Hi all
Started yesterday but unfortunately my blood sugar ws actually higher this morning than yesterday. I don’t understand why I can have my last meal at 6:30, go to bed with a sugar reading of 5.9 and wake up to a reading of 9.8
I’m 62 diagnosed 4 to 5 years ago but I don’t know how long I had the disease before that. I have retinopathy which has led to loads of laser treatment, 4 vitrectomy operations (the first 2 didn’t work, bleeding just continued) and 2 cataract replacements. I still have to go to the eye hospital monthly for pressure checks. I just want to thank all the staff at Newcastle eye centre, without them I would have gone blind by now.
I take metformin and Exanatide injections which I’m hoping to be able to stop come April after the diet. I don’t eat a lot as the Exanatide does kill the appetite, so maybe I’ve been eating the wrong things. Lunch yesterday was a bowl of home made chicken soup made with chicken, celariac, and assorted veg, dinner was 4oz of lean lamb stir fried with assorted veg in 2tsp of olive oil. I don’t eat breakfast. Today for lunch I’m experiencing the pleasures 🙁 of home made humus with carrot and celery dipping strips.
I’mm determined to complete the 8 week course so I’ll update this on a weekly basis, as much for myself as anyone else.
Starting Sugar reading yesterday was 9.6, starting weight 16 st 5 lb (sorry I’m an old fashioned type of guy.)
So, lets all do this together and hopefully, within 8 weeks we’ll all be congratulating each other.

Hi Bill1954
Hang in there!
I’m on hols at mo so will be a week behind you starting. I’m walking & making good food choices but will be vry strict on return

This has to work for me too. Diagnosed 2013 but know I must have been diabetic much longer. Have some eye retinopathy too. Can’t reverse it but want to arrest it

My high bs is on waking too. Do try some breakfast within those 800 calories. It’s going to take time effort & motivation for us all. Lets keep each other going as we are doing

Don’t forget this is experimental stuff we are doing. A total change from the advice we have all been previously given. I’m up for being a Guinea pig if I can help myself improve at all.

Learn as much as you can about your diabetes & the way your body reacts to carbs. Look at recommended web sites & keep asking for help. We all want the same thing

Keep on keeping on
Eureka

Hi Bill – I’ve been diabetic for 8 years now, also with some background retinopathy, and my fasting blood glucose levels are often the highest of the day. I read somewhere about a Dawn phenomenon where your liver releases glucose around 4am as throwback to caveman days to get you ready to hunt!

Last October I went through a stressful time at work and my fasting sugars went up to 17 for a few days and I felt awful, even though my diet was pretty good at the time (I was doing 5:2) and unfortunately I had to go back onto Gliclazide to get it under control.

I started the BSD last week (26 Jan) and am sticking very strictly to the Mediterranean principles in the book so have cut out bread, cakes, rice, potatoes, pasta etc and mainly am having really healthy food – fish, shellfish, chicken, a little meat, loads of veg, some fruit and since last Monday my blood glucose has been between 4.7 and 7 (measuring 3 times per day!). So good that yesterday my GP agreed I should stop the Gliclazide again and see how I get on.

I’m also trying to increase my exercise and relaxation as I find that really helps both the stress and the sugar levels.

Good luck

Well, 3rd day in. Yesterday I had home made humus with a half carrot and a stick of celery for lunch. For dinner it ws a small grilled chicken breast with 2 flat mushrooms sprinkled with crumbled feta cheese. I had a small handful of mixed nuts as a snack at about 8pm
Blood sugar at bedtime was 5.9, woke up this morning to a reading of 12.0 !!!
If this is the dawn effect I can only assume that my liver is releasing stored sugar overnight as I’m not putting very much in so, hopefully, we’ll get to the point where there is no more stored sugar and my fasting readings will start going down.
It’s great to get some support so thanks for replying folks, we’ll do it together and get there in the end.

Result !!! fasting blood sugar this morning down to 7.8 🙂
I’m really happy about that, here’s hoping it’s the start of great things

Well done Bill – So glad to hear it 😃
So looking forward to your updates 👍🏻

Bill that’s marvellous news…..congratulations. Hope you’re finding it easy and enjoying the feeling of being virtuous!

