The FastDay Forum

Sheepy, that could have been me on the first weeks and I wasn't taking any supplements. 5:2 caused me serious constipation but I fought it and I won.
I don't think that this kind of supplement can cause a blocked intestine, assuming that a person is drinking water (which we should do anyway).

I don't think that this kind of supplement can cause a blocked intestine, assuming that a person is drinking water (which we should do anyway).

TML did you see my post from 3rd August? These things definitely can and have caused blockage of the digestive tract, with fatal consequences.

"They're banned in Australia because of the high risk of choking or digestive system blockage. They're a bulking agent; they can easily get stuck in the oesophagus or digestive tract if not taken with enough water. There have been fatalities."

Does anyone have any links to the fatalities? I'm not finding anything on Google except for references to kids and the elderly choking on the jelly candy made with Konjac.

[Betsysgr8]

The article linked in the first post of this thread has the references cited at the bottom.

I'm really surprised to see this here. I knew it was only a matter of time before someone tried to make money out of people eating less! But this is worse than I imagined -- telling us 5:2 is difficult without buying their product! Sorry, am I the only way who feels this way?

It's a privately run website and I wouldn't begin to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't do, or how they should or should not portray their site, and by extension themselves.

I can only speak for myself.

I take a vitamin supplement every single day (that I remember), so I'm far from being whiter than white but I also weight-trained extensively in my youth and consequently developed a low tolerance for snake oil.

It simply saddens me to see an ad for a vulgar cash-in supplement like that on the site. However, sites aren't free to run so there is always a commercial imperative. As a site becomes more popular, it becomes more expensive to run and often focus moves away from the original intention towards finding the money to maintain it.

However, if you can't see the irony in consuming supplementary calories to help you fast...

The article linked in the first post of this thread has the references cited at the bottom.

I don't see any reference to fatalities in the article about the advisory. In fact I don't even see much on that site but that's probably me. I'm in the US is google filtering out Australian articles?

I don't think that this kind of supplement can cause a blocked intestine, assuming that a person is drinking water (which we should do anyway).

TML did you see my post from 3rd August? These things definitely can and have caused blockage of the digestive tract, with fatal consequences.

"They're banned in Australia because of the high risk of choking or digestive system blockage. They're a bulking agent; they can easily get stuck in the oesophagus or digestive tract if not taken with enough water. There have been fatalities."

Yes I did see it. And as I'm saying I don't think that it can happen if someone is following the instructions and are drinking enough water. When we are taking supplements we must make sure that we read and follow the instructions.

Well, I'm disappointed!

Hugely disappointed!

I was surprised to see such a product advertised on the forum at all. But then I thought, 'Well, it's not my forum, and there are costs involved in running it, so who am I to judge?'

However, I've just been on the 'Fast Formula' website where there is a highly dubious graph purporting to show '60% more weight loss with 5:2 Fast Formula'.

Hmm...

They're not cheap,either! Even if you buy several bottles at a time, each bottle costs £40! (That's FORTY pounds!)

And nowhere could I see how many pills there are in each bottle. So if you order 3 bottles you could have 3 months supply - or 6 weeks, or 6 months.

Then there's the safety aspect - the fact that it's banned in Australia speaks volumes.

DashingBob's comment is very telling:

However, if you can't see the irony in consuming supplementary calories to help you fast..

I'd rather see an appeal for donations to keep the site running rather than having to resort to this.

Then we could dispense with all advertising. I'm a member of a forum which only shows advertising to non-members. Perhaps this avenue could be explored.

[Betsysgr8]

I don't mind the ad or ad's. My personal view is that the point of 5:2 is that it changes your attitude with regards to hunger and how you respond to hunger. If you use a supplement to stave off the feelings of hunger then you will never get in touch with those feelings and how you deal with them. How will you handle maintenance? Will it end up being like every other diet, in that, when you stop you and your body haven't learned a thing and the weight piles back on? I'll just carry on doing 5:2 without any supplement or "crutch". (unless you count the forum as a crutch, lol)

[Moogie]

My apologies to those who don't like the ad. It will be disappearing from all but the home page on Friday in any case as it was only a 2 week deal for the whole site. I honestly thought some people might find it helpful as I have read various members talking about supplements they've tried for things. I myself have used supplements in the past and some have been great while others haven't. I don't really like the typical supplement advert format of the product's site, but it's pretty much how all supplements sell themselves.

If people are very much against the inclusion of this advert then I won't allow them to renew at the end of the month.

For what it's worth I did make a point of taking down the AdSense banner along the side of the site while this ad runs, so that there weren't too many ads.

As for donations, I really would prefer that the ads cover the costs and if you want to donate your hard earned cash please give it to charity. I only want to help you lose lbs, not £s

I agree with many posts on this thread, esp @Betsysgr8 .

However, I do think that the large number of people that enetered the competition (have shared the link) in order to have a chance to try the supplement gratis, shows that many members think that they need more help. A magic formula perhaps? It would have been interesting to read their views on why they wanted to try it.

Personally, I don't mind AT ALL. Seeing the ad here makes me happy because it means that our forum is popular not with just dieters but also with advertisers. What a compliment!
I find supplements in general very helpful, assuming that we use them properly and we don't expect miracles.
Also -and forgive me if I said it before, I don't remember if I did or if I thought of saying it- I hate being hungry and anything that would stop me from being hungry I would welcome it with a tight bear hug.

Izzy, the competition has been listed on the moneysavingexpert.com competition board so that's probably where quite a few entrants have appeared from.

Moogie, Google Ad sense ads are quite common for websites and are not intrusive I dont think.

I wonder if you should reconsider them. If people find something interesting and click and the advertiser benefits I don't think its a problem.

Its now a very legitimate form of advertising for people.

I dont like websites that are built solely for making money with Google ads and nothing but "copied content" but this site is nothing of the sort so its all good.

[Moogie]

Thanks Juliana, I haven't scrapped AdSense - just swapped one of the AdSense banners for this particular ad for a trial period.