What is it?
This simple diet, created by personal trainer Harley Pasternak, is
designed to last five weeks. It consists of five small meals a
day, combined with 25 mins of exercise broken down into five five-minute bursts.
Pasternak created
the 5 Factor Diet with Hollywood actors in mind - the simple meals are designed to be rustled up
on set and the short exercises can be done between takes.
You also get one cheat day every week so you can eat whatever you want!
How does it work?
Eating regularly will keep you feeling full and stave off dangerous hunger
pangs. Each meal contains up to 300 calories and on top of that, you're also
allowed two snacks of around 200 calories each.
The meals are made up mostly of low-fat protein, such as chicken or fish, and
healthy carbohydrates, such as brown rice, beans or pulses. Olive or rapeseed
oil are also allowed as these are full of essential fatty acid.
The combination of a low-calorie and low-fat diet will help you lose weight and
because the exercise is broken up into little chunks, there's no excuse not to
fit it into your day.
Who is the 5-Factor diet good for?
People with big appetites - five meals a day should keep grazers happy. Busy
people who struggle to fit in a whole gym session.
What are the drawbacks?
If you work full time, you may struggle to fit in five meals a day, even if
they are easy to prepare.
What do you do?
People who sign up to the
5 Factor Diet
will receive hundreds of recipe ideas for each of their five daily meals. Each
meal only needs five ingredients and supposedly takes five mins to prepare. You
also receive an online weight tracker, a customised fitness plan and daily
inspiration emails.
For five weeks, you eat five meals a day plus two snacks and do 25 mins of
exercise. Then one day a week, you get to cheat and eat what you like. Pasternak
believes that denying yourself your favourite foods will only lead to failure
and that controlled cheating will actually help you reach your goals!
Add to this the short bursts of exercise you'll be told to do and you should
start shifting those pounds.
A typical day on the 5-Factor diet
Breakfast
Fat-free yogurt, oatmeal with strawberries.
Morning snack
Hard-boiled egg with tuna
Lunch
Curried chicken salad
Afternoon snack
Sausages with roasted cherry tomatoes and mustard
Dinner
Chicken and veg stir-fry with brown rice and pak choi (cabbage).
Find out more:
You can buy Harley Pasternak's book 'The
5 Factor Diet
- Get the body you want in just 5 weeks' at
Amazon
- More than 100 pages of low-calorie-if not particularly imaginative-recipes are
included (such as Chicken and Rice Miso Soup and Roast Beef with Carrot-Pear
Slaw), each of which include five ingredients and take five minutes to prepare.
or visit www.5factordiet.com.
