutrients. They also contain lots of fibre, from which the ‘good’ microbes in your gut will benefit.

5. Swap to wholegrains and pulses: Eat more ‘complex carbohydrates’, which are high in fibre. This means swapping white pasta and rice for wholegrains and pulses such as lentils, beans, quinoa, wild rice and buckwheat.

Choose multi-grain, seeded or rye bread over white. Again, the good bacteria in your gut will thrive on the fibre in these foods. But during both the rapid weight loss and 5:2 stages of the diet you should keep your intake of wholegrains down. That’s because you want to go into mild ketosis and eating grains will stop that happening.

6. Avoid snacking between meals or late-night grazing: Grazing stops fat burning. If you must, snack on nonstarchy vegetables such as broccoli, cucumber or celery, or a small handful of nuts or a small piece of cheese.

Fruit is not a good choice, particularly when you are trying to lose weight.

7. Drink healthily: Plenty of black tea, fruit tea, black coffee, water. As for alcohol, an occasional glass of red wine with a meal is okay on non-fast days.

DEVELOP GOOD HABITS

THE Mediterranean diet is more than a list of set ingredients. It’s about developing a set of habits and making permanent changes to your lifestyle. It involves cutting back on processed, ready-made and fast foods, and instead opting for whole-food meals cooked, where possible, from scratch. And it is about eating food slowly and enjoying it with family and friends. Too often we eat without taking the time to appreciate what is going in our mouths. So don’t eat your meal in front of the TV. Make the effort to savour it fully.

BULKING OUT YOUR MEALS

SO MANY of the recipes in this series can be expanded and enhanced and portion sizes increased to ensure they can be enjoyed by everyone in the family. Try these further suggestions for how to increase protein content make a meal more stiating on your non-fast days and/on or when you reach your target weight.

1 tbsp chopped fried bacon (about 7g, 23 cals) 1 tbsp chorizo (10kg. 29 cals) 40g mushrooms, fried in 1 tsp olive oil for 4-5 minutes (63 cla)

1 tbsp grated cheese (about 10g. 41 cals)

30g halloumi, sliced and lightly fried in 1 tsp olive oil (145 cals)

45g tuna, canned in oil (85 cals)

Handful of nuts (10g each of walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, 195 cals)

75g chicken breast (115 cals)

75g frozen prawns, defrosted (59 cals)

100g tofu (73 cals)

2 tsp sesame seeds (10g, 60 cals)

1 tbsp full-fat Greek yoghurt (40g, 37 cals)

Matchbox-sized piece of Cheddar cheese (30g — 124 cals)

Crispy fried onion rings for 2 people: heat 1 tbsp olive oil and saute 1 small onion sliced into rings, turning them frequently until they are golden and slightly crispy (60 cals per serving)

Raitha for 2 people: mix 4 tbsp fullfat Greek yoghurt with a small cucumber, grated, and a pinch of cumin seeds (97 cals per serving)

Olive oil and cider vinegar dressing for 2 people: whisk 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil with 1 tbsp live cider vinegar and some salt and freshly ground black pepper (100 cals per serving). Dressings are a great way to liven up broccoli and leafy greens.

Drizzle of olive oil. Use good-quality extra-virgin olive oil if you can, and don’t worry about calories. Your body needs it for vitamins and energy. Remember, fat does not make you fat!

WHOLEGRAINS AND PULSES

MANY of the recipes in this series are low in carbohydrate to stimulate fat burning. But on non-fast days and when you have reached your target weight you can re-introduce wholegrains and pulses, such as brown rice and lentils. These complex carbohydrates contain beneficial quantities of fibre which feed the microbiome in your gut, leading to the production of substances that reduce inflammation, lower blood sugars and improve health.

Cooked brown rice (21 cals per 15g tbsp)

Cooked quinoa (18 cals per 15g tbsp)

Cooked bulgur wheat (13 cals per 15g tbsp)

Cooked puy lentils (18 cals per 15g tbsp)

Cooked pearl barley (19 cals per 15g tbsp)