If you read the advice given by NHS regarding Type2 diets, you will see that they are still pushing out that diet should be based on ‘bread, pasta, potatoes and rice’. I have written to my MP to complain about this, and he has taken it to a health minister. I think this should be fought tooth and nail, till a proper study has been done, Prof. Muir Gray is adamant that the advice is correct, despite the evidence given by Dr. Michael Mosely, and Prof. Roy Taylor. Gray is simply killing some people or at least losing them limbs, by his incorrect advice. I ask all who have tried the ‘800 Blood Sugar Diet’ to write to their MPs giving the results of their diet. Lets stop the NHS listening to Pharmacutical companies giving the Goverment biased advice to advance their profits.

Professor Taylor’s Newcastle University study is still underway; results are due to be published in 2018, when the study is complete.
They had an initial study with 11 patients, the results were released in 2015, which I understand has lead to the current medical trial with a larger body of 270 patients.

Until that point, the NHS is likely to stick to its current advice – that doesn’t mean that you or anyone else has to follow it, the BSD book and this site are readily available.

I am not sure what you expect to see when you call for a “proper study”, other than the medical research that is currently underway?
A new trial would take at least 3 years to complete, let alone the time to find funding, set up, recruit patients, and get started – so maybe 2021 at the earliest.

Yes, it’s frustrating to see earlier advice still being given – but I am happy to live with a government and health service that waits until appropriate medial research is complete before changing its guidelines.
I also consider it frustrating that £2.5m of the research costs have to be funded by a charity (Diabetes UK) rather than by the Government – but because it is not a drug based trial, pharmaceutical companies are hardly going to be queueing up to fund it.

Thousands of people in Britain have reversed diabetes via VLCD. Roy Taylor’s work builds on the previous knowledge that those undergoing bariatric surgery tended to be rid of diabetes in very short order. I’ve worked for the NHS for 30 years and it is far too slow to alter advice. It will only advise a single healthy diet because it thinks we’re all a little bit thick and would be confused by more than one option. The move to a carb based diet in the 70’s was a political decision led by the American government and swiftly followed by GB. Since then as the carb based diet has spread around the world people have got fatter and diabetes and heart disease has increased, the evidence against the carb based diet is huge, but governments don’t want to see it.

I may be biased on the topic – my Mother took thalidomide during her pregnancy; no physical effects, but she agonised over it for many years.
I’ve also previously worked for a charity that conducted medical research, and other charities that have funded medical research.

Even though I have reversed my diabetes by following BSD, on balance, I prefer that NICE and the NHS make current decisions based on thorough medical research.

While not in the UK Frog, it needs to be noted that the BSD is based on thorough medical research. It is not only Professor Taylor and Michael Mosely who have researched and trialled the BSD to verify its success and safety. It has also been researched in the USA and I believe at least one European country (I think Germany). The key point as mentioned by donnyman is that the 1950s-60s ‘research’ was not well done and has lead to terrible health results in all Western nations. As a professional in another field where people are slow to change with new evidence, I think some of the problem with getting change into the medical professions (including nutritionists) is that to accept the new evidence we have to also accept that what we have done with the then ‘best knowledge’ was not the best.

Think you are right Jenni, the evidence is staring everyone in the face, but to alter the advise being given means admitting they got it completely wrong in the first place. And of course, it’s not in the interest of the pharmaceuticals, that people make the change and no longer need their drugs, so they will not be helping to fund diet research – too risky.

It would be nice to think that everyone here will lobby their MP about the flawed advice still being churned out, but it’s unlikely to happen. Last year someone on the forum started a Parliamentary Petition and asked everyone to sign it online, with a view to winning enough signatures to force the matter to be raised in Parliament. Sadly, it got no where near enough signatures.

Think the best thing we can do, is encourage people who might need it, to give the BSD a try. Lots of people have asked me how I have lost weight – and more importantly, been able to maintain it – and I have encourage them to take a look at the BSD and give it a go.

We are the lucky ones to have found a diet plan that actually works. If medics are not going to promote it and sometimes they have their hands tied, so not their fault, then it is up to us. My doctor is all for it but does not think his other patients would have the strength of will that I do and how many people have you spoken to who have said yes it sounds brilliant but I couldn’t live without chips; bread, or something that they could clearly live better without. Even when you tell people it can fall on deaf ears because people cannot believe what we are doing is possible. Someone told me that I couldn’t have had real diabetes, no I just enjoyed injecting myself in the stomach every evening. We just have to try and convince people and look after ourselves in the best way we know how.

