Aww thanks Bill.

I hope this is the link:
https://www.justgiving.com/dechox2016janemunro/?prompt_event=236af4e&fb_event=5f54224&post_id=10154037557055087

Made a mistake earlier. It’s for The British Heart Foundation.
My family can’t believe this knowing what a chocolate addict I am 😀

Ok I’ve stuck a tenner in, don’t spend it all on Mars bars 😀

Thanks Bill.
You’re a star. 😊

Oh and the thought of a Mars Bat actually makes me feel a bit sick 😳
How amazing is that.
As you (I think)said somewhere else, I wish this had been around twenty years ago!!

So is it third start lucky?
I have done much soul searching and recipe research and think I am now ready. I also invested in a fitgo..the cheaper version of Fitbit.
The recipes in the books I bought are too different and I cannot get much of it in France where I live. So…I have looked at what I usually cook..all clean food and cooked from scratch..and have adapted things. I will avoid potatoes, pasta and rice and even my much loved bread. I will have jumbo oats for breakfast having found some organic Irish ones on Amazon France at a sensible price for the oats and the delivery. It will get easier when the weather is warmer and salads are welcome. It will be hard being vegetarian and I know I will feel hungry but hope it will not last too long. I will still make bread and cakes for the rest of the family but will not eat it myself. I am encouraged by all that has been said about losing the longing for carbs. I enjoy chocolate but can do without easily.
Above all I look forward to being in control again, something I have lost big time over the last few years. I will make this work for me!

Hi captainlynne. Great that you lost so much! If you don’t mind me asking, how much exercise did you do? I’ve not lost much for 3 weeks but had done the first 3. Thanks Jackie

Hi Aly,
I am vegetarian and haven’t found it hard at all. I used to eat a lot of brown rice and dense sourdough bread, which I’ve since discovered is horrendously high in carbs.
You can adapt many of your usual recipes to fit the new lifestyle.
Just keep an eye on your protein intake, which I am sure you are used to doing, as most vegos are very conscious of nutrition. We just tend to be over reliant on carbs to fill us up.
There are some great veg. recipes being posted on this site. Go for it, you can do it

Thanks Hashimoto
😊

Hi Mrs J
Great – you sound like you’re enjoying it!
BTW michael is really anti skinny milk and in favour of full fat. Stops you being hungry and has less sugars.
I know we re so brainwashed about fat but he says fat is good!
Penny

Excellent, Bill! You might also have been feeling a stressed about starting such a hopefully life-changing adventure. I’m on my 3rd day. Keep us all posted!

Yes, Penny, my father, a very healthy doctor (still working at 86, although he hasn’t operated for many years) has long said that low-fat was pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes. And eggs and cheese are not the bogeymen of diet. He also thinks small amounts of butter are much better for you than dollops of margarine. For years he’s been warning people about the pitfalls of low- or non-fat yoghurt with fruit, saying it’s crammed full of sugar. He’s an intermittent faster – never has lunch. Advises people to get to know their bodies and not to eat if they are not hungry. Unlike me, he still weighs exactly the same as he did as a lean 21year old. He was a medical student & professional footballer.

Thanks for that Yael! A wise father! I spent years following weight watchers, paying out for the meetings, online and foods. Even when I moved here to France I thought I could not be without it. I used to pay for boxes of weight watchers rubbish to be sent!
Then programmes started to be aired about fat not being the enemy and sugar corrupting our food and us.. They convinced me. I stopped paying out for weight watchers and set about cleaning up my diet. I read loads of stuff and changed my shopping habits. Now I am over weight but will not eat chemical laden food. I have real Normandy butter and full fat milk.
I have two type 1 siblings so need to address the fat tummy. Which is why I am here. I am adapting my food once more as being vegetarian it is a bit tricky. Also anything different I cannot get here, although I need to investigate an organic shop I know about. I have to make this fit my life style if I am to stick with it.
I am angry at politicians who preach the mantra about low fat and who wrongly advise diabetics about diet. So much rubbish comes from governments. I am convinced we have to get back to cooking our own food. My current campaign is to get away from anything that is made in a big factory.
My polytunnel has been ordered and my veg patch is ready for my organic veg I will grow. The chickens give me plenty of happy eggs, free range and from a garden where no chemical is used. Just my weight to sort out now!

