The 2 Meal Solution - Review

Mike O'Donnel has been around the internet for a while writing about several things but particularly Intermittent Fasting.   A couple of years ago I bought his book - The IF Life - and enjoyed it very much as a good accessible introduction to the science and practice of intermittent fasting.

He has spent a lot of time recently updating his book.  It is now called The 2 Meal Solution.  As a previous customer I got a free update.

It is really a totally new book and I would really recommend that you check it our - definitely worth the money.

What I like about the book is that it doesn't make IF the solution to all your problems - it is clear that there are times when it might not be a good idea.  Like Robb Wolf it emphasises that sometimes IF cold be an additional stressor that you don't need.  The idea of 2 meals is also a nice take on IF, stressing the eating not the fasting.

The historical quotes are interesting too, putting a case forward that in many ways IF was the basic way of eating for most of history in that breakfast was simply not eaten, so that there was always an extended fasting period between the evening meal and the breaking of the fast at lunchtime or later.

While not explicitly paleo, Mike does recommend getting off wheat and dairy - a clean diet includes his guidance:

• Limit/eliminate all Wheat and Dairy (top gut allergens)

There are also elements of Leangains with Mike explaining that there might be a role for post workout carbs, but he is not that prescriptive.   For the science you might still want to check out Eat Stop Eat, but Mike does address most of it here.

I also like his chapter on stress.  The role of sleep and avoiding chronic stress has become more and more important to me recently.  To limit stress , Mike gets close to a real minimalism approach at times - maybe like me he has been spending lots of time at mnmlist.

The treatment of exercise is useful too:  have a short intense session and then recover before the next one.

Anyway, I check out the book - I like its style and content.  It is a pdf book, which sometimes is difficult ot read, but I have downlowded it to my new iPhone and it is a simple way to read.