Re:
My wife has shown me some stuff by Dr Michael Mosley on the 5:2 way of eating, seem he’s got some interesting results and its something we are looking into…
For now we are trying a simple reduction of red meat, an increase in vegetables and cutting out as much sugar as possible…
I had some success with the 5:2 diet, but cutting out the carbs has supercharged it. My advice would be don't cut out red meat and eat more fat. It's counter intuitive, because we've been told that fat is bad for us and that we should be eating "healthy whole grains", well I tried that for 35 years and it didn't work.
About two months into my high fat diet and having lost about 2 stone I had a health check, cholesterol was good and my blood pressure, which had been worryingly high a couple of years ago is now low normal. I actually bought a blood pressure tester and it remains steadfastly in the normal range.
I urge you to watch the Jason Fung video in my previous post, it really does explain what's going on and why "eat less, move more" doesn't work and why the "calories in, calories out" mantra is bollocks. It's all about insulin, the bodies fat storage hormone. It was something of a "lightbulb" moment for me.
Fasting sounds extreme, but try it, you may be surprised. I actually went into it full gas, I started this whole thing with a 7 day, water only fast to quickly kick me into ketosis:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis. The first few days were tough, because the body is still in "use glucose for energy" mode and you feel lethargic, cold and hungry, but once your glucose runs out and the body switches to using fat for energy you start to feel better, the hunger abates and you feel warmer and have more energy, in fact on days 4 an 5, I felt quite euphoric, I also felt incredibly clear headed and alert. I lost 14lb in that first 7 days, although some was water and I regained 3lb when I started eating again.
I now fast regularly, I eat nothing 2 days a week and often eat just one meal a day. When I do eat I keep carbs to a minimum, to avoid insulin spikes. My energy levels, rather than crashing post carbs, remain consistant and I've done some pretty heavy sessions in the gym having not eaten for 3 days.
There are a number of ultra endurance athletes that are trying a low carb ketogenic diet:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 9515003340, the human body can only store 2 or 3,000 calories as glycogen (sugar), which it can burn through pretty quickly in a distance event and when it's gone, you either hit the wall, or bonk; you've seen those runners crawling across the finish line on their hands and knees at the end of a marathon, they've run out of sugar. To counteract this runners and cyclists eat and drink sugary snacks and fluids throughout the run or ride.
However, it's not natural to eat while exercising, the body withdraws blood from the gut, to divert it to the heart and muscles, so digestion is not optimal, hence the need for simple sugars. Whereas, even a lean person, less than 10% body fat, will have 20 or 30,000 calories stored as fat, enough to run or ride for a couple of days.
I've gone off on a bit of a nerdy, evangelistic rant, but if like me, you've always struggled with your weight, it's not because you're lazy and weak willed, it's because you've been given bad advice and told to eat things you weren't designed to eat. It's obvious that some people cope better with carbs than others, it explains why that guy you work with that eats a packet of Hobnobs and a Mars bar before lunch, then has something and chips for lunch and only plays 5 a side football once a fortnight is slim, while you always have the healthy option, or at least what you thought was healthy, for lunch and exercise 4 or 5 times a week, yet keep piling on the pounds.
