There are interesting articles published by researchers suggesting that when we are in ketosi our bodies then break down cholesterol plaque in the blood vessels and recycle it. There are also research papers published on the benefits of autophagy in responding to heart disease, and improving the blood vessels but then they go on to focus on developing drugs to trigger autophagy.

There are a number of research papers indicating that a month of ADF or a 10 day fast reduce blood pressure and therefore reduce the main risk factor for strokes and heart attacks which links with the cholesterol issue again.

Perhaps thats a topic to discuss with your endocrinologist?

In our local hospital the cardiac team consists of a single cardiologist and a team of 2 nurses who are the ones who have meetings with patients. I have tried to engage them with links to research but didn’t get very far. The NHS system according to them is to accept that nothing can be done to reduce damage / improve cardo health you just need to eat 3 meals a day with carbs and then take pairs of drugs including repurposed drugs for diabetics to control the symptoms as long as possible. You are so lucky to find someone interested in research.

Hi JGWEN its really discouraging isnt it,the NHS stance on “healthy diet” ! Its a shame they dont listen. I guess it must be down to being so linked with Big Pharma,do you think..all about getting people on medication? My fiiend was a practice nurse a few decades ago,and the drug companies used to take them on weekends away.
I think I saw somewhere you have lymphoedema? Sorry if confusing you w someone else. I find same attitude w my lympho nurses..i tell them things Ive researched and they look amazed and surprised…even about very very basic stuff like aids to put on / take off compression garments. Why arent they researching stuff themselves if they are specialist lympho nurses. Shouldnt that mean an interest in reading up? Not that ive seen a lympho nurse for ages,not since Dec 2019, last appt., after which was told that the clinic was closing,will be informed when another is opening. One day a random District Nurse knocked at my door and handed me two prs stockings…since then,nothing.
Im about to take part in a NHS study,looking at lifestyle,bp,cholestrol etc..will be interesting to see what happens!

I don’t have an appointment yet with the endocrinologist but when I do I will discuss the things you have detailed and will let you know the outcomes. It’s such a pity you don’t have the same support where you are. My daughter works as an advanced nurse practioner and she feels like she is banging her head against a brick wall with how blinkered some doctors are that she works with. I don’t discuss my issues with her as she worries too much about me. Thanks for your help.

Yowzer the research re familial cholesterol I’m going to be involved in could be linked or associated to yours perhaps as I was told its going to be uk based not just local to me in Somerset.

I think the days of big pharma entertaining healthcare professionals to that extent are over, but sadly to many in the profession it is a job, and apart from ongoing CPD which may be required, keeping up to date with new research etc. is not a realistic expectation.

And how many patients take responsibility for their own health? Many of us here do, which is why we are here, but most people I know are quite happy to take a pill and not be accountable for changing their lifestyle. Take the recent example of the miracle weight-loss injection – this may be my cynical side coming through, but how many of those eager to try it were skeptical of the COVID vaccine?

I posted recently about being at an event where I ate far too much carbage and felt awful for it, but I was listening to a family friend bemoaning her ill health, progressing from pre-diabetes to T2 and now T2 on Metformin and how she just can’t kick her sweet tooth – this conversation happened while we each had an ice-cream in hand!

I know our GP was supportive when hubby was diagnosed as pre-diabetic, which is how we found this forum and this way of life, and hubby was not forced down the medication route. Yes, we have both gained a little bit of weight from our initial losses, but the key message of keeping carbs low most of the time is what is keeping the HbA1c results firmly in the normal range. And if and when we do eat something carby, we are much more aware of it, and it is an exception, not the norm.

Anyway, off my soapbox, good luck on the journey, and if you have the opportunity to be in a study, go for it!

