5:2 the fast for you?

OK - so everyone is talking about it - the 5:2 fasting diet. You can eat for 5 days of the week and fast on two (non sequential) days - the definition of fasting here is 500 calories for women and 600 for men. Why would you do this? Well, its said to be relatively easy - a very low calorie day is fine if you know that the next day you are going to eat normally - not go mad - just eat normally. And the health benefits are said to be great. A 2006 study by the Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention centre in Manchester found that this method led to an average loss of 6kg of fat in 6 months by a study group - there was some muscle loss too, so its really important to keep exercising when dieting. This study also showed that the 2 day fasters had a 25% improvement in their insulin function, a problem that can lead to type 2 Diabetes. Another benefit is said to be a lowering of LDL - the 'bad' cholesterol and reduced levels of 'Insulin-Like growth Factor1' (IGF-1)- which can be a marker for cancer risk. All this is said to be achieved because fasting gives the body a break form processing food and time to do some repair work. Research suggests that this happens because over eating causes high levels of insulin and the hormone leptin which tell our cells to multiply and grow. Then cell maintenance is neglected and damaged cells accumulate which can lead to health problems such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Clearly this way with food is new and needs further investigating (or rather 'new to us' - its been done before)but if you fancy losing some weight and maintaining that new weight - this might be worth a try. There is even talk that it might be good at delaying the onset of Alzheimers, definitely something that interests me! Keep watching our blog to find out more about what to eat on those very low calorie days.