I know of 3 medical people who have heard of this, seen it work in their patients and do tell other people to try it. From little acorns etc and others will just have to wait for the research to become widely accepted.

The dietary advice is relayed by health professionals, but it suits politicians to stick with it. Until diabetes is a bigger problem than feeding the population they will keep advising high carb diets.

The problem is the doctors haven’t read the book and haven’t done the diet, so how passionately can they sell it to the patients? Some will want an easy life of pills, but its about giving people the facts on how the pills will effect you long term and giving a choice. My doctor just wanted me to go on pills straight away, quick fix.

I have had my annual review today and am pleased to report my HbA1c is down from 45 to 37, all other blood results are normal, weight is down. The nurse had heard of BSD and has three patients who have had great results using this WOEa d her daughter, who is studying Diet and Nutrition says this is the best way forward. So the news is spreading.

I have been following the BSD for 12 weeks and take a brisk walk for at least 30 minutes every day and I have lost 2 stone and feel so much healthier. I’m having my first fasting blood test next week since being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in October 2016. I just hope the result will be good as I couldn’t have tried any harder and the thought of having to start medication fills me with dread.

Shadynook, you’ve done exceptionally well you really have! You have been motivated and committed to lose a vast amount of weight in a short time and over a traditionally difficult time! You are healthier and fitter and will undoubtedly see a decrease in your BG ! The doc or nurse should be exceptionally pleased with you……just think most people on traditional diets like WW or SW would take probably 6 months to lose that………even if they still diagnose you as T2D you can continue on the diet and maintain healthy sugar levels …there is so much research and evidence now that the short sharp fix of very low calorie diets works, and Prof Taylors Newcastle study is still ongoing .

The NHS unfortunately is way behind the times in many ways that’s why it is on its knees! The government would hate to admit that the nutritional advice given in the 80s is in fact wrong ( low fat is in fact high sugar) and it really is not in the best interest of the pharmaceutical companies that we the people are fighting back and making their own health choices backed by sound evidence.
Please let us know how you get on next week and don’t be frightened . Alex xx

A friend of mine (19.5 stone in weight) has been told by SW that she should only lose 1 to 2 lbs a week to diet safely. Yeah, keeps the money rolling in for them. She is pre-diabetic but her mother died a few months ago from so many diabetic complications (heart, kidneys, stroke) so she is scared but she is listening to these people. What hope for her.

sunshine-girl, your poor friend, I feel for her, especially as she’s just lost her mum from diabetic complications so she is grieving and she must be very anxious ….could you get her to this BSD and join the forum……..or suggest to her to read a Prof Taylor’s Diabetic research study from Newcastle university ?
Slimming worlds advice is very outdated now and it’s a purely money making organisation ….keeping people fat and taking away personal choice based on evidence based fact which cannot lie!!!!! These clubs really make me sick and I’m very sceptical about the outcomes they want ….I think the word diet should be erased from our vocabulary and changed to ‘healthy way of life’ a diet suggests short term when in fact it really is for life.

Our government doesn’t give sound advice, nor does it really care that we have a massive obesity epidemic with resulting chronic disease……The NHS throws money at ridiculous so called innovations and the Pharma companies well don’t get me started !!! I would suggest your friend buy a blood glucose monitor to check whether she has raised blood glucose at least she would know , she herself can take control of her health and as she is at of Diabetes the sooner she knows the better….even if the BG is normal she cannot continue the way she is ….that’s why the Very Low Calorie Diets especially the BSD are so good the results are immediate ..visceral fat from around major organs starts to dissipate , you can move more freely , have more energy, feel good about yourself .and this really is what everyone wants ….except the Slimmimg clubs! I’d be happy to advise her…… x

I think that the NHS and Big Pharma are getting a hard ride in these fora.

The Newcastle study is the first realistic scale clinical study into this and it is still on-going. Policy should be driven by clinical evidence, not anecdote.

The BSD is hard and it will not suit everyone. It does require willpower and on-going application. We see people come and go from the site and can only assume some of them must have given up. What would the NHS-bashers suggest happen to these people?