Phew! We’re back 😀
I thought it had been a bit quiet on here this week so tried to logon today but couldn’t access the BSD website. Not sure how long there have been problems but it seems fine now 🤞
For a few miserable hours I felt quite bereft tbh. I wondered if the website had just been ended in favour of the newer Fast 800 one. And realised that I would then have no way of contacting the many on this thread that I regard as friends. And it all felt very sad.
So, two things. Firstly we are due the next phase of our journey next week. I confess that this leg has been very up and down for me, for all kinds of reasons, and I have just about managed to maintain. But as of next week am moving up a gear into serious Mother of the Bride mode and really want to nail it this time.
But secondly, it has got me thinking whether we should have a back up plan in case anything happens to the website in future? Not sure what – and I appreciate the security issues of sharing contact details on here – but any ideas welcome. I did rapidly join the BSD and Fast 800 Facebook groups to see if I could track any of you down 😅 I’m sure we’d find a way after all this time.
Go well everyone, and good luck for the last few days of Part 3 xx

Hello
My word I’ve been panicking that this site had ended and I wouldn’t be able to contact you all ever again! My cat via Twitter actually sent a message to Michael Mosley last night asking if the site had a technical issue and I am so happy it’s back today. The thought of never being able to speak to my friends again was really upsetting. I don’t do Facebook but I was looking for ways of how I could find you all again! What a loss it would be and so we need to come up with an idea of how we can keep in touch going forward.
I’ve had a really bad cold this week so abandoned my planned 36 hour fasts. I’ve lost 10 pounds on this journey and had planned to lose 20. I am pleased with my loss and I aim to lose the next 10 on the next leg of the journey. A combination of fasting, TRE and eating what I want seems to have done the trick for me this time so I’ll be happy with another 8 weeks or so to continue my journey.
When I turned up for my interview last week I was greeted by someone telling me it had been cancelled!!! I was furious and so upset. I took a day off work and couldn’t understand why nobody had called me. I subsequently withdrew my application- maybe it was a sign. It’s my last day at the vaccination centre tomorrow!!
It’s great to be back online and I look forward to taking part in the next journey.

Wow Cathy – 10lb is amazing!!! Very well done. I’m inspired to aim for the same over our next 8 weeks rather than dither around like I have been doing in recent months.
How rude of the company not telling you your interview had been cancelled.I think you did the right thing withdrawing : something better will come up.
Hope you feel better soon, and hope your last day at the vaccination centre goes well tomorrow. Great to see you back again, and yes let’s think of a way we can all keep in touch should anything untoward happen on here! X

Hi ClarinetCathy,
I was panicking as well! 😫😭 Not being able to reach this site, and not having any way of contacting others or Tech Support. I tried emailing the F800 page and their site, and did get a reply from the Tech person there, so hopefully that might have got things moving.. Anyway I am SO glad we are back. I don’t post a lot, but I read the site everyday and really missed it for the 4-5 days it was down.
Well done on your 10lb loss – you are inspirational. 🌼🌼🌼
Merry

Hi guys,
I am glad the website is back up, its been a few days that it has been down, but it has not just been the website. – When you report a post by a spammer you get an email from the tech support saying thank you and that the post has been removed. I tried emailing the tech support but emails to them were also bouncing. If it had been scheduled work, like moving the website from one hosting company to another I would have expected tech support to have made us aware, so it was obviously an unscheduled issue.

I tried to access the forums before the weekend, because I had a NSV to share, I can remember thinking that some of you would find it amusing, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was. I have had a couple of NSV’s this week, but more about recovery from Covid rather than weight. / inches discarded. I am both able to keep going with work more each day but also not needing to think about energy conservation. I have had to consider every task looking at how I pair up tasks to minimise the number of steps / physical activity. I realised this morning I don’t have to do that anymore. The maths of working out how to collect the rubbish bags from the store and house and put in the car with the minimum of steps isn’t needed any more. It doesn’t matter if I have to take an extra 100 steps more than the absolute minimum.

I have been checking progress with a tape measure and I am pleased by the changes. I have been trying to eat normally (three meals a day high fat low carb) for the last 3 days in preparation for blood tests prior to the next meeting with the cardio team on the 6th July. Its been a real struggle, after an omelette for breakfast I feel so full that I don’t really want to eat again at lunchtime.

