Hi, after being newly diagnosed type 2 (last week) I’m on day 2 and trying to follow the suggested plan in the back of the 8 week BSD recipe book as closely as I can. However, I have a couple of questions:
1. How much impact on the diet does substituting other recipes/choices e.g swapping thai red curry for something slightly less spicy (love spice can’t do heat 😳) but with the same calorie count?
2. I realise that the 8 week plan has been put together for maximum variation a good balance of nutrients etc, how much impact on reducing blood sugars would having porridge twice a week vs just once?
3. Have other people found the best results by sticking firmly to the suggested meal plan or did some of you do lots of substitutions?

Sorry….questions questions!

Hi Shellbob – welcome to the forum and the BSD in general. I’m perhaps not the best person to comment on the meals in the book, as I have always compiled my own meals and menus, but I can’t imagine making a curry less spice/hot would make any difference. I would personally not have porridge at all, but if you are eating porridge, I would say definitely not more often than once a week. Porridge is very carby and so is probably best approached with caution on the BSD.

Lots of us do our own thing meal-wise and just count and account for all calories and carbs, rather than follow the recipes or meal plans in the book and have successfully reached our end goal by doing so. It’s up to the individual whether they are happier following the book or devising their own meals/menus. Think doing your own thing makes it easier to keep things simple, but then if you are not confident using that approach, sticking with the book makes good sense.

Hope you will make good use of the forum and will join other threads. The weekly one – One Week at a Time … is a good one to be on, as everyone is at different stages in the BSD process and there is lots of experience and knowledge to draw on there. We do our best to offer advice, support and encouragement and are very happy to have new people join us.

Best wishes for success in achieving your BSD goals and I hope to see you out and about on the forum and look forward to reading of your progress.

Hi SunnyB
Thanks for your reply, I think I will initially try and stick as close to the suggested menu plans as I can. Then once I’m more confident of the results I can start to experiment.

Do you use an app to help you calculate the calories of certain foods?

Welcome, Shellbob 44! Sunny’s suggestions are solid gold, and there are a great number of us experienced
BSDers out in the community every day. Some of us have been in maintenance for several years, and we are
ALWAYS delighted to share the knowledge that we have picked up along the way. 🙂 Your questions are very
thoughtful, and well worth sharing with other new members here. Like Sunny, I have always used my own
recipes, altered to remove the carbs. Apps are really useful, for they calculate the calories for you, and even
more importantly, the carbs. Many really enjoy the recipes in the book, but unfortunately the calorie counts
tend to be underestimated, so watch out for that. Most begin with a max. of 50g carbs per day, and those
of us who determine that we are insulin resistant find that we have to go considerably lower to achieve our goals.
Using one of the apps quickly reveals what levels we need to establish our range to maximize weight loss.
Please have a look at the Weekly thread, as well as Kazz’s Roadtrip to Easter. These 2 threads are very active, and
you will meet lots of new friends at all stages of their journey. You will receive a warm welcome 🙂 Best of
luck to you in meeting and exceeding your goals!

Allie

Hi shellbob44
I use carb manager app. It counts calories, carbs, fat and protein and I find it really easy to use. I’m not very technical lol. I can set my own calories and carb limits and it keeps track of the total throughout the day. It scans and recognises most foods too. Totally recommend it

Thanks for the App hint, I’ll look it up.
And I’ll check out the weekly thread too xx

I use the fatsecret app to record carbs. = I like it because unlike myfitness app it works out net carbs. (Total carbs – fibre). Not all the apps do. – Being a vegetarian I never followed the recipes in the book, I started back in October 2017 and have discarded over 90lbs and 4 dress sizes.

Wow JGwen that’s amazing xx

Hi Shellbob 44,

I’m also Type II diabetic and have managed to get my blood sugars back into the normal range (and staying there) by using the BSD, as have a lot of other posters, past and present. So, following the BSD does work to bring your blood sugars down! But as everyone has said it is the carbs as much as the cals (in fact probably more) that will count for you. I picked this up more from reading on the forum and other sites than when I read the BSD book.

Do use whichever app works best for you. Like JGwen, I use fatsecret rather than MyFitnessPal and for the same reason, but the carb manager app sounds good. Keep your daily carbs low as well as the calories. As Alliecat says some people go for 50g per day, others for 30g per day, (I went straight to between 20g-25g. You may not need to go that low – it just worked for me so I stuck to it).

Like SunnyB, I personally wouldn’t have the porridge – but again just check the carb content.

The recipes in the book are delicious but I found, like Alliecat says, that the calorie count were underestimated at times. I also found some recipes had too many carbs in them for me (they’re not stated in the book – I calculated them separately using fatsecret).

The diet doctor website has some really helpful information including recipes and also some great visuals on what protein, veg etc are low carb and which you should avoid e.g.https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/vegetables.
I personally found that site invaluable as a newly diagnosed diabetic trying to work out what to eat and what to avoid.
Jennie xx

Hi Jennie10
I’ll look up the website thanks. I’ll look at fatsecret too…..arrrg not enough hours in the day xx