Fasting for Weight Loss

  The television doctor who came up with the 5:2 fasting diet has lost enough weight and is now on a more moderate eating plan. The diet works because it is simple, logical and not too challenging. In a similar way to the feast and famine lifestyle of cavemen, it restricts calories and gives the body a chance to repair itself.  The 5:2 diet allows you  to eat as usual for five days and to fast for two days. On fasting days, the dieters need to restrict intake of food to approximately 2000 kilojoules (500 calories) a day for women or 2400 kilojoules (600 calories) for men.
     The two days of fasting don't have to be consecutive and you can decide how you want to spread your food intake on those days as long as you adhere to energy restriction. The food consumed during the two fasting days should have little fat and carbohydrate content and alcohol consumption is not recommended.
                    In the beginning of the two fasting days, you are typically allowed protein foods such as eggs, or low-fat yogurt or cheese for breakfast and protein foods such as chicken, fish, lean meat, along with salad or other non-starchy vegetables for lunch or dinner. You are permitted water, green tea, or black coffee. While you can have milk with your beverages, it must be counted toward your caloric intake.
                     Weight loss within the first six months is common with a lot of different types of diets. But research studies have shown that the majority of people put much of the weight back on within three to five years. At the completion, only 58% of the women in the intermittent fasting group planned to continue with the diet, compared to 85% of those in the energy-restricted group. The risk or the potential to overeat or gorge on non-fasting days also needs to be investigated. Diet quality is of particular significance for those who fast intermittently to ensure that all nutritional requirements are met and that the intake of some nutrients that have low intakes anyway such as calcium is not further compromised. It may be a viable weight loss option for some people but we need to research its effects beyond those reported, especially since many of these effects are anecdotal at present.