Delicious, simple suppers — and chocolate for pud!
So WHAT is the Clever Guts diet — and why does it work so well with the 5:2 regime?
Well, it’s based on ‘ real food’ — that means plenty of vegetables, fruit, nuts, beans, olive oil, cheese, meat and oily fish, but relatively little starchy pizza, pasta, potato or bread.
We call it a Mediterranean-style diet because many of the recipes have a southern European twist. But actually the dishes draw on healthy cuisines from all over the world. Most of the ingredients you will be familiar with, but some — such as fermented foods and seaweed — may be more surprising.
Where convenient, we go back to more traditional ways of preparation that may have been lost in this era of fast, processed and packaged food.
That said, the recipes are not very complicated or time-consuming. The emphasis is on freshness, good flavours and being ‘doable’.
Clare has many patients at her GP surgery who don’t like to spend time cooking and we keep them in mind when creating recipes. We recommend using natural single ingredients where possible: that way you know what’s in your food and don’t have to contend with lots of additives.
We love this diet because it is the best-researched on the planet and the recipes are incredibly tasty.
Studies show that, compared with a diet low in fat and high in carbohydrates, this Mediterranean diet — based on eating fairly low Glycaemic Index (GI) foods that tend to be higher in fibre and release sugars slowly — will help keep weight off.
It can halve your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cancer ( particularly breast cancer), plus keep your brain in good shape.
It will also help you maintain a healthy microbiome, the real aim of the exercise.
If you’re anything like the average adult in the UK you will be eating too much carbohydrate and sugar, thanks to our reliance on processed foods. We’re also boringly predictable in our choices. on average we each eat about 200 sandwiches a year, for example, and the most common filling is cheese, closely followed by ham. A limited diet of this kind is bound to have a negative effect, particularly on gut health.
Eating lots of white carbs and sugary, processed foods will not only damage your
waistline, but your microbiome, too. These foods encourage the growth of unhealthy microbes, which in turn cause inflammation. Like us, our microbiome thrives on variety, which is one of the key messages in our diet.
The trouble is, sugars and starchy carbs are everywhere. Not just in fizzy drinks, biscuits and white bread. They are hidden in pretty much every processed food — often listed as glucose, maltose syrup, maltodextrin, dextrose, fruit juice concentrates, corn fructose, high fructose corn syrup, malt syrup, raw sugar, lactose, cane sugar... There are over 60 that may appear on food labels.
That’s the basics of Clever Guts, but how does 5:2 fit in?
Intermittent fasting — short periods of reducing your calorie intake — improves your metabolic markers (measurements, such as cholesterol, inflammation and insulin levels that show how your body is working) beyond those expected for weight loss. It also reduces blood sugars.
And giving your gut a rest allows the lining to regenerate and encourages the growth of good bacteria.
There are various ways of fasting intermittently — you can simply increase your overnight fast to 1214 hours, by not eating after 7pm or before 9am.
Or do prolonged periods of 800calorie fasting as in the 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet. This involves eating only 800 calories of low carb, Mediterranean- style food every day for up to eight weeks for rapid weight-loss and to improve blood sugar levels.
But one of the most sustainable diets is the 5:2 where you spend five days eating normally, and two days on 800 calories.
On page 12-13 you’ll find amazing options for low- calorie lunches and dinners that are perfect for fast days.
AND, in the Mail on Tuesday, you will find a 5:2 meal planner, so you won’t even have to think about what to cook. And, as each recipe has a calorie count, if you like the look of the highercalorie recipes, but want to lose weight, you can make a half portion and add more vegetables on fast days.
Whether you’re up for the challenge of intermittent fasting or not, avoiding snacks is something all of us should aim for.
Most prevent your body from going into fat-burning mode and cheat your microbiome of the chance to repair the gut lining between meals.
If you must snack, choose unsalted, unflavoured nuts. Or nibble on chopped vegetables or even a small amount of dark chocolate (at least 70 per cent