What are the effects of eating only five days a week or following a diet that mimics fasting five days a month?
Instead of eating every other day, what if ate five days a week and on an empty stomach for the other two? As I analyze it in my video. The 5:2 diet and the fasting-mimicking diet put to the testThe available data is similar to that for alternate-day fasting: approximately a dozen pounds of weight loss was reported in overweight men and also reported overweight women more than six months, no difference found between participants on the 5:2 intermittent fasting regimen and those on a continuous restriction of 500 calories per day. The largest trial to date found a weight loss of 18 pounds over six months in the 5:2 group, which is not significantly different from the 20 pounds lost in the continuous calorie restriction group. Weight maintenance over the next six months was also not found to be different.
Although feelings of hunger may be more pronounced with the 5:2 pattern than with an equivalent level of daily calorie reduction, it does not seem lead to overeat on non-fasting days. One might expect that going two days without food would negatively affect mood, but no such adverse impact was observed. noted for those who fast completely on zero calories or job to only two packages of oats on each of the “fasting” days. (Oats provide about 500 calories per day.) Like alternate-day fasting, the 5:2 fasting pattern appeared to have inconsistent effects on cognition and health. conservation lean mass, and also failed living up to the “popular notion” that intermittent fasting would be “easier” to adhere to than daily calorie restriction.
Compared with those in the continuous restraint control group, fewer subjects in the 5:2 pattern group voiced interest in continuing with their diet once the study is completed. This was attributed to quality of life issues, with participants who fasted 5:2 citing headaches, lack of energy, and difficulty fitting fasting days into their weekly routine. However, as you can see below and at minute 1:53 of my videoThere has not yet been a single study done on the 5:2 diet. demonstration Elevated LDL cholesterol compared to continuous calorie restriction at six months. Nor has it been shown for year. This offers a potential advantage over alternate day regimens.
Instead of 5:2, what about 25:5? spent Five consecutive days a month following a “fasting-mimicking diet” (FMD)? Longevity researcher Valter Longo designed a five-day eating plan to try to simulate the metabolic effects of fasting by be low in protein, sugar and calories with zero animal proteins and zero animal fats. By going on the plant-based diet, he hoped to reduce the level of the cancer-promoting growth hormone IGF-1. In fact, he achieved this goal, along with a drop in inflammation markers, after three cycles of his five-day-a-month program, as you can see below and at 2:33 in my video. 
One hundred men and women were random consume your fasting-mimicking diet for five consecutive days a month or maintain your regular diet the entire time. As you can see in the graph below and at 2:47 of my videoAfter three months, the FMD group was lost about six pounds compared to the control group, with significant drops in body fat and waist circumference, accompanied by a drop in blood pressure.
Those who were worst off accrued the most spectacular gains, as seen in the chart below and at 3:04 in my video. What is even more surprising is that, three more months after its completion, some of the benefits seemed to persist, suggesting that the effects “may last for several months.” However, it is unclear whether those randomized to the FMD group used it as an opportunity to make positive lifestyle changes that helped maintain some of the weight loss.
Dr. Longo created a company to market his diet plan, but, to his credit, he says he “does not receive a salary or consulting fees from the company… and will donate 100% of his shares to charity.” the whole diet appears mostly dehydrated soup mixes, herbal teas like hibiscus and chamomile, kale chips, nut-based energy bars, an algae-based DHA supplement, and a multivitamin sprinkled with plant powder. Why spend $50 a day on a few processed snacks when you could eat a few hundred calories a day from real vegetables instead?
How interesting was that? All you can eat surface vegetables for five days would have the same low amount of protein, sugars and calories with zero protein or animal fats. But we’ll probably never know if it works as well, better, or worse because it’s hard to imagine such a study being done without the financial incentive.
To learn more about IGF-1, watch my video. Flashback Friday: animal protein compared to smoking cigarettes.
In this series on fasting, I’ve covered several topics, including the basics of calories and weight loss, water-only fasting, and alternate-day types of fasting; See them all in the related videos below.
I close the series with videos on time-restricted eating: Time-restricted feeding put to the test and The benefits of eating early with time restriction.
If you want all the videos in one place, I did three webinars on fasting:intermittent fasting, Fasting to reverse diseaseand Fasting and cancer—And they are all available to download now.