This forum is a lifeline for me as I need to read about everyones experiences. I am feeling a bit low today as on wed went to pharmacy for fasting test 6.7 (after drink of water witb slice of lemon , just didnt think), yesterday 6.5 and pleased. This morning with my new glucose meter 6.9. I am trying to do 5.2 med diet but in reality i am not much over the 800/1000 on those days because i am cutting out starchy carbs.. I had a bad night, very little sleep, itching all over and tingling/pain in my toes. It is only about 4 days that i have been doing an average of 7000 steps and seem to be worse since that. I had more calories yesterday but still kept within guidelines of diet but ate last at 6pm( steak and salad) and nothing til fasting test at 7am.

As this is such a different diet is it just my body getting used to it? I have been worried that there may be something wrong with my liver. Can this diet have an adverse reaction on your liver and body in general?. I have read bill’s comments and lots of others who all seem to gave similar problems and i am going to take on cherriannes comment about cheese and milk before bedtime. I am still determined to keep on unless as I have to make every effort to get my blood sugars sorted.

Thanks Cherianne
Being veggie does complicate things! I am sticking with my porridge for breakfast as it fills me up so well. I have ditched the toast and marmalade though 😥
Today for lunch I will have two eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes fried in a little olive oil. Tonight will be some sort of veg and pulse stew.
I am not calorie counting officially but am aware of them.
I need to plan ahead so that I am never stuck. It is easy to make a sandwich for lunch! I am used to using pulses and like them all. I have to retrain my head not to reach for a banana when hungry. I have bought fizzy water to fill me up and keep up my water intake.
I started with dinner last night so this is my first full day. I must get my head into gear if this is going to work. I have tried to get hubby to join me but have failed so far. He is a meat eater!

Agree entirely, Aly. I’m moving towards only eating what I make myself, starting with ingredients that I can recognise. I make my own hummus. And I soak chickpeas overnight and cook them because the tinned ones have added sugar and salt. And I’m going to make my own chilli sauce because again, the bought product has a lot of sugar in it. I cook rice pilafs for my husband, but I don’t have any – or just have a tablespoon. He doesn’t eat meat either.

Wise man!
Penny

Hi Shadow
I m not sure how you’re doing the diet exactly but I wonder if you just did the BSD completely it would help you. Forgive me if I’m misunderstanding.
So no grains sugar or potatoes or tropical fruit. 800 cals and 10,000 steps plus other exercise, building up gradually. That’s it really. Plenty of fat. Full fat everything.
This diet is specifically designed to help your liver and pancreas so I don’t think it would be bad for your liver.
Did you have a look at Jenny Ruhls book ‘low carb problems solved’. ? (£3 on kindle) Maybe she covers what you’re concerned about.
Penny

Hi Yael
I also make every thing myself, put it in MFP ‘recipes’ so I know exactly what’s in it.
That way no hidden sugar or calories.
Penny

Hi Aly,
I used to have oats for breakfast all the time but I love the green tea shake and find that very filling. I add a couple of teaspoons of psyllium to it which tends to thicken it and helps fill your tummy ( you can’t save any for later with the psyllium cos it turns gluggy), and vary the fruit.
I’ve also tried the baked beans and mushroom from the book, also filling. Yesterday I had half a peach chopped up with two tblspns Greek yoghurt, flaxseed meal and psyllium. That kept me going from 8.30 till 1.30.
There is a recipe on the forum for stuffed capsicum that sounds nice, page 5 I think, I’m doing that for dinner. I will post some recipes too when I get a chance. I love to invent new ways of cooking seasonal veg, which we grow ourselves. With 5 kids and a husband I have a ready made group of food critics to hone my skills on.
Do you use some sort of food tracker/ app? I find it really helps to type in recipes and then check carb, protein counts etc and tweak the ingredients or amounts until I’m happy. I also use the diary section to monitor my daily intake to make sure my carbs stay low enough.
Good luck with your diet and vegie growing!!

