Review: The 5:2 Diet Book by Kate Harrison

Journalist and former yo-yo dieter Kate Harrison has finally won the battle with her weight – now she shares the secrets that are helping thousands of men and women transform their bodies. The 5:2 Diet Book is your comprehensive guide to the wonderful world of intermittent fasting.

This book claims: 

The 5:2 Diet will transform your body, your mind and your health. It’s the revolutionary part-time weight loss diet with lifelong health and anti-ageing results. This is the simplest, most flexible and most health enhancing weight loss programme you’ll ever follow – and with this book to guide you, you can start today. You’ll still get to eat all the foods you love but enjoy incredible health benefits, with positive effects on cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's and more.

Intermittent fasting is revolutionising the weight loss world. Simply by eating significantly less for one or two days a week you can trigger incredible physical and mental changes that protect your body and brain from damage and help it repair itself.

And The 5:2 Diet Book – packed with tips, science, recipes, inspiration and case studies from over thirty dieters – will help you join the revolution to lose weight, boost your brain and transform your body.

And it’ll even save you money, with no specialist diet foods or supplements required. No wonder it’s as popular with men as it is with women – and with first-time dieters as with weight loss veterans.

Review: This is an unusual review for me as I've never read a 'diet book' before but I'm committed to supporting the authors that I enjoy reading, and having heard Kate Harrison talk about this book late last year, I thought I'd give it a go. I haven't enough of the diet to review that as yet but I will post an update on the blog when I can give that a proper review soon. It's a bit scary admitting that you're on a diet but in the interest of reviewing the book, it had to be done. 

First of all, I found this book incredibly easy reading. I really enjoyed the structure. There is a mix of Kate's personal experiences in the form of hints and tips from her as well as her own diary entries from her journey on this eating plan. There are also personal experiences from others who have tried this system and I found this really useful because there was a decent mix of ages and genders included. There are obviously facts and figures on how and why the diet works but these are laid out really clearly so that, even if you are new to dieting, they are easy to follow. The final section of the book has some ideas on what to eat on 'fast days' and lays out some recipes, some calorie lists and some ideas for structuring your day. (As I write this I'm actually on a fast day so I may be referring back to those in a moment or two).

I really like Kate Harrison as a writer and so obviously the bit I enjoyed the most was the personal experiences from here, the diaries and her little hints and tips! I also like the fact that the book is laid out so clearly, it makes it easy to flip to the section you want to look at, I've already found myself jumping back to a couple of bits for a spot of re-reading. Kate has also written a 5:2 recipe book and I'm definitely considering getting this but I want to establish how the eating plan works first. Like I say this was a quick read and so even if you're considering changing the way you eat and not sure if this is the plan for you, I'd recommend giving this a read!