08/06/2022
This is a direct quote from the fast 800 website:
“So much of the noise in the diet and health industry is based on “fad” and “yo-yo” dieting which has created a legacy of poor health and negative experience.”
The hypocrisy in this statement 🤦🏻♀️ 😡
No matter how much you dress it up, the Fast 800 is 💯 a fad diet:
🚩 Unsustainable calories
🚩 Buzz words
🚩 Unsupported by robust evidence (even though the doc says it is)
🚩 long term adherence is unsustainable
🚩 offers rapid results
🚩 pushes personal bias
🚩 lo and behold, sells products to support health ker-ching 🤑 - which you’ll probably need because your diet won’t contain enough calorie allowance to get the nutrients it needs 🤔
The claims that are made re type 2 diabetes, metabolic health markers and so on can all be achieved by losing a small amount of weight by implementing a small calorie deficit, no fasting or very low calorie diets required.
(Should you ever need rapid weight loss, yes, very low calorie diets can be useful eg for surgery, but should be done under medical supervision).
I have spent my whole career pushing back at fad diets that ultimately cause knock-on problems like an unhealthy relationship with food, increased anxiety around eating and yoyo dieting. Menopausal women do not have to go to these extremes to lose weight or even improve their health outcomes. In fact when the 800 calorie a day diet was promoted on national TV, the eating disorder charity Beat revealed there was a staggering 50% increase in calls to their helpline.
"The promise inherent in the title is likely to attract people suffering from or vulnerable to eating disorders and risks encouraging those affected to attempt the methods shown despite the damage this could cause."
A basal metabolic rate (essentially your at rest calorie range) is likely in the range 1200 calories (there are a lot of variables to this like s*x, weight, height etc). This is the amount of calories you need to just survive - encouraging rapid fat loss on an 800 calorie diet, WITHOUT medical supervision for menopausal women is just irresponsible.
The data is still NOT conclusive about time-restricted eating. In fact there exist as many studies against it as for. When somebody is pushing a diet that works for them, then it comes with a predetermined bias.
Most women would do well understanding nutrition basics about macronutrients and how to nourish their body in a balanced way. This doesn't happen if we create fear, guilt and shame around eating. When did a balanced approach to health stop being fashionable?
A recent study showed healthy lifestyle habits before & during menopause might delay the onset of severe metabolic conditions in women. 800 calories a day is not a heathly lifestyle habit. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acel.13621
I am sorry if I sound frustrated but quite frankly I am. We have to stop pushing and promoting fad diets that can ultimately become more problematic than not.
Thanking my nutritionist friends who stand behind me with evidence based info:
