Hi Looby80

Well done you! Your lovely story echoes so many of ours. It is a liberating experience isn’t it?
I have been using the Hairy Bikers low fat Chicken Korma recipe for years, (try Google) it is great, full of authentic flavour. Rice now gone gone gone but no worries a little quinoa or cauliflower rice is as good.
N

Type 2. Think about how many people using the official dietary advice are coming off medication, losing weight and feeling great. Not many compared to the changes registered on this site. Life changing stories. I worked in the medical profession, it takes a long time to turn the tanker. if that official diet works why is diabetes increasing rapidly, why do most diabetics expect it to be a forever condition?

You asked the right questions Flower 55, it can be very confusing. The BSD converts are happy following that regime, some of their GPs and Diabetic Educators are supporting them. We could be at the cutting edge of innovation.
Nettle.

PS. Yesterday I read the quote ” We did what we did when we knew what we knew, now we know better.” It suits this situation. It was unattributed, if any one knows the original author let me know so I can acknowledge them.

IZZY you aways give great advice. I think of you as Bizzy-Izzy, you are assisting with many good answers.
N.

I’ve been peeking in at the forum for a few days and thought it was about time to get involved! I’m newly diagnosed as having impaired glucose tolerance after having gestational diabetes for the second time. Baby was born in Dec and finally got the courage to have the GTT in April. It was the news I was expecting and I think it has given me the kick I needed. So I ordered the book, read it with real interest as I have been convinced that 20 years of on off slimming groups have actually helped me gain weight.
I really hoped it would work and am so pleased to say it has. 5 days in I’m 11lbs lighter!! (started with at BMI of 36). And excitingly of all not one carb has touched my lips. I am in shock. I am (was) the carb queen, I only ate carbs (quite often in chocolate form!). I constantly thought about food, grazed all day regularly opening the cupboard and fridge for something to grab. I really expected to find this hard and give up within 2 days (as I did with Atkins) but I have found a new love of food! Mostly so far it’s been meat, fish and salads with omlettes or fruit and plain yoghurt for breakfast, with 4 kids I can’t cope with too much!! Would like to add in the odd recipe over the next week or so, would really like a curry recipe as I know that’s something hubby would like too. Hubby is being supportive doing it with me so we can keep the carbs in the house to a minimum just for the kids. He wants to lose a few lbs and is following the 5:2 version, just having 800 cals at the weekends with me. I am more excited about this diet than I have ever been before and can finally see that food doesn’t have to rule my life and I’m hoping I can use this forum for the bad days too to just help get me through, so I’m sure you’ll hear more from me! xx

I make those all the time although I do use the flour.

If you take a few crackers and mash them up, they also are good for coating chicken/fish etc. Sorry if I am repeating myself I can’t remember what I’ve posted where!

Hi Midnight Pumpkin

A good read and a promising start for you. One thing I will be interested in is your energy levels. Most of us here find that contrary to popular belief, the lowcal-lowcarb thing gives you energy. You may have the odd dip but once you analyse what you were low on, it usually gets fixed quick smart. It’s often about adding a bit of fat or increasing the water intake and the weight loss and energy are back. When you have a considerable amount to lose the drop seems to be bigger especially at the outset which is rewarding. Good to hear you have the tools in place for the odd slip up. Keep scanning these blogs, a power of advice for all.
Bring on tomorrow for you. I’m there already in the southern hemisphere.
N.

That’s a really good way of looking at it. No crisps, cake, biscuits, chocolates, takeaways, alcohol… so surely we can invest in something that will allow us to have a little treat that we used to consider ‘normal’ occasionally? It was Elana’s salt and pepper crackers I made with the ground almonds and they were surprisingly good. Almost pastry like.

Melb100 – last week I was really hungry felt I could eat constantly! I whipped up some double cream and had about 30 ml with 2 medium strawberries. It was really satisfying and filling! 150 cal, 16g fat, 2g carb

This is the cheapest Almond flour I’ve found

http://www.realfoodstore.co.uk/blanched-ground-almond-flour/

It is cheaper the more you buy,

I bought some from amazon to try and once I knew I liked it I bought 4kg about a month or so ago. I’m half way through it lol.

