Latest ‘Fast Diet’ Bad for Health

The latest dieting book 'The Fast Diet' is all the rage in England as it has become the go-to diet for immediate weight loss, and this trend is slowly sweeping the U.S. as well.

Authored by Dr. Michael Mosley and writer Mimi Spencer, the book speaks of the 5:2 diet which allows people to eat whatever they want for five days followed by fasting for two days. During the two days fasting, the person is limited to an intake of just 500 calories for women and 600 for men. The author claimed to have lost weight. Mosley lost 20 pounds and Tara McLaughlin, who followed this diet, said to ABC news that she lost 36 pounds over seven months.

"My body fat went down from 28 percent to 20 percent, and my blood glucose went down from diabetic to normal," Mosley was quoted as saying in ABC news. "My cholesterol went down from needing medication to normal."

But nutritionists turn down this concept, stating that this sort of diet is unsustainable and would lead to unhealthy eating habits in the future. They consider following the fast diet technique a bad idea.

According to Heather Mangieri, a nutrition consultant and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, fasting indulges people to a lot of the thinking about food and may even overeat during the five days when they are allowed to gulp in whatever they wish to.

She quoted an example saying, "If people eat lots of cake and cookies on their "normal eating" days and don't think about their overall diet, it can potentially lead to nutrient deficiencies and poor eating habits," reports Fox News.

On the contrary, the benefits of 'fast diet' has astonished researchers across the country, as it was reported that fast diet decreases the risk of breast cancer, reduces appetite, increases life span and improves brain functions.

Katherine Tallmadge, a dietitian and the author of 'Diet Simple', said she would not recommend this diet as it is not sustainable. She noticed that her clients who limited the intake of calories for five days a week don't lose weight and spend more on the two days they feast. She continues by saying that one's way of eating does not prompt weight loss, reports LiveScience.