The Pharmaceutical industry is a serious of profit driven organisations, but research is wildly expensive and the results far from guaranteed. If they didn’t fund the research who will? We know people don’t vote for increased taxes so it’s not the public sector.

Rant over. Have a good day.

Very interesting topic.

Whilst I agree that BSD seems to be a far healthier way of eating, as Frog says, she prefers NICE and the NHS to base their decisions on thorough medical research.

We are free to use any information available to us and make our own choices but it could be seen as irresponsible for this to be made ‘policy’ when the studies in the U.K. so far have been very small and even the current study with 270 people is hardly large.

I maybe have a cautionary tale. Just one example of a procedure that wasn’t backed by NICE going awry. Back in the late 90’s a ‘new’ method of hip replacement, resurfacing, was developed in the U.K. and became available here. At that time I was 52 and told that I needed a new hip. I went to see an orthopaedic surgeon and as I was leaving his surgery he asked if I’d heard of ‘hip resurfacing’ and suggested I look it up on the internet, which I duly did.

This looked ‘wonderful’ for somebody still comparatively young because it was less ‘destructive’ and involved ‘resurfacing’ the femoral head rather than cutting it off. So of I went to look for ‘forums’ to find out more about this ‘new’ surgery. Yes, of course I found them because several thousand people had already had the ‘new procedure’ and it was being heralded as the best thing since sliced bread.

I should mention that at this point the procedure was not available in the USA, as it wasn’t approved by the FDA?, or in Canada and so people were coming over here for the surgery.

So off I went to see one of the top surgeons who had developed this method and duly booked myself in. It was wonderful! I had my life back! Off I went on my merry way still expounding the great merits of this surgery.

In time the procedure was cleared by NICE and the FDA and many thousands of people had the procedure in the USA as well as here. However, problems started to arise in time. Metal ions were being released into the blood stream because the resurfacing involved metal on metal parts. The rate of failure of the prostheses began to grow and seemed to be higher than with traditional hip replacement. I should however, also say, that there are many people still happy with their choice of resurfacing. But then other problems arose.

I was diagnosed with sepsis in 2007. I had had my resurfacing for over six years at the time. The infection went to my hip, as infection will usually attack a prosthetic in the body. Problem then arose that this great ‘new’ surgery was far more difficult to remove and replace than the traditional hip replacement.

Rather than bore you with the details of the outcome it does make me wonder if we aren’t too quick to criticise NICE because it seems to work at a snails pace. I appreciate that following BSD is unlikely to cause any major problems in the future but we really don’t know how it will affect all individuals. It may be fine if you’re relatively healthy to start but have diabetes. It may not be if you have other medical problems as well. Another problem could arise if people start self medicating by taking themselves off medication.

We just don’t know the long term outcome of BSD. We have made our decisions but I don’t think it’s up to us, as laymen, to ‘push’ for government approval.

Also. And don’t shoot me down in flames here. The red SW plan is basically a low carb plan (though not low cal unless you tailor it that way). When I first started to address my weight I lost 2st in 9 weeks on SW and got good advice about exercise and portion size that really helped me see that what I thought was ‘normal’, wasn’t. First step on healthy road from 19st to average 13 for me. Nobody told me I ‘had’ only to lose 2lbs a week, and when I lost more simply by sticking strictly to the plan, nobody was more thrilled than the SW consultant.

Paying to go each week made me less likely to stray. I have no time for Ww with their frankenfoods and ads which seem to suggest that ‘normal’ is everyone’s ‘right’ to eat cheesecake and chips and stay thin, but at SW, the ‘syns’ work well for those who want a couple of squares of chocolate or a little chunk of cheese, – some people enjoy and blossom in the club- like mentality and support (though tbh it was what drove me away!) – and they’re better spending a fiver a week face to face with their weight issues than spending it all on Maltesers and vowing to start another day, surely?

The post above by Shadynook hits the nail on the head. Follow an eating plan to the letter, no excuses, no cheating, take 30 minutes brisk exercise a day and you’ll do more for your health than any medication can do. Yes, this plan is a harder road than most, it won’t suit everyone. But if we want to tackle the obesity problem we face, we need to accept that there are many ways to effect that fix. Yep, some people put all the weight back on, but that’s true of any plan – even this one – even among people who have everything to gain by maintaining and literally everything to lose if they fall by the wayside. You can’t odds the vagaries of human behaviour!

