Bill, do you think it could be those nasty, limp ryvitas? Everything else you ate sounded good.

I foolishly imbibed a glass of red wine last night. Result? The scales tell me I put a pound on overnight! Now that hasn’t happened in weeks! I’m keeping off the wine now. 🙁

Yeah… Bill that sucks…. but it is like I was saying before… the body responds to unseen and sometimes unknown (by us) stimuli – you may be in fact mounting an immune response to something… you don’t feel any different, but your body knows it needs more circulating BS for something… it can jump even if you get a little surprise – like being tooted at…. or you may have had a distressing dream that you don’t remember. Whatever it is I hope it is a one of for you… coz I am hanging my hopes on your success too…hahaha…. good luck and keep up the good fight…

I learned a lesson myself last night… for the first time broke my regime and snuck a piece of liquorice – bored and not sleeping well – others here speak of sleeping very well but I am having difficulty obtaining sleep…. anyway… thought in my befuddled state that my old habit of eating something “naughty” before bed might help…. wow… had racing heart, hot and cold, worst thing I could have done… felt like I had had half a dozen expresso coffees… wow… taught me a lesson though. BTW… fasting BSL is jumping around this week, but because of the posts on here I was expecting same, and rather relieved that it is happening… in week 4 now…
Cheers
Sharon

Sharon sounds like Wednesday has turned out rather downbeat for a few people. Hope everyone’s day gets brighter.

You’re right about the immune responses – if I am about to go down with something I know in advance because my right kidney starts grumbling, usually 3 days before I notice I have an infection. Weird!!

Bill, read that article that Lynne mentioned about gluten. Who knows? Daily Mail yesterday.

🙂

I had ryvita last week and I’ve used the same cream cheese before without problems and everything else I had yesterday is in my usual food list.
Probably just a glitch and if it doesn’t continue not a problem.
Nobody ever said there wouldn’t be potholes along the road, and this isn’t enough to worry me, I was just really annoyed more than anything else
Oh well tomorrows a new day 🙂

Very true, Bill ! 🙂

*peeps round corner and whispers*

Bill

Sorry you’re not happy with today’s result. I thought the same as Judith about the Ryvita but see you’ve had it before with no problem😳 Could it be the combination with the cheese?

I’ve realised I can’t eat bread, crispbreads etc😱

Hu hum.

Hope you get a good result tomorrow.

Hi Lynne
one day isn’t a real problem, I’m sure I’ll be back on track tomorrow.
One thing occurs, yesterday for the first time, I used full fat milk at work for my coffees (4 cups)
Up till now I had just used the semi skimmed from the fridge. I wonder if that had anything to do with it.
Time for an experiment 🙂

After reading these articles about people losing weight but sugar levels remaining the same I’m a little worried about begging this weekend (new start new me )

Alanhypno they don’t stay the same mate
My levels fell steadily over the first 4 weeks, I then had a 2 week blip as (so I’m informed) the sugar was draining from my organs. After that the levels fell again to the point where I am now classed as pre diabetic after just 4 weeks on the plan. My last couple of weeks have been in normal ranges, today is just a one off I’m sure.
Don’t worry about it, people who have the odd glitch are far outnumbered by those who aren’t.

Re reading my levels my nurse asked to take my blood when I had recently eaten saying it didn’t matter if I’ve not fasted
What’s all that about ???
Any ideas folks

They like to take readings at various times of day, usually fasting (when you wake) pre food, and then 1 – 2 hours after a meal
It just gives a better picture of how you react to sugars.

I sympathise with you Bill – it’s so maddening to get higher readings. You mentioned milk, I only ever drink full fat – can’t stand the others and I’ve had low and high readings as you know. I’m trying to link my higher ones with a recent chest infection which has taken a fortnight to clear up – are you well in yourself? Not sure if our general health is linked somehow to our readings??

Hi Leeanne,
You are right illness, infections, pain and stress all have an effect on your blood sugars regardless of what you eat.