Hello this is my 2nd week on this BSD and my husband is doing it with me, we have both followed the diet as best as we can, we did take three days off the 1st week as we were away from home, we decided that we would not be able to follow the diet for that time away, but we got straight back to it on our return, we have both lost weight that we are really pleased with, I am used to cooking from scratch so it’s fun to follow some of these recipes, but I calorie count when I make my own soups, and dinners. Your polly tunnel sounds like it should give you some lovely organic produce, those happy eggs sound good too. Good luck in finding that health food shop.
Gail.

I use MFP which can be a bit hit and miss. I do not like any tea, can just about tolerate fruit tea. I mostly drink water with a small amount of black sugarless coffee. Some of the things you mention I cannot get here. I do have jumbo oats though so am happy with that. Today I have come in under 800cals, I felt hungry earlier but it has passed. I don’t know if I will lose weight quickly but will not weigh myself as I can get too obsessed by what the scales say. I have some size 12 jeans I will keep trying on until they fit!
I cannot believe I have done a full day with no cake, chocolate or biscuits! And it hasn’t bothered me!

Penny
Thanks so much for your reply. I am cutting my calories on 2 days to 800 and not being as strict on other 5 days. I am not having any bread, pasta rice or potatoes on any day and looking carefully at all carbs. I am doing full fat although that is hard after 35 years fat free. Maybe I need to be a bit more inventive with my meals so that I get maxmum benefit out of them.
i will get the book you suggest. Good luck on your journey.

Hi Shadow
Isn’t it crazy that we all struggle with the thought of eating more fat when we can see low fat has made us fat- because it means high carb really!
Also I ve been thinking as I wrestle with the eat fat idea- well if I don’t eat carbs, what am I going to eat instead? It has to be more fat, because that was what was missing before. Gradually convincing myself!
Read something about Eskimos- they used to live on fat without getting heart attacks. ( now they have sugar and heart attacks) so that should help us get a grip.
So I agree the propaganda against fat has been most effective.
All we can do is try it and see, because low fat definitely hasn’t worked.
Thanks for your good wishes. Good luck.
Penny

So, second full day begins. I seem to have picked up a cold so am feeling rough. I had the mother of all headaches that woke me overnight and had to take paracetamol. It is still with me this morning but not so bad. I am hoping today will be easier. I am still shocked about the big lie over fat, all the money I spent with weightwatchers. Made me smile though to see their membership is down. The more I look into this the more obvious it is. Clean food and no more factory made stuff. If I cannot make it we don’t have it!

Aly, your cold might not be a cold, it might be withdrawal symptoms so will probably pass quicker than a cold. I am totally with you on the weight watchers thing. I ‘invested’ a load of cash just after christmas with them on all their latest gadgets and now I wish I hadn’t!

Yes I did some investigation today and seems it is carb flu! Doesn’t really encourage me to continue as I feel really rough! It would seem I have gone very quickly into ketosis. I know in the long run that is good but am wavering right now. I had two small roast potatoes for dinner but will try to pull it in again tomorrow.

I feel for you Aly, lots of us have been through similar trials but if you can keep going now, it will get easier. And ketosis means fat burning so you should be on for a very nice weight loss which is why you are doing it! If you give in, you might have it all to do again so stick with it if you possibly can (and you can!)

For years I used loads of weight watchers products never realising the amount of sugar in them. I can remember having 2 or 3 yoghurts a day because they were low in calories and I now am wondering how much all the weight watchers products have contributed to my present sugar situation. I find it hard to have full fat milk but have gone onto semi skimmed.
i have been to my daughters this weekend and she bought courgette spaghetti from tesco which was courgette cut by a spiraliser (not sure exactly what that is) and she cooked with bolognaise sauce and it was an excellent substitute for pasta and woud definitely get them again or just cut cortgette into very thin slices. I have yet to try the cauliflower rice but will try this week.