I justify it easily. I used to spend plenty of cash on crap and now I don’t. Anyway… it’s a health investment!

If anyone finds it cheaper let me know!

Hi I thought id start a diary here. Im a guy, i have to lose 200 lbs which is a lot i now. I want to start with the fast 800 diet and see how i go so I thought id keep a diary here. I am pretty active now leading up to starting a serious diet ive been eating less bad food and far more vegetables in particular and my diet as such is mostly good food now. I exercise a fair bit now as i started about 8 weeks ago walking 4 miles about 4 or 5 times a week over very hilly rough ground. I think I probably shouldnt be able to do this and when I started I could barely do a mile but I can do the whole distance now fast enough that id have to jog to go any faster so my fitness has come a long way id say.

I know I will have to slow down on my walks with this calorie and carb restriction and i dont mind that, Im not going to time myself but just aim to walk it at a steady pace now. SO ive been reading the forum here for some days now and trying prepare myself mentally for it. Im going to start tomorrow and I will post as I go along as to how im doing. Im going to be realistic and state that i KNOW I wont be good ALL the time. So when i crack which i will i will say it and list what i had. I think its only fair to be real about what happens. I have got myself into the mindset that if I crack its not a big deal as long as i get back on to the diet again immediately.

Anyway, I hope you will all enjoy my diary, I will let you all know my weight loss as I go and how im feeling and hopefully one day this will be useful to someone looking to do the same thing.

Yesterday
Breakfast – herbal tea
Lunch – Pret protein spinach egg salmon pot
Dinner – Toby carvary salmon parcel, with butter, tablespoon of cabbage, green beans and peas plus 2 glasses of wine

Today
Breakfast – herbal tea
Gym!!
Lunch one egg spinach omelette with a little butter and Parmesan.
Dinner home made chicken curry equivalent to one thigh with full fat yogurt 100g
30g cheese with tablespoon of walnuts

So far have lost 3 lbs this week. My weekly weigh in is Sunday 11 lbs target weight

Ooh that link to Elana’s almond flour recipes has some fantastic options on it, thank you Izzy! If I keep the boys out of the kitchen I reckon I can get some of those goodies past them. I realised too late that allowing them to SEE me pureeing the cauliflower mash last evening was probably a fatal error in the whole cottage pie fiasco. Some people just don’t realise what’s good for them.
By the way, I’ve found good value almond flour on Amazon so will be remortgaging the house to purchase a small bag…

Ah so not quite the same then!

I made some crackers with ground almonds a few days ago, because the recipe said I couldn’t and I’m stubborn like that… haha. They were a ‘mare to get off the greaseproof paper but they baked lovely when I did. Hubby had them for lunch with cheese today. Enjoyed my Katsu as well, had a couple of chickpea wraps to dip in as there was negligible chicken thanks to my miscalculation. Hubby nearly cried when I told him the amount I’d cooked was for us both 🙂

Janey that made me laugh 🙂 Almond flour, as my hubby would say… HOW MUCH!!! I haven’t told him how much it costs yet, I’m saving that for a ‘down day’ to give me a laugh. Sometimes it’s nice to see a grown man cry, especially when they’re tighter than cramp. I’ve taken to calling him Mr Krabs. I think it’s just ground more finely, but you have to be careful doing it yourself or you end up with nut butter.

Well, I have a pork loin joint roasting away, it smells lovely, another hour to go. I made some homemade apple sauce earlier with the tiniest bit of Candarel, just to take the edge off. Guess what that’s getting shoved on tomorrow? You guessed it!

Sounds like this is working great for you then, so if I were you I’d just forget about what else you’ve read, by all means use any of the recipes that are BSD friendly or convertible and just ignore the rest.

I can’t help with the argument haha.

However ground almonds and almond flour are not quite the same, there is a bit about it here. Elana’s website has great recipes.

https://elanaspantry.com/ingredients/almond-flour/

Hi Switzerland,
Yes it feels like a bit of a pattern now.
I felt that 24 hours wasn’t enough for me.it needed to be longer.
It may be a fad, but each time I do it I feel it’s better for me and the planet.

I am on holiday for a week, just at home, as the run up to my birthday.