Hi all

Just thought I would report in with my new maximum 50g total carbs per rule. Been doing it for a week now and my levels did go down steadily (lowest reading was 7.0) but yesterday and today it’s started rising again – 8.7 and 9.4! All pre-dinner readings as the dean phenomenon is still haunting me. Had to reach for the metformin again (1000 mg) as levels were getting too hairy before I started getting really strict on the carbs. I will see how the next few days go and let you know but hoping I won’t have to up the metformin as this would be a major step back I reckon. Fingers crossed for the next few days. It’s proving very difficult to get down to the safe levels we all crave but something tells me it may be a long haul thing and not the 8 weeks we had all hoped it would be.

Hi Lachlan
That’s really disappointing for you but it took two weeks for my blood sugars to come down. Hang in there for another week or so, even if you still need metformin. If there is still no improvement you should go back to your GP as it might be worth having further tests to make sure that you really are a type 2 diabetic.
There is a website in the book where you can print off information for your doctor from Prof Taylor’s research. Go to your GP armed with this, and all your stats etc. You will have given it your best shot so well done for that, you deserve more help than I can offer.
Either way, stay in touch and let us know how you get on.

Hi all, I am new here and have loved reading the posts, with special thanks to Squidy for posting that very interesting information on the DP. I too have experienced morning highs. I am going to look at it this way, I did well the day before allowing my liver to release sugar during the dawn phenomenom, now all I have to do is burn it off. My readings for the last 3 days have been 7.1, 6.0 and 5.9. During the day I am averaging 5.5. Just had my diabetic bloods done yesterday so will be interested to see what my average has been over the last few months. I take no meds and never will after having a horrendous hypo when pregnant (on insulin as had gestational diabetes) and after being told by one silly diabetic nurse of the progression my diabetes will take and there was nothing I could do about it!! Thank goodness for low GI and Prof Roy Taylor and Dr Fung and now Dr Mosley. X

Hi Everyone,
I feel a bit of a fraud as I am not diabetic yet!!
I am clinically ‘obese’ BMI 34.2 and have over years lost considerable amounts of weight and regained. I even lost 3 stones with ‘Lighterlife’ just protein drinks for 3 months.
I am in my 60’s and realise with my large waist I am heading in the diabetes direction. My saving grace being that I am very active.
I am a qualified diabetes nurse, now retired! So also feel some guilt and shame. After reading the book it echoes what I have thought for many years , that we treat diabetes wrongly.
Anyway , I am fascinated by your emails and your determination to succeed.
I have started !

Welcome Kingdoone
You don’t need to feel like a fraud, there are many non diabetics on the forums.
Use the diet as a preventitive measure, it’s all good.

Hello
I am new too and not diabetic either, but needing a boost to lose my last 8kg.
I am on day 3 and really enjoying cooking at home again after 4 weeks on the move and a bit too much chocolate.
Ieat the 800 calories in a 5 hour eating window, and already burning fat ( my OH can smell the acetone).

It’s looking like yesterday was just a blip, FBS was 6.6 this morning.
Interestingly, I had a stomach cramp yesterday followed by a sprint to the loo (reminders of Metformin moments) so I maybe had a tummy bug that was affecting things. in fact, by 6:30 last night I was back down in the 4’s 🙂

That’s good news Bill, I was hoping it was something simple like that.
You are getting so close to that non diabetic fasting blood sugar level!! Only 0.7 to go and you’ll have cracked it. You’re already there the rest of the day.
Do what Lucia does, talk to your liver! Encourage it, tell it to let go of those last stores of fat, tell it what an awesome organ it is and that you’ll never put it under such stress again 🙂
It will give a big sigh, let the last bits of fat drain away, and you’ll be under 5.9 and non diabetic….
Have you dropped the metformin altogether? Might be time to do it if you haven’t already.

Hi I wonder if anyone could give some advice or recommendation on a reliable and accurate BS monitor. There are so many on the market with a wide range of prices. I’m insulin resistant and after 3 weeks on the plan feel its time to start monitoring my BS levels. Any help would be really appreciated.

Hi Cherrianne
I was all geared to drop it this weekend until yesterday.
If things stay stable until Monday I’ll do it then
Whalleyrange check out the prices of the test strips and buy the meter that uses the cheapest ones. They all do the same job but prices vary.

