CHRISTMAS WINE TIPS

REDS

Bronze medal winner - 2011 Carmagnole Prestige Caramany is a rustic treat for £9.99 at M&S - earthy and robust with peppery finish.

For everyday drinking over the long festive meals - 2011 Tesco Simply Garnacha for only £4.49.

Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz 2008 is £17.99 at Waitrose and has all the power of a Shiraz without having to chew it when you have more than one glass. Balanced and with the right hint of spice.

WHITES

Tesco's Mâcon Blanc Villages 2011 is a top value white to go with most white meats and as it's just £4.99 you can drink lots of it.

A gorgeous citrus edge to this dry white. The Parcel Series Riesling 2006 is £6.99 if you buy two at Majestic - love this and for the money a fantastic Christmas treat.

FIZZ

JS Blanc de Blancs Brut NV Champagne is at Sainsbury’s and as it's on offer at £14.98 is a decent value and very decent tasting sparkler.

At the Co-op the Co-operative Les Pionniers Champagne NV is just £16.99 till New Year's Eve. A lovely fizz with a biscuit-nose.



PORT


2008 Graham's Late Bottled Vintage Port at Tesco reduced to £10.50 - a value priced port with the right amount of fire as it goes down.

 

 

David Cameron’s grand plan is actually a sham

I wish I wasn’t thoroughly familiar with this subject. I wish I stood outside it with merely an intellectual curiosity. Unfortunately I cannot. Childhood experiences mean that I empathise with numerous victims of child sex abuse and the way in which it can blight their lives leading to low self-esteem, psychiatric disorder, addiction and in extreme cases – suicide.

My knowledge of matters around this area, in particular the issue of child sex abuses images and the paedophiles and abusers who create traffick and use these crime images comes from my involvement with The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP.)

My introduction to its work and its staff came as a result of a request from a friend to help her raise money for CEOP for a specific initiative a few years back when CEOP was affiliated to SOCA. It might seem strange that an organisation doing such vital and difficult work was not totally government funded but that was the case. Only about half the costs were met by government and the rest had to be raised from partners/sponsors.

During my visits to CEOP I became thoroughly familiar with their methods, role and the dedication their staff brought to what by any estimation is a very hard job. Whilst I was rightly not shown any abuse images I was taken through the methods by which CEOP identified scenes, victims and abusers and the steps that were taken to catch the guilty. One point that stuck in my mind and which should stick in yours is that those responsible for the bulk of this obscene trade are highly motivated, devious and callous people. They operate in groups that whilst often having no readily identifiable association have sophisticated methods of communication and ways to share information and child abuse material.

 

The following is a matter of record -

 

CEOP was formed in April 2006 and at the time of my visits was headed by Jim Gamble who is irrefutably one of the world’s leading authorities on this issue. A senior police officer of 25 years, he was head of the Northern Ireland anti-terrorist intelligence unit in Belfast, then most recently tackled organised crime as the Deputy Director of the National Crime Squad.

CEOP combined police powers with expertise from the business sector, government, specialist charities and other interested organisations. It was made up of people including police officers, with specialist experience of tracking and prosecuting sex offenders as well as people from the NSPCC, Childnet, Microsoft and AOL. It had created partnerships with non-government bodies, such as  Action for Children, NSPCC, Barnardos; business (Microsoft, AOL, Serco, Vodafone etc.) and UK Government departments (Department for Education; Home Office; Foreign and Commonwealth Office etc.). CEOP works with organisations such as The Scout Association, the Football Association, the England and Wales Cricket Board, BT, and Lycos.

 The CEOP Centre was and is a partner in an international law enforcement alliance – the Virtual Global Taskforce (“VGT”) set up in 2004 and provides an international alliance of law enforcement agencies across Australia, the US and Canada as well as Interpol in bringing a global policing response to censoring the Internet.

CEOP operated in three ways - Intelligence, Harm Reduction and Operations. Each faculty was supported by teams covering governance, communications, partnerships and corporate services. The intelligence faculty received intelligence of online and offline offenders; all reports made through the centre's website, and ThinkUKnow were dealt with at any time of day so that law enforcement action could be taken. The Harm Reduction faculty managed Public Awareness campaigns and educational programmes, including the ThinkUKnow education programme,  currently being used in UK schools. The Operations Faculty aimed to tackle both abusers and those who exploit children for financial gain.

