to think this 5:2 diet craze is likely to lead to an increase in anorexia

[sarahseashell]

.. in the longer term?

obviously that's just my own thoughts on the subject but I do sadly think that's what'll happen

Diets don't lead to anorexia. People with a disposition towards anorexia go on diets because they are already on the path. You might as well say Weight Watchers leads to anorexia.

believe me folks, no-one is peddling miracle diet advice for their health. And especially not for yours.

I don't think it all leads to anorexia, which is a mental illness about control. But all this guzzle-starve-eat magic-food nonsense does lead to gradual weight increase due to yo-yo dieting. Plus the health problems that others have mentioned on the thread, and a generation of children who think that everybody should be 'on a diet'. And that is NOT good.

Mimi Spencer, co-author of the book, is interviewed in this month's Red, honest about recognising when she's gone too far, and being sensible about having a target range rather than One True Number.

I have notices some people on diet chat threads, with issues like binge eating, hide 5:2 threads as they say it is a trigger for them

Also that they can hide their eating disorders by claiming to be on this diet.

So....food for thought ( ooops is that a pun?!)

I see EmilythornsBBf has beaten me too it. While it's true that years ago they thought stomach acid or alcohol cause peptic ulcers, more recently it has been discovered they're caused by bacteria. Fortunately, bacteria which generally respond to a short course of antibiotics. Dh had it last year.

Beaten me to it, not too. That's twice today...

All diets can be triggers for people with disordered eating. But they don't cause them. If eating disorders were that simplistic, they would be easy to treat.

I am a former anorexic and this sort of diet could easily tip me back in to it. I would be tempted to think about how easy it was on the fasting days and think maybe I could do it on the non fast days too.

I have (have had) an eating disorder and I do the 5:2 diet. It helps me feel in control in a safe way but mentally I am not sure it is that good for me.

I feel great on the 500 cal days but feel guilty when I eat anything on the other days, I started increasing to 3 or 4 days of 500 cals so I do have to be really strict with myself. I have upped my exercise days so I know I have to eat on those days and can feel guilt free.

I do not really think that it will have any negative affect on those who have a 'normal' relationship with food/eating. It has lots of health benefits. It isn't necessarily an abnormal way of eating - the way the UK eats in general is abnormally unhealthy and huge in the way of portions!

It can help to lose a bit of weight for those who have lots to lose but in people who are a normal size it is good for maintaining a healthy weight plus all the other benefits ie reduced risk for diebetes and lots of other things (google it)

giraffes that is exactly how I feel when doing it as the fasting days really are easy after a couple of weeks.

I wish people would fuck off with "anorexia is a mental illness, not a diet" because a.) if we're being pedantic anorexia means loss of appetite, anorexia nervosa is the illness and b.) diets and all this crap in the media does have an impact. It's easy for me to say that the media had zero impact on my condition because I've only ever lived in a world where thin was seen as desirable. If I'd lived in a country with no access to the internet, TV or any other form of media, would I still have suffered with AN? I cannot answer that but I do believe the way society views women and weight does have an impact of how females feel about their bodies.

But the way women feel about their bodies doesn't necessarily have an impact on how they behave regarding food.

AN is generally a symptom of something entirely unrelated to eating and food.

MrsMelons - I can see its probably not entirely good for you, and you're right about it in relation to 'normal'.

For a lot of us, doing 5:2 means now instead of that constant 'am I being good?' in relation to food that is pretty commonplace to women, it means removal of guilt and negative feelings in relation to food on the 5 days. Waiting at the station to pick up DH tonight, I felt like some chocolate so I had some chocolate and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Perhaps that's the acid test. If you feel guilty eating on the 5 days, beware; if you feel really happy eating on the 5 days go for it.

candycoatedwaterdrops I'll not f*&k off if it's all the same to you. Anorexia nervosa the illness (often called anorexia for brevity, I'm sorry if that annoyed you) means nervous loss of appetite - the nervous aspect being a mental one since it isn't a physical loss of appetite.

I absolutely agree with you that this form of control doesn't exist in a vacuum and the present cultural idea that thin=good, fat=bad has certainly contributed to its increase. Is it a diet? No, would you say it is? Is it an illness? What do you think? Does it control you mentally? I'd say so.

I'm assuming you have been through treatment as you speak in the past tense, if you have you will know that many of the tools/medications used to treat it are those used to treat mental health issues.

