I’ve just watched the Panorama program on Diabetes, that was screened on Monday October 3rd, for the second time.

If anything it was more harrowing second time around.

I know that the program was only an hour long so couldn’t cover every aspect of treating T2 diabetes. Nonetheless, I felt that , apart from the shock value, it contributed little to help people with diabetes to help themselves.

For example there was a young boy of 15 who was visiting the hospital and he checked his b/g, it was 18!!! The doctors response was, and I quote , ‘ I’m sure your eating healthier now but you need to eat less’

Helpful!! Well at least it was a nod towards the fact that diet does play a part!

The two bariatric surgery patients in the program were given low calorie diets , of between 800 and 1000 calories a day, to follow for 4 weeks before they were deemed fit for surgery. The diet sheet showed 1 ‘low fat’yogurt a day as part of the diet. The guy was having porridge for breakfast and then had 4 hour 9 minutes to wait for his next meal, which was an apple! Carbs carbs carbs! I eat much better than that for the same 800 calories!!!

The commentator said …’One way to ‘save’ T2 patients from the worst consequences of the disease is bariatric surgery.

The surgeon did say that there is good evidence to show that bariatric surgery can ‘cure’ diabetes. Later in the program, after performing bariatric surgery, he commented that ‘ bariatric surgery is the ‘only’ way to control the current problem!!

So I ask …. why is bariatric surgery so successful at curing diabetes …. because people lose weight!!!! I know that’s very simplistic but the science behind LCHF suggests that people could do equally well with diet as they do with surgery. Only problem is diet needs desire and willpower!!

I would love to see more emphasis on the right sort of diet as a tool to help diabetics care for their health. To’ ‘save’ themselves from the worst consequences’ of diabetes before being routinely offered , as was suggested, bariatric surgery as a cure all!

P.S. This program is available for 11 months …. worth looking at when ever you feel like giving up this plan!!!

Well said Verano 💐

I watched a programme on BBC Wales which was on just before this and the presenter followed a low carb diet for 3 weeks despite being advised not to do this by his G.P. and a weight loss expert. He lost 14lbs in weight, his B.P. dropped and his blood pressure dropped. This followed by the documentary on diabetes proved very interesting viewing. As nurse I can see how the NHS could save millions of pounds if they followed a different path and and changed their advice on diet. My sister-in-law is a very overweight type II diabetic and her G.P. seems to continue to increase her medication rather than to encourage her to change her terrible diet, and she appears happy to go along with it as it is an easier option, but in the long term I believe it will do her no good. Anyway rant over, I hope everyone is doing well, I lost 6.5lbs in my first week and I feel happier and more energised. Good luck !

Yes, well worth a watch.
I angers me so much that the Doctors are happy to butcher and give pills but too PC to say ‘LOOSE WEIGHT!!’

The BSD is a dam sight less expensive than a lifetime of pills or surgery and I’m paying for it!

Rant over

Nick

It was so sad to watch the panorama program knowing now that there’s a much better way.
Although bariatric surgery works, Prof Roy Taylor’s research on diet/visceral fat was inspired by reversal of t2 afterwards, it is an invasive procedure and carries some serious risks, with the irony that having failed to lose weight by dieting, people who wish to have the op must go on a diet to reverse their fatty liver prior to surgery!
I have also heard that many people learn how to cheat afterwards (or after several years can eat more again) and will eat a sugary diet plus are constantly grazing as their stomachs are so small, so it doesn’t necessarily deal with the underlying cause of obesity/metabolic probs= carby diets and snacking!! Many will gain some weight again after initially losing a lot.
Nickwap- doctors do say ‘lose weight’ but what they don’t do is follow that up with the best information and support. It is left to the individual in most cases to cope on their own and, as many people on this forum can tell you, that usually fails. Giving out pills is something a doctor can do for you in 10mins, is something that many people expect and medication does help. The doctor cannot make you lose weight.
Reading the BSD was an epiphany for me, I thought I knew about food and diets and dieting before that but that I just couldn’t stick to it, was stupid, addicted to eating, had no willpower etc. The light bulb went on and I know I can eat this way forever.
Now it remains for the message to spread so that as many people as possible benefit.

Still need to catch up with Panorama, I did watch the Welsh program though. BBC also has aired one called “Doctor who gave up drugs” recently that was interesting.
My sister in law has had a mobility scooter for years because she is too fat to walk; there really is no other medical reason.
How is that supposed to help?!

Hi

Tizzie you remind me of my diagnosis of T2. I have a very good GP practise BTW. I was sent to a dietician and like you I thought I knew everything there was to know about food and dieting ….. had tried nearly all of them!! The best help I got from the dietician was to swap digestives for ginger nuts!!! Lord help us all!!!

As you say MM’s book was a complete revelation to me. I think in the main part because I’d never known/understood the science before. I guess that was partly my own fault because I never ‘investigated’ for myself and just took it as read that if you had T2 you were ‘doomed’ to a life of future problems! I suppose I also took the pills and put it to the back of my mind!

This plan is my saviour!

Frog … sad about your sil. I walk with crutches and my OH wants me to get a scooter, especially to take on holiday. I have been resisting for a couple of years now because I think that once I get one if those my life is over. If I don’t walk, not that I do much!, I’ll put on weight and I’ll lose what little muscle etc that it’s a bit like being stuck between a rock and a hard place! Hence this plan … hoping the more weight I lose the better my mobility will be! Do think I may have to give in though because it’s not fair to him when we go away.

You’ve got 11 months to watch the Panorama program so no panic!!

I have watched the Panorama prog and already made comments on another thread, so so sad.

What I would say is that it is not our fault that we have been unable to control our illness with diet, which yes we are always told to do. No one told us what to eat or what not to eat so we went on diet after diet and failed like everyone else does. When we have been given dietary advice it has been so so wrong – eat low fat, low calorie foods (synthetic) and get plenty of carbs. I saw the doctor on the programme say you should start the day with cereal and have a wholemeal roll sandwich for lunch, the emphasis being that these are good carbs, along with rice and pasta, even better if you eat brown pasta etc etc. We have heard it all before and it is still the traditional advice. This is not just damaging to diabetics but to the population as a whole who are becoming more and more overweight.

I don’t know how I found this diet, I had been seeing pop ups on Facebook and clicked onto long videos about diet and you knew they were going to try to sell you something at the end. As it turns out their ideas were pretty much the same as BSD but were American videos and selling books or courses which I could not access, whick led me to looking for something UK based, then I found Dr M. I am sure I was totally sceptical but thought, £3.99 for a book, how can I lose. But I did lose, I lost weight and gained better health. Long may this diet prosper and grow and hopefully become traditional treatment for obesity and diabetes and many other illnesses.

Just watched panorama program (well listened to a lo of it, bit squeamish about watching operations & stuff)
– scary

the people having weight loss surgery aren’t that much heavier than I was – and they are taller.

that was weird – she had to follow an 800 calorie diet pre surgery, and the woman ‘only’ lost 3 stone after the operation- I know that is quite a lot, but people on this have certainly lost more in similar period.
Had a look at the pre surgery diet – pretty carby.

required watching every time I get a chocolate craving!