I feel burnt out in work. Very long days. I will have jet lag for a few days, not knowing what to do with myself.

I will work it out by Wednesday, then be in the swing if it when I have to go back to work.

Expecting to rental rain and cliff Richard to sing a few songs during my holiday week.

Love Lucia
Xxxx

My positives for the day.

1. Whilst waiting for my daughters prescription at the pharmacy chatting to a lady who lives a street away… You’ve lost weight she told me 🙂 nice to be noticed!

2. We went to get my daughters glasses. It’s a slightly materialistic thing as she could have got perfectly good glasses for free, but we paid a bit extra for her to get ones that she really liked. I’m grateful that together with my husband we have what we need and a bit more and are able to give our kids plenty. Not everything, but it is enough for a comfortable life.

3. I finished off my pecan brittle tonight by way of a treat. It was yummy 🙂 so today I’m a little over calories but still good on carbs. I feel in control.

I’ve had steak for tea so I’m happy! Anyway , I have a question that needs clarifying. Is almond flour the same as ground almonds? I once had an argument with my (now ex) boyfriend about whether ground almonds were in fact the most expensive product in the shop. He claimed that the 52″ plasma tv was more expensive, but by weight I’m
not convinced..

I deliberately choose now to do this as I have 6 months off nights! I’m thinking a good low carb med style dinner before work, take some nuts to graze on if needed then maybe a protein and fat rich shake with peanut butter and a little banana and milk before bed. If I really can’t resist the toast urge then a small slice of rye bread or soya and seed bread that is relatively low carb with some nut butter should hit the spot

I’m just thinking about starting the BSD and am unsure what to do about medication.

I intend to continue in the meantime with my blood pressure tablets but not sure if I stop taking metformin ( I’m type 2 ). Can anyone help me with this

Oh by the way my GP Nurse quite unhelpful and downright sceptical

thanks again for the tips and encouragement. I’ve upped my fluids and been extra careful to weigh and track everything and have lost 3lb since monday 🙂

Diabetes UK do not seem to have caught up with the latest research with respect to low CHO as opposed to low fat. In their list of recipes they do not have a ‘Low CHO’ section – they have a ‘Low Sugar’ section, but that is not quite the same.
A way to check this is take the energy due to CHO and divide that figure by the combined energy for fat & protein. For instance, in one of their ‘Low Sugar’ recipes, the energy due to CHO (which includes sugar) is 2.35 times the combined energy due to fat & protein. Hardly ‘Low CHO’!

I had the same in week 4 but upped my fluids and activity level and made double sure i was looking all my calories and so far this week lost 3 lb since monday

Hi Izzy yes I read the book b4 I started the BSD & it’s working well for me 11.5lbs in 12 days 😊 Just seems the cookery book is telling you totally different way of eating!

sounds like you made great use of your unexpected day off 🙂

Great news on smaller clothes fitting too! I’ll try some of my other stuff on again soon I think.

I’ll look out for your updates whenever you have time to check in, good luck with the days ahead 🙂

coconut flour is cheaper than almond flour yes. Almond flour is pricey but it makes lovely crackers and pancakes 🙂

Glad you like the katsu sauce, we’ve eaten ours. I’ll be doing a roast chicken on Sunday and we will likely have a little of the leftover sauce then as well.

I’m the same as you I’ve been trying so many different things I’ve become sooo excited by food again. before in many ways food had become dull and guilty.

Yay for the weight and inches lost as well as the new thug reduction service offered by Happy!

have you read the 8 week blood sugar diet book? If not I’d suggest you do. Much of this type of debate is referred to in the book with a bit of explaining.

At the end of the day there are still differing views, here we have embraced BSD, we each have to make our own choices.

If you’re eating thugs, only go for the full fat ones:)

HI PKD2004
Don’t go mad tonight (although if you do and have lots of really crap stuff, you’ll feel grotty and even keener to recommence BSD)
Half term was at the start of June wasn’t it? – so not too long ago

good luck second time around – and frittata with spiralised courgette is great!

I think that BSD is quite new in the approach of low carb & ditch the artificial low fat rubbish – give it to the charity shop!