After two expert reviews the then Labour government decided to make  CEOP fundamentally independent as it was felt that this gave it a specific 'child' focus that might be lost if became part of a larger law enforcement organisation. However, without a further review or evidence the present government went against those expert recommendations and the advice given to them during their 'consultation' and absorbed CEOP into the National Crime Agency (“NCA”) on 7 October 2013. In protest at this move Gamble resigned in October 2010.  It was at that time that Home Secretary Teresa May promised to ‘build on and invest in CEOP.’ It was said that as part of a larger organisation CEOP would have available wider resources to continue its vital work.

 

 Cameron’s ‘new’ initiative.

 

Today Prime Minister David Cameron is widely reported as introducing tough new measures to block access to child abuse images and to pursue those guilty of making and using them. The main points are as follows.

1.    A national database, built in collaboration between police and a number of technical experts, which, when an image is found, will assign it a unique identification tag – or a “hash value”. These values will enable police to search for images quickly on the computers of suspects, these unique tags will also mean that images can be proactively scanned for, blocked, and taken down when they are discovered.

 

2.    The NCA, which became operational last month, will launch a series of large-scale operations targeting child abusers online in Britain, in conjunction with crime agencies from across the globe – the NCA and its 4,000 staff are available to help track and arrest suspected paedophiles.

 

3.    The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), the industry body tasked with identifying and removing illegal content will also receive an additional £1.5 million in funding as part of an expansion plan. A number of new analysts will begin working in the next few months, which will effectively triple the size of the team. These extra resources will mean that the IWF can, for the first time, start to seek out child abuse website, blocking the content and putting warning pages in place.

 

4.    Cameron said “People should be in no doubt that there is no such thing as a safe place on the internet to access child abuse material and will target those who think otherwise.”

 

 

What is new?

 

A.   The ‘new’ database is little more than the Childbase database that had already been created by CEOP and which at the time of my visits held/holds circa a million images. I don't doubt that had CEOP not been diverted it would already have a new improved system.

 

B.   That database already used the HASH codes developed as an industry standard years ago.  This method was designed by industry and used by CEOP and has been improved in recent years by Microsoft who have been working on Photo DNA for some time.

 

C.   Large scale operations were already developed and executed with worldwide agencies as the partnership with the VGT clearly shows. Just one example of this is the successful prosecution in June 2007 of Timothy Cox who was jailed at a court in Buxhall, Suffolk, following a 10-month operation by CEOP Officers, as well as other Virtual Global Taskforce Members, leading to 700 new suspects being followed up by law enforcement agencies around the world.

 

D.   The bold statement that NCA and its 4,000 staff are available to help track and arrest suspected paedophiles suggests that this is a massive increase in the number of people dedicated to this work – it is nothing of the sort and following points are pertinent –

1. The staff of all the local police forces as well as SOCA assets were available to CEOP previously and were used when CEOP passed on evidence that could be pursued by the relevant force to investigate and prosecute abusers identified by them.

2.  4,000 staff is the total number available not the number committed; CEOP has about 115 dedicated staff. The key is how many have had the OCU health assessment to work full time in CEOP. Misinformation about numbers and actual capacity is reckless

3. Despite May’s promise to build CEOP the following are the amounts invested by government in recent years-

09/10 - £6.416 m. Grant in Aid i.e. direct funding from government

10/11 - £6.44 m.

11/12 - £6.487 m. (CEOP also accrued additional responsibility re missing children)

12/13 - £6.4 m.

 

E.  The extra £1.5m. for the IWF is the only new money committed by the government under this bold plan; the rest is either ISP funded or part of NCA/CEOP budget anyway. Whilst the money for the IWF is welcome the IWF have no powers of prosecution and their expertise is not that of dedicated CEOP staff.

 

F.    In 2012 whilst everyone claimed CEOP remained unchanged and was in fact stronger with greater 'access' to resources they received intelligence from the Toronto Police.  This link is an explanation from the NCA about what didn't happen. http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/258-statement-on-ceop-s-involvement-in-project-spade

 

Further points

 

1.   The focus on ISP blocking will not touch the vast majority of existing abusers because they do not use search engines to ply their nefarious activities. Only the inexperienced might be caught by this and the number is very small as a percentage of the total number of abusers. Additionally, though some people might be prevented from accessing abuse images it is impossible to judge how many are dissuaded as you cannot count negatives.