Acceptance of higher fat, lower carb diets is gradually growing, it’ll come.
BIg Sugar is the real enemy here. They know their product is unnecessary, addictive and lethal, but still they are allowed to push it despite the dangers being know FOR YEARS. Grr. MK x

Check out the link below – it’s a longish read but interesting. Insurance companies may make a difference too. HealthInsightUK.org has a few articals on LCHF diets.

http://healthinsightuk.org/2017/01/04/coming-clash-of-titans-over-the-healthiest-diet-global-sugar-vs-global-life-insurance/

Morning! Monday is drawing near, fasting blood test with follow up appointment on 16th January. I was 14st7lb when T2D was diagnosed in October 2016 and I’m now down to 12st8lb. I came home from the Doctors shocked and upset as I’d had fastening blood tests 12 months before and the only thing the doctor said was that I’d got a fatty liver, did I drink much alcohol, which I don’t. Never once did he Intimate that I might be pre-diabetic. I went on the Internet and did some research and found Pro Taylor’s diet and the BSD by Michael Moseley. I started that day full of determination that no way was I starting medication I.e. Metformin, which I might add the doctor wanted me to prescribe that day. She said I would feel so much better once I took them. I told her I felt fine and had no symptoms of being diabetic. I phoned her later that day and TOLD her not ASKED her that I was starting this radical diet. The only medicine I was taking was Amlopodine which had been prescribed 2 months ago for slightly raised high blood pressure. She told me to check my blood pressure as this could drop due to weight loss. I had diet drinks morning and lunch and vegetables or salad in the evening, I drank 2/3 litres of water a day and started BRISK walking. Some days it was hard, I felt a bit weak but I persevered! I lost 10lb in the first 10 days then decided to add chicken and fish to my evening meal. I soon got used to the diet and decided to cut out the diet drinks and only eat in the evening salad/vegetables and chicken/fish. I continued to loose weight at a steadier pace. Occasionally when eating out I’d have a glass of red wine maybe a steak but never potatoes rice pasta or bread. I haven’t had a slice of bread for 3 months! And I was definitely a bread junkie!! I am going away for 2 weeks to Lanzarote on 26th January on an all inclusive holiday, which was booked well before my T2D. Whatever the outcome following my fasting blood test next week I will continue with the BSD, this is now for life as I feel so much happier and healthier being slim. I’ve gone from a size 18/20 to 14/16 and now look good in my swimsuit. My best wishes to you all X

You’ve done brilliantly, Shadynook, and your story is very like mine – a shock diagnosis having spent 6 months having every test known to humankind because of an unrelated health issue, nobody mentioning elevated blood sugar, ever, and immediate hardcore medication.

This has turned things around totally for me since October 10th, weight down 37lbs, blood sugar stable on one third of my meds and hoping to reverse t2d with diet alone in time. Really hope your next tests offer great news and reward – enjoy your well-deserved holiday in your slinky Swimmies! MKx

Thanks for the link AnnieW. It was an interesting read but another article, ‘How the low-fat high-carb dogma fell apart’ was a real eye-opener. In fact it beggars belief.

Please read both articles if you can @ HealthInsightUK.org

We hear what you are saying Verano, about the BSD not having the rigor of long term proof of effectiveness but what needs to be noted is the long term tested negative effects of high carb, low fat eating ‘pushed’ by health authorities in all English speaking countries. The negative effects should by now have put riders on the advice given.

I agree with you Jenni but unfortunately the fact that high carb/low fat is proven to be ineffective, in the long term, doesn’t automatically mean that the direct opposite is correct. There may be a middle ground.

Please read the article above if you haven’t already.

BTW I’m all for BDS and it’s my choice to follow it but that doesn’t mean it’s right for everybody.

Hi everyone love this forum and how it challenges not only our diets but our mind sets and information choices!
As a Nurse who has worked ( but no longer) for many years in the NHS and in Public Health / Adult Social Services I can certainly say there is a lot of good thoughtful challenging practice out there related to tackling the “diabesity” epidemic and the chronic debilitating health that results but it is very fragmented country wide and good evidence and research is often swallowed up in wordy guidelines that Joe Public cannot understand.