Keep going Aly, I also had terrible headache the other night and had to eat a bit more but feel ok now.

Don’t get discouraged Aly, as the others have said, this stage soon passes. Two roast potatoes out of a day’s healthy eating is not so bad. Just try again, don’t give up altogether. To be in the fat burning stage so soon is great news. Treat yourself kindly, rest when you need to and drink plenty of water to help you get through the funny feelings. Let us know how you get on.

Shadow, you can buy a spiraliser from asda for about £5.00. I like cali rice but I like cauli mash even more. Just mash up cooked cauli with a masher or blender and add a knob of butter. Season with salt and pepper or a tiny pinch of ground nutmeg. Its amazing how creamy cauli is when it is mashed!

Thanks to all of you. Not a good night, woken with an awful headache again. My body is aching and I feel sick. It has made me realize how bad sugar is if it has this effect when given up. I am struggling to eat at the moment which is unheard of for me.
Will keep going and hope this illness passes soon.

Sorry to hear you have had a bad night Aly. Keep on going as you are right about withdrawal from the sugar addiction. Did you see The Sugar Free Farm? Two of the women had to go to bed for most of a day when the lack of lots of sugar made them feel ill. The more they had eaten of the white poison in the past the more the withdrawals affected them – and Mark Labette really earned his title of The Beast because he was really ratty in the first week until the withdrawal symptoms settled down. It shouldn’t last long Aly, and the benefits are amazing when things settle down.

Hi Aly and all,
I’m just coming out of a miserable fortnight of carb flu/ sugar withdrawal. I’ve have ached so much and had to go back to bed for a couple of hours most days. Stick with it , it passes. Yesterday was my first day without horrible leg aches and exhaustion. I hope I’m now on my way up. 😳

Yes I did watch sugar free farm and was horrified at the reactions some had. It was one of the things that spurred me on with this. I could not eat all my porridge this morning but the cat finished it so no waste. I feel a bit better having eaten something. I very much hope I do not feel like this for two weeks!

Keep it up guys and keep glugging the water! Helps with dehydration headaches.
Week 4 weigh day and again I wasn’t expecting too much as I was still failrly immmobile with my sore back and I also had a cold last week (real one not withdrawal symptoms)
I was really happy to see I had lost anoth two and a half pounds for a total loss of seventeen and a half pounds 🙂
I tried out the chickpea flour this weekend, dead simple to do, basically you mix half a cup of chickpea (Gram) flour and a pinch of salt with enough water to make a thinnish batter and cook them just like pancakes. 3 – 4 mins per side until golden brown. (this makes 1 flatbread the size of a 28cm frying pan)
Used them for a sandwich and a burger and they are quite tasty and hold together well. The real bonus is the versatility of them. They can be used for wraps, as chapatis, for dipping, or, cooked a little less until just pale brown, they make a very acceptable pizza base.
Well worth a try
Onwards and upwards !!!

Totally agree about the chickpea flour flatbreads, Bill, they are delicious! I added rosemary, chilli and caraway seeds to mine (you can add any flavours/spices you want) they were still savoury with a slight citrusy taste. I managed to get 10 out of the batter mix and froze 7 of them for easy meals in the future.
I also made your coconut flat breads this weekend – equally delicious. I thought I might have one today but with a sweet topping of whipped cream and strawberries ( a good fake cream tea!) I made a triple batch of them to store plenty in the freezer!
Good news about your weight loss. How are your eyes at the moment?