2.   The real criminals use the Darknet, P2P networks and sophisticate encrypted communications to access and trade in abuse images. Only the work done by agencies like CEOP will catch these devious people and it is that sort of investigative work that should be prioritised and appropriate  investment made  if the government is serious about catching abusers and preventing further crimes.

3.   In all this, as with the previous Labour government’s’ ill-conceived and thankfully now redundant proposal of an Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) scheme, you will see one vital thing is missing – focus on the victims. Whilst they are implicit in prevention the proposals do nothing to give better care for those abused.

4.   To catch abusers the first thing you need is a complaint and though this may come from a CEOP-type investigation it is crucial that an environment is created that empowers victims to come forward. Without these complaints the police or any other body cannot start to investigate anything. To attract complaints, you have to give victims the confidence to complain, and that doesn’t just mean informing them of which line to call or person to tell.

5.    I and many victims did not tell because we did not think we would be believed. What we victims need is not just an immediate person being sympathetic and taking a statement. We need to know that a proper investigation will be made if we make a complaint; to know that the Crown Prosecution Service will be robust and that every effort will be made to secure a conviction. So harrowing is the telling of our stories that we have to have utmost faith that as much as possible will be done to rectify the wrong and to help us bear the extra stress of an investigation and trial.

We are often tortured by the knowledge that many people will associate us with the awfulness of the crime and that, by extension; we will become damaged and tainted. In the case of male rape and abuse, the assumption is that the victim is gay or a likely abuser.

The failure of the government and the media to inform, educate and disseminate the facts around abuse is damaging and makes complaints less likely. It isn’t true that there is a paedophile round every corner and we don’t want the fear of abuse to become as widespread as the fear of crime has become.

If the public is properly enlightened, we will not have to fear allegations that we are making things up for sympathy or, in my case, to sell books. We might be spared the silences that accompany our entry into conversations about abuse, because it will be an issue that, though uncomfortable, can be talked about openly. Only then might we start to know we are not alone.

Blanket broadcasting of just our names does not help. How much do you know about any of us, beyond our abuse? How many stories have there been about the inadequacy of support for those of us who have developed psychiatric problems, are addicts or are at risk of suicide?

The ongoing failure to help us is as much a scandal as the failures of 30 years ago to catch our abusers. If everyone’s starting point is our welfare and we all work outwards from there, at least things will be going in the right direction.

6.   If the government really cares about the abused and wants to catch their abusers, vicarious outrage is of limited use. Manipulation of existing facts dressed up as brave new plans is cynical and a further betrayal of victims. We are used to politicians from all parties spinning things but this is one area in which it is morally wrong and those responsible should be ashamed.

Real commitment to help victims would be the financing of CEOP in full and at a much higher level. The £1.5m given to the IWF could have been spent as suggested in a statement from Gamble –

‘Less than 1.5 million pounds a year would pay for 12 regional child protection experts, supported by twelve training coordinators.  They could recruit, vet, train and supervise volunteers in every police force in the UK.  People, who would work for free, retired police officers, IT specialists, teachers, nurses, academics, ordinary people with specialist training and support.’

If every force recruited ten such volunteers we could turn the tables.  Imagine five hundred and twenty ‘Special Constables’ working to identify, locate and rescue the children trapped inside abusive images? Imagine the impact on the confidence of offenders trawling the internet when they can no longer be sure that they are engaging a child and not one of the many police co-ordinated undercover officers?’

7.     Victims need not only to know their abusers are being brought to book, they need help by the funding of relevant social services for their ongoing problems, not faux initiatives and calls to eviscerate abusers. Then again, the former isn’t really news and costs money; the latter is much easier and doesn't.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roast Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

Soups are a good on fast days because they have been proved to be more satiating than solid foods. Whatever your calorie allowance for the meal, having soup and less food will leave you more satisfied than a greater amount of food on its own.

This is easy, very tasty and you get a lot of it for very little.