I would urge people to read the NICE guidelines on Obesity in adults: prevention and lifestyle weight management programmes…..there are many ” Quality Statements” pages and pages of often duplicated statements and guidelines…but hey ho we want Action and Positive Outcomes!

I wonder how anyone can refer to, with a straight face, the “inappropriate reversal of diabetes”. If ever there was an oxymoron, this is the one that takes the (low carb) biscuit.

I think the food industry plays a large part in this, funding the pro carb brigade. After all, low carb eating consists basically of cooking from scratch. Perhaps if these companies concentrated on producing low carb ready meals, etc, we would all be healthier. I have to confess, though, that sometimes I get a little confused. I have been following low carb eating, and one of the good things is that you don’t have to count calories. However, when you change to the BSD all the things that are freely available on the low carb diet turn out to be fairly high calorie. Avocados, butter, cream, oil are now to be avoided or, at least, severely limited. But I will persevere because I know from past experience – in my youth unfortunately – that VCLDs work. However, if I listened to the not very knowledgeable diabetes nurse, I would be upping the drugs and stuffing myself with carbs. “You need them for energy” is the mantra and “You don’t know enough about nutrition to have an opinion” comes a pretty close second. Mind you, I know enough about nutrition to suspect that the breadth and depth of expertise possessed by the average diabetes nurse in a GP surgery is negligible. There may well be some who are trying to keep abreast of the latest thinking, but I wonder if they are permitted to stray too far from the party line in terms of advice.

Low cal doesn’t necessarily mean avoiding butter, oils, cream, avocado etc. How you use your 800cals is up to you, but making sure there are a fair number used on good fats, means you will feel sated sooner and for longer, than if you used the same number of calories on lettuce. It is all about balance and that means making sure fats, as well as proteins and fibre features strongly in your daily intake.

Well said, IWTBS.
In addition, when I was at school, food tech (cookery…!) was compulsory for two years for boys and girls aged 14-16. It taught not just how to cook, but meal planning, food groups, vitamins, nutrition. No more. I’m really horrified at the number of young people who don’t know the basics of making a nutritious meal from a heap of ingredients – over Christmas I made a moussaka from 6 ingredients – 15 minutes prep and in the oven – and my DIL looked at me as though I’d performed alchemy in plain sight. She even said ‘that’s quicker than going to Sainsburys’.

But it’s a life skill that everyone should learn, never mind bloody computer coding! I’m sure basic lack of knowledge is behind a lot of the convenience food culture.

Did anyone see that Rick Stein programme about Bordeaux which showed 8 and 9 year old schoolchildren learning about oysters where they were harvested, tasting them? They do a farm visit most weeks. Impressive, can’t imagine it happening here, even in a rural area like ours. MK x

Hi SunnyB – I know I can choose to use my calories on oils,etc, but they are very calorific, and when you add even “good” carbs, e.g. Chickpeas, the calories mount up so quickly. However, I will persevere. Just recently I have been trying to restrict my eating to 8 out of 24 hours. So far, so good. I do wish fruit fruit was low carb though. One thing I have decided to do is thicken soups with cauliflower or aubergine.

Hi Iwanttobeslim,

I think that you’ve hit the nail on the head for why the research is important. Some diets work for some people and not for others and tweaking them can help with weight loss.

I probably disagree about the food industry. No-one makes people eat anything. It is a competitive consumer industry offering things for people to buy. Carbs are not a problem to a lot of people. Mme Maigret is severely allergic to crab and I could suggest that crab be removed from the human food supply chain. However I understand that some people enjoy it.

Live and let live.

Agree carbs aren’t bad for everyone, but refined sugar definitely is, and Big Food sticks sugar and salt in where it’s not needed or necessarily suspected, usually to save money.

Poor Mrs Maigret – I share her pain. Allergic to shellfish, but absolutely love crab and have been known to stand and drool at the crab stand in Whitstable harbour… MKx

MK regarding lack of nutrition knowledge, a couple of years ago I did a nutrition class at University (in Australia). Most of the class was 18-19 yr olds straight out of high school, part of their course to become Personal Trainers. Not many other middle-aged overweight people! On the first day the lecturer gave us a quiz, really easy true/false questions I thought, very basic knowledge. Turns out more than half the class didn’t know that alcohol has calories or many of the other questions which I can’t remember now about where protein and carbs come from etc. I guess they never needed to know that stuff before, obviously they weren’t taught anything at school! At least they were learning it now before they became PTs.