Hi hashimoto 😉
Yeah the menu possibilities once you have made the flatbreads are huge and their are oodles of other recipes on the net for this flour.
Good to see someone else using it.
As to my eyes, my right eys as you know had a bleed 4 weeks ago, recovery time for this is normally in the region of 8 weeks so I’m halfway through it. My eye is at the stage where I am starting to be able to see things, albeit through a thick fog and better at night in artificial light as sunlight causes problems due to light sensitivity after the operations.
Come on folk, if you have any recipes that could help fellow travellers on the road, get them posted !!!

Hi Everyone,
I haven’t posted for a while, but I love reading everyone’s comments.
I have reached the 5 week mark and I can’t quite believe where the time has gone or indeed how good I feel!!
I have lost 17lbs and haven’t got any more to lose really so have upped my calorie intake a little to try and maintain now. My blood sugar is a funny one, as generally it hovers between 5.2-5.8 but I’ve had it spike to 6.8 a few times for no obvious reason.
I had a hba1c blood test last week after 4 weeks on the diet and it has gone down from 53 to 45 which I’m hoping is good! I have an appointment with the doctor on Wednesday to discuss it, which I’m dreading as I didn’t tell him I was doing the diet or coming off my medication. Last time I broached the subject I didn’t get much support so I just went ahead anyway. now I have to go and confess!
Good luck everyone!! It is so lovely to have this support from others trying to improve their lives.
Katie

KatieB Confess ??? really ???
Sod that ! go in with all guns blazing and tell him straight you did this without his support and you have proved that it works.
I have my yearly checkup on Wednesday, I would have preferred it to be in another few weeks when I’ve completed the BSD but the results should be interesting.

Hello everyone, just finished Day 4. Cannot believe that I have not been hungry. But old habits die hard. Eating for me is an ingrained habit (especially when the sun goes down), a reward, a comfort, and a pleasurable hobby, as well as a necessity for physical survival. Felt especially proud this evening: served my husband a lamb, tofu, potato & eggplant curry on a generous bed of spicy basmati rice with peas. I ate steamed Chinese broccoli, coriander stems, and zucchini with a small piece of steamed ocean salmon (leftover from yesterday). When I refused a potato chip (crisp), my husband’s eyes almost fell out. So not hungry, but more than a little bored. I submitted my spicy lentil and beetroot (leaves and stalks) soup to the recipe section with the name ‘Adashim shell’ which means ‘My lentils’. Check it out.
And now for the grand indulgence of the day: a cup of tea with a splash of milk and a small level teaspoon of honey (I normally have a big overflowing teaspoon). My first and last for the day. Normally, I have 4-6.
PS Bill, thanks for the chickpea recipe. I also add 1-2 tablespoons to stir-fried cabbage to give it more taste and ‘body’. I stir-fry shredded cabbage with 1 diced onion, 1 teasp turmeric, 1 teasp crushed garlic, 1 teasp crushed ginger, 1 teasp black mustard seeds, chilli to taste, and a scant spoon of grated cocoanut. Use 1 tablesp cocoanut oil for cooking.

Stick with it Yael
your rewards will come on your weigh day 🙂
Congratulations on your fortitude BTW

Thanks, Bill. This time, it has to work. I love a wine or two, but then I eat, eat, eat. Inspired by you & the others!

Sorry, with stir-fried cabbage, should have said that I add 1-2 tablesp chickpea flour towards the end of cooking. Gives it a slightly nutty flavour.

Just want to say thanks to Bill, I made your chickpea flour pancakes for lunch, I used half cup flour, dessertspoon of Greek yogurt, salt & pepper and parsley, plus enough water to make a batter. It made 2 individual size pancakes. Husband and I have just had one each topped with tuna, bit of grated cheese, dsp sweetcorn and a dollop of mayo, with a pile of salad leaves. Yum.

Loving this diet and finding it easy, we’ve been on it about a month now and have lost around a stone each. I’m not hung up on sticking strictly to the 800 cals (life’s too short to count cals, in my opinion!), I know for a fact we’ll be eating a lot fewer simply by cutting down drastically on carbs. Cut out sugar 2 years ago when I was first diagnosed as T2. I don’t stick slavishly to the recipes in the book either (although some of them, like the aubergine with lamb are gorgeous), I just make up my own following the guidelines in the book.

