bill bryson: the body

I love Bill Bryson’s writing! I’ve just finished his excellent book ‘The Body: A Guide for Occupants’. It’s absolutely packed with fascinating observations and detail. In the penultimate chapter (‘Medicine Good and Bad’), for example, here are just a FEW extracts about health in the US (note: by quoting this stuff, I’m not ‘having a go’ at the US – I’m merely aware that, eventually it seems to me, the UK follows America’s ‘lead’ in virtually everything!):

• “With regard to life expectancy… it is not a good idea to be an American”.
• “For every 400 middle-aged Americans who die each year, just 220 die in Australia, 230 in Britain, 290 in Germany and 300 in France”.
• “America spends more on health care than any other nation – two and a half times more per person than the average for all the other developed countries”.
• “Yet despite the generous spending, and the undoubted high quality of American hospitals and health care generally, the US comes just 31^st in global rankings, behind Cyprus, Costa Rica and Chile, and just ahead of Cuba and Albania. How to explain such a paradox? Well, to begin with, and most inescapably, Americans lead more unhealthy lifestyles than most other people... As Allan S Detsky observed in the ‘New Yorker’, ‘Even wealthy Americans are not isolated from a lifestyle filled with oversized food portions, physical inactivity, and stress.’ The average Dutch or Swedish citizen consumes about 20% fewer calories than the average American, for instance.”

Although Bryson (who was born in Iowa, but a British resident for most of his adult life) is enthusiastic about the UK’s NHS, he points out: “For Britain, cancer survival rates are grim and ought to be a matter of national concern”.  He’s also critical about the UK spending “too little” on health care: “The ‘British Medical Journal’ reported in early 2019 that cuts to health and social care budgets between 2010 and 2017 led to about 120,000 early deaths in the UK, a pretty shocking finding”.

Fascinating (and sobering) stuff.

5:2 diet update (and re-think!)

You might recall that I recently decided to give the so-called 5:2 diet a “go” (ie. eating normally 5 days a week, then two days a week you eat 500 calories if you are a woman, or 600 calories, if you are a man).

Well, after five weeks, I’ve been reviewing things… these are my thoughts:
a) One of the reasons for adopting the diet was the possibility of losing a little weight (Michael Mosley, “Horizon” TV programme presenter, reckoned to have lost nearly a stone in five weeks). Well, I reckon I’ve lost perhaps 3lbs over the same period (I’m currently 14st 4lb).
b) For me, on my “fasting days”, I usually decided to miss breakfast and lunch altogether and made do with plenty of water and black coffee – and then eat my 600cals in the evening.
c) Unlike Mosley, I’ve no idea if my blood markers, like IGF-1, glucose and cholesterol, have improved.
d) Although I’ve enjoyed the practice of fasting, in truth, I’ve found the twice-weekly discipline just a little over-the-top – for comparatively little “gain” when it comes to weight loss. This probably reflects badly on my own laziness… maybe I’d feel a little differently if I’d lost half a stone?
e) My good friend Bruce has also been experimenting with the 5:2 diet – except that he’s found that a 50:50 diet (ie. “fasting” every other day) works best for him! I humbly acknowledge his self-discipline!
f) My 5:2 diet hasn’t really made me feel any healthier or given me extra “vitality” (but I acknowledge that I’ve only been using it for 5 weeks)… I feel pretty good anyway on a daily basis.
g) After pondering where I should go from here, I’ve decided to adopt a different eating/fasting regime: I’m going to “fast” just once a week (note: on my “fasting days”, I usually liked to spend much of my day walking and using the time for “spiritual reflection” and I’m going to continue this practice) but also to cut down on my red wine and bread intake a little(!).  
I might keep you posted from time to time (or not, if it all goes disastrously wrong!)…
Photo: Michael Mosley from the Horizon TV programme.

fast food?

I’m NOT one for complicated diets and the mere thought of “calorie counting” depresses me beyond measure. Like many people, I’m certainly aware that I’m a “little overweight” (a slight understatement perhaps - granddaughters Iris+Rosa are far more blunt and simply tell me that I’m “fat”!) and, ideally, would like to get below the 14st mark on the scales.

Actually, over the past year, I HAVE lost some weight. At one stage, I think I’d reached 15st 7lb but am now a stone lighter. I’m not entirely sure how this has come about – perhaps (much) less use of the car and far more regular walking?
Last Monday morning on the "Today" programme on Radio4, I listened to interviews with a professor and TV presenter Michael Mosley about the apparent benefits of including a limited amount of fasting within one’s regular weekly eating routine. Mosley had put himself to the test and had adopted a so-called 5:2 diet. As the name implies you eat normally 5 days a week, then two days a week you eat 500 calories if you are a woman, or 600 calories, if you are a man.
This is what he said: “There are no firm rules because so far there have been few proper human trials. I found that I could get through my fast days best if I had a light breakfast (scrambled eggs, thin slice of ham, lots of black tea, adding up to about 300 calories), lots of water and herbal tea during the day, then a light dinner (grilled fish with lots of vegetables) at night.
On my feed days I ate what I normally do and felt no need to gorge.
I stuck to this diet for 5 weeks, during which time I lost nearly a stone and my blood markers, like IGF-1, glucose and cholesterol, improved. If I can sustain that, it will greatly reduce my risk of contracting age-related diseases like cancer and diabetes”.
You can watch Mosley’s “Horizon” programme, entitled “Eat, Fast and Live Longer” by clicking here (I think it’ll be available on iPlayer until mid-September).
Well, I was so intrigued I’ve decided to “give it a go”.
From time to time (assuming my new food regime lasts for more than a couple of days!), I might let you know how it’s going!
PS: I've only blogged about this as a vague way of keeping me on track!