Kingdoone, glad to have you here on the forums. It’s not your fault those in authority were pedalling the wrong info. TBH I can’t blame them either. Nobody really knew until Prof Taylor did his clinical tests. So please don’t feel guilty or shamed. You did your job the best way you could with the information everyone was given.

Bill glad your bloods are back to normal!! 🙂

Hellybelly, welcome to the forums! 🙂

AHHH… poop…. FBSL has been rising all week and hit 9 this morning…. (wondering, with this reading if I need to start my glycoside again…. but it makes me so HUNGRY.) this week have been very good at what I eat… stayed under the 800 all but one day – over by about 80 – but…. hard to stay motivated when this is happening…. I am seriously tempted to drop the metformin too and just let all the fat and sugar flood till its done…. Just feel like it might go on forever slowly leaking out if I don’t! What do you think??…. I am at the end of week four now…. Has anyone done the cold turkey with their metformin?

Hi Sharon,
Week four is when both Bill and I started noticing the high morning readings so you’re about bang on target!
I’m not on meds and it took about about three weeks for mine to come back down. It was a bit of a nail biting time.
From memory I think Bill was only on metformin by that time and his took a couple more weeks to settle.
If it’s only your fasting readings that are high, and the post prandials are good then maybe have a go at reducing the metformin. You could also delay your breakfast for a while until your BS comes down again.
When did your endo say to start reducing? I remember she gave you advice but don’t recall what you said.
Hope things settle down quickly for you.

Thanks Cherrianne,

Post prandials are under 6… never ever eat breakfast…. never have except when trying to do what Diabetic educators told me in the early days… wow what a stuff up…. anyway.. now we now better….

Endo said she thought I would be on Metformin forever due to the fact that I am 16 years diagnosed….but I don’t wanna!!!!

Yesterday I did not eat till 12.30 and preprandial was still 8.3…. but post down to 6 exactly… go figure… oh well….

Seriously tempted to get the pain over with and go cold turkey… might halve it and see if it actually makes a diff…

How are you going??… still strong with the low carbs?? even though you have finished the initial 8 weeks??

Have been following what people write on here… very helpful to hear tell of where others have gone before. 😉

Hi Sharon,
I’m still very happy with my results. Got my blood sugar levels down to under 5 fasting. It’s very consistent. Post prandials between 5 & 6. It’s all very stable and exactly what I wanted to achieve, but barely believed was possible.
I’m mostly sticking to 50g carbs or slightly over, and now starting to experiment with one or two days a week of 60g. So far so good, no ill effects on sugar levels. Don’t know how many carbs I’ll be able to have and stay in the non diabetic range as I am fairly carb sensitive. I have plenty to eat staying in the 50-60 range because I don’t count calories. So no problem for me if I can’t go any higher, would rather be healthy 🙂
Let me know how you go on the metformin, it might be worth taking the plunge and dropping it. You could always restart the evening one if you go too high, or are you on one dose a day?
Anyway, whatever you decide, all the best for success.

Cherrieanne that’s good going – blood sugars stable and 50-60g carbs!
I rang my surgery to leave a message that I have a flare up of blepharitis, the gp rang me within ten minutes and after dealing with eye prob asked me about the diet, was I still losing any weight? Thought the ketostix were a good idea and was very interested about the fact I had increased my calories but was still fat burning. Very pleased with my fbs etc

It’s great that some GPs are so open minded. I must say though that the surgery I go to have always provided a first class service. It has made me reluctant to move from their catchment area. 🙂

Hashimoto, thankyou, i am very happy to have joined. Kingdoone, please forgive my previous post, not all diabetic nurses are so blinkered. She was following the rules at the time, but i can honestly say her words were my motivation to prove them all wrong and 8 years later my new diabetic nurses are wonderful, helpful and interested in what I have been doing over the years to keep off meds. I am only 9 stone so might be fat on the inside, I am also active but want to get down to 8.5 stone in the hope my pancreas clears? But I have found it difficult to get under the 9 stone. I definately know how to maintain my weight…but I want to lose it. I eat very well but possibly too much good fat! My fasting bloods today were 6.3, hmmm I think my previous low reading was when I had hot milk before bed, so I will try this tonight and post my reading tomorrow. Good luck to all, we will ‘cure’ ourselves and how fabulous would that be!!