Guys thanks so much for the comments and the support. Sugar reading was 7.8 again this morning, I have to say that I’m not really having any of the side effects that others have had, never felt hungy, and I feel that I’ll be able to stay on the plan for as long as it takes.
I’ve been following a Utube channel for quite a while that specialises in absolutely brilliant Indian food. I’m sure the recipes could be easily adapted to this diet so I’m going to go through them all this weekend to check them out.
If anyones interested, the channel is Als kitchen, and if you decide to indulge, remember to make the base gravy first and bear in mind, it’s not a dish, it’s an ingredient.

Thanks for sharing – I’ll take a look 😊

So good you’ve seen an improvement, hope it keeps getting better. Agree re: Indian food! If you don’t know about ricing cauliflower, check it out. Surprisingly satisfying from a visual point of view, I find!

Starting today (gulp!), hopefully will be more relaxed than starting on a Monday, which I find is a stressful enough day as it is! I haven’t got the book yet so apologies if this has already been covered but I wanted to share a tip from Paul McKenna, which can help with weight loss – eat slowly. Try to chew every mouthful really thoroughly and try to make every meal last at least 20 minutes. It does work, trouble is it’s easy to forget to do it!
Another tip from my Weight Watchers days is to have a big glass of water before every meal as it helps fill you up.

I agree with Eureka re: experimental stuff. Did anyone watch the episode of Trust Me last week with the Israeli blood sugar experiment? Apparently, BS rates are affected by the combination of bacteria in the gut and everyone is different. So a food which causes a spike in one person won’t necessarily cause one in a different person. Who knew?! You can register to have your poo analyzed, (ewww!) and they will send you your personalized list of “good” and “bad” foods, though this isn’t available to the general public yet. Interesting study, links on the bbc website.

As you may have guessed, I have tried every diet going. I don’t have a huge amount to lose, but my dad is Type 2 and I have other health issues. My motivation is high today, this being day 1, but I know I will really need support over the coming days & weeks.

Hi Wobbly
I too have tried every diet in the past but this does work if you do it properly. It’s all down to planning really. There are lots of people on here who are in the same position as you and lots who were worried about how they’d would manage ….but they have.
Best of luck to you I’m sure you will do well!

Thanks Aliba, day 2 and I’m still motivated so that’s a good sign! Got the book on my kindle yesterday and have spent this morning meal planning for the week ahead so hopefully I won’t go adrift. How long have you been doing the diet for?

Wobbly…I’ve been on it for just over a week and lost 7lbs…..using my fitness pal app to record what I’m eating and there have been a couple of days when I’ve give over 800 cals but overall it’s been great. No cravings and feel well…it’s all good!

Hey guys, I always planned to make Saturday my weigh day so I wasn’t expecting much this week as I had my first weigh on Monday teatime. I was shocked to see that I have lost 7 pounds in 4 days !! More importantly, fasting blood sugar reading is down to 7.1 from 9.8. I’m really happy with that 🙂
Ali, you’re doing great my friend, keep it up. Wobbly, ok so you don’t have the blood sugar motivation, but the way you can lose weight on this diet should be more than enough to keep you going

Wow Bill, 7lbs in 4 days is brilliant. Great news on the blood sugar readings as well.
My blood sugar reading today is the lowest ever since starting the diet 3 weeks ago 4.5. Four weeks ago I had blood taken and they checked my HbAc1 level which at the time I found out today was 48 so four weeks ago I was officially a diabetic. I saw the doctor who said he would repeat the test in two weeks after the start of the diet, I told him about the book at the first appointment. I got the results today and they are now 40. The doctor was amazed and asked me to email him the link to the website. He told me to book in around July for a follow up test just to make sure. But he declared me no longer a diabetic, especially after I showed him my fasting blood glucose levels for the past three weeks.
This does work!
Good luck everyone

Hedds that’s brilliant and a shining light for everyone else to look up to. Well done.

