What's the 5:2 diet? British journalist and author, Dr. Michael Mosley suggests that eating 5 times a week and fasting for two days can help a person achieve great health, avoid chronic disease and have long life.
Dr. Michael Mosley started the research when he was alarmed by his doctor as pre-diabetic, has high cholesterol and overweight. His doctor immediately advised him to be in medications and treatment to be in good shape.
5:2 diet was not yet there. As a medical expert and TV personality, Dr. Mosley is always obsessed with experimenting on health techniques so instead of confining himself with medications, he experimented on various changes that could make him healthy.
"I have always been interested in self-experimentation as a research device because so many of the most important discoveries came from scientists and doctors who used themselves as test subjects," Dr. Mosley says.
His curiosity to find solutions for his own health led him even to further boundary. He flew to the U.S. and made important research on a discovery that will not only change his life, but of many others.
Fasting could be taboo for some. Some people think it's unhealthy because fasting could make you sick. But Dr. Mosley's discovery of the 5:2 diet just proves that fasting is even beneficial to health.
In the study, Dr. Mosley found out that fasting could delay onset of illnesses such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer and could extend life of a person. It even helps in gene repair. He added, too much eating is what makes people sick because when body is fed all the time, the body forgets to rejuvenate and repair its own.
In Dr. Mosley study, he experimented on changing his calorie intake while recording his insulin and cholesterol levels. As his weight goes down, he noticed that his health is drastically improving.
5:2 diet, also known as the Fast diet or the intermittent fasting could be done in varying schedules. Dr. Mosley has written a book entitled, "The Fast Diet: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, and Live Longer with the Simple Secret of Intermittent Fasting."
5:2 diet just means there will be calorie restriction that could be done everyday, every other day, or on a certain days of the week. But the 5:2 diet generally pertains to 5 days eating of a regular meal and 2 days fasting.
Dr. Mosley suggests that in 5:2 diet, on their fasting days, a person should cut down about 500 calories for females and 600 calories for males on their regular diets. A person fasting should also take more water and tea.
Dr. Mosley claims a loss of 19 pounds or 8.63 kilos when he did the 5:2 diet.
