5:2 Diet
Eat, Fast and Live Longer.
Michael Mosley, set himself the challenge to live longer, stay younger and lose weight. Three things that I am sure we would all like to achieve. During a one hour Horizon documentary Mosley spoke to many people including scientists and found out that a low calorie diet is the secret to these three elusive goals.
There are different ways to go about this, but basically you are either looking at having a continual low calorie diet or fasting. I think I would rather shoot myself in the foot than go on a lifelong low calorie diet, so I was interested to find out how the fasting went and the results it produced.
The results were astonishing. Mosley found out that a third of his body was fat and that he stood a high chance of getting heart disease and cancer, but after he fasted for 3½ days, his chances were reduced dramatically. Here is an explanation of how it works:
- Our bodies have a growth hormone called IGF -1. As a child this is what helps our bodies grow, but as adults it ages us.
- High levels of IGF-1 can lead to diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
- Lowering your levels of IGF-1 can help prevent against these diseases and can be done through your diet.
- When lowering your IGF-1 levels, growth stops and your body starts to repair cells. It also uses up your glucose and starts to burn fat, so you also lose weight.
- Fast every second day (still a stretch!)
- Eat normally 5 days a week and fast 2 days a week.
http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/110651/BBC_Horizon_2012_Eat_Fast_and_Live_Longer/
