Hi everyone
I am going to start doing the Fast 800 on Saturday and would love some pointers on how to get started. I’m newly diagnosed diabetic and would like to see a reversal of this as well as losing several stones to boot! I’m wondering whether I can still eat porridge oats for breakfast, soup for lunch and what on earth to eat for dinner! Feeling excited at the thought of success but a little overwhelmed too at the practicalities! Any help or direction to helpful resources would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

A warm welcome to you, Rainbow! We have a thread here entitled TAKE A LOOK AT THIS. There are many podcasts,
links and reading suggestions that may be very useful to you just starting out. YES, it is exciting! There is a steep
learning curve to master, but soon it will become second nature to you, the calorie and carb counting. There is a
wealth of knowledge here, and we are always delighted to share it, so post any questions or concerns you might have,
and an experienced BSDer will soon be along to offer aid and comfort. Advance planning of your meals is one of the
keys to success, so try and set aside some time each week to do this. If you are going to use the recipes in the book
instead of adapting your own, be aware that the calorie counts are often underestimated. Depending on how insulin
resistant you may be, the amt. of carbs that some recipes contain are a bit high for some of us, too. Porridge is
usually not a good idea either, and only small portions, occasionally eaten. Whether your goal is reversing T2D or
weight loss, this lifestyle is the answer. It can take you anywhere you want to go 🙂 We accomplish this together, so
join any thread that interests you. The ONE WEEK AT A TIME thread is very active, and there is a wonderful community
there, with a great mix of new faces and more experienced folks who are years into maintenance. We will make you
very welcome! Join us, so that we can get to know you 🙂

Allie

Hi rainbow75, welcome to the forum. You are in a very lucky place as you are recently diagnosed you really can reverse that (unlike me who is diabetic for 14 years). Just to start you off, and because you are diabetic, my advice is to completely cut out all white starchy carbs – bread, flour, rice, pasta, breakfast cereals, potatoes and any processed foods – these should be eliminated almost forever (you will get used to it). For the first 8 weeks of the programme you should also cut out the so-called good carbs like the brown versions of any of the above (brown rice, bread, pasta) sweet potatoes, parsnips. They all high in carbs. You can use limited amounts of good carbs like oats but small portions and not too often, same with lentils. If you are wondering what on earth you can eat, go to http://www.dietdoctor.com where you will find a picture of basically what we call above ground veg which are good and below ground which are generally bad. Look at the carbs per 100g as well as the calories – you will find exceptions like celeriac which is low in carbs and cals, but you will make mistakes.

For breakfast try full fat Greek yoghurts with berry fruits and a sprinkle of nuts or seeds. Eggs of all types are a good breakfast and filling, boiled, poached, scrambled. Soups for lunch but be careful, even WW soups are loaded full of carbs – read the labels. Salads of course but be inventive, I hardly ever see a lettuce leaf or cucumber these days. Dinner can be what you would normally make like a bolognaise or stew or meat and veg – you just have to leave off the usual carbs. Think about spag bol using spirals of courgette or homemade curry with cauliflower rice, Sunday roast with mashed celeriac or cauliflower. There are so many things to tell you but you will learn best as you go along and ask questions as and when things crop up. Dont worry about making mistakes as long as you get rid of the bad carbs. Good luck and stay with us by joining in with some of the threads.

Hi rainbow75
As sunshine-girl says, for us (I also have Type II Diabetes) it’s reducing the carbs that’s the big thing. I’ve recently heard a couple of the American experts describe Type II diabetes as like ‘having a food intolerance to carbohydrates’. It’s not a bad initial short-hand way of looking at it. I agree with sunshine-girl, I consider myself lucky to have been diagnosed in 2016 when the BSD book and other experts were around showing that you can put Type II into remission and how to do it. (You’ll find a lot of the other experts on the thread Allie mentions). On the BSD, I got my hba1c back into the normal range within a matter of months from my diagnosis and its stayed there ever since. I also lost a lot of weight. So, you’re right to be excited!

There are lots of lovely food to eat on the BSD. My diet includes meat, fish, poultry, above ground veggies/leafy greens, eggs, cheese, cream, full fat Greek yoghurt, avocado, berries, olives, nuts etc. You can even have a square or two of very dark chocolate – sadly I haven’t got the level of self-control for that one, but others do.

When I’m doing the 800 cals bit rather than maintenance I generally keep it plain and simple. I don’t have breakfast (just find it easier to spread 800 calories over two meals) but when I do I’ll have yoghurt or eggs. I will have home-made soup for lunch (or in summer salads) or something quick and snack-y e.g. scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, or prawns with avocado & lemon, or just a couple of boiled eggs and a slice of ham). My evening meal is usually a protein (meat, fish) with green veggies or a salad.

My practical tips are to use one of the online food trackers like fatsecret or MyFitnessPal to keep track of your carbs & cals. It will also show you how much protein and fibre etc you’re getting which is good. Like quite a few people I use it to plan my meals ahead for the day, a few days (ideally it would be for the week, but I’ve never quite got there).
Weigh everything – personally I’m useless at judging portion size. I bought digital kitchen scales which switch from measuring grams to lbs and ounces etc. Mine are only cheap and tinny but were probably the best thing I bought to help me keep on track.
As Allie says, batch cook if you can and freeze individual portions. (I did this with soup in particular). I’d also separate other foods e.g. steak, fish, etc into individual portion sizes before freezing.
Also, always have some things in, or with you when you’re out, that you can just eat quickly if you’re feeling really hungry – a few nuts, slices of ham, a boiled egg (you’ll be surprised how appetising it looks when you’re really hungry!).
I also used the visual guides on dietdoctor (the site sunshine-girl mentions) to understand exactly how many carbs there were in different foods. I also bought a book called Carbs and Cals which was useful to begin with as it had photos of foods and carbs/cals in different portion sizes.

Personally, I’d avoid the porridge for now if you can.
Jennie xx
Oh, and also, there are some nice soup recipes on here, both in the recipe section and in the threads (try using the search box for those), or you can google soup recipes, just type low carb in front.

Hi Allie
Thanks so much for your lovely reply and for making me feel so welcome here on the forum. I’m not great at interacting online, but I will try! I think the support you can receive on places like this forum will be really valuable to me in the coming weeks!
Rainbow
xxx

Hi Sunshinegirl

Thanks for your lovely post and for being so helpful and welcoming…it is much appreciated. I have taken your advice and cut out all ‘bad’ carbs. I’m finding it very difficult at the moment after a very good start. Hopefully it will improve soon! I’m determined to persevere and to reap the rewards!

Rainbow
xxx

Hi Jennie,

Thank you for your lovely welcome post and for being so encouraging. It’s going to be a tough road ahead but I think I can manage it!
I’ve had a look at the soup recipes and they look lovely! Thanks again,

Rainbow xxx

Hi Rainbow,
I’m glad you’re going for it. It really does get easier after the first 2/3 weeks, promise. Otherwise, I couldn’t do it!
Shout out at any time if you need support – there’s always someone somewhere who can help.
Also, join in on any threads you want to. People are welcoming. xx