Thanks Judith, life is pretty good when I’m eating this way, never thought I would be able to maintain the non diabetic range but thought it was worth trying. It seemed too good to be true at the start but I hoped to be low enough to avoid the dreaded metformin.
Hope the blepharitis clears up soon. Something’s triggered your immune system by the sound of it. Your GP is definitely a keeper. Obviously the BSD will be a hot topic at their practice meetings.
Hellybelly, I almost always have hot milk before bed. At first it was to fend off the dawn phenomenon and it worked, but now it’s just because I like it. Helps me to sleep too. 🙂

Hi Cherrianne, I think you’re right, I have real problems with pollens and there are a lot about!! Also a bit of stress going on. My dad has terrible arthritis and I think his (terrible) practice should have sent him for knee and hip replacements 30 years ago. He’s 90 now. For several days he has been struggling to get to a standing position and walk across the room. He’s the old style kind of stalwart who does not give in. Good on him. Yesterday he was managing better and made the long trip to his favourite butchers this morning. His mind and reactions are incredibly sharp, in that sense he hasn’t aged at all. My eyes are already slightly better after starting the drops yesterday. And yes, I think it is a hot topic at my surgery with a GP and asthma nurse on board. I did the 5:2 for a while when it first came out and a GP (a different one), the physio and nurses were right behind it. I only struggled with 5:2 because going on anitibiotics for lung infections would disrupt the program for two weeks at a time and you know what oral steroids do to you!!

I’ve just dug out my flow chart ( Australian one) from 2015, even with 4 puffs of inhaled steroids twice a day my peak flow was no where near as good as it is now, dipping as low as 200 at times with a good average of 350. Now, on BSD and on azithromycin 3 times a week I’ve reduced my inhaled steroids to 2 – 3 puffs twice a day with an average morning peak flow of 420 -430!! and 400 – 410 on a night. Not the normal pattern, I know!

I have an appt for blood tests next week so I am leaving copies of both flow charts to go with my records.

The other strange – but good thing- is I am not getting as near as many serious foot cramps. I could spend the whole night, several nights on the trot, walking the floor trying to get rid of the cramps and as soon as I laid flat in bed it would be off again.
I am getting very few now and they will last a few minutes and then GONE! I haven’t had to take the quinine for weeks!

I wonder if anyone else is noticing previous medical problems reducing – other than blood sugars, of course!!!

I always, pre BSD, used to have hot milk before bed I think I will start to again. I love it!! sometimes plain, sometimes with either cinnamon, nutmeg or cardamom in it. It is sleep inducing!
🙂 🙂 🙂

Hi hashimoto
Just a thought, if you wear specs, wash them frequently. The pollen sticks to the inside of the lens & irritates your eyes. A trick I use when the allergies are up. 10 pm in February is my witching hour. Go figure?

I’ve had a tonic water ( for the quinine) every day to help stop cramps. My toes turn up like Turkish slippers! I’m having hardly any now. I also ate Rennies by the handful – they still didn’t work. Now the Gastric Reflux has gone. Obviously taken the cause away.

Sorry you get it so rough. I’m sure that real stress you can’t avoid or relieve is a very big contributor to diabetes & elevated blood sugars. Have you noticed the textbook signs & symptoms of type 2 relayed on this forum. Makes it even more important to control blood sugar

I shake cinnamon on my yoghurt fruit & nuts. Go with the hot milk. You can’t beat a good nights sleep
Eureka

Eureka, I don’t wear specs since my cataract ops but I do wash reading specs regularly. Another tip is a little bit of Vaseline just on the inside of the nostrils! February? Tree pollens. They’re particularly fine and can travel for miles.

My toes can curl into the most amazing contortions, including doing a Vulcan salute lol!!! I used to get cramps in every single part of my body when I first started on serevent. At least it is only my feet occasionally now. My GP gave me quinine sulphate and said to take it for 4 or 5 nights and then switch to tonic water with quinine. I’ve got to say the cramps have vastly improved while on the BSD.

Acid reflux!! Mine has completely disappeared too! I hadn’t realised until a friend complained about hers!! I haven’t had it at all after the first week of the BSD.

