Don’t believe the 5:2 Diet hype!
Did you know that sales of comfort food in the UK are through the roof compared to the same time last year?
The reason why?
Marketing experts say it is due to the popularity of the 5:2 diet. Or “pile of sh*te diet” as we call it at UP.
Listen up people, in the real world what happens when you starve yourself for 2 days is that all but the most disciplined of us will go off the rails and attack the comfort food.
I know all the arguments – “oh this way I can live a normal life…” Hmm, a normal life where you feel hungry, moody, irritable and lightheaded 2 days a week and obsess like mad over what you are going to eat “when you are allowed”, followed by a binge eating session, a short period of normality (because normality got you to the awesome stage where you needed to follow a fad diet in the first place) and then starvation and food obsession again.
When it comes to dieting please remember that slow and steady wins the race. I know how confusing it can be – carb cycling/carb avoidance, count calories/calories don’t count, watch fats/don’t watch fats, avoid grains/wholemeal is healthy etc. It is a minefield for the uninitiated and confusing for all but the most mentally resolute. The bottom line is that lots of approaches work and you should try what is going to fit around your lifestyle and what you are prepared to do.
The 5:2 Diet won’t get you results like this! You only make such a change by maximising health, metabolism, hormones and your mental state!
What we all need to remember is that the “have your cake and diet” doesn’t work. If it did then there would countless people walking around with amazing bodies and happy in their own skins. Sadly this is not the case. As many of you know I am not a fan of intermittent fasting, which the 5:2 diet is a marketing mans twist on. However, intermittent fasting done properly beats this 5:2 diet garbage hands down.
Are there cases where the 5:2 diet will work? Absolutely, if you are mentally disciplined enough to not gorge after a period of hard abstinence. However, if that is the case then why not just forego the pain of 2 days of starvation and follow a moderate, healthy and sustainable eating plan for 7 days of the week? I know, what a genius comment (the reason why I am paid the big bucks), it sounds so obvious but alas the general public can’t see past the hype.