Bill that’s a fantastic weight loss….well done to you.
Hedds……brilliant news, you will inspire lots of people.
I can’t believe how much weight people are losing …..there doesn’t seem to be a downside and more people joining everyday…..something quite amazing is happening and I love that this site is a celebration and a positive reinforcement for all.
I’m now in week two, someone at work noticed my weight loss and the fact that it was coming off my middle….am starting to see a waist so finally I’m losing from the right places.
Keep it up every one!

It’s really good to hear how everyone’s getting on. I’m in my second week and fasting blood sugar has gone from 10.3 down to 6.8. I’m diet controlled and now feeling good and surprisingly don’t need all the carbs I have been eating previously. IVe tried quite a few receipes out of the book such as mushrooms for breakfast , eggs and advocado and the Spanish soup. I’ve lost 2 inch of my waist already and 6.6 lbs. It’s really working ! I have my diabetic review next week so I’m hoping for a positive response but when I tried to raise a low carb diet last year it was poo hooed. Medical and nursing staff need more info themselves .

Garden78 that’s excellent, I agree, health professionals really need to read not only this book, but the success stories taking place on this forum.
Another good morning for me, blood sugar down to 6.8.
This was tempered somewhat by a real kick in the tender bits yesterday. After almost a year without problems, I had a retinopathic bleed in my right eye yesterday, so ATM I have 1 working eye and, judging by past experience, it’s going to take 4 to 6 weeks for my right to clear, and then there will be increased hospital visits etc.
This is just another reason why this diet has to work for me, and let it serve as a lesson to others. If you don’t get diabetes under control, this is just one of the outcomes.
Keep plugging away folks.

OOPS
2 small thin pancakes made with wholemeal flour and semin skimmed milk with a filling of blueberries cooked in theie own juice for tea last night and this mornings BS reading has gone up to 8.1

That demonstrates to me perfectly what carbs can do to you, even in small amounts.

Hi Bill1954

I’m back from hols & started proper Monday. 4 lb down 38 to go!
Sorry about your eye problem do hope all improves for you. You are doing so well. Great positive attitude. It’s my eyes that I’m most concerned about.

My mum & dad were both type 2 & had a lot of complications, so I know the down side of diabetes. Am determined to help myself & that’s half the battle. Of course there will be Oops days. BUT it’s what we do afterwards that matters. Got to educate ourselves & the professionals that this can work.

Great support for & from everyone on this site. Hope this spreads to all shores as diabetes pandemic & I don’t feel helpless any more

Keep on keeping on

Eureka

Hi Eureka, hope you enjoyed your hols, I have to wait until June for mine.
I definitely won’t let this put me off, in fact I sort of expected it. I normally wouldn’t have dreamed about having pancakes but I had found a recipe on the net for wholemeal chapatis and the author said that she made them for her diabetic husband all the time so I thought, just a bit milk to add but no olive oil so the recipe should be ok.
I love the way folk are coming together to help each other on here, this kind of thing is always easier when you have some support.
I missed the small print on this site that says if you have retinopathy, getting your sugar levels down can make it temporarily worse so I’m hoping that’s all it is.
I really dont want to do 2013 – 2014 all over again

Weird all I had yesterday was mackeral with a tomato onion and celery salad at lunch and a small chicken breast stir fried with Med veg at dinner (I don’t do breakfast) and my Fasting sugar reading was still 7.8 this morning.
This bad boy goes up waaaaaaay faster than it comes down.

I’m having trouble getting my head round this. If anything I’ve been stricter with the diet this week but my sugar level this morning was 8.1. My total food yesterday was zero fat cottage cheese with celery for lunch and a small steak, of which I left half, with mushroom and onions for dinner.
It’s almost as if the diabetes is fighting back.
Well it had better be in it for the long haul coz I ain’t giving up !!!

Hi Bill
Could it be that you’re not eating enough? I don’t really understand the science but maybe it’s worth trying some full fat cottage cheese and doing what you did before. Doesn’t the liver release sugar? I remember reading that sometimes people need to eat later so their liver doesn’t dump sugar overnight.
Worth a try because last week your level were better.
Good luck

Hi Bill,

Just wanted to chip in with a bit of support as this must be really frustrating. The way I would look at it is, we have basically got fois gras inside us. As long as we stick with the diet, we reverse that a bit more each day, and that can only be a good thing for our health. It may take a while to show up on the readings, but every day we do this is a day we scrape fat out from around our internal organs rather than deposit it back in. The readings will catch up soon!