Roast Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

Serves four or however many you want - total calories just 200

Ingredients

3 large red peppers
10 cherry tomatoes
1 onion halved
3 garlic cloves peeled
Oil for Spraying
Salt and Pepper
A pinch of brown sugar
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1/2 tsp cumin
Juice of 1/2 lemon and retained husk
1 tbs tomato puree
1 tsp balsamic vinegar of Worcester Sauce
1,200ml chicken or vegetable stock

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C fan -assisted or 200C normal
2. Put peppers, tomatoes, onion, lemon husk and garlic in roasting tray and spray with oil turning to make sure they are coated all over
3. Season with salt and pepper
4. Combine lemon juice, chilli, cumin and sugar and then drizzle over vegetables
5, Roast for about 20 minutes till the vegetables brown but do not allow to blacken
6. Remove lemon husk and pour the contents of the tray into a large pan and
 add stock
7. Bring to the boil then turn down heat and simmer for 10 mins
8. Remove any tomato skins if you like but not necessary
9. Using hand blender or processor process till smooth, add vinegar or Worcester Sauce and add more salt and pepper if desired.



Note - if you are using an ordinary food processor pour out the liquid into another pan and whizz the rest. If you pout the whole lot in it might explode and coat the kitchen walls, as I found to my cost the first time I made this.

Stir Fried Cauliflower Rice

I tried using Miracle noodles and rice as they are virtually nil in calories and bulk up dishes, however, I found that a. they are expensive and b. they taste awful.

This low calorie alternative (25 cals per 100g) is great and although its very mild taste remains it will only put off those who abhor cauliflower; otherwise it can be used in the same way as rice in many dishes.

Ingredients

Serves 1 - Calories 275

1 Cauliflower medium sized
1 medium onion chopped small
I clove of garlic chopped
1 medium carrot strips
1 medium red pepper sliced thinly
1/2 tsp chilli flakes or powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
oil for spraying
3 dashes of light soy sauce
Salt and pepper

To make the rice

1. Cut cauliflower into individual florets but not too small, use some of the stalk but not the greens or the base.
2. Wash and then dry thoroughly with a tea towel or paper towel. This is very important as if you don't do it the 'rice' will go mushy.
3. Put the florets in a food processor and pulse several times until it look like rice. Don't overdo it or the pieces will be too small; err on the larger side. You can also use an ordinary grater to do this.
4. Put the rice in a microwavable bowl, cover but leave well vented with holes and cook on high for 5 mins.
5. Uncover and leave to dry as long as you can. You can use it straight away but it works better if drier.

For the stir-fry

1. Spray non-stick pan with oil to cover base.
2. Fry the onion till soft and just browning
3. Add the carrot strips which you make by using a potato peeler
4. Add the pepper
5. Spray with oil and stir-fry quickly till softened
6. Add cauliflower and spray with oil
7. Add all seasoning
8. Stir-fry quickly turning the heat up but keep stirring to prevent sticking and burning. If you need to add anything because the food is sticking use a splash of boiling water or an extra spray of oil.
9. When rice is cooked and had lightly browned finish and serve.

You can use any other spices and ingredients as you would for other stir-frys; on non fast days the low calories in the cauliflower rice allow you to have more of everything else,

GRILLED FISH THAI-STYLE

This is an adaptation of a traditional Thai dish which uses stevia, the natural sweetener - it doesn't taste as good as brown cane sugar in the original recipe but it is an acceptable substitute when you consider the calories it takes out.

Simple, quick, tasty and good on a fast or any other day.

GRILLED FISH THAI-STYLE

Serves 2

Total 500 calories

Ingredients

Cod fillet or any other firm fleshed white fish - 400g cut in half
Garlic - 3 cloves minced
Vegetable oil - 1 tbs
Fish sauce - 2 tbs
Stevia - 2 tbs
Black pepper 1/2 tsp
Turmeric 1/3 tsp
Chilli powder 1/2 tsp
Cayenne pepper 1/2 tsp


For marinade

1. Mince garlic and put into small dish
2. Add all the other ingredients
3. Wizz in blender or if you don't have one stir really well
4. Pour over fish and work the liquid into the fish without damaging the flesh
5. Marinade for up to 24 hours but minimum 15 mins


Cook

Pre-heat grill to medium and grill fish on foil on which you've poured a little of the marinade to prevent sticking. Grill for 3 mins then turn over for another 3; turn over for another 2 and once again for 2 - total time 10 mins or until fish is just cooked.

Sample low calories recipe on 5:2 or 16:8 plan

I thought I'd let you see an example of the sort of changes to the diet that using the plan has brought for me and to show that it does not involve only eating lettuce and carrots.

