First, let me apologize for violating your eyes by writing both diet and fasting into one headline. The Just Feel Good Program is not about diet but rather making a lifestyle change, not about fasting or counting calories but rather about balance and just feeling good via just eating healthy. Hey, you know what they say, once you know the rules, you can (and should) break them. The bottom line is this: the research on intermittent fasting shows incredible health benefits and the Michael Mosley way of fasting via the 2:5 diet is the most doable way to do it. Believe me, I’ve done crazy things in my youth around fasting and compared to a five day water fast the 2:5 seems like a FEAST!
What is the 2:5 diet (aka intermittent fasting technique)? A BBC Journalist by the name of Dr. Michael Mosley made an amazing documentary about the impacts of intermittent fasting. He tested his blood before and after trying various types of fasts ranging from very difficult to doable. Each time he fasted, whether difficult or doable he saw his cancer markers fall in his labs and of course wanted to keep his markers low over time. He knew he would never be able to do the harder fasts again so settled on the most doable of them all, the 2:5 (eat normally for 5 days, and fast on 500 calories (600 for men) 2 non-consecutive days a week. This will, over time, lead to weight loss, better insulin metabolization and sustained lowered cancer markers in the blood. Dr. Michael Mosley then wrote a book and formed a diet called, you guessed it, the 2:5 intermittent fasting diet.
I first saw the documentary three years ago while pregnant and was very inspired to implement it into my own routine, but of course had to wait until post birth AND post breast-feeding (2 years and 2 months worth of it!) to give the 2:5 a go. I’m excited to finally be doing it now even as I write this blog. My only prep was to boil three eggs and buy some organic baby food pouches the night before (hey, they’re low cal, organic, healthy AND delish.) Ewwwww, I just wrote low-cal in a sentence. Please read other posts to see my support of butter, eating and other forms of deliciousness. I digress.
My day so far:
9:30am: Hot peppermint tea with a micro smudge of honey and a few glasses of water.
(felt okay, but was having some ADHD without my coffee—not great for my productivity) I remember reading somewhere that the Mosley felt it was much easier to get started using your 500 cals a bit later in the day versus earlier so I held off a bit here.
11am: Hot coffee with some 1/2 1/2 and 1 packet of sugar in the raw and a few glasses of water (60cals)
Didn’t originally plan on using sugar and half and half, HOWEVER I just can’t with black coffee.
Noon: HB egg with sea salt (75cals)
1 pm: Ellas organic apples, carrots and parsnips pouch (60 cals)
2:45: HB egg with sea salt (75cals)
3:30: Earth’s Best Pumpkin Cranberry Apple pouch (70 cals)
Ugh, all this calorie talk is annoying to watch myself write. Kinda wanna eat a whole pizza just to feel cool again. And how am I feeling aside from uncool and annoying? Surprisingly good! I have energy, focus and hope that I can finish this day and do more in the future. I’m not hungry per se, but probably will be later—thank god I have another HB egg up my sleeve. You know, I’ve always been in love with eggs but this is just proving why I’m a full-fledged eggomaniac (why isn’t that url taken yet?) Simply nothing satiates like a beautiful, nutrient-dense, organic and pasture-raised F’n egg. There’s no doubt about it, I would be eating something large right now if I were not using eggs on my first dabbling of the 2:5. And no haters, eggs are not bad for you. Educate. Try not to hate.
6:30pm: 1 HB egg with tabasco (75cals) 1 Plum brand Purple carrot, blueberry and pear pouch (60cals)
(After 6:30pm for a an hour or two was the toughest time as I was smelling food and preparing it for my daughter, was feeling a bit hungry and tired but powered through)
Went to bed a bit early, partly because I was tired and partly because it seemed like it would help the mild hunger and very slight headache I was staring to get. I should say that there people who should not do intermittent fasting either at all, or without the consent of their doctor. These people include:
- People who are underweight or have an eating disorder
- Children (under 18 years old)
- Type 1 diabetics and diabetics taking medication for their diabetes (other than Metformin)
- Pregnant women or breast feeding mothers
- People recovering from surgery
- Those who are frail or have a significant underlying medical condition should speak to their doctor first, as they would before embarking on any weight-loss regime or intermittent fasting protocol.
- Those who are not sure about whether intermittent fasting may affect their prescribed medications should to speak to their doctor first.
- People feeling unwell or have a fever
- Those taking Warfarin should consult their doctor first as it may increase their INR.
I’m actually someone who is prone to get a headache from not eating enough so I did take measures with water and electrolytes to stave off one that I felt coming on.
Outcome of my intermittent fasting 5:2 diet adventure:
- Felt pretty good mentally.
- Gave me an appreciation for only eating what is necessary and/or conscious eating.
- Was definitely doable, although a bit tough (Michael says it gets easier and I can see that)
- Although hungry the evening of the fast, surprisingly not hungry the next morning.
- Seemed to start a bit of a stomach shrinkage process….
- Definitely need to hydrate more although I did drink a lot of water and tried to get enough
- I took magnesium before I went to sleep as I am prone to migraines from low blood pressure, dehydration and the magnesium did help to take away the beginning of one.
- I definitely got the sense that intermittent fasting would get easier and easier to do over time.
- My sleep was different. More dreaming. More vivid dreaming.
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