Do OR Diet

The Alternate Day Diet

How it came about: Dr James Johnson, a New Orleans plastic surgeon, adapted his diet from 1930s science-based extreme-calorie-restriction research, which showed that mice live one-and-a-half times their normal mousy lifespan if they’re fed a severely limited diet. It entails consuming only 20 per cent of a normal diet – about 400 calories out of 2,000 for women – every alternate day, (called down days), and eating normally on other days.

He claims that after three weeks of eating this way, the skinny gene (SIRT1) gets switched on, and you metabolise fat more quickly. On top of weight loss, you live longer, allergies and asthma are reduced, skin is improved and immune system boosted. 
Once you’ve reached your goal weight, maintain it by increasing the food on down days to 50 per cent of normal.

Pooja’s take: “I don’t like this diet for several reasons. The role of any diet should be that of a transition into a better way of eating – changes that can be permanent. A diet this drastic is unlikely to achieve that. In the first stages, on the days of calorie restriction, dieters must limit themselves to a meagre 300 to 500 calories. Given that the average woman needs 2,000 calories a day, and the average man 2,500, this is truly inadequate.

“It also reinforces the concept of being good or bad, based on food choices. This is a disturbing echo of eating disorders.”

Female associate editor Aileen Lalor says: “I chose this diet because I’m lazy and it seems easy – no complicated exercise plans, no special recipes, and no need to completely swop junk food for rabbit food. While the idea of living longer is appealing, what I really want to do is shift the extra kilos that have crept on since I simultaneously turned 30, moved to Singapore because of my boyfriend, and discovered roti prata.

“The diet started, as the doctor recommends, on an up day. You’re not supposed to binge, and should choose nutritious foods as much as possible, but, conscious of the fact that I would be eating only about 400 calories the following day, I pigged out. I literally stuffed myself. I got to the point where I was so full, I couldn’t imagine ever being hungry again. “But the following morning, I was peckish. And then I started to realise how little 400 calories is. It’s about eight apples. It’s under half the calories of a Big Mac meal – heck, it’s less than the amount of the sandwich alone. “I decided to ignore the doctor’s advice about protein shakes – shopping for extra things that probably tasted revolting did not go along with my keep-it-simple approach – so I relied upon my office canteen’s limited resources. That meant I was restricted to fruit. By lunchtime, I felt like I was starving. And by the middle of the afternoon, I was climb-the-walls hungry, with only the prospect of an evening meal of clear chicken broth to cheer me. “Sleep was nigh impossible – try dropping off when the sound of your stomach rumbling is enough to keep the neighbours awake. The following morning, I woke up surprisingly not too hungry, and however much I tried to overeat in the knowledge that tomorrow I would be famished again, I just couldn’t. “The saga continued for the next two weeks – starving one day, normal the next – with some glorious added benefits. There were the mood swings – sometimes irritable, sometimes tearful, an inability to cope with things that normally wouldn’t bother me. There was the 4pm energy loss and the vacant stare – at one point, creative editor Jeanette force-fed me bread because I was so dopey. There was also the fact that I became boring – the dullard that you try to avoid at parties. Calories were my only topics; I would introduce myself to strangers by telling them I was on a diet. My boyfriend bore the brunt of my limited conversation. To save time, I thought about printing him a T-shirt that said, ‘Yes, you do look skinnier, but please stop asking me.’

“But after two weeks, something happened. The mid-afternoon dip in energy seemed less steep. The hunger lessened. And the weight was coming off. Not in dramatic amounts, but noticeable – a flatter tummy, looser clothes, the slightest hint that I might actually have ribs.

“By the middle of week three, eating like that was starting to feel normal, the obsession with talking about it was receding, and I was down 2kg.

“When the final weekend rolled around, I feasted, but didn’t gorge myself. And when Monday came, the official testing period was over and I could legitimately eat real food every day, I was back on my 400-calorie diet. I modified it – Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays became my down days, and weekends were normal, because let’s face it, however comfortable you become eating 400 calories a day, no one wants to do that in their free time. And when social occasions fell on down days, I watched what I ate and was back on the diet the following day. My verdict: I might just carry on with this forever. And if this long-life thing’s true, I could be around for another 90 years.”

You don’t have to eat pizza, chips and burgers, but it sure makes the diet more bearable.