I think our current obesity epidemic demonstrates that the food, particularly processed meals, cakes and biscuits, produced by the big food companies is a problem for most people. As in the bad old days of tobacco firms selling cigarettes when they knew they were bad for us, the food companies surely cannot imagine the refined sugar and flour, accompanied by trans fats/hydrogenated fats are anything other than unhealthy. A specific allergy is an entirely different issue. Not a question of live and let live really, that makes them seem harmless.

Hi Iwanttobeslim,

But what would you do? Ban them? We already have a food regulatory process which bans or limits products, for example the reduction in trans fats in the US, again evidence based.

Like most things (alcohol, red meat, saturated fat, licorice allsorts, whatever etc.) they should be consumed in moderation and, as such, it becomes a matter of personal choice and responsibility. The alternative is a nanny state. telling you what you can and can’t eat and good luck enforcing that. I’m old enough to remember when red wine was bad for you, then good for you, then OK in moderation.

People simply have to be responsible for what they consume. What BSD does require is the self-discipline to stick to a structured and somewhat restrictive diet. I’m guessing for all of us who are and/or have been overweight, no-one forced us to eat or drink what we did. I take full responsibility for my weight and for the impact on my health. The fact that cakes, pies or whatever are available is neither here nor there, as it was me who consumed more calories than I burned.

Getting the wake up call in July last year gave me the spur to change my ways of eating and lose more than five stone. The products are still there so I would suggest that they are a mere sideshow.

What are your experiences on BSD?

JulesMaigret, I totally 100% agree with you. My life, my health I am the one responsible for what I eat and drink. Not the gp, prime minister or anyone else. My choice what goes in. I am totally behind the BSD in every way. Those that know can advise but its upto me and only me what I eat and drink.

Although I agree with Jules that we are responsible for what we put in our mouths, I have to say the advertising industry has a lot to answer for. Have you seen how they market high sugar breakfast cereals to families. The kids like them because they are sweet the mums buy them because ads say they are a healthy start to the day. So many more examples like a Mars a day helps you work rest and place, inferring it is good for you. If you have not been educated in health and nutrition you tend to trust what you are told and there is so much misleading information and sometimes downright lies although they have to be careful how they couch the lies. Some breakfast cereals makers have been taken to task for blatantly saying ‘prevents heart disease’ when what they mean is, ‘it is better than a deep fried breakfast’.

When I was training to be a nurse we had to do a nutrition course and the first thing the nurse educator said was ‘this is the most boring subject your will ever study and most of you will fail the exam’. Guess what, she was wrong, it was not most of us failing, we all failed. I passed on resit but yes it was totally dull so we cannot blame lay people to know any better.

I have just done the FutureLearn course A Diabetic Epidemic which started out well talking about Prof Taylor and new research. Then further on in the course it talked about the importance of eating 5 starchy carbs a day. So many people on the course were up in arms about it. I am about to start ‘The Science of Nutrition’ with the same people (Dundee University) so we will see what they have to say.

presenting BDS as a ‘very restrictive diet’ is perhaps not the best engagement tool – however, my engagement tool was “fear” – my former doc soft-pedaled the pre-diabetes for over 4 yrs – “oh, you’re doing fine, all looks good, just eat more veg and eat fewer desserts – maybe you would feel better if you lost some weight” then ! bang! woke up in July w/ a 388 BS and 9.2% A1c. Read a book that was about low-carb and I didn’t care about calories – just feel full and bring down those values. Once I realized I didn’t have to feel hungry to lose weight and feel better, I could focus on balance and then found BSD – much more balanced approach w/ sane amt of good carbs. Some of this is how we use language – this WOE has opened up what I CAN eat to FEEL good and healthy – sure, I want to fit in a GF pizza (already familiar w/ diet limitation, thanks) but I can think it through – yeah, I will see numbers I don’t want to see and feel sluggish and crappy and dull in the brain ….is it worth it ? not so far – GF pizzas been in the freezer for 6 months now. We were sold from tot-hood that cakes and breads and biscuits and Snickers bars were our staples, our rewards, our celebrations – because of a whole lot of complex overlapping reasons – some economic, some political (see sugar subsidies), some cultural (see politics and economics) and some because …. it tasted good and was accessible and we lived in a society that burned more calories to survive. it will take a bit of a shift to start looking at foods in a different way so as not to constantly tell ourselves we are ‘giving something up’ – don’t want to look at my life as perpetual Lent. This is what I like; this is what works for me; I’m good ! I know how far I can stretch the calorie rubber band on some occasions so as not to be a prisoner of my diet. Or give the message to others that being on this diet is a chore or a strain.