The following is a variation of the dish in the 5:2 Diet plan recipe book which I bought when I started and which I recommend you buy, or something similar, if you want to follow the plan . It is available here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fast-Diet-Recipe-Book-Calorie-controlled/dp/1780721870 and no, I am not on commission.

Note - a good non-stick pan is important with low fat cooking and don't use commercial fat free sprays as they are possibly harmful and anyway they taste rubbish. You can make your own oil spray by getting a cuisine level spray bottle and sterilising it. I got this nice, shiny stainless steel pump-action spray here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0001IX1EI/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_EnOxsb1HR903E  - and it looks so good it goes on the table with the S & P grinders. The real reason for using a sprayer is that in conjunction with a non-stick pan you use far less oil without it compromising the taste and cooking. NB, you do need to watch the cooking to prevent burning.


COTTAGE PIE

Just 1,000 calories in all and serves 4 with other veg or I eat it on its own on a fast day.

You need -

Olive or vegetable oil for spraying
A good non-stick pan
200 gms extra lean mince or blade steak minced
1 medium onion diced
2 medium carrots diced
2 sticks of celery chopped small
1 x 400gm can of chopped tomatoes
Small squirt of tomato puree
500 gms celeriac chopped into big chunks (or 250 gms celeriac & 250 gms swede.)
2 medium leeks chopped to the width of a £1 coin
100 ml (half a tub) half fat crème fraiche
Salt and pepper
1 beef stock cube
1 tsp mixed herbs
A few drops of Worcester Sauce
250 mls water
2 tbs Red Wine Vinegar (optional)


The Topping -

1. Boil the celeriac (& swede if using) until tender. Drain & return pan to low heat to steam dry. When dry mash roughly but not to a pulp, add crème fraiche, stir in gradually and without breaking down the celeriac too much and season with S&P.

2. Whilst the above is cooking spray the pan to cover the base and cook the leeks over a medium heat, stirring to prevent burning. Occasionally spray the leeks with one squirt of oil, say 3/4 times. When leeks are soft and have started to brown at the edges stop and tip them into the pan with the mashed celeriac.

2. Stir together. Don't overdo this as it will go gloopy.


The Sauce -

1. Spray bottom of a large casserole dish once to cover, then cook the mince or cook it with the Red Wine Vinegar and no oil until all the moisture goes. You need to keep stirring this constantly to stop it sticking and burning and don't do it over more than a medium medium/high heat.

2. Add onion, carrots and celery and cook over low/medium heat till they soften.

3. Add tomatoes and puree, stir in well.

4. Add stock cube, herbs, S&P and Worcester sauce, stir well then add the water and stir again.

5. Cover partially and simmer for about 20 mins stirring occasionally; you really want most of the liquid to have been absorbed because the pie topping is quite moist.

6. Put sauce in bottom of oven-proof dish, add topping and bake for c 20 mins at 200c or 180 for fan oven or until top is browning.


Mince - I like to use blade and mince it because I think it taste better and if you watch this link you can see that mincing (ooh er missus) can be fun -  http://youtu.be/JIJamYZQiSU

5:2 and 16:8 Plan

I have always viewed diets as of little use, reasoning it is simply a matter of calories in and out. I would still think this had I not seen a BBC Horizon documentary on a flight to Australia which to me made sense and which I thought I would try for health and weight loss reasons.

Please note that I make no claims about this being incontrovertible nor scientifically accurate. I am not a qualified nutritionist and I only say it makes sense to me and is working so far. It may not be for you and you may disagree with its validity - in which case ignore all this and don't try it.

There is no point in repeating the scientific points when they are set out in detail in the article link after this sentence. I recommend reading it before you read the rest of this, if only to see that there is credible evidence to support its approach. http://timesenterprise.com/news/x2056572230/Hunger-games-The-new-science-of-fasting

The key passage for me is this - 'A fast is considered to start about 10 to 12 hours after a meal, when you have used up all the available glucose in your blood and start converting glycogen stored in liver and muscle cells into glucose to use for energy. If the fast continues, there is a gradual move toward breaking down stored body fat, and the liver produces "ketone bodies," short molecules that are by-products of the breakdown of fatty acids.'

