Early last week, ABC News talked about a bestselling book called “The Fast Diet.” The author of the book is Dr. Michael Mosley. The main concept of this new diet is to eat absolutely anything you want for 5 days out of the week and on 2 non-consecutive days, you fast. On these fasting days, a male must eat no more than 600 calories, and a female must eat no more than 500 calories. These meals should be loaded with vegetables and protein. This sounds way too good to be true! So, you’re telling me that I can eat cheese cake, bacon, pizza, burger king, milk shakes, and candy bars until my stomach bursts for 5 days out of the week as long as I fast for the remaining 2 days? Sign me up!! After all, Mosley is a doctor, so I guess I would be correct in assuming that “The Fast Diet” is safe, right?
As I have discussed before, just being a doctor doesn’t make you any form of an expert when it comes to dieting. As stated on Wikipedia, Dr. Mosley is a British journalist, physician, producer and TV presenter. No where do I see it stated that Dr. Mosley is a registered dietitian. In order to give dietary advice, one must be a registered dietitian. This is out of Mosley’s area of expertise, so he should probably stick with what he knows best. Due to his respectable title, people are putting their trust in him without asking some important questions first
If you eat absolutely anything you want for the majority of the week, and you follow it with two healthy days, do you think the healthy days will make up for the damage you are doing to your body on the other five? Absolutely not! Five days a week of unhealthy eating is more than enough to raise your cholesterol, increase your chance of a heart attack, and put you more at risk for diabetes. Don’t think that two days is nearly enough to flush out the toxins and help your body recover from the large amounts of strain you’re putting on it.
Why do people want to believe in this diet? Because it’s easy to follow and it will deliver results. Dieting is difficult, and if there is an easier way, most people will choose that way first. You will most likely lose weight on this diet, but at what cost? There is absolutely no point being at your idea weight if you aren’t going to live long enough to enjoy it. I can completely understand why “The Fast Diet” is doctor recommended though. It’s going to at least double the amount of trips to the doctor’s office. Now, is that a good sales tactic or what!
-Tom
References:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2013/03/the-fast-diet-recipes-for-low-calorie-meals/