5:2 diet - vegetarian meal plans, reflections and recipes

Late last year I started the 5:2 diet. I was impressed by Michael Mosley's Eat Fast and Live Longer BBC tv program, Horizon.  It argued that eating 500 calories (or 600 calories if you are male) 2 days a week and eating whatever you want for the remaining 5 days has many health benefits, as well as aiding weight loss. I have been surprised at how much I liked it. Yet starting the diet was hard because I couldn't find vegetarian meal plans. So here are a few reflections, recipes and meal plans for anyone who is interested in the diet.

Disclaimer: I am not a trained health professional. I am merely sharing my experiences. I have discussed this diet with my doctor and I recommend doing so before starting the diet, especially if you have any risk factors. It is not recommended for people with eating disorders.

REFLECTIONS:

I started out religiously counting calories, and it was hard at the end of each day. As my stomach demanded food, I would dream of the piles of food I would devour the next day. Strangely enough, when the next day came I wasn't that hungry and didn't gorge myself as I had expected. While there is much talk about 'fasting', it is not a starvation diet.  The longer I do the diet, the easier I find it. Though you still might find me a little more grumpy than usual on the evening of a fast day.

I really like the light feeling of eating less food on a fast day. It has also made me cut back on the amount of cooking and groceries we buy.  This diet is not for everyone and it has its critics.  (I like to believe it is good for my health but it seems the research is still in its early days.)  However I like that I have lost a little weight and this has been with no extra cost, no signing up, and no foods I must or mustn't eat.

Having done this diet for months, I find that I don't always calorie count now. I follow a fairly similar eating pattern of porridge for breakfast; rice cakes or bread with a spread and salad for lunch; perhaps some fruit or miso soup for snacks; and a soup of vegies and legumes for dinner. Mostly good simple food. On occasion I have had cake for lunch but I don't recommend it.  Nor do health professionals who recommend good nutrition both on fast and non-fast days.  Here are a few notes on what works and doesn't work for me:

The 5:2 diet works fine when:

• Drinking lots of water and herbal tea
• I eat lots of vegies to give plenty of interest to a meal
• Child free day (school holidays are challenging)
• Shopping for food (surprisingly doesn't bother me)
• Busy (eg focused on work) so that time flies
• I take snacks with me when out and about
• If I meet friends it is just for a coffee and I have herbal tea
• I don't eat lots of sweet and salty foods that stimulate my appetite

The 5:2 diet is not easy when:

• I am eating out
• I have a headache and/or am sick
• I do lots of exercise
• I am photographing tempting food for blog
• I am baking and storing freshly baked goods around the house
• If I don't have a good idea of what food I will eat (preparation helps)
• Christmas and Easter or other big celebrations present me with lots of good food

MEAL PLANS

When I first started, I found it useful to keep a food diary to keep a running total of my calories.  I used calories lists from Tinned Tomatoes and Lavender and Lovage as well as searching online. 

After a while I didn't need snacks as much and found myself making slightly higher calorie soups for dinner.  I still keep a good supply of rice cakes, cuppa soup, miso soup, fruit and herbal tea for light snacks if I need them. And I find a homemade vegie stock helps give extra flavour to soups.

NB I don't get too hung up on getting the calories precise so if they are slightly out that is fine.  (Fro example: my notes say that a small apple is 52 cal and a large one is 95 cal so I may allocate different calories depending on the size.)  It is about reducing calories rather than precision.

Here are a few sample days of my food diary:

Hearty tomato noodle soup - 125 C

Week 1 Day 1
Breakfast	Porridge	127 cal
Morning tea	Half apple	42 cal
Lunch	Hearty tomato noodle soup (from a box)	125 cal
Afternoon tea	3 cherry tomatoes	12 cal
Dinner	Italian butter beans A few vegies	140 cal 10 cal
Supper	Half apple 1 pistachio	42 cal 4 cal
Total		502 cal

Rice cakes with peanut butter and tomato, and fried asparagus - 92 C

Week 7 Day 1
Breakfast	Porridge	127 cal
Morning tea	Half apple	47 cal
Lunch	1 thin rice cake with 1 tsp peanut butter          1/2 tomato 4 asparagus spears fried in 1/2 tsp oil with pinch of salt	58 cal 13 cal 11 cal 10 cal
Afternoon tea	Happy cow cheese wedge	35 cal
Dinner	Broccoli soup	153 cal
Supper	Rice cake with vegemite 1 almond	40 cal 12 cal
Total		496 cal

Curried red lentil and dried apricot soup - 141 C

Week 9 Day 1
Breakfast	Porridge	127 cal
Morning tea	Nectarine	39 cal
Lunch	1 rice cake with hummus 1/4 tomato 1 rice cake with vegemite	60 cal 13 cal 40 cal
Afternoon tea	n/a
Dinner	Curried red lentil and dried apricot soup	141 cal
Supper	1/2 nectarine	15 cal
Total		445 cal

Sweet potato and red lentil soup - 129 C

Week 13 Day 1
Breakfast	Smoothie	147 cal
Morning tea	n/a
Lunch	Cuppa noodle soup (packaged)	125 cal
Afternoon tea	bit of rice cracker bit of peach	7 cal 7 cal
Dinner	Sweet potato and red lentil soup	129 cal
Supper	Rice cake	35 cal
Total		440 cal

Nashi pears - 127 C and packam pears - 80 C

6 months later	(I had given up noting the week number)
Breakfast	1 rice cake and peanut butter	49 cal
Morning tea	n/a
Lunch	1 slice sourdough bread 2 tsp hummus	132 cal 15 cal
Afternoon tea	1 (260g) nashi pear	127 cal
Dinner	Beetroot and kidney bean soup	181 cal
Supper	n/a
Total		504 cal

RECIPES FOR THE 5:2 DIET

Porridge
Based on this microwave porridge
serves 1

1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup soy milk
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp honey

Mix all ingredients in a small heat proof mixing bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes. Stir and cheek consistency. Microwave another 1-2 minutes depending on how thick you like your porridge. When it is thickened and oats are cooked, serve hot. 127 calories per serving.

