Now one of my husband’s friends is doing the 5:2 – but his way of doing it is to eschew all food on his diet days. Not a morsel passes his lips. I have money on him giving up before he sees any weight loss.
I am still full of admiration for
another friend of ours who ate no breakfast, had just miso (40 cals) for lunch,
and then a “light” supper – whatever that is… But did she stick with the
regime? No! She lasted two or three weeks max.
My version is dull – I now eat
more or less the same things every fast day. But I am sticking with it. It goes something like this:
. Breakfast: coffee plus rice cake.
. Lunch: rice cake or apple plus
Whey Hey protein ice cream, from Holland & Barrett. Or, a large bowl of gazpacho.
. Supper: prawn and veg stir-fry (we
use 1tsp of coconut fat – it doesn't burn and a little goes a long way) with Itsu miso soup, from Sainsbury. Use any stir-fryable veg that you have - I like peppers, courgettes, leeks, onions and carrots - with large raw prawns and a lot of garlic, fresh ginger and chilli.
This is a hugely satisfying and healthy supper - albeit increasingly boring.
The idea of the 5:2 - which is still getting a lot of press two years on from its first appearance in the UK media -- is that you are more likely to stick to the diet because you don't have to think about calorie intake or 'good foods' v 'bad foods' every day of the week. Five days out of seven you are free to eat "normally".
But what "normally" is must vary enormously between different individuals, and, as regular visitors to this blog will know, I am concerned that what we eat on the non diet days could still cause me to gain weight rather than lose it.
With my husband being a chef, there are all sorts of interesting cuts of meat and fish - the bits he couldn't use for clients - in our freezers, and it would be a crime not to enjoy them.
When friends came for a mid-week lunch this week, we had canapés (crostinis with A. smoked salmon and white chocolate horseradish from the Hotel du Chocolat, and B. tomato concasse with homemade pesto) followed by chicken liver pate with home made onion marmalade and toasted walnut bread. Then short-ribs – a Galvin recipe – with roasted parsnips and shallot puree followed by a cheeseboard.
Yesterday I tried to compensate for our rich eating with a light supper of chicken and salad with no potatoes.
The result was that I woke up this morning feeling absolutely ravenous, and wondering how I would get through the day - exercise class, two interviews - on my 500 calories.
And then - hallelujah! - the postman arrived with a put of Health Plus Konjac Root supplements, from Nutricentre.
I have already tried Konjac in the form of Slim Pasta, and Zero Noodles. Both times I felt like I was eating an alien - but the alien did fill me up, and, as promised, I was sated for hours.
At £8.45 for 70 capsules the Health Plus product is not cheap: the advice is to take two before breakfast, three before lunch, and five before dinner...
But the arrival of this product, mid-morning when I was famished, put a spring in my step and I bounced my way through my mid-day Aqua class - now not feeling hungry at all, knowing my panacea was waiting at home.
I took three capsules and then had a large bowl of gazpacho (300ml / 130 cals)... And looked forward to a long, well-sated, afternoon.
Two hours later and I have already been back to the kitchen for an apple.
I will take my Konjac again before supper - but, compared with my experience of the pasta versions, I am so far disappointed that I may not have found a way to cheat my way through the 5:2 after all...
This is a hugely satisfying and healthy supper - albeit increasingly boring.
The idea of the 5:2 - which is still getting a lot of press two years on from its first appearance in the UK media -- is that you are more likely to stick to the diet because you don't have to think about calorie intake or 'good foods' v 'bad foods' every day of the week. Five days out of seven you are free to eat "normally".
But what "normally" is must vary enormously between different individuals, and, as regular visitors to this blog will know, I am concerned that what we eat on the non diet days could still cause me to gain weight rather than lose it.
With my husband being a chef, there are all sorts of interesting cuts of meat and fish - the bits he couldn't use for clients - in our freezers, and it would be a crime not to enjoy them.
When friends came for a mid-week lunch this week, we had canapés (crostinis with A. smoked salmon and white chocolate horseradish from the Hotel du Chocolat, and B. tomato concasse with homemade pesto) followed by chicken liver pate with home made onion marmalade and toasted walnut bread. Then short-ribs – a Galvin recipe – with roasted parsnips and shallot puree followed by a cheeseboard.
Yesterday I tried to compensate for our rich eating with a light supper of chicken and salad with no potatoes.
The result was that I woke up this morning feeling absolutely ravenous, and wondering how I would get through the day - exercise class, two interviews - on my 500 calories.
And then - hallelujah! - the postman arrived with a put of Health Plus Konjac Root supplements, from Nutricentre.
I have already tried Konjac in the form of Slim Pasta, and Zero Noodles. Both times I felt like I was eating an alien - but the alien did fill me up, and, as promised, I was sated for hours.
At £8.45 for 70 capsules the Health Plus product is not cheap: the advice is to take two before breakfast, three before lunch, and five before dinner...
But the arrival of this product, mid-morning when I was famished, put a spring in my step and I bounced my way through my mid-day Aqua class - now not feeling hungry at all, knowing my panacea was waiting at home.
I took three capsules and then had a large bowl of gazpacho (300ml / 130 cals)... And looked forward to a long, well-sated, afternoon.
Two hours later and I have already been back to the kitchen for an apple.
I will take my Konjac again before supper - but, compared with my experience of the pasta versions, I am so far disappointed that I may not have found a way to cheat my way through the 5:2 after all...
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