With regard to making sure we can contact each other, I am not in the facebook groups for DrMM’s eating program. But we don’t have to use a site set up by anyone else for us. Its easy enough to set up a facebook group. It could be a closed group so that people have to answer questions before the moderators approve membership requests and one of those questions could be the user name used on the forum, so only people who have been posting here for a while can join. But it would still involve a couple of people from this forum volunteering to be the moderators.

Some years ago, back in the days when Allycat was an active member of the forum a few of us decided we wanted to chat via email away from the forum. Wendy (who sets up the weekly thread) set up a temp email address and published it on the forum (in a format with spaces so that spammers who have developed automated systems to locate email addresses could not latch on to it) Then we all emailed her temp address and she shared our email addresses to the others.

Good morning all😘

Well thank goodness we are back on last ne I was so worried I had lost our group 🤗
It hasn’t been the same for me it’s probably a comfort blanket knowing you are all there if I need support!!!!
I don’t do face book and don’t really believe in it but if there is a way of people having my email address I would be happy with that
I would like to join the next bus 🚌 ride I am on holiday in Italy 🇮🇹 at the moment flew out on Tuesday until next Tuesday oh dear the pasta 🍝 is so lovely 😊
I have only lost 4 pounds on this round so not very good and I only have until September to bring my blood sugar down otherwise I am on tablets the doc said so need to stay in my seat 💺 firmly on the next 🚌
Any update on the bane of the group??
If I can think of anyway we can keep in touch I will post
Have a good day everyone
Lv nokie 🩵

Ah it’s so lovely to see you all back here again! Hello MERRYMELBA and well done for managing to get through to someone. Maybe it was that which got the site back. . . . . although I think Cathy’s cat may have sealed the deal 😻

NOKIE well done on 4lb this trip! That’s really good progress because I know you have struggled at times. What are your goals for September and how can we help?

JGWEN I’m so glad you are continuing to make good recovery from Covid, and I hope that everything goes well for you at your next appointment 🤞

Regarding keeping in touch, it seems email is the better way to go as some don’t do Facebook. And funnily enough I’d come up with a similar idea to the one JGWEN mentioned. Great minds and all that! So I’ve set up a gmail address that starts with dct followed by the year I started here 2017 and the current year 2023. Put those three together – no spaces – and there you have it. I’ll reply to any forum regular who wants to get in touch and we will then have a basis on which to set up something else should this forum ever fold.

And as for the next journey, shall we start that on Monday and just call it Part 4? Any more creative ideas much appreciated!

Have a great day! x

Hi DCT
Thanks for you’d reply and what we should do to keep in touch
Also will be with you all on next bus on Monday
Take care nokie 😊

Hello all so glad that we are back, I like others do not post very often but read others posts everyday – it keeps me on track knowing I’m not alone. DCT a great idea as I don’t do Facebook so will email you.
Looking forward to the next month and everyone’s NSV’s and actual scale ones too of course.
Norma

Hi DCT

I like the idea for keeping in touch, the site being down really made me panic and realize how much I NEED all of you guys to keep me going- even if I don’t post that often!
Looking forward to joining the next bus.

I have noticed that in the last year when you report a spammer it can take weeks for the tech support team to reply letting you know they have taken the post down. As its been a number of years since Dr MM published this book, perhaps they are not funding the tech support team as they used to? I think the domain registration for the website name lapsed, its only a small payment a year to retain the name but if its not set up to renew automatically and they are only paying for occasional part time tech support its easy for it to have been missed.

I am busy playing guestimate on the amount of weight put on after 4 days off of-plan eating. I had another round of blood tests today drawn ready for an appointment at the hospital next week. So I don’t have extra fights on my hands about statins and test results that are outside the norm I followed the usual guidance of three meals and day and not fasting So now its guessing how different the reading will be in a couple of days into my next fast when I have dropped the fluid retention and my digestive system is empty. According to the scales in the doctors surgery I have only dropped 0.1kg since the last official weigh in back in May. But I am down a couple of cm at bust, waist, hips and noticeable changes on thighs.

