The 5:2 diet

At the end of November, we all got handed out a diet in my class that we had to follow for 3 weeks and that we had to write a report on and do a presentation on. I was given the 5:2 diet. Part of me was super exited , as my granny has followed this diet and gained her eyesight back, while the other part of me was terrified and worried about managing to cope with it for three whole weeks.
Dieting is very popular in the world today as obesity is on the rise and we are more concerned about our weight and health. 1 out of 3 women and 1 out of 5 men are on some kind of diet today. Fasting has recently been retaken into consideration after studies have been done on rats and humans.

In my "5:2 diet project" I explored and compared the weight loss and medical benefits of fasting diets, in particular the 5:2 diet with calorie restriction diets.

But first of all what is the 5:2 diet?

The 5:2 diet or the Fast Diet is a form of intermittent fasting that was created and popularised by Dr. Michael Mosley, a British doctor and medical journalist. The 5:2 diet involves a weekly regimen of 5 days of normal eating and 2 days of eating only 25% of one’s recommended total daily energy expenditure. In other words, an intake of 500 calories for women and 600 calories for men on the 2 ‘fasting’ days, given that women and men require a 2000-calorie and 2500-calorie intake per day respectively. 

Here are some of the meals I made when I was following the 5:2 diet:

What are the aims of those whom follow this diet?

The goal of many people whom follow this diet is not weight loss but rather to improve health. Forms of intermittent fasting , like the 5:2 diet, have shown an increased weight loss, improved insulin sensitivity, prevention of neurodegenerative disorders (such as Alzheimer´s disease) and the reduction of cardiovascular risk as well as other diseases,compared to calorie restriction. The 5:2 diet has been reported to reduce the level of circulating insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1) hormone, which is known to be a biomarker associated with cancer development. It also reduces blood pressure and LDL-cholesterol by modulating the level of adipokines. In addition it claims to increase life spam. 

I was amazed about all the research that has been done on both animals and humans and that was not so openly known. During the three weeks that I followed the diet I was at first incredibly skeptic. I was also terrified by the fact that I might have loose muscle mass or that it would increase my binging. This did not occur. I experienced an increased amount of energy on the day after a fast day. I would like to point out that my aim was not to loose weight so I made sure to eat more on my non fasting days. I did not loose weight or any muscle mass. The health tests showed an improvement. There was not much improvement as my blood tests were already healthy from the beginning, my cholesterol values were good and so was my blood pressure.

Do you know which parts that fascinated me the most about this research? 

A process known as autophagy which is triggered and upregulated during fasting. Autophagy is survival process where cells recycle waste and non essential materials, downregulate unuseful and unessential processes and repair themselves. My grandmother followed the 5:2 diet for 4 months and got her eye sight back . I still remember how angry I was with her when she stared but now I am glad she was stubborn and followed it, and did not listen to me. If it had not been for the 5:2 diet my grandmother would have been able to enjoy life as much as she can now.

An other thing that shocked me was that the people that followed the 5:2 diet and ate high fat lost much more weight that the ones whom ate a low fat diet on the other days. When I told my teacher about my amazement, she looked at me as if I was a complete idiot and said " They lost more weight because they were eating more fat. What is it you do not understand?". It was after that I had a lecture on the fat metabolism and realized how incredibly wrong the idea we have about fat is.

But why do I not continue with this diet then? 
This diet takes time. It necessitates loads of planing, meal planing, discipline and self control. The benefit of the increased energy (that I experienced the day after my "fasting day" ) did not over weigh the effort that I put in, especially the difficulty of going to sleep hungry! It takes time make two fasting days fit in during the week (especially if you have a lot of activities and you need energy to concentrate) and it takes time to plan meals that add up to 500 calories. And most of all you need a lot of motivation. At the moment I do not see the reason to follow a diet as I do not feel the urge to loose weight and I am not suffering from any of the above mentioned diseases. I love every single bite of the "rainbow food" that I eat. But most importantly I am a big calorie counting hater. I find calorie counting incredibly silly. Weight gain and weightloss is not only about the calories you eat. You can not compare the 60 calories from a pear with the 60 calories from a cookies! And to be honest I think that anyone can agree with the fact that the body appreciates it more  if you eat an avocado, that has 300 calories instead of a biscuit that has 60.

We also have to keep in mind that the studies that have been done so far, have been done on overweight, morbid obese subjects or on rats. No studies have been made on healthy individuals so far (but have just started).