The FastDay Forum

There is a new book coming out shortly by Dr Michelle Harvie and Prof Tony Howell (serious and respected researchers) promoting their new diet - they are based at Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention (Manchester UK I think).

They published research last year which was modestly encouraging about 5:2, and Dr Michael Mosley mentioned on the radio recently that they had some new research (as yet unpublished) which strongly supported it. It seems they are sufficiently convinced to have written a book promoting the 5:2 lifestyle which they call 'the 2-Day Diet' - see http://thetwodaydiet.co.uk/ - proceeds to Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention.

The only info I have is from the web page (and a link page http://www.genesisuk.org/media-centre/articles/The-2-Day-Diet-Book.html):

1. they suggest 650-700 calories on the 2 days, so a bit more generous than Dr Mosley's 500-600
2. the details of their diet will be in the book, but it is low-carb on the two days, and 'healthy Mediterranean' the rest of the time
3. in tests, dieters found this easier to follow than continuous dieting
4. 2-day dieters also lost 60% more fat than continuous dieters - counting only those on both diets who stuck to the diet
5. they claim further proven health benefits to the diet, including reduced risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes, lower blood pressure and improved mood and energy
6. they are offering as a prize a change of a free face-to-face consultation with Dr Michelle Harvie if you sign up for their newsletter

We have to wait until 14th Feb to discover the secrets of the diet (what a romantic gift for your loved one! ), it will be interesting to see if it has been modified from milky diet of their earlier trial.

It all sounds very encouraging!

The study they did was two consecutive days "fasting" which may be an issue for some. Also, part of the pleasure of the 5:2 is being able to have a not quite so healthy diet the rest of the time!

carorees wrote: The study they did was two consecutive days "fasting" which may be an issue for some

Is this the new study Caroline? I hadn't spotted that distinction in the web page text, but it sounds quite possible that it is part of their proposed diet, if so it will be interesting to read why.

But I think/hope that any differences between what they may propose and what we are already doing will be - in the overall scheme of things - comparatively minor, and their validation of intermittent fasting will be much more important.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3017674/ was 540 calories on two consecutive days. "The VLCD provided 2060 to 2266 kJ of energy and 50 g protein/day and comprised 1.136 litres (2 pints) of semi skimmed milk, 4 portions of vegetables (~80 g/portion), 1 portion of fruit, a salty low calorie drink and a multivitamin and mineral supplement." Pub May 2011.

Harvie also did an intermittent carbohydrate reduction trial, I have a poster presentation somewhere. Published December 2011 from memory.

Thanks Phil for those details. I'm a bit puzzled because I would have thought the milk alone is 550 calories, with the veg that makes 870 calories, plus fruit is surely nudging 1000?

Gosh! You're right!

Maybe they were only counting the solid cals for some reason?

dominic wrote: Thanks Phil for those details. I'm a bit puzzled because I would have thought the milk alone is 550 calories, with the veg that makes 870 calories, plus fruit is surely nudging 1000?

Good point. 2 pints of semi-skimmed according to Tesco is 2380 kJ and 40g of protein and the paper says "The VLCD provided 2060 to 2266 kJ of energy and 50 g protein/day".

I have a diet sheet which is worded somewhat ambiguously - as in the two pints might be for the two days, but then it contradicts itself. Also the protein wouldn't work.

Replacing semi skimmed with skimmed drops the milk calories to 1766 kJ which is perhaps the answer.