This diet is addressing more than just diabetes!!
I don’t think I had diabetes before this diet – I started it because nothing stopped my weight gain. I have hashimotos hypothyroidism. That’s what drove me to try this diet. The NHS self test for diabetes was not reassuring! I want to make sure I don’t get diabetes!! So will follow this diet for life!

As of tonight I am back on my night time milk!!

Thanks for your tips, Eureka. My reading specs will be getting very thorough washings from now on. 🙂

Hi Judith, my toes do the Vulcan salute too! No one else I’ve mentioned it to has had this happen. My feet actually turn when the cramps are severe and I’m left trying to stand on the outside edges of them until it passes. I find extra salt and some magnesium helps. If I’m out and about I grab a bottle of San Pellegrino mineral water and that does the trick. Electrolyte replacements ( not the sports drinks yuk) spike my blood sugars so I daren’t use them. I’ll look at the sugar content in tonic water, I’d forgotten about quinine. Thanks 🙂

Fantastic article posted a few pages back by (was it?) susan…thank you very much. It explained a lot that was previously really confusing me about weight loss and diet and blood sugar…seemed very counterintuitive and it is! I itnend to reread and integrate it…seems very important from where I am at in this saga.

Hi cherrieanne, until you posted that I tbought I was the only one! My GP chuckled when I described it as being like a vulcan salute but said it describes what happens really well. I get a sudden pain in the outer edge of my foot a split second before my toes do the salute. It’s weird the way you can’t physically push them back into position isn’t it?

If the tonic water is sweet ask your doctor for some quinine sulphate tablets, they really do the trick 🙂

Well… I did it… I halved my morning metformin… and my pre praedials are lower than ever… WT???…. I am wondering if Metformin actually does anything to my body at all… I get no side effects…. maybe I have just been swallowing money all these years for nothing. My endo told me a good walk does as much good as a metformin… – so If i drop four tablets – is that FOUR additional good walk s a day.. already cover about 12km on average… hmmmm will be interesting to see what happens next! Week five starting…

I am near the end of week 2 and the weight lose is 6lbs. I have now brought a BS monitor as I have been told by my GP that I don’t have to monitor my BS as I am on Metformin.

First reading yesterday about an hour before I had dinner (under 800 calls and under 50g of carbs for the day). Reading was 6.0, did a reading 2 hours after dinner 7.3, reading when I got up this morning 8.2.

Two days ago I halved my Metformin and do not feel any different.

As I have never monitored previously I will do from now on.

The hot milk was delicious but my experiment failed. My fasting bloods have been, 7.1, 6.0, 5.9, 6.9, 6.3, 6.9 and 6.7. But is that a good thing? During the day I am fine. Is my liver just cleansing itself of stored sugar.I will keep monitoring and hopefully I will reach the non diabetic range. I have also read a cheeky and funny article about low cal and not losing weight ( I have plateaued for a very long time), it said if you are not losing weight you are not in calorific deficit, no matter what excuse I use, even if I am so hungry, in order to lose weight I must create a deficit. As you lose weight your calories in and out change in order to keep the deficit up. This is obviously normal common sense advice that any child could tell me but i feel better after reading it and will look very closely at my portion sizes in future. ( I was nearly off to the docs to check my thyroid!!!)

Hi hellybelly a thyroid check is never a bad thing. Diabetes and hypothyroidism are both diseases of the metabolic system.

I can’t remember how long you have been on this diet but Bill, Cherrianne and some others have experienced problems round about week 4/5.