Smoothie
Serves 2

1/2 banana
1 ripe peach*
1 ripe plum*
10 raspberries
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp chia seeds
ice blocks, optional

Place everything in a large jug and blend until smooth with a hand held blender (or use a blender jug if you have one). Pour into two glasses and enjoy. 147 calories per serving.

*Variation: I have also made this smoothie with 1/4 cup of blueberries instead of the plum and the peach. It worked out at 122 calories per serving.

Italian butter beans - 140 C

Italian butter beans
From BBC Good Food
Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
400g tin diced tomatoes
2 tsp sugar
2 x 400g tins butter beans, rinsed and drained
small bunch basil, chopped

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and fry the garlic for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, sugar and seasoning. Tip in the beans and a splash of water. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the basil and serve. 140 calories per serving.

Sweet potato and red lentil soup
A lighter version of this soup
Serves 4

1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely sliced
1 celery stick, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 cup red lentils
1 sweet potato (mine weighed 233g), chopped*
5 cups water
2 tsp stock powder
pinch salt

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Fry onion, garlic, celery and carrot until soft. Add remaining ingredients and check seasoning. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until potato is soft and lentils cooked. Puree and serve. 129 calories per serving.

*Note: you could bake the sweet potato until soft. It will make the flavour more intense in the soup but it is not necessary if you don't have time.

Variation: I have also made this soup with 1/2 tsp olive oil, 50g silverbeet, 30g mushrooms, 35g kale, 2 tbsp tomato paste and not pureed it. This was really delicious and 139 calories per serving.

Asparagus and chickpea salad - 133 C

Asparagus and chickpea salad
serves 2

1 bunch asparagus
1/2 x 400g tin of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 medium red pepper, chopped
5 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 spring onion, finely sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp cider vinegar

Trim and roughly chop asparagus. Lightly steam and cool under cold water. Drain. Mix with remaining ingredients. Season to taste. 133 calories per serving.

Smoky kidney bean soup
Adapted from Lavender and Lovage
Serves 4

1 tsp olive oil
1 onion
2 carrots, chopped
100g button mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
125g butternut pumpkin (or squash), chopped
400g tin kidney beans, rinsed and drained
400g  tin diced tomatoes
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp dried oregano
good shake of cayenne powder
2 cups vegie stock
nutritional yeast flakes to serve, optional

Fry onion in olive oil for a few minutes until translucent.  Add carrots, mushrooms and garlic.  Fry 5 to 10 minutes until vegies soften. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for about 20-30 minutes until carrots and pumpkin are soft when pierced with a fork.  Serve with nutritional yeast flakes if desired.  142 calories per serving.  (149 calories per serving if you scatter each serving with 1 tbsp of nutritional yeast flakes.)

Smoky kidney bean soup - 142 C

Other recipes on my blog that I have used on the 5:2 diet:

• Curried red lentil and dried apricot soup -141 calories per serving
• Pea and garlic soup (I only used 1/2 tsp olive oil) -148 calories per serving
• Spinach, lettuce and pea soup - 140 calories per serving (plus 9 C per tbsp of nutritional yeast flakes if using these for garnish)
• Greens beans and potato - 200 calories per serving

MORE 5:2 DIET RESOURCES

Blogs that have 5:2 recipes and low calorie recipes (mostly vegetarian) :

• Tinned Tomatoes
• Rachel Cotterill 
• Lavender and Lovage
• London Unattached
• Ricki Heller
• the taste space
• Fat Free Vegan

A few recipes by these bloggers:

Broccoli and celery soup - 111 cal per serve - Tinned Tomatoes
Celery and leek soup - 80 cal per serve - Lavender and Lovage
Mulligatawny soup - 215 cal per serve - Lavender and Lovage

Reflections by others:

• The 5:2 diet update: reflection: Elspeth Berwick on First Choice
• Why I love the 5:2 diet: Gransnet
• Does the fast diet live up to the hype?: Gill Stannard: Naturopath and Health Coach
• Does the 5:2 intermittent fasting diet work?: NHS Choices
• Diets: is there any science behind the latest fad regines? The Guardian 
• Intermittent fasting takes over the UK (2013): Monica Shaw at Smarter Fitter
• What does Sarah think of the 5:2 diet and intermittent fasting?  I Quit Sugar

I am sending the Smoky Kidney Bean Soup to Lisa's Kitchen for No Croutons Required, a monthly event held with Jac of Tinned Tomatoes for bloggers to share vegetarian soups and salads.  This monthly event would also be a great place to look for 5:2 diet meal ideas.