A more prosaic comparison that may make sense is this - Imagine the body as an engine with a tank and reserve tank of fuel. The reserve tank is the store of fuel in your fat deposits. As you eat you put fuel into the tank and take it out to fuel your daily activities. If you put in more than you take out it may be stored in the tank but if that is full it goes into your reserve tank which is not one which has an automatically limited capacity. Basically this extra fuel is stored as fat around your body, especially your waist.

Most of the time you are able to function with the tank at various levels and the reserve tank is not needed. However, when the tank is empty your body starts to use fuel from the reserve tank and this is when it takes fuel from your fat stores, which is where the claims for targeted fat loss arise. This is what is said to happen when you get into the later hours of your fast. When you start to eat normally you go back to using the normal tank and so on.

I started using the 5:2 plan eating half the 600 calories on fast days around 7.30 am and waiting until 7.30 pm to eat the rest of the daily intake. This wasn't easy, though I stuck to it through a groaning stomach and uneven moods. It worked and I lost about 1.5 pounds per week but the 2 fast days were an ordeal, though I did get better at coping with them.

I then read further about the relative claimed benefits for a 24 hour fast and what I now use, the 16:8 plan.

I simply couldn't manage a 24 fast but the 16 hour one is far more manageable and for me is easier than the 12 hours during the day fast. With the 16:8 plan the hours of sleep count in the fasting period because whilst you are inactive the body still needs fuel, although less than when active.

Thus to achieve the required 16 hour fast you can simply eat, for example, your last meal at 8.00 pm and do not eat until 12:00 the next day or any variation of that which works with your schedule. The benefits of fasting are increased because the hours without fuel are increased.

Strictly speaking I understand that the 16:8 plan allows you to eat your recommended intake of calories every day whilst still getting the underlying health benefits of fasting which are set out in the above article. However, to lose weight you need to consume fewer calories than are used so I use the 600 calories in the 5:2 diet but consume them in the 8 hour 'eating window' in the 16:8 plan. The other benefit is that you can eat the calories in however many meals you want during that window so if you want you can eat four small meals which makes you feel less hungry. You can use a higher figure if you cannot exist on that number and still lose weight, though it will be more slowly.

I also understand that the 16:8 plan is supposed to be a daily plan but I have found that I can eat normally on some days - i.e. have breakfast and eat sensibly throughout the day, provided I stick to the 16 hour fast 8 hour eating window on 2 days each week. What I have found is that having breakfast is to some extent a programmed activity and when you break it the normal urge to eat when you wake goes. Some days I eat breakfast and other I don't and of course not on the fast days.

On the 5:2 plan they say you can eat what you want on the other days even over your normal intake but that the average person only does so by an extra 10%, which still gives the benefits including weight loss. Whilst some days I do this more often than not I don't and for a number of reasons.

When you are limited to 600 calories you get to know the exact calorific value of most foods and when you eat normally you are aware that some foods have huge numbers of calories and by simply choosing alternatives that you like you are consuming fewer calories. More often than not the alternatives are healthier. Also, you have to be creative in your cooking when eating only 600 calories and this changes the way you cook ordinarily. What also undoubtedly happens is that your palate changes - for example things like beans, pulses, even most vegetables didn't feature high on my 'like' list but they do now, provided they are cooked creatively. The key, for me, to taste is in the way food are seasoned and spiced and simple foods can be transformed with a bit of effort.

It does require effort to use the plan and at the start a lot of it. However, it does become much easier, though not effort-free, and after a couple of months I am finding it much easier. I now don't get too hung up if I am a few calories over a target because that just creates stress. If there is a day where I just cannot manage, for example when I get an unexpected invite to a dinner or to have a drink, I abandon that day. The main thing is not to lose the habit and give up all together; I see this as a permanent shift in eating habits not a fad.

When I get to my target weight I will go back to eating normally and using the 16:8 routine several times a week.

You may ask about exercising on fast days. This is possible but I would either do some less strenuous activity like yoga or a short intense session of about 30 minutes; I wouldn't recommend doing a long bout of cardio exercise on the fast days. Ironically, the latter stage of a fast seems to give me a temporary energy boost.

Finally, if this is an issue, the plan means that your food bill is reduced, not just because you eat less but because many of the ingredients you use, and get to like as staple foods when you eat normally, are cheaper. I recommend getting the 5:2 diet plan recipe book to help you make low calorie dishes, some of which I and my family have found are genuinely tasty and which you will want to eat on normal days because they are really rather good.