Doing It Right: The Fast Diet

(NECN) - ‘The Fast Diet’ is the latest fad for weight loss. It’s attracting a lot of attention for its simplicity. You fast two days and eat whatever you want the other five. The diet’s creator, Dr. Michael Mosley, says the results do last. Once you reach your ideal weight, you only have to fast once a week.

Here to talk about this new diet is registered nurse and health coach Jacqui Bryan. You can find out more about her here: http://www.jacquibryan.com/

Eating so few calories seems like it would be such a bad idea?

“It’s very extreme. Fasting has been around for many years for religious and political reasons. We haven’t really studied it for weight loss. One of my greatest concerns with fasting for weight loss is that it doesn’t really teach you any healthy behaviors. It doesn’t help you with food selection. It doesn’t help you with portion control. In fact, it can create kind of an obsessiveness about food, which could backfire with you in the long run.”

Jacqui says she wouldn’t recommend it to the following people: insulin-dependent diabetics, nursing moms, people with some sort of disordered eating pattern, whether it’s anorexia or bulimia, pregnant woman, people who have some sort of disability or weakness, such as cancer or aids.

She says the rules of the diet are actually pretty simple. The issue is on the five free days, what’s going to happen? Is it going to be a free fall where you overeat and binge, undoing all the work you did with cutting the calories.

If you really want to try this, first check with your doctor. And on the days that you fast, make sure you spread those little meals across the course of the day. And on your free for all days, don’t make them free for all. Have some sort of a plan not to overdo it.