When I heard that TV Journalist and presenter Dr Michael Moseley was due to appear at Buxton Opera House I jumped at the opportunity to see him. I even braved the most appalling snowy weather in order to hear what my ‘diet hero’ , who started a health revolution with the 5:2 Diet six years ago, had to say.
As one who has tried just about every diet going, from the mainstream Weight Watchers and Slimming World to the more obscure (and revolting!) Boiled Egg Diet and Cabbage Soup Diet, Michael’s 5:2 programme has undoubtedly been the most successful for me. Last year, by reducing my calories to 500 on two days of the week I lost just over a stone although – I’m sorry to say – a lot of that weight went back on over Christmas and New Year.
The evening turned out to be well worth all the slipping and sliding around the snowy streets of Buxton as it was packed with amusement and interesting and surprising facts which overturn a great many ‘conventional’ beliefs. For example: ‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day’….. ‘Not true’ says Michael ‘that’s just made up by Mr.Kellogg in order to sell his cornflakes!’ In his latest book ‘The Fast 800’ he brings together all the latest science including a new approach to ‘time restricted eating’ so that it is beneficial to have a later breakfast (or call it ‘lunch’) and an earlier evening meal which extends the normal night-time fast.
The low carbohydrate, high-protein Mediterranean diet is a way of eating that doesn’t involve cutting out whole food groups so it is more sustainable. Also he believes that 800 calories (more than the 500 -600 calories of the original 5:2) is the ‘magic number’ for successful dieting as it high enough to be manageable but low enough to trigger a range of desirable metabolic changes. Indeed Michael managed to cure himself of Type 2 diabetes, formerly believed to be incurable and only treatable by drugs. Using himself as a guinea pig he managed to lose 9kg on the Fast 800 and got his blood sugar back to normal without medication.
Michael may not have entirely approved of our pre-theatre dinner at a Buxton Swiss/Italian restaurant but his ground-breaking ideas on health and fitness and his great enthusiasm have inspired me to get back on track. The diet starts tomorrow!
AB