Oh my goodness do I take my hat off to all of you! I think I just must be so pathetically weak with no self discipline at all. I have lost 4lb since starting on Monday so am delighted BUT I am really, really hungry. The dog keeps moving away from me – I’m sure she senses how desperate I am… I am going to have to go to bed so as not to eat anything I shouldn’t, but in the meantime all tips very very welcome please.

I am drinking lots of water and black coffee and keep trying to tell myself it’s not hunger pangs, it’s the sensation of my tummy shrinking : / Can anyone tell me please with the baking recipes can you substitute almond or any other type of flour for the coconut flour please as my husband and I don’t like coconut? Maybe a wee courgette muffin would stop me feeling so deprived.

Really glad you’re out there when I need you – thankyou for listening to my moans xx

Alan, not sure if you are following the menu plans. As jackiewilsonsaid said 😀 you might be best to follow those. Have a look at them and if it’s something you don’t fancy, pick something else with roughly same calorie count. The 5:2 diet book is useful too as it has calories for meals. Try to work out a full week’s worth of meals as it’s easier to stick to when you’ve planned ahead. Also you can do a shopping list and not buy stuff you don’t need.

The no carb bircher is good and filling although you need to ensure you are ok to use the flaxseed as some health conditions should avoid it and it can upset your tummy at first. It did me but I got used to it in a few days.

Try stuff you may be unsure of – the cauliflower rice is good, especially in the kedgeree. CourgettI Prawns are good as is harrisa chicken and the fish in foil. Turkey and lamb burgers pretty quick to make and tasty.

Keep going, it’ll transform your life and your figure.

Good luck to all of you just starting, it’s worth it!

Hi stringbreaker
Happy to help
Eureka

Hi Smith368
Ab Fab news! Excellent news & hope for us all. Welcome to Vets inc.
Eureka

Eureka,
Thanks a million for that.
Gold dust.
John

Hi all

I’m just finished day 6 of the BSD, I have so far lost 4kg, I was diagnosed in 2008 I have been taking metformin but stopped 3 days ago, my starting blood sugar was 7.8 and dropped to 5.6 after 4 days the last two days I have had a fasting reading of 4.6, today at around 09:00 I almost keeled over at work, felt really light headed and dizzy, I ate a banana that seemed relieve the symptoms after a few minutes.
I am assuming that even after my yoghurt and rhubarb breakfast my sugar level was low enough to bring on the starting’s of a hypo. I am assuming that I will need to up the carbs a bit at breakfast, has anyone else had this issue, if so how did you resolve it?

Mussoda

Hi stringbreaker
Prof Roy Taylor said,
“Once you are at your personal target weight, the critical thing now is to become accustomed to eating approximately 2/3rd of the total amount you used to eat. There need be no restriction upon any particular food stuffs, although naturally foods that re very calorie-dense are best avoided. The goal is keeping the weight down ( you may find your weight increases 1 – 2 kg over a few days on returning to a higher calorie intake; this is because your glycogen stores return to normal & glycogen is stored in the water inside your body).

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres. Reply from Prof Taylor on frequent questions asked. 22.06.15
Eureka

I think I’ll go just for the mankini alone!

How about us veterans offering to provide ALL motivational talks/lectures and Pilates etc classes on a cruise next year. The BSD cruise! Featuring Bill lecturing in his mankini to show off the full effects of the BSD. We could get so many of us along to show the multiple benefits of the diet quite apart from the diabetes reversal – Judith on hypothyroidism, and others on reduced blood pressure, reduced cholesterol, the mental benefits of increased exercise/walking… They could populate the ship with us lot by next year, mind you, so might not make much profit if there’s not room for enough punters.

This morning test level seems to be the hardest to get down ,did your morning levels take while to come down ?
Alan

Day Five
So two hours after evening meal salmon n greens it’s 6.7
Not sure what a satisfactory score is but coming down
Reduced calories as bit over 800 ,measuring even my olive oil now !
Cheers folks Alan

Hi Janet1973
Corr now you tell me! Going to Canada June. Maybe next year & I could lecture 😄
Eureka

2.5 stone lost, diabetes cured. Thanks Professor Roy Taylor http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal.htm and Michael Mosley http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/2kczjZKp8sGSDxSxKYzxsyr/michael-mosley

Hi DawnG
Welcome. Hurry on board the more the merrier.
First, put a big label on your cupboard saying ‘Mine!’ Keep your food boxes in the fridge & label the same. Your kids will be at the goodies & you’ve got em hooked!