I’m no longer bloated, joints don’t ache anymore, I feel clearer headed and have more energy. I reckon we’ll be eating this way for the foreseeable future.

I hardly post at all, but read the forums assiduously and find them both supportive, highly entertaining (some of the humour really helps keep me motivated!) and inspirational – in fact, am off to buy some gram flour for the chickpea flour pancakes!
The stir fry cabbage idea also sounds good to try.
I am a bit of a cheat – started before Christmas at around 91 kilos, but was seriously derailed due to a very nasty and prolonged bout of flu for the first 2-3 weeks of the year. Due to all that ibuprofen and paracetamol, I was a bit panicky about the low carb approach while stuffing my sensitive tummy with the meds, and also felt too awful to be able to plan and shop, much less cook BSD stuff. Have also had a week in Spain with in-laws who barely know what some veg look like, so gained a little which I then had to lose again. So you could say I am 2 weeks off completing the 8 weeks considering the break(s). I am now down to 84 kilos… and all due to the support here. And an inch or 2 off the waist too, although it seems most weight has come off those love handles higher up than anywhere else!

Keep it all going folks.

And to KatieB – I’m with Bill: go into that appointment full of the joys at what you’ve achieved in reducing the BS readings – you now seem to be in the pre-diabetic zone rather than the diabetic zone with that level. Below 42 is normal – so you are getting there! How can any GP argue with that improvement?

Pleased you enjoyed them sooze39
They really are so versatile and can be used as the base for loads of yummy goodies.
I’m just like you in that I don’t get hung up on calories. I look at the ingredients and I’m not a big eater anyway so no worries about portion control. If the ingredients are healthy, I’ll eat it 🙂

Hi there. I am not too sure how to work the “start a new topic” thing but hopefully I can enlist some help. I started real well with the BSD last Monday and I’ve just had a big binge. I am so disgusted and annoyed with myself. I would love someone’s help to get me back onto the diet. I don’t know what is wrong with me!

Thanks in anticipation

Perhaps you just jumped in without planning things.
Try planning a weeks menu in advance, choose from the recipes in the book or on site or even use your own as long as you cut out the carbs and fat.
DO NOT berate yourself – disgusted and annoyed isn’t an expression we want to here from you EVER again.
We all had to start, some of us made slip ups along the way, but, above all, we are all here to help.
If you feel like binging come on here and tell us about it, we’ll soon talk you out of it.
You are part of the BSD family now and all the help you need is here.

Of course I meant increase the fat – silly me

Hi Bill, I’ll take you up on posting recipes! So far I haven’t remembered to photograph anything. On a completely different note I had my annual asthma review this morning and took my blood sugar diet book and my file of recipes with me as well as an excel spreadsheet of my daily weigh ins, number of steps and BMI. As soon as I walked in the nurse was amazed – she could see instantly I had lost a lot of weight and looked full of energy instead of dragging myself in. She said there is diabetes in her family, she made a note of this website and book title and said she is going to be on board with this. Hopefully this will filter through to other staff and diabetic patients. I said I had booked an apptmt with a GP to ask about having a fasting blood sugar test done. She searched my record and it showed that there have been spikes in my readings between 4.5 and 8!!!!!!!!! as far back as 2011. Classed as ‘normal’ because I have Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism! The reading of 8 was back in 2011 and I had put a lot of weight on since then so God only knows what it was before this diet. I should definitely have waited to start the diet til after it was done. Now I know I am sticking with this way of eating for life!
My file of recipes contains the recipes in the book but I googled ‘daily mail 8 week blood sugar diet’ and printed of the pages with the recipes. I find it easy to open up the file, look at the pictures and make what takes my fancy. I often change the frittata recipe to have more veg, no chickpeas, and sometimes a couple of rashers of grilled bacon chopped into it.