Have you ever heard of the 5:2 approach to fasting?
It is really something special. Before all the evidence started to come out, I really didn’t believe a lot of what I was hearing.
Essentially, it’s where you eat your normal style diet five days per week during the weekdays (or whatever) and then take the weekends (or whatever 2 days in a row) to aggressively fast.
It almost seems too good to be true.
I mean, it doesn’t mean that you can eat whatever you want during the week, but you can certainly have some grace when it comes to flexibility.
Then, during the weekends, you just fast with a one meal a day type approach.
Generally, the rule of thumb is this:
On the days that you are FASTING – You restrict your calories to 25% of your baseline calories. So it is a very low calorie couple of days, but considering the studies demonstrate that you can have a bit more flexibility during the week as long as you’re eating at maintenance or even slightly above.
When they compared this to a standard caloric restriction diet, it had BETTER results.
And a study from PLOS1 had taken a look at 5:2 vs caloric restriction and found that not only the results were just as good (if not even better) for the 5:2, they discovered the MOST important thing:
In a survey about the experiment, the 5:2 dieters rated their interventions higher in terms of helpfulness than the conventional weight management advice and indicated they were more likely to recommend the diet to others.
Feedback also showed the 5:2 dieters had more readiness to continue the diet after the experiment ended.
We can talk about a thousand different diets, but the one that is going to work the best is the ONE YOU CAN STICK TO.
The point of this email wasn’t to try to throw one more perfect solution at you, it was to show you that there are multiple ways to go about fasting.
And in case you’re wondering about lipid and biomarkers with this kind of fasting… well:
In a study published in Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, they compared Caloric Restriction to Intermittent Eating/Fasting with this method and found the following:
IER and CER were equally effective for weight loss and blood pressure control:
- The mean weight change with IER was -7.0 kg vs. -6.8 kg with CER
- The mean systolic blood pressure with IER was -7 mmHg vs. -7 mmHg with CER
- The mean diastolic blood pressure with IER was -6 mmHg vs. -5 mmHg with CER
- There were also favorable improvements in body composition, HbA1c, and blood lipid levels
- Notably, no severe hypoglycemia occurred in either group during the trial
All and all, it looks like losing weight in general is good for our health, who would’ve guessed, ha!
But the cool thing is that giving your body a break by implementing a couple longer fasts per week might end up getting you some benefits when it comes to insulin sensitivity that caloric restriction may not.
I don’t recommend that kids do this style of eating. It has been coming up for quite some time and I wanted to address it.
I feel that kids would benefit from the occasional break from food, but mainly with less snacking and more consolidated meals.
I am no expert here, but I do feel that kiddos have a stronger need for growth and IGF signaling, so they are in a different class.
Micronutrients are also important (for adults and kids, really). But for KIDS, not for adults, I do recommend something called HIYA (50% off link) – It’s a kid’s multivitamin that is really, really well formulated and is sweetened with Monk Fruit – It’s pediatrician built and has 12 fruits/veggies in it.
If you want to try it – here is a 50% off link for Hiya using Code AFL
Regardless, I think that the best example we can set for our families is by taking steps to be the best versions of ourselves.
Even with those that are close friends or family, if they see you implementing things that are not totally radical (like a 5:2 approach) it is not only more likely that they will jump on board with you, but it is more likely they will support, or at least not oppose, the direction you are going with things!
Try the 5:2 approach if you want to spice it up and just change things. If you want me to do a video on this subject, feel free to reply to this email and let me know so I can see if there is enough interest!
Also, this week, we have an insanely cool line up on the channel, so please check back on YouTube every morning or evening!
See you on the screen!
Aggressivefatloss.com
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