Never one to shy away from food trends and diet fads I have managed to incorporate the 5:2 diet into my lifestyle for three months. In short, this means that 2 days of the week the consumption of food is limited to water, green tea and a dose of Branched-Chained-Amino-Acids (BCAAs). The benefits, are still debatable (and lack credible scientific evidence) however the claims of improved mental focus, lowering IGF-1, weight lose, reduced risk of cancer, heart disease and the promise of longevity were enough to pique my curiosity.
So, how am I after 3 months? Weight lose, well, due to the calorie restrictions it's inevitable that there's a drop in body fat, I feel leaner and there's been noticeable impairment to work or exercise routines. Mental focus, well that's slightly hard to quantify. Things that I have noticed, I am more easily irritated, lack of calories on fast days is noticeable and the urge to lash out is more common.
Impact on social life, "Can't do dinner, because I'm fasting" is some kind of social taboo, it's worse than saying "I'll come and just have a salad and water". This is by far the most difficult thing about the fast, the sharing of food and drinks is integral to Hong Kong and to remove 48 hours of potential interaction has left me somewhat of a whacky-diet-driven-recluse. On the topic of social interaction, my breath on fast days is ridiculously noisome, to the extent that I have to be more cautious when speaking to people on calorie deficit days. There is a noticeable drop on bodily temperature on fast days, I'm more susceptible to the cold and find myself complaining about how cold the office is.
So what are the positives? Reduced the time spent figuring out what to eat and how to plan my day, given my issue on indecisiveness this can save up to 10-15 minutes a day! The flip side is, breaking fast is a huge deal and I can easily spent 10-15 minutes planning the "five feeding days". After the initial stomach protests and hunger pangs it's easy to suppress and meditate on the hunger and you come to realise that the human body really doesn't need to be eating so frequently or in such volumes. Very keen to see my blood works after 6 months of fasting. Initially when I started, I used to have insane cravings on Fast days, I wanted to EAT EVERYTHING once I broke fast. The cravings have subsided. Stay tuned.
Currently Reading: "A Short History of Nearly Everything"