Not sure that I completely follow Raintoday’s post, but as part of any “engagement tool” , we have to communicate in a frank and honest way with people. If the comment on ‘restrictive’ is a reference to my post I actually said “somewhat restrictive” and if you are trying to stick to 800 cals and a low carb content for several weeks then I believe that justifies the description.

If I understand what you’re saying I think we agree that we all should decide what we should eat to keep us happy and healthy. Some people can eat Snickers bars (other confectionery is available!), pizzas etc., and good luck to them. Others won’t be able to and for some of them BSD and subsequent maintenance will be a chore and a strain. To try to present it as easy will be demoralising and disingenuous.

Well said. My light bulb moment was the realisation that all of the diets I had previously tried had gone off the rails when they got to the part that said, ‘now start eating like you used to’ at least with the BSD we know exactly why that won’t work.

A further note to ‘advertising’ and the role it plays. My daughter works in Public Heath, mainly within childrens’ health. Quite a number of years ago she had a mother who thought that by feeding her child ‘a well known brand of chocolate’ every day the child was getting 1 and a half glasses of milk!! I’m sure you all remember that advert.

The food industry does have a lot to answer for, especially with its advertising, but at the end of the day we all need to eat. It is, however, OUR choice as to what we eat, as several people have already pointed out.

Strangely enough I’ve not really thought of this plan as ‘restrictive’. I think that any diet only feels ‘restrictive’ if you are following a plan that ‘deprives’ you. I have never felt deprived eating this way and in fact I think that as time goes on you just don’t miss the simple carbs anymore. I’m not saying that I’m a saint and don’t eat any carby foods anymore but in general they just don’t hold any attraction for me.

We were out in an Indian restaurant a few nights ago. For the first time someone did actually comment on what I was eating. Why aren’t you eating poppadums? You must be starving you’ve had no starter! In fact I had a main meal of chicken tikka and salad and couldn’t finish it! I enjoyed what I had and the company we were with. Where’s the restriction or deprivation in that?

As has been said, it all comes down to personal choice and not the availability or otherwise of certain foods.

There are a couple of people in my life whose attitude to food and exercise I really admire. Neither are skinny minnies, their weight tends to be seasonal, bit chunkier in winter. The key thing about them both is that they see food purely as fuel for their bodies. Right amount of good fuel in, good performance, wrong amount of bad fuel in, worse performance in every aspect of life. No angst, no guilt. No ‘ooh, let’s be ‘naughty’ and have a treat’ – everything they eat is something they want – they just make better choices.

Food isn’t a treat, or a punishment, or a reward, or a consolation for them. It’s just the fuel that helps them live the life they want to live. Coming from a family and a culture where food could be any or all of these things, this was a huge revelation that didn’t kick in till my forties. At a truly desperate point in my life, one of these lovely people showed me how doing exercise I liked – swimming, cycling, Zumba – would make me more inclined to do it, feel better. He set me achievable targets until I was cycling 100 miles in the rain – and loving it. Low carb eating suited me and I didn’t find it hard.

T2d diagnosis and associated meds after 8 years of stable weight on low carb derailed me for 6 months. Why me? Poor me…and I now see I’d fallen into my old consolation pit. But actually, why not. Limiting fuel, putting the right stuff in, making the right choices, will fix me. It’s just fuel. I’d forgotten that for a while.
MK x

On whether this diet is restrictive or not is dependent on each individual, not so much in terms of what you choose to eat but what your body needs. I never realised till just a few weeks back that my RDI when I reach my target weight will be just 1200 calories (I just read the blurb on food packaging and assumed it applied to me, but seeing as I’m a shorty, it doesn’t). The upshot is that for me to drop to 800 calories of healthy food now is not a massive problem. But if you’re a six-foot bloke, then 800 is restrictive. And hats off to anyone achieving it or thereabouts.

