Diet guru Michael Mosley has revealed the best foods that can boost the metabolism and improve weight loss. The health expert is credited with founding several rapid weight loss diets that focus on intermittent fasting, also called time restricted eating, as well as high fat and low carb eating plans.
Such eating plans include the Keto diet and he also endorses the Mediterranean diet that's full of good fats and lean proteins. According to his ethos, Mr Mosley recommends eating foods like avocados, nuts, olive oil, chicken, and oily fish like salmon and mackerel.
Michael has created the the Fast 800 and 5:2 diets which he says are "safe and effective" for both short and long term weight loss, the Express reports. But many rapid weight loss plans have been slammed as crash diets that are ineffective after an initial burst of weight loss.
Other diets that follow similar patterns have been described as crash diets that sees slimmers quickly regain any lost pounds. However, the former doctor has defended his Fast 800 as being successful in the short and long term.
The former doctor has taken the time to defend his rapid weight loss diets and explained what makes other crash diets ineffective. Here's what you need to know.
Michael Mosley's 'rapid weight loss diet'
The Fast 800 Keto builds on two diet trends - intermittent fasting and calorie restrictions, and the high fat, low carb keto diet. So is this another crash diet?
Michael responded: "Well, it's a rapid weight loss diet, which is not the same thing. A crash diet is something slightly crazy, unplanned, not based on science, like the cabbage soup diet.
"Whereas this is rapid weight loss diet based on a great deal of science and a number of studies carried out…have show that rapid weight loss - if done properly - can be much more effective and sustainable than slow and steady.”
What is a keto diet?
A keto diet consuming more high fat foods as they can help the body burn excess stores and shrink waistlines. In terms of the keto element to the Fast 800 diet, Michael explained: "Keto diet has been around for more than 100 years.
"It's a diet, broadly speaking, where you're eating a very low carbohydrate diet, less than 50g a day. And it's relatively high fat, and when you're doing that your body switches from burning sugar to burning fat.
"It does that by converting your fat stores into something called ketone bodies, which your body and brain then use as fuel. It's become very popular as a way of losing and keeping off weight, and that is largely because when you go into a state of ketosis, that suppresses a hunger hormone called ghrelin so you stop feeling hungry and stop having cravings.
"The disadvantage is that you're on a very high fat diet, which lots of people don't want to do and it isn't healthy in the long term. So what I'm proposing is rather a shorter term solution, which is combined with intermittent fasting and it's a relatively low calorie as well as a low carb diet. And that means you can eat a reasonable amount of healthy protein and fats - I describe it as a Mediterranean style diet."
What to eat for 'rapid weight loss'
Michael said adults need around 60g of protein a day - more if you're looking to lose weight. If you aren't eating this amount, "your body will cannibalise your muscles and your metabolic rate will go down" which means it is harder to lose weight or weight creeps back on.
The expert told Australia's RN Breakfast with Patricia Karvela: "If you do a safe and effective rapid weight loss diet, two to three years down the road you'll keep most of that weight off.
"So the idea that rapid weight loss is crazy, is just not true. Do it properly, and it can be very effective in the short, medium and long term. Indeed the amount of weight you lose in the first four weeks of a diet is the best a predictor of how long you'll keep the weight off for."
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