Seriously, breakfast is a good idea but some on this diet don’t have it, never have. I choose to miss it on some days to increase my fasting time between meals. Read the book again & mark the really important points. I’m type 2 diabetic still on metformin , but reducing dose. My decision ,my dr not on board with BSD.

Maybe reduce the number of liquid breakfasts per week. It’s better to have the fibre & nutrients in unliquidised form. However, Plenish by Kara M L Rosen plenishcleanse.com is worth a look. I would always make fresh shakes so they kept all the goodness. I bought an auto Ninja but only used it once so far.

Try & prep the night before or get up a bit earlier if you choose to make breakfast. Boiled eggs & Parma/ Serrano ham are tasty. Scrambled eggs plain or ‘Spanish ‘ style ( no potatoes) are filling & quick. Thick Greek full fat yoghurt, soft fruit & nuts are popular too. Smoked salmon & poached eggs very good treat. Porridge, soak the oats the night before will hasten microwaving. But it doesn’t take long anyway. Oats spike my bloods sugars so not for me. Read the recipes in the book & posted ones.

Make a list of what you like & are willing to try food wise, then shop for it. Some people make a week long menu.
If you are really going to be rushed make something the night before & take it with you
Eureka

B – full fat yogurt & berries

L – last portion of red pepper and tomato soup

T – stir fried chicken, asparagus, broccoli & green beans

Could only manage 2/3 of my tea so will take rest to work tomorrow for lunch…only thing is I have unused calories now and I’m not hungry

You lucky girl Kathy! What a way to live!

Hi John, you have to make them but the recipe is in the recipes tab, 🙂 you need to start the batter a few hours before you make the flatbreads, but it’s easy 🙂

I do like a good cruise in the last eighteen months I have cruised round Hawaii and Alaska twice.

Hi Hashi,
Thanks for that – can you buy chickpea flatbreads or do you have to make them?
John

Lynne I no longer trust those border line results, they do tell you it’s normal! The cheap tests that hospitals use do not work for everyone if the condition is a bit more complex. It isn’t the doctor’s fault either, they can’t control the tests hospitals use – they can request the more sophisticated test but don’t always get it. NICE guidelines and all that. If you are told you are normal, but low end of normal, ask your doctor to specify which test you need doing. I would hate to think of anyone getting into the state I was in for a year where I was going into hypothyroid comas. I spent one summer – a hot one – in my thermals, layers of clothes on, wrapped in duvets, central heating on full, fire on and I was freezing. On my own and too ill to realise I was ill. Its not funny coming too when you were eating your dinner in sunlight and it’s dark and your head is in your food and you have no idea why it is dark as you don’t realise you been ‘out cold’.

Have you checked yourself against a list of hypothyroid symptoms? You don’t have to have them all to be hypothyroid.

A group cruise would be lovely, wouldn’t it! 🙂

Yup, Lynne, we’ve all been there!! Never realising why it never worked! 🙂

Hi John, I just eat more!! So, I might have a WHOLE avocado on a salad with a boiled egg! I like a curry, a dahl and a chickpea flatbread as a meal along with some green, leafy veg. Believe me it doesn’t take long to ramp up a few carbs but stay inside the principles of no starchy carbs!
Perhaps you could have one of the salads or a dip as a starter followed by fish/meat and veg.

Pop some extra seeds and fruit on your morning porridge, add a dash of cream – or what my mother used to add – a lovely knob of butter ( she also added golden syrup but we won’t mention that!)
You’ll have fun trying it John 🙂

Hi Judith, we’ve all been there haven’t we? Joining and rejoining slimming clubs 😳 But we didn’t know any better. The ones I went to seemed full of people more interested in fitting ‘naughty’ treats into their allowance than eating healthily. 😱

My son left most of a bottle of Diet Coke in my fridge – at least I can use it rather than pour it away😃 Not for drinking, I hasten to add😃

Eureka, it’s not my knickers I’m worried about LOL They’re new and smaller. Just as well because they’ll be on show if my trousers fall down😱

Thanks folks. I know I can rely on you to glue me together again 😃

Christine,
One of the books I have on carbs reads very interestingly on sweet v dry white wine
It says a glass of dry had 2g carbs, but sweet is 15g – that’s a lorra lorra carbs innit?
Good job you gave it away 🙂

Can I trawl for ideas?