Totally agree Snoop re how a tall man is sustained on 800 calls a day………can other large men post in please so I can get an idea as I’ve just been on the phone to my hubby this morning with a recipe plan and shopping list ……we did the Cambridge diet together which worked well however he was allowed more calories than me!

My hubby got a serious wake up call from the GP he’s an overweight 6-3 ex rugby player working ovseas he was in one of only 3 supermarkets on the island and we were going through his shopping list for this and he was really struggling to find items ….no cauliflower, cabbages, lettuce and carrots wilted, no spinach….we have had to resort to tinned goods unfutunately……he did buy ham, tomatoes, cheese, eggs, avocados, chicken and fish however…..so I’d be extremely grateful for any recipe advice based on these……TumTumP gave us great ideas to make ‘sandwiches’ using ham or lettuce as wraps…..but I think he will probably need to add rice and potatoes as they are the staples on the island . Wishing everyone a great week !

Hi Lexy

If he can get canned brown or puy lentils they could make a good alternative to rice or potatoes. I make a dish which is basically fried onions with a can of tomatoes and herbs added just cooked down slowly then add the lentils for the last 10 minutes to warm through. Mary Berry has a lovely haddock (or any fish) with puy lentil recipe which is very easy to find online and is simple to make.

Also canned butter or haricot beans are great mashed with some butter and seasoning. Chickpeas make a good curry especially with butternut squash if available. Also good for making a dip ie. hummus. I know these sound very carby but used as a side with chicken or fish they make a really satisfying meal.

Where is your husband, Lexy? What kind of veg do they have there? You might be able to use something like Fat Secret to determine nutritional values (calories, carbs and the like) to determine what he can buy locally that is suitable.

Hi Lexy

I probably meet your criteria. I am 6’3″, played a lot of rugby in my younger days, and started BSD in early Aug but in earnest in early Sept, I started at 23st7lb and now weigh 18st5lb. Over that period, I have reduced my blood pressure to normal and reversed the fatty liver symptoms.

I am a bit of a data freak and since Sept I have eaten an average of around 930 calories a day and 41g of carbs. My go to foods are spinach and any other leaves either raw or fried. I eat a lot of eggs and fish, both white and oily, in frittatas or omelettes and a lot of avocados, feta and blue cheese in salads or bakes with tomatoes or aubergines. Baked avocados with eggs in the middle are great with a salad. Yogurt and herbs as a sauce with fish or chicken, with tinned or frozen beans.

Most places have a local leaf that can be used as a low carb filler for meals and to support a primary protein. One thing is that I have started to use a lot more herbs and spices as my tastes have changed.

If you could tell us where he is, that may help.

I work away from home a lot and have taken the approach of just not eating the white stuff on normal meals when i have no other choice, but focus on keeping the carbs low.

It is not easy for the larger chap, but definitely doable.

Lummy, JM. That is some result. Another nice avocado recipe if you’ve got the calories for it is baked avocado pear with blue cheese in the centre. Truly yumptious.

I have never baked an avocado! How do I do that??? Does the avocado need to be ripe?

Take any avocado you think is ready to eat. I wouldn’t use a really ripe one, but that’s because I love guacamole! Split it in half, take out the stone, put blue cheese in the hole where the stone was, bake in a hottish oven (about 200 ºC) till the cheese is browned and bubbling. I presume it’s the same with eggs, just season, spice as required and bake till set. I wasn’t convinced when I first read the recipe with blue cheese, but it is as delicious as it is easy.

Here’s a sophisticated recipe on the web:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/11827738/Deliciously-Ellas-baked-avocado-with-sun-dried-tomatoes-and-pine-nuts.html

If you Google for baked avocados, you’ll find a whole load of recipes. Happy eating!

I bought some frozen avocado which are not very nice when defrosted – I will try baking them as the recipe looks really nice and they may be much better when baked.

Frozen avocado sounds………challenging!

The egg process is the same as blue cheese, but it’s nice to add a shake of chilli flakes. Just bake until the white is set. Good with a bit of grilled fish.