Hi
I’m new here and I’ve decided to give the 8 week Blood Sugar Diet a go, the books will be arriving tomorrow, so starting once I’ve got a handle on how it works and done the shopping. I’m not diabetic or pre diabetic but I’m a card carrying carb addict with chocolate as the go to treat, so feeling a bit nervous about giving all that up. I’ve put on weight since lockdown, I need to lose a couple of stone, mostly caused by comfort eating. I know that all this sugar is bad for me, I’m now 52 and need to get a grip on my diet , break my dependence on carbs and find new and interesting recipes.

Hi Esme, I joined the forum and started on the BSD a cple of years ago, with six turkeys (ie 24 kgs) ideally to discard. Without ever really counting cals and carbs, I got down to 2 excess turkeys (size 18 to 12) but with lockdown etc I am back to three…I would find a recipe/meal plan swapping person really helpful to get back into the swing of things. I found the forum really helpful when I joined as there was that focus on what people were actually eating (you can search for Esnecca and Woodduckie for example). Each to his or her own, and it is great that this forum can help a wide variety, but for myself emojis and inspirational/homespun phrases do not do it. JGwen”s new thread (you can just search for JGwen in the search function) is of interest, I agree with a lot of what she says! I am starting with the roast broccoli and cheddar soup which you can find in the recipe section here; DietDoctor and CafeDelites websites are also very helpful! Anyway, if you would like to share a weekly meal plan, that would be great!

Hi Esme.
Good luck! If you stick with it, this diet really does work. I fell off the wagon quite a few times before getting into the healthy weight range but I started again and got there in about three and a half months (losing just over two stone) by Easter 2018. Since then my weight has gone down further, and then crept up now and then, but has always stayed within the healthy weight range.

My top tips (from experience!) are –

If you accidentally eat a whole box of chocolate biscuits, put that behind you and start again. And the same if you give in to any other temptation. It takes time to change and learn better habits.

Drink water. Have a glass when you get up, after exercise, before each meal and whenever else you remember to do it.

Consider ‘fasting’ – Having a longer than usual period between your last meal of the day and the first thing you consume the next day. It took me a while to come round to this idea, but I now eat dinner at about 7 and then not until midday or later the next. I (mostly) stuck to this over Christmas, which is is probably the main reason I’m still a healthy weight, despite having eaten a lot, including a fair amount of carbs.

Exercise every day, preferably outside. Walking is great, but you could do something more vigorous if you enjoy it.

Finally – if you’re finding it hard, or feel you’ve failed, say so on this forum. Someone will help.

Hi,
thank you, I’ll keep an eye out for these accounts, I think I’ll be sticking to the diet plan recipes for a while till I get more used to things. My breakfast and lunch in particular have always been carb heavy so it’s going to be a whole new way of doing things.

Hi Squidge
Thanks for your encouraging words, I can totally identify with binging a whole packet of biscuits, and I do worry about falling off the wagon.
Do you eat twice or three times a day if you’re not eating till after midday? We usually eat around 6.30-7pm and I often get a few things done in the morning before having breakfast, so that can be aro 10am, never liked eating as soon as I get up.
I love walking, before lockdown I would walk everywhere, I find it hard to just go for a walk, but we do have a dog which helps. He goes to day care three times a week at the moment, I’ve been dealing with a post viral thing since last year (another reason for the low carb diet) as I’ve not had the energy to walk him every day and do everything else. I hope changing my diet will improve my energy levels, been eating too much sugar to keep going, of course all I do is crash and want more sugar!

Hi Esme,
‘Fraid I’ve no advice as I only started the BSD on 1st Jan, but wanted to say ‘hi, good luck’ and that we seem to be in very similar positions (non-diabetic choc/sugar addicts 🙄) although I’m carrying an extra 10 years (and hoping it’s never too late to improve!).
I shall also be looking at the threads from the experienced posters for recipe ideas – so far it’s mostly been a small portion of whatever I’d usually eat but without the bad carbs (bread, pasta, rice, potato) and no booze or snacks. I did sneak a look at the scales and even after 3 days there has been a downward movement so maybe the gnawing hunger will be worthwhile 😆

I started this around a year ago. No regrets 3.5 stone lighter, health issues gone away and love this way of eating.

Read the books.
Clear your cupboards of the naughty stuff.
Plan your meals for a week and just buy those ingredients.
Black and green tea work wonders to quell those cravings.
Change your mindset to enjoy what you are allowed, don’t dwell or miss what is off plan.

Good luck…

Esme, I usually just eat twice a day, but sometimes have a milk and yoghurt drink or an apple in between. My husband almost always has some kind of snack as he doesn’t like the idea of only two meals a day (and being male needs a little more food than me anyway).

We’re not totally rigid with the fasting. In the days when such things were possible we made an exception if dining with friends and they wanted to eat later, and when going out for a whole day’s walking we had breakfast first and took something with us for lunch too.

Freester’s comment about clearing the cupboards is good advice. You’re being cruel to yourself if you have to constantly fight the temptation of carby food waiting in the kitchen. Now I’m maintaining I do sometimes indulge in a high carb treat, but I don’t keep a supply of them in the house. I only buy the one thing I want to eat. If it’s buy one get one free the free one goes into the food bank box before I leave the shop, because if it came home it would go in my belly right after the first one!

