Rowantree, I just forget about the 5:2 on the 5 days, and when I started it, I found that I was actually eating a bit less on those days anyway, without trying. I can't see the point of all the recipe books and so on which have appeared (except for making money for someone, of course). As you are just restricting yourself for one day at a time, it doesn't matter what you eat as far as a balanced diet goes. If you want 10 bananas or 2 Mars Bars it doesn't matter. It seems to me that if you spend time cooking low-calorie recipes it just makes you think about food all the more, but I suppose if you enjoy cooking, maybe it's a diversion! I eat easy stuff like fruit and salad, with half a tin of sardines, a boiled egg or a slice of ham just to make it more interesting. Then on other days I just eat normally, including the odd meal out or take-away - one of the points of the 5:2 is that your body is never left feeling that it should go into starvation mode, when it tries to protect you from losing weight.
As for exercise, I too have found that it's a good way of thinking about something else, and in fact helps me not to feel so hungry. Go for it!