Dear Michael

You asked for feedback regarding the 8day diet – so here it is .

1 I bought the book on Sunday as I saw it on the supermarket shelves and had heard off
Professor Taylor’s work with diabetics. Couldn’t put it down and started a new way of
eating on Monday. The science quoted makes sense and many of the quotes regarding doctors so true.

2 However there are several points I would like to raise mainly regarding the plan itself.
I feel that there is too much emphasis placed on eggs. There are some people me
Included who cannot eat eggs ( I throw up). How can they be replaced with a protein
that has a similar number of calories? In other words what can I replace them with?

3 As a coeliac I have both almond and coconut flours in my store cupboard and also
quite a few others namely: polenta, chestnut,buckwheat, gram flour, oat flour, millet
Sorghum. I like baking and the concomitant eating maybe that’s why I’m diabetic.
Which of these can I safely use as carb free and which should I jettison?

4 Finally you were talking about personal fat levels. I am 5’1″ and weigh 133.2lbs. My
fancy scales tell me that my fat level is 34.2% which quite frankly horrified me.
However, this would indicate that I need to lose that percentage of weight is around
44lbs, which surely would make me slightly too skinny?

5 Finally, my blood pressure has come down slightly to something over 68 I am on
Ramipril and panicked. Phoned diabetic nurse regarding coming off the medication
And was told not to worry. I will keeps an eye on this but can you give me any
Guidelines regarding readings.

Keep up the good work, we need someone like you to look after the health of the country and challenge the accepted wisdom which can so often be wrong.

Regards
Marie Wilburn

Glad that you like this approach – I notice you have optimistically called it the 8-Day Diet!
Regarding the question about what flour to use – none of them are low carb and they are all refined, though they may be lower than refined wheat flour. Almond and nut flours tend to do well on the GI as have a relatively high fibre and fat content which reduces the sugar spike. I’m afraid baking is a bit of luxury on the diet..

I am astounded, I started 8DBPD on Monday of this week, I took BP on Sunday before starting diet. it was 169/79, relatively high considering BP meds, but that’s why I started diet! Took BP this PM, couldn’t believe my eyes, did it twice, then again this evening. 121/54, 116/60 then 120/58! Am completely shocked, BP not this low for 20 years, yes I know am still taking all meds as well as diet! But, wow! Anyone else had such results in 3 days of rigid week 1?
I know I will have to keep a close eye on BP, as I need doc to keep tabs on medication if BP going lower. Am delighted. 👍👍👍

Hi Pennysaints – wow, that’s a great result.
I wasn’t on BP meds but my BP fluctuated between pre-hypertension and just into hypertension and went back into normal within about 2/3 weeks on BSD and numbers have stayed there ever since.
My husband started the diet last year, has lost about 2 stone (if we ignore Christmas!), and came off his BP meds. He had been on BP meds for years so he was amazed as was the practice nurse. (All his family are on BP meds so he assumed it was a family thing and nothing could be done)
Congratulations again – really motivating isn’t it.Brilliant, too that you’ve stuck rigidly to the diet. xx
Keep posting I’ll be really interested to see how it goes for you.

Jennie xx
Edited: can I ask if you do any exercise. I know my blood sugars improving (I’m T2) was linked to the diet but I always somehow connected the BP going down partly with starting walking for exercise, so just curious if I’ve got that bit wrong.

Hi there. Just another to chip in about BP. I started the BSD on Sat 4th Jan. Not prediabetic I started this diet to try and reduce my long standing ‘borderline’ BP that had gone too high over the last year and meds were being mentioned. GP mentioned the BSD so I thought I’d give it a go.
Over the last 6 months I’ve been averaging 140-150/100 ish. Took my BP last night and this morning after 6 days on the diet and it had already gone down to 125/85.

Hi Jennie, no, I am unable to exercise due to major feet problems. Have always swum, but long standing shoulder probs have stopped that. Plan to try water walking from Monday, so fingers crossed. My husband is also on diet, for T2 and has also had BS dropping as well as weight lose.
We are delighted with the diet and neither of us are snacking apart from spoonful of total Greek yogurt and fresh raspberries, if we need a sweet hit. We like breakfast and don’t enjoy breakfast drinks, so only change to diet plan, is having water and salt made Porridge with dash of milk instead on those days. One thing I changed a couple of years ago, instead of sugar, I use erythritol powder, which is a powdered root, sweet, no calories. Add this to porridge and yogurt too, if necessary.
By the way, my doctor has already stopped one of my BP tablets, really can’t believe the difference, or how good we feel. Husband says he cannot believe how well he feels, 6 days in! It’s incredible!
Kind regards.
Penny

It is fantastic isn’t it? Especially as so early in this 8 week plan. Gives you so much impetus to continue. Love looking at our amazing healthy shopping trolly too 😳😊

I have a question regarding Dr Mosley’s book THE 8 WEEK BSD.
When a recipe gives a number of calories and says Serves 2, does that mean that half the amount
of the recipe should be eaten?
eg Foil steamed fish – 370 calories – Serves2
should only half the portion of fish in the recipe be eaten?