It was such a pity that this site was off last week. There was a week long online program of talks by “functional” doctors in the US and one from the UK on fatigue and mitochondria. The system with DrTalks is that very occasionally they have a big program of talks for a number of days. Its free to register, but on the free option the talks are only available for 24 hours. They do offer the option of paying for long term access but obviously that costs a couple of hundred dollars, so the free option is great even if you just watch one or two talks each day. They don’t give you a daily scedule in advance if you take the free option and it would be that the first day was the day this website went down.

.

Woo hoo! Are we all back! ? The wheels fell off our bus!
DCT i loved yr idea,specially as Im not on FB.
I emailed you but dont know if you got it,dont know if i got yr email add right,but thank you for doing that. Lets hope no more probs.
I kept off about 10 of the 12 lb I lost.
Too tired to read much as its one a.m…CCATHY so sorry about yr interview being cancelled and they didnt tell you,well done on yr 10 lb down! NOKIE 4 lb down even tho on holiday! 👍👍
sending hugs and love to all. See you on the next bus! Xxxx

Hi YOWZER, great to hear from you! And well done for not only losing 10lb but keeping it off. That’s definitely worth celebrating.

I will set up the next bus ready for Monday and really want to make this one a success for me!

I didn’t get your email. It’s a gmail address and I’ll put the first part in the next post. So far I’ve had emails from Derma, happysnap and ClarinetCathy.- lovely to “meet” you all 👋👋👋

Have a great weekend everyone X

HI again YOWZER the info you need is dct20172023 – the numbers refer to the years I have been on my up and down journey so far!

I’m booking my seat for Monday. I’ve not had a strict week this week because I’ve had a virus – covid negative but feeling quite poorly. I am determined to work hard on the next journey and aim to lose another 10lbs

Yowser I hope you’ve sussed the gmail account for contacting DCT. Don’t forget to type @gmail.com after the letters and numbers.

See you all on the bus on Monday!

Thanks CCATHY,have emailed and heard back from DCT. Hope you feel better very soon. Me too,i feel in the zone. Im reading about intuitive eating and trying to incorporate that with low carb and fasting.
CATHY,Did you mention the book by the 102 yo doctor still practising? I got it from the library and its brilliant!
See you on the bus monday!
DERMA the research Im taking part in is run by NHS and is called OurFutureHealth? Could it be same one? This is nationwide too x

Hi Yowser
Glad you have managed to get registered on DCT tick list! She is great sorting this out for us.
Yes it was me who was reading the book I think it’s called a well lived life . I’m really enjoying it too.
I’ll be boarding the bus on Monday and won’t be getting off til it’s time to get on the next one! .

Me too…will be hanging on tight as tight can be !
Glad youre enjoying the book too x

Hi Yowzer I did think it might be the same research originally but it appears that mine is about familial cholesterol as I was contacted by my GP to take part and the letter referring me talked about hormones so I was a bit confused. I’m hoping that as the guy I’m going to be seeing is an endocrinologist he will look at bigger picture ie cholesterol, dvt’s and fatty liver as I’ve read that they are all connected. On a positive note all of my life I have had stomache problems but have never found out why until I went down the 20g of carbs route. Now I know it’s the starchy carbs that upset me or should I say did as I try not to eat them very often any more.
Norma x

Hi everyone
Just to let you know I have set up the new thread for July and August, and will be boarding the bus on Monday. Look forward to seeing you there.
Lovely to get all your emails too. I currently have:
Derma
happysnap
ClarinetCathy
SueBlue
caronl
Nokie
Yowzer
Do drop me an email if you want to be in this back up group . . . “just in case”!
Have a lovely weekend and see you on the bus on Monday 😀

Thats so lovely DCT! Thank you! So glad to have this back up. X