Hi
I’ve been easing into it, have had the first few days and feeling a bit rough, been told it passes. I admit I was a bit sceptical about the serving sizes but they do fill me up, I get a few cravings but I’m feeling like I’ve lost a lot of fluid and I can feel the difference so that’s spurring me on. I’m the only one doing the diet so some things will have to stay in the larder unfortunately.

Thanks for the advice, it will take me a while to sort myself out with meal planning, meals have been very samey for a long time so there were quite a few new ingredients I bought last week, a lot of them will last so this week’s shop will be a little less expensive!
The allowed, not allowed is a big thing for me, got a bit of work to convincing myself I’m not being deprived. I have to say the recipes in the book I have done so far have been lovely so that helps. When you’ve been brainwashed into thinking eating high sugar food is a reward/comfort/naughty little treat then feeling deprived is an easy trap to fall into.

Yep sounds like you’re getting your head around this.

I echo what freester posted a few days ago “enjoy what you are allowed, don’t dwell or miss what is off plan”. It’s difficult not to feel deprived, especially of sweet or carby things have been treats in the past. I prefer cheese to sugar any day, so a real treat for me on a weekend is a good piece of steak, with a side salad of mixed leaves and some strong blue cheese – at no point do I miss the chips.
We both like big flavours and spicy food, and just leave out the carbs, so we can have a chicken curry, but with cauli rice, and it doesn’t feel like deprivation.
Also try some non-food motivation – do you have a favourite pair of trousers or jacket that you haven’t fitted into for ages but couldn’t get rid of – try them on every week to feel the difference, until they do up, then they fit, then they fit well……you get the idea.
On Saturday morning my friends at the local farmers’ market commented “it’s working” when I mentioned not eating pastry, which felt really good as I haven’t seen them in a month.
We all have days when it doesn’t go to plan, but the trick is having more good days than bad days and you will see and feel the difference.
Keep at it!

Hi, thanks for replying
It’s hard to break the brainwashing that sugar is a treat or a reward or something, if you don’t you are depriving yourself. I hear you on the big flavours, I love them. Do you get take away curries or do you make your own? I’m really enjoying the recipes in the book and that’s helping me a lot, it’s making breakfast and lunch much more interesting, I used to live on cereal and sandwiches. I was a bit sceptical especially when I saw the difference between portion sizes in the photos in the book and what was on my plate, but they definitely make me feel satisfied. It’s still early days but I will be digging out the trousers I haven’t been able to fit into in a week or so.
Lenore

To answer Esme’s question re. curries – I make my own. My very basic curry recipe is a base of onion, ginger, garlic, curry powder and a tin of chopped tomatoes, and you can then add whatever protein you fancy – this works for prawns, white fish, paneer, quorn, eggs, random vegetables, butter beans, poultry, red meat and furred or feathered game.
I have found we quickly got used to smaller portion sizes, and I cannot eat a huge plate of food any more, but portion sizes easily creep up so I do need to keep a constant eye on them.
It sounds like you’re getting it, good luck!

Hi
I admit I’d hoped you said you did order in curry! Friday has always been curry night, my night off from cooking, Will have to plan in a curry making session to freeze for Friday. I tend to eat small portions at mealtimes, but I could graze all day though.

I was a big eat out / takeaway curry sort of person.

I cut it out when I started this WoE. From the BSD recipe book there is a nice Thai curry. The Cauli Biriani is gorgeous as is the Spicy Lentil recipe.

Last year I had the sum total of one Indian Takeaway back in the summer as a treat. No popadom, no bread, no rice. A curry of my choice (think it was a Naga) with Chana (chickpea) masala, and Sag Paneer. Even then I felt ultra guilty as I had no idea whether there was stuff in the food I really shouldn’t be eating.

Don’t miss the friday curry enjoy what you can eat. This is all about a reset. Like you I was forever hungry and could graze all day. That’s completely changed now. Smaller portions. I enjoy the smaller portions. I’m in control of my grazing and my hunger. You can be too.

Like you and freester, my hubby was always hungry and although he didn’t eat huge portions by non-800 standards, he seemed to be constantly grazing on something. His first week on BSD he struggled a bit, and I found it really difficult to plan in 3 meals and 2 snacks in 800cal, and freester’s early advice was to cut out the snacking.
He now has 3 meals a day, and a bottle of water with a wedge of lemon to see him through the day, along with black coffee and herbal teas – I think your body will adjust and be better for not being constantly drip-fed food.
Re. the curry – I always make a bigger portion than needed (not hard on BSD) and freeze in ziplock bags – this goes for any stew or curry, so Friday night’s curry was indeed a freezer bag and didn’t require any cooking.

Hi Marianne
Hope all is going well, I’ve had a rough few days but I think I might be beginning to come out the other side. I’m doing the same and looking at the forums for encouragement. I was much more active today so been feeling a bit hungrier, craving chocolate a bit but it’s not long till tea.

Hi Esme,
Hope you got thru’ til tea 😏. I’m now struggling with weight in week2 (think I’ll start a separate thread) but am pretty much OK with the food – I’ve bought ‘the 8 week blood sugar diet’ and ‘the fast 800 easy’ recipe books and I’m finding that the variety helps a lot.