Hi Mary
If it’s the recipes in the back of the original BSD book, then, yes, that’s how I read it. All the calories given are for one serving, so in the foil steamed fish recipe the 370 calories is for half of what’s cooked. I know because I wasn’t sure about it when I first started BSD.

One other thing it might be useful to be aware of is that the calorie count on some of the recipes are out (i.e. there are more calories than the recipe states). In the grand scheme of things it may not matter given you’re still going very low calorie but thought I’d mention it as it used to come up regularly on here.

I didn’t use the recipes after a couple of weeks (just used a food tracker to count and keep my cals to 800 etc ) but the BSD meals I did have I really enjoyed, and either way the BSD diet definitely works. Hope it all goes well.
Jennie xx

Penny
Thanks for getting back. I’ve always assumed that the lower BP must be because I started walking alongside starting the ‘diet’ bit so that’s really interesting about your BP lowering before you’ve been able to exercise. Sorry to hear about your feet xx

Yes, it’s great isn’t it. My main issue was T2 like your husband, and it amazed me too how quickly my blood sugars started coming down once I started this diet. Like many on here, past and present, my T2 is now in remission. Like you say, seeing those immediate changes really motivates you to continue. Hope everything goes well for both of you and let us know how you go on.

Jennie xx

Hi Freester
That’s another brilliant result and within 6 days it’s fantastic xx There really are so many health benefits from this way of eating.

Also, thanks for posting. We don’t always get posts specifically on BP so I think it’s really helpful. It is for me anyway and timely. My husband started the BSD last year after seeing how well I’d done. He lost 2 stones and came off his BP meds but since Christmas he’s struggling to get back on track and is going backwards. I know he’s quietly worried about his BP going back up. He’s never measured his BP so I’m hoping yours and Penny’s posts will help motivate him again. (Subtlety of approach, will, of course, be everything!)

Hope everything goes well. Keep in touch and let us know how it goes.
Jennie xx

Jennie, thank you. Good luck to your husband.
Personally I’m enjoying the recipes and food. Not missing the bad stuff. I guess it helps that I enjoy being in the kitchen preparing food.
I’ve got a skiing holiday in Feb. That will be my downfall as very difficult to make the right food choices way too much cheese bread and alcohol 🙈
Plan is to follow 800 BSD until holiday. Try and make sensible choices whilst away and then come back and follow the BSD way of life from then on or maybe 5:2 for a few more weeks if required before the way of life.

Hey Freestar – you’re not secretly my husband are you ?!? Cheese, bread and alcohol is exactly his downfall atm.
Sounds like a good plan. Lots of strategies on here for managing holidays if you want tips nearer the time.
I’m jealous about the holiday but a great motivator.
Jennie xx.

Hi, I started this as I was diagnosed as Pre-Diabetic last summer but am only on my 3rd week, 11lbs down and weigh day tomorrow. I do not know what my reading was at the doctors but yesterday I did my reading on a new Blood Sugar monitor I bought and it was 7.4, every google has said I am now diabetic, is this true? Should I be taking the reading after dinner of fasting in the morning? On the good side my blood pressure was in the healthy range and cannot remember the last time it was, I take Ramipril for blood pressure. Thanks in advance.

Hi Gill, one reading over 7 doesn’t necessarily mean you are diabetic. There are other factors to take into consideration e.g. when you last ate and how many carbs you’ve consumed as well as the time of day or if you’re ill or stressed just to mention a few. The hba1c done by your doctor is the most reliable way of diagnosing if you have full blown diabetes. I think with a random reading of 7.4 then it is unlikely to be full blown diabetes just yet.
You should test before a meal and 2 hours after the meal to see what effects the meal has on your sugar levels. Another important reading is the fasting one first thing in the morning before eating. However, the dawn phenomenon can affect this reading.
There are a few diabetics on here so feel free to ask any questions but remember none of us are medically trained. We can only advise based on our own experience. If you’re worried then I would advise you get in touch with your GP. He will arrange for an hba1c test if he thinks it’s necessary. This test measures your average blood glucose levels over the last 3 months and would determine if you’re diabetic or not.
Hope this helps

Hi Scotishgal, many thanks for the response. I only bought it yesterday and had eaten my dinner so will try it over the next few days after fasting over night and again 2 hours after dinner and see how I get on. Thanks for getting back to me, appreciate the support in the group. x

Hi Gill, I’m not diabetic either, but wore a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) last year for a month. It was educational because I could see which foods would spike my blood glucose that were personal to me. My highest reading following a meal was 8.6, I believe, and that was from eating cold potato salad, so clearly the resistant starch thing didn’t protect me much. I don’t normally eat potatoes anyway, but was experimenting with different foods while I was wearing the CGM. Next highest was white garlic bread, then ice cream in bar form covered in chocolate (interestingly ice cream on its own and chocolate on its own didn’t cause spikes at all, but together in a bar was horrible), and then banana at 7.0. These are likely unique to me and my biology and yours will be unique to you and yours, but it shows that you can have spikes with certain foods even if not diabetic. My recent HbA1c for instance was 38 or 5.6.

arcticfox, interesting to see what spikes you, I plan on doing this properly over the weekend, week days are a bit hectic, I leave home at 6am and its 7pm by the time I am home and cooking dinner. I will let you know how I get on, thank you both,