🙂

Hi Lachlan, Steve & Ei, – Firstly Bill experience a big increase in his BS in (I think) week 4ish. That was explained as the liver releasing a lot of sugar at once and as you said, the body taking time to catch-up and process it. It was back on track within the week. See his blog in the 800 – ‘this must work for me’. If you are about that stage, this is maybe what you are seeing?
However – just out of curiosity, is anyone correlating their BG levels with their exercise? I am on this plan as a preventative measure, FBS getting towards pre-diabetic range and obese. I am no longer obese, and the FBS has dropped to the low 5’s, occasionally going up to 5.6.
I am finished the 8 weeks and continuing for a couple more before going on holiday and coming back to start 5:2. The fact the FBS was sticking in the low 5’s has been puzzling me as I have been very conscientious about sticking to the plan and thought it may have gone lower, so I was wondering if I was actually in fat-burning mode at all. I got the infamous ketostix and did my first test Thursday evening – yes I am fat burning.
Friday morning the reading lower, but still fat-burning and the evening lower still. What puzzled me was the next morning it was back up to the higher fat-burning mode (good) – but the day before I had had more carbs than normal – 70g. My FBS was also 5.0, lowest for a couple of weeks. Go figure :-(.
However – I had also been out walking/standing all day on Friday as I was helping survey some archaeology. Most continuous non-sitting for a long while – only one data point, but I suspect that may be part of the explanation!
The body is an engine and many things play a part in how it responds. We are all concentrating on the foods we eat, but sometimes what is driving the changes can be elsewhere – have you had changed your exercise patterns, or had some emotional turmoil? Both will play a part.
Hopefully it gets back on track soon and it has been what Bill experienced, a massive sugar release from the liver.

Just wondering where you are Lachlan?
Haven’t heard from you for a while!
Are you AWOL, still struggling with those high fasting readings or have you had success?
Next time you pop in to read the posts can you let us know if you’re still hanging in there?
Hoping to hear from you soon 🙂

Hi Cherrianne and all

Sorry I haven’t been on this for a while. I have tried the low carb approach for a couple of weeks but still getting the high readings unfortunately. I have been to see a specialist consultant and with great sadness I have to tel, you all that it seems my diabetes is not reversible. So I’m back on the metformin and looking to manage my condition. The good news is that my second hba1c result is drastically less than what is was when first diagnosed I have the blood sugar diet to thank for that. I will be getting a scan to confirm my condition but because of my weight ( i.e. I weigh so little now) it seems most likely that my pancreas is just not working well enough and there is little I can do. However, that is not to say that this can’t work for everyone else I certainly hope it does so I wish you all the best with continued progress.
Lachlan

Lachlan I’m so sorry to hear your news and wish you the best 🙂

Hi lachlanh
You have tried hard with this diet & I’m sorry this isn’t the result you hoped for. A lower HbA1c is really good.
Perhaps you could still post occasionally to tell us how you are. Best wishes to you.
Eureka

Hi Lachlan,
You know you gave it your very best! So sorry it didn’t work for you. 🙁
Is your specialist going to do antibody tests to make sure you aren’t a late onset type 1?
How I wish you could have had a great result after all your hard work.
Thank you so much for letting us know what was happening, I was concerned when we hadn’t heard from you.
Best wishes from me

Hi , I have been doing the Bsd for two weeks now and still trying to fine tune so that my weight loss is better. For those of you who experience rising blood sugar levels when every thing else is basically the same, I wanted to throw out the possibility that your cortisol levels have increased which I understand can make your blood sugar go up. This issue is discussed a bit in M Mosley”s book but not much. My understanding from past experience and some reading is that if you put certain stresses on your body like working out really hard it will increase your cortisol. Anyway may be something to look into. An increase in cortisol can also affect your weight loss according to some of the literature that I read. I would be interested in knowing if anyone has dealt with this issue and how they handled it. Td

Hi Hashimoto and Cherrianne

I thought I was the only one with the ‘rising toe’ issue – any time I’ve mentioned it to a medic, they just look perplexed! Usually it’s my big toe which does the ‘salute’, then my foot twists inwards, then I get pains over the top of my foot. Nice! And a tricky one to straighten out – whether to go for the upwards toe or the inwards foot first? It’s stopped since I’ve started this diet, though – in fact, so have my leg cramps. Don’t know why that should be, but a great side benefit.

Hi keepsmiling! I’m glad cherrieanne and I are not alone!

It took me 2 years to mention it to my GP because I thought I would get the perplexed look as it sounds so odd.
My dr just smiled when I described my toes as doing a Vulcan salute but explained when certain muscles in the inside of the foot cramp it feeds up to the toes. He also said a Vulcan salute is a very good way of describing it.

I’m glad the diet is working for you 🙂