If you balance out your weightloss/ blood sugar decrease over the time since you started the diet, it is still really impressive – so maybe try to think it terms of overall decrease rather than recent plateau? Having said that, I’m sure things will start to go down again soon – it’s not physically possible for us to keep on eating this few calories and not lose weight so it will come soon!!

You know what guys ?? that is the kind of support that really helps so thanks so much for that.
Yeah I was feeling a bit glum this morning but I’m not going to let this beat me.
The way I see it, no matter how much sugar is stored in my liver and pancreas, as long as I’m not putting the wrong things in to my body, there has to come a point where that stored sugar runs out. That shouldnt be too long I hope and I’m looking forward to seeing what the scales say tomorrow.
Aliba, you very well may be right, I’ll look at what I’m eating over the weekend and try to up the fat intake a little (fresh cream cakes here I come ……NOT) 😀

Hi Bill, you are doing really well so far. It might be worth looking at the dawn phenomen previously mentioned so that you can understand what is happening to you. I used to suffer from it and it is so disheartening to go to bed with a blood sugar under 6, knowing you haven’t eaten for hours, and wake up with a high fasting reading. So I typed in ‘low BGL at night but high fasting BGL’ into google and found out about the dawn phenomenon. Now I eat a 20g slice of cheese and 150ml full fat milk at bedtime, both included in my daily count, and it doesn’t happen anymore. I also think you aren’t eating enough, as slobs suggested. The book makes it clear you need fat, and you do need to eat regularly. Keep trying, diabetes won’t win if you follow the diet properly. It will take all of us a while to get it right because we are having to change our thinking about what is the ‘right’ food for diabetics, as well as changing our bad habits.

Oops, didn’t check my auto correct, didn’t mean to call Aliba ‘slobs’. My apologies.

Cherrianne don’t worry, I’m in this for the long term.
Fancy calling Aliba slobs ROFLMAO
Sorry Aliba

No worries guys……I’ve been called worse!!
Bill, I think your doing really well and admire your tenacity….afraid I had a spectacular fall off the wagon today….got stuck in a meeting that went on all day and ended up having to eat the sandwiches as forgot to take lunch and had no choice. Hey Ho…..just have to put it behind me and tomorrow is another day, will be back on it in the morning.
Weight loss has slowed this week….to nothing …..but still feel this is the way to go, feeling better than I have in years and have reminded myself that there will be days like this!
Koko x

Hey guys I took your comments on board and had a higher fat dinner last night, gammon, sausage, egg and tomato.
Blood sugar at bedtime was 5 and morning was 7.1 so heading in the right direction again.
Today was weigh day and TBH I wasn’t looking forward to it after the sugar issues. I was delighted too see I’ve lost another 4 lbs so that’s 11 lb in a fortnight and me under 16 stone for the first time in 20 years.
Onwards and upywards

The zero fat cottage cheese has sugar added to it! Better off with full fat version.

That’s great news Bill, you must be so pleased. Your posts and experiences are encouraging.
It’s hard at first to change the way we think about food. There’s a lot of blame directed at type 2 diabetics, and a lot of guilt we feel when we can’t get our blood sugar/ weight down. So good to have some decent research and advice at last. Can’t wait for it to filter through to the whole population. Maybe the big food manufacturers will feel the pressure then to produce healthier food, can only dream!

I,m really happy so far. I’ve had to tighten my belt 2 notches since starting.
I’m loving the way this support community is developing. There is so much friendly advice here now. I suppose as sort of pioneers on the forum, we are building a library of tips and success stories.
My little theory about the sugar readings is that it’s similar to the dawn effect.
You don’t give your bodues enough fat to burn so the liver releases stored sugars to boost the calories.