I fell off at half term after great start! I’m out tonight and then back on it. Not sure what the problem is – just find i comfort eat and almost ram it in without enjoying it. I did enjoy the feeling when i was in control. Must get head into right mental place to do it. Discovered a real love of spinach and made my first ever frittata so I’m learning new things, also had chicken korma with spinach instead of spaghetti – also nice! Good luck to all fresh starters!

I’ve just found a book I bought last year called The Everyday Diabetic Cookbook by Stella Bowling published with Diabetes UK. What it’s telling you in some parts of this book goes completely against the grain of the BSD! It states “base yr meals on starchy carbohydrate foods” & an example menu of a Low GI meal plan includes B/fast: Oats All Bran or Muesli….Snacks: yog fruit popcorn rye bread fruit loaf! Lunch: Baked Beans with J.Spud mixed grain breads. Dinner: Basmati rice sweet potato pearl barley noodles to eat along with meat/fish. It also states “eat more pasta based meals & incl. more beans & pulses.

Reduce fat intake & opt for more lower fat products.

Obviously it encourages you to eat plenty of fruit/veg but no restrictions as such.

So what/who is right. Surely if this book had input from Diabetes UK you’d think it was ok?

Confused.com 😦

gave me a chuckle Happy Life…. always good x

Thugs = things
Posting for those above who could not creatively work around auto correct typing issues.
😍

HapyLife, thanks for your ideas and suggestions. Great on your loss. Yes, eat the thugs but how many calories and carbs must we count

Controversial, but one way to get rid of them!

You eat thugs? 😉

Hi Timmy,

Thanks since my original post my stats have got even better (2 stone down and actually 3 stone down from this time last year). I still check my blood levels once a week (because I’m paranoid) and they are constant or this week the lowest its been 4.1.

I have a brother who is a T2, but I have to be careful what I say and how – I think he likes taking the pills as it fixes the problem for now and unfortunately there are lots of people that want a quick fix. However its really only going to get worse later down the line. I suggest you might want to share Michael’s Blog (top of the page), it shows a video in Australia and it then skips on to a ‘chat show’ he is on, very interesting audience. Seeing something might get him to buy in, rather than not picking the book up.

Good luck in persuading him – he has nothing to lose and everything to gain. And loads of people here ready to support and prove it can be done. – 6 months for me now.

Week 8 day 1
In week 7 I lost 1.4 lbs and 2.25 inches

Overall in the past 7 weeks I have lost
24.5 inches and 25.1 lbs.

I have stayed on the 800 plan and will do so at least until I am in the normal range of weight for my height and I have a long way to go.

It’s been easy to stay on and we eat out a lot as well. I just look on the menu for thugs I can eat and ask for that even if it’s mixing up their menu items. Everyone is very nice about it.

Best to all of you! 💜

Josie, if you’re out there still – thumbs up to the Aldi Greek, thanks for the heads up. A smidge higher in calories than the Fage but it’s good to know there’s another nice one out there if I can’t get hold of it 😀 (and a fair bit cheaper too!)

Hi Izzy,
Thanks, I have just been super busy and yesterday had a surprise day off as they were testing smoke alarms in our bldg so I had to move clients to another day. So my husband and I went to the pool which was lovely, painted ceramics, and went out tinstone for salad and shrimp.

Today is day 1 of week 8!!

I lost 2.25 inches and 1.4 lbs in week 7!!
I actually was even 2 lbs more post a couple days ago but I guess I am retaining some water from some salt in foods I ate.

I found a drawer of smaller clothes and tried them all on and they all fit so at least I have “new” old shirts to wear!

I decided not to post everyday since I am so busy doing marketing and seeing clients but I am not going off the program for sure.

