Now 5:2 doctor allows fast-day lunch
IT’S one of the most successful and widely used diets of recent years – but there has always been one big catch with the so-called 5:2 regime.
For two ‘fasting’ days every week, dieters must limit themselves to 600 calories.
But now the diet’s creator, Dr Michael Mosley, is about to make things significantly easier – by unveiling a new version of his ‘Fast Diet’ that allows followers to eat 800 calories on their fasting days, spread over three meals.
And, crucially, Dr Mosley promises that with the latest version of the diet you’ll shift the pounds at almost the same rate.
He told the the MoS: ‘You don’t need to stick to 600 calories. Cutting down to 800 calories a day seems to be almost as effective and for some people much more doable.’ He added: ‘It’s lowcalorie, without being super-low-calorie. And if you want to have lunch, you can slip those extra 200 calories in there.’
But those imagining tucking into a chocolate bar in the new version must think again.
Dr Mosley said ‘empty calories’ should remain strictly off-limits on fasting days. He advised: ‘If you are going to have lunch, have something like a nice bowl of hearty soup, or grilled fish and a decent pile of vegetables or salad.’
Dr Mosley’s original version of the 5:2 – which the Mail revealed in 2012 – advocated fasting for about 12 hours from breakfast to dinner. But Dr Mosley admitted some people ended up getting ‘a bit irritable’ going without food for so long during the day. In his alternative version, people can switch so that they have their long fast overnight. He explained: ‘What I’d recommend is that you have a slightly earlier supper on the evening before, and then a slighter later breakfast on the fasting day. That way, you’ll be fasting for 13 hours or more.’
A growing number of studies suggest that periodically going without food for 12 hours can help control blood sugar levels.