Hi Bill,
That’s great results for you, clothes don’t lie do they so a looser belt is good news for your waistline.
I like the forum too, I think it’s because we are all learning together. I like the description of us being pioneers.
Can’t wait to hear more about your progress as we go. I don’t have any weight to lose but my blood sugars have been way too high on what the health professionals thought was a healthy diet. Now I’m watching the carbs and following the diet they are almost always in the non diabetic range. Except when, like you, I had a pancake. Mine was very small, with blackberries and some honey yoghurt and two hours later my blood sugar was 12.2. Won’t be repeating that mistake!

No Cherriane, clothes don’t lie.
I’ve decided to stop worrying about these 7 – 8 fasting blood sugar readings for now.
I know I’m not eating anything wrong, so as long as I’m losing weight, hopefully the fat is starting to drain from my liver and I should see the results of that by the end of 8 weeks.
I’m going to try the cocnut flour flat breads tonight because, if they work, I’m in sandwich city !!!
Now THAT can’t be a bad thing.

Hi Bill1954

How’s the eye? Improving hopefully. Well, you are doing great. I’ll join you on the belt but only one notch this first week. More to come we hope
Yep Michael reckons the liver will drain that fat first, then the pancreas kicks in later. I’m going to do the two week review ( p140 BSD book) at the end of this week & see where I’m at. Believe I need to go all the way to 8 wks

Keep the faith, June’s not far away!
Eureka

June ? Nah it’s only about ten years away 😉
Coconut flour flatbreads worked well, I’ll post the recipe later. Had 1 with my lamb and vegetable stew last night and a tuna sandwich today (heaven).
Because of the high fibre content they make you chew longer than usual and they definitely give you that full feeling.
Fasting sugar this morning was lowest yet 6.4
Think I’ll celebrate with a cream cake 😉

I wasn’t expecting anything dramatic this week as I hurt my back on Monday so exercise has been a no no. I’m also getting serious puppy dog eyes from our Shih Tzu as she is missing her long night time walks.
Weigh day tomorrow so we’ll see but I’m delighted to report that after hovering between 6 and 7 all week, my sugar reading this morning was 5.8 and, as the whole point of this diet is to get the blood sugar down and try to reverse the diabetes, I have to be happy with that.
Going to source some chickpea flour this weekend as I’ve found some nice low carb recipes for it.

Wow Bill, well done! You’ve got to be so happy with that. What a dramatic change in your fasting sugars in such a short time.
Be wary with the chick pea flour, I looked it up because I love middle eastern and Indian food. It has anywhere between 53 & 58 g carbs per 100g. Not sure why it’s so high when chick peas themselves, and hummus, are so low. I’ve looked at a few sites to double check that it’s accurate. May be someone with more knowledge will be able to tell us the science for it.
Waiting to hear what this week’s loss is, you are doing so well!

Hi Cherrianne
thanks for that, I’ll have another look at the flour this weekend although I’m sure I read somewhere that the carbs are the good, hard to digest ones. Either way, it’s still a lot better than regular flour.
I’m delighted with the way the sugar levels are dropping as that, to me, is by far the most importaant aspect of this diet.

Chickpea Flour Nutrition Facts

Eating more chickpeas and chickpea flour is a great way to increase your intake of fiber. And because they’re such a high source of fiber, many studies show that eating more chickpeas, and pretty much all types of legumes, can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, obesity, diabetes and even some types of cancer.

Chickpeas also offer a good array of vitamins and minerals. For example, they’re thought to have calcium and magnesium in an ideal ratio, a very high amount of folate — which is essential for a healthy pregnancy — good dose of energizing B vitamins like vitamin B6 and a decent amount of heart-healthy potassium. They even contain some of the powerful antioxidant mineral selenium, as well as iron and plenty of plant-based protein. Gluten-free diets are also becoming more popular, so you’ll love the addition of this flour to your pantry if you’ve recently decided to go gluten-free.