I will check your diary and hope you do well on your 5:2 plan!
💜💖🌷

Hi Izzy – I’ve made that for tonight’s tea already too (the Katsu)! I saw it on this site somewhere earlier in the week and pencilled it in for tonight, maybe it was you who’d posted it? I’ve left the chicken plain though as I didn’t have anything available to coat it with, but – coconut flour – noted, that’s not as pricey as the almond stuff, is it? The sauce is really tasty! I’ve never had Cashew Chicken before but it looks like something I’d like. I might make two mains for one and we can share half each. I’m trying so many different things, and losing weight 🙂

Thank you very much 🙂 We both deserve medals for different reasons, but it’s been a lot of fun 🙂

Thanks everyone, your help has been invaluable. Thank you for keeping me going! Love ME X

Well done BSD, amazing results. I’m trying to persuade a good friend of mine who was diagnosed with T2 about 5 years ago to read the book, but he simply won’t believe me that T2 is reversible! I’m going to meet him tonight hopefully, and then I’m going to shove the book right in his face!

Thepolly, you are right about there not being enough done on diet and health. My brother suffers from trigeminal neuralgia. It’s also known as the suicide disease because people find it so unbearable and debilitating that they kill themselves. It is exposure of the trigeminal nerve in the face, which is one of the only nerves that doesn’t go via the spine, but directly to the brain. Everytime something touches his face (e.g. a breath of wind, his daughter kissing him on the face, etc), it feels like he’s being stabbed in the face with an ice pick.

He’s been on a whole raft of pills and treatment for the last 5 years until he read somewhere about gluten exacerbating the problem. He’s not celiac or even gluten intollorent, but he cut out all gluten from his diet over a year ago. Since then he has been pain/nerve/shock free.

I genuinely believe that a lot of ailments are caused by what we consume, and likewise can also be cured by what we consume. I wish someone would do more research on such things.

Hi there MsBloodyMinded, love your monicker:)

I’ve been enjoying Jalna Natural Greek Yoghurt but wanted to get my OH (coeliac disease+lactose intolerance) off the highly sugared soy yoghurts he has been using for some years. So, in one of the local IGA stores (Carine) I came across Natural Sheep Milk Yoghurt “authentic Mediterranean style” from Meredith Dairy (Victoria). It’s reasonably mellow, certainly not as sharp as I thought it might be, and I like it. 434kj and 3.5gm carbs per 100gm. They also have a goats milk style which I haven’t tried.

Hope this helps…

Reminder today about my environment – I bought some healthy snacks to take on holiday and to try some different things. So today is a BLIP, I’ve started to eat some as they are in the house. They are not “healthy” because I didn’t make them and so really I don’t know what’s in them if I’m honest.

Its all about being tempted by ‘New things’ won’t be doing that again.

Thanks wescotty and you know I hadn’t considered using the library for this! It’s a nice walk along to ours so I may well just go for a snoop and see what they have on their shelves.

Especially I hope you enjoy your camping trip! I have been ok eating out recently I have had a cheese and gammon salad once and another time a chicken dish – I just asked for no potatoes and extra veg 🙂 It can be done!

Well I would like to report that Hashimoto’s chickpea chilli made for a lovely lunch, and Brett and Lynne’s pumpkin and cashew soup is also yummy as I’ve made a pot of that to add to my lunch stash in the freezer. I made mine with a butternut squash because we can only get pumpkins here in October.

Last Halloween I made a big pot of pumpkin soup to give to the grown ups when the kids came trick or treating 🙂 it went down well and I became known as ‘the pumkin soup wifey’ (wifey- scottish lingo for woman lol) Love pumpkin soup!

Well I need to go get ready as I’ll be off to get my daughter soon.

Bye for now!

Hello, I haven’t been around for a few weeks (very busy at work as am about to leave and am trying to leave things tidy!). I’d like to offer a bit of motivation for those who are thinking that they can’t manage 800 calories a day so think this isn’t the ‘diet’ for them. It isn’t the only way to do it!

I stuck to 800 calories for one week and lost 10lbs but knew that I couldn’t maintain that kind of restraint so went straight to the ‘low carb/med style’ way of eating. I have now lost 29lbs in 14 weeks which included one birthday and one holiday! My hope was to lose some weight and (hopefully) decrease my chances of following in my diabetic mum’s footsteps.

Someone asked me recently how long I was going to carry on and my answer was simple, for good. This is far and away the easiest way I have ever lost weight and with the exception of the first week when I felt a bit deprived I have had absolutely no problems at all sticking to it.

Just wondering what Greek yogurt people in Australia/WA are eating? What brand has everyone found to work best?