Anorexia/continuous fasting has existed in one form or another for some time; anorexia mirabilis being an early form and given a spiritual bent. I don't know if you would have suffered fro this without all those images leading to that particular method of control. I suspect it strongly contributed. But I'll definitely not f*ck off with it's a mental illness because it is one.

Sorry meant to say after mentioning anorexia mirabilis that having existed before the media pressure it clearly isn't all rooted in that but I do feel it has led to the rise in disordered eating generally.

I had bulimia and the 5:2 way of eating has completely cured it, as I no longer obsess about every little thing. If I over indulge, I'll make it an eating day.

It has also regulated my appetite, so that I don't feel like bingeing - I just eat normally most of the time.

I'm a person who simply can't cope with calorie counting all the time. I have been doing this for over a year and my BMI has been consistent at 20-22.

I would say calorie counting every day would be far more dangerous for me.

I think that it is more likely to make it easier for people to hide anorexia, by giving them another excuse for why they're not eating.

Ev1lEdna I'm fed up of "AN is a mental illness" because that's old news. We all know it and to say that denies that mental ill health is not purely biological, there are psychosocial factors. We've gone too far the other way in saying "ah yes, but it's a mental illness", we need to look at how society is damaging young people. Go to an adolescent ED unit, the staff will all tell you the children are getting younger and younger.

I suspect I know more about AN and other eating disorders than most, so I don't need telling about the treatment etc. Of course not eating/weight loss is a symptom but why weight loss? Well, yes it's often a control thing but there is an impact from the constant messages we throw at young people. Even top eating disorder specialists (of whom, I know several) acknowledge that there is an impact from the media constantly giving us confusing messages. Nicole Richie? Kate Moss? "Too thin - she's anorexic!!" and the next day "Tiny roll of fat when she bends over - she's gaining weight, pregnant or ate too many pies?"

Anorexia and other eating disorders are about control, not just loosing weight. If you suffer or lean that way chances are it'll tip something off, if not I reckon its fine.

I say that as someone who has suffers anorexia and other ED. I'm drawn to it as a way of loosing the baby weight coz it seems like an easy option. i.e., I could easily do 500 calls a day for weeks, only doing it 2 days seems like a good option, however, I am aware I may well get sucked back into it so I've avoided it so far.

As if the biggest problem in the UK at the moment wasn't the continual rise in the already high figures of illnesses linked to being overweight - diabetes, heart disease, some cancers - even fighting infections and simple trios and falls are all more difficult in the overweight.

Human beings are well designed to cope with days of low calorie intake. In fact they are more well designed for that than continual overeating and not moving about much. It is only in very recent years that food in the UK has become limitless.

Its obvious from what I read on here that quite a few mumsnetters have become so used to seeing overweight people that they now think this is the norm, and that any tendency away from a minimum size 12 or 14 is straying into dangerously thin territory.

"anyone with a tendency to disordered eating".

but I am sure if a person with disordered eating would think it was a perfect diet for them, I dont think diets cos anorexia as such as it is a phsycologica (sp) illness but I hate these fad diets and I don't think they promote healthy eating at all,

I don't think you should go on the 5:2 JUST lose weight, especially the people who like to go on a 'diet' for weight loss and then go back to eating the way they did - and then diet again etc etc!

Its a lifestyle choice, surely?!

Its far more normal to be on the 5:2 than it is to eat crisps/cakes/chocolate and fatty foods on a daily basis.
It surprises me when people are worried about this and yet they will eat bad foods every day and then do daft quick weight loss diets.

No weight loss diets are the long term answer to weight problems.

I think that it is more likely to make it easier for people to hide anorexia, by giving them another excuse for why they're not eating.

Unfortunately, that is almost undoubtedly true. They won't be doing 5:2; they will pretend to be doing so but actually doing up to 0:7.

Doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with it for the majority who don't suffer from AN but do suffer from western overconsumption.

Did anyone mention that carnivores in zoos are usually fasted for one or two days a week? It's 'natural' for animals with nutritionally dense diets not to eat all the time.

carnivores are fasted in zoos because they tend to gorge when they have a kill in the wild the zoos try to emulate that , as we are not carnivores but omnivores we dont need to fast as we shouldn't be gorging on the kill ,

Yeah, but lots of us do gorge after the 'kill'. I'm not sure the distinction that we're omnivores is relevant - its our access to an excess of calorie-dense food.

Zoos could deal with that simply by chucking less meat over the wire - they have total control over the animals' intake - and they wouldn't have to do without 'feeding the lions' show on Fridays. So I'm not sure that's the entire reasoning.