½ cup of chickpea flour (or besan) has about: (2)

178 calories
3 grams of fat
10 grams protein
5 grams fiber
5 grams of sugar (no added sugar)
101 milligrams folate (50 percent DV)
0.75 milligrams manganese (37 percent DV)
0.4 milligrams copper (21 percent DV)
76 milligrams magnesium (19 percent DV)
146 milligrams phosphorus (15 percent DV)
0.2 milligrams thiamine (15 percent DV)
2 milligrams iron (12 percent DV)
0.25 milligrams vitamin B6 (12 percent DV)
778 milligrams potassium (11 percent DV)
3 milligrams zinc (9 percent DV)
7 milligrams selenium (6 percent DV)

3. Stabilizes Blood Sugar and May Prevent Diabetes

Fiber, particularly soluble fiber, not only lowers blood cholesterol levels, but it also helps slow the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream. This is hugely important both for people with diabetes and for anyone else with blood sugar challenges or metabolic syndrome. Chickpea flour has a form of complex carbohydrate called starch that the body is able to slowly digest and use for energy over time in a much more beneficial way than consuming refined carbohydrates.

There’s a lot of evidence pointing to the fact that high-fiber diets are a much more effective type 2 diabetes natural cure than diets low in fiber. Legumes in general cause less of a rise in blood glucose than foods like potatoes or almost any sort of wheat-based flour food.

While refined flours can quickly raise blood sugar levels and lead to “spikes and dips” in energy, chickpea flour is a slower-burning carbohydrate that doesn’t impact glucose levels as substantially, which means it has a lower glycemic load. Eating more low-glyecmic foods is a way to naturally reverse diabetes, have more energy and prevent sugar cravings

Thanks for that Bill. I have happily eaten spinach pakoras without too much effect on my blood sugars and they are made with chick pea flour in the batter. I cook with chick peas often and add tinned ones to my salads. I also make loads of hummus cos my kids devour it by the bowlful. So reading the high carb content of the flour was a bit of a surprise. I guess if the body processes the carbs in it more slowly then it’s safe for me to use in moderation.
I am very sensitive to even brown rice and whole grain wheat breads because their carb content causes quite a big increase in my blood sugar. The dietician had told me it was good to keep eating them, but it isn’t.
Every day on this diet, and on reading the posts here, I learn more about managing the diabetes than I have in the two years since I was diagnosed.

It’s great isn’t it Cherrianne, all these people passing on their tips and recipes to each other.
I just wish that this had all happened 20 years ago, I wouldn’t be in the state I am now if it had.

Having a bit of a celebration! Have just been to have bloods done….lovely health care assistant who is already recommending the 5:2 to people and was really interested in the results of BSD. Will get blood results in 2 weeks so fingers crossed. My BP was so good she checked it again!!!
I thought my weight loss had slowed so hadn’t weighed for a few days but when I stepped on her scales I had lost a total of 12 pounds in three weeks on the 800.
Have dropped 22lbs since I last saw her in May and 30lbs since I got my fit bit last January (it just gave me a certificate)
Feeling amazing, got into a size 16 dress yesterday and haven’t done that since 1989.
2 stone to go and I will be normal weight for my size
Have tried every diet in the world but this is a way of life now!
Good luck to you all and stick with it believe me I haven’t been a saint on this but the kind of food I eat or don’t eat has completely changed

Aliba that’s fantastic !!!
You hit the nail right on the head when you said it’s a way of life now, hand on heart I’ve never felt hungry or craved for anything sweet since I started this diet (apart from my grandsons birthday, there was this cake you see, but my wife talked me out of having any by telling me how proud she was of me for sticking with this), and I just don’t see any way I would want to go back to eating the way I did before.
It’s not just the lowered sugar or weight loss either, it’s the complete package, I’m sleeping better, feel far less stressed, and generally happier than at any time I can remember.
Someone tried to wind me up yesterday by leaving a box of crispy creme doughnuts on my desk.
I just took them back, smiled sweetly, and said just the one word…. Pathetic 🙂

Hi everyone, am a newbie just starting and have loved reading all your messages which are really motivating. Am needing to lose 2 stone most of which is round my middle and am higher risk of diabetes due to giving hubby a kidney! Put the weight on in last couple of years so need to reverse it and love the science behind this diet truly refreshing. hope you don’t mind me joining , you all sound very determined and in for the duration so hope I can be part of your journey and you of mine. 😀