I’m looking to ramp up the kCals but like so many of us, don’t actually feel the need. I guess I ought to edge them up a bit though, as I’ve only a stone to go and 800kCals won’t do then, so I may as well start getting used to it.

I’ve had some ideas, such as;
Having more “snacking” nuts – (good nutrition and high kcals)
Milk in my porage instead of water – never had milky porage before – actually quite nice.
etc etc

Obviously, one couId just increase portion sizes, but I just wondered if anyone else out there has come up with bright ideas that don’t involve too much more bulk – I really don’t want my stomach used to eating the sized meals I used to have. Some of you more advanced folk must have tackled this problem already.

John

I could use that cruise right now!

Judith, yes I am 😃 Had HbA1c done just before I started this. Then they got their wires crossed and did it again, which showed an improvement. Really must get those results for my records! It’s the HbA1c again this time – full bloods due July.

I’m regularly told my thyroid result is borderline. They retest and its normal. Be interesting to see what they say in July!

My exercise has mainly consisted of walking (I live near a couple of National Trust sites so plenty of footpaths locally). I do a weekly Pilates class, too. I used to be a regular swimmer but, to my eternal shame, I haven’t dipped my toe in the local pool since moving to my current address 6 years ago. However, the pool has just had a major refurbishment so I really ought to drag out the cozzie and start slogging up & down the lengths again. Working at my allotment helps too.
Although I work part-time, it is a pretty physical job and I find that I can clock up well over 10,000 steps just by being at work.

Your story Is really helpful for others to read, David. You’ve done the hardest part…defying your doctor and taking control of your diabetes. I look forward to reading about your success in future. Keep up the good work. Much joy

Hi captainlynne
Ahem, General. You can lead a horse etc.
You are your own ‘ poster girl’ (nods to hashimoto ) so parade a bit. Just don’t let the nickers fall down! You can tell what I’ve got to shop for.
Eureka

Thanks, Patsy, a cool box is the handle I was mentally searching for.

I used to freeze cartons of juice and pack the cool box with frozen/chilled food for a weeks camping ….in my much younger days 🙂

Ooh, I would love to go on that cruise but I’m heading for Oz this year!

I bet you’re looking forwards to your bloods results Lynne! 🙂

I had a call from the receptionist, apparently I have to have my bloods repeated on the 9th May- as I’m ‘borderline’. I’m presuming low. I’ve booked in with dr the week before the 9th because the hospitals tend to run the cheap test and I had years of being told I was low but within the normal range ….until I developed a huge goitre!!!

I’ve just finished reading the book, and I’m in preparation mode, emptying some cupboards (a bit difficult with two teenagers) and filling them up with the “right” foods.
Breakfasts is a bit daunting. As many i’m out of bed at the last minute and leaving the house when others are still in bed means a bit restricted to using blenders. Can breakfasts such as blueberry green shake and other blended mixtures be prepared the evening before, Is it btter to do a big batch and freeze it in portions? Don’t know if loosing vitamins would be a big problem. In 800 calories you need to make sure you get the right nutrients in your body. Thanks.

B: 2 egg omelette with 30g cheese and some spinach
L: 100g Chicken with salad, leaves, cucumber
D: Cabbage and butter bean soup
Nuts, yogurt for snacks

Hi Lynne, I have just returned from a friends house, she told me she had explained the diet to a friend of hers who is a yo-yo dieter only to be told No, I can have bread with Slimming World. As my friend said, she’s been doing SW on and off for years but the penny hasn’t dropped that if it worked she wouldn’t need to keep going back to it! 🙁
Give it time, they may want to know about it some day, when they see that you haven’t put the weight back on!

Christine sounds like things are going VERY well on your hols! One sip of diet coke and you didn’t like it. Fantastic!!! 🙂

I’m a slow burner definitely – I lost 6lb week one but have only lost 1-2 in following 3 weeks but have lost 3inches round my waist. I’ve tried to keep busy and find things easier when I’m at work and I have my weighed and planned lunch and no way of sneaking anything extra! Part of my motivation is that, now I’ve managed to wean myself off potatoes pasta rice and bread, (I went cold turkey but it was hard!!) I don’t want to go through doing that again. So when temptation is there, I go for nuts or a bit of cheese or a Beetroot Brownie rather than face the surge and the slump. Find this forum very motivating and helpful too.

Hi Christi1948
Good day. Yep, ducks delight for me too. But Coke cleans toilets! You’ll have to stop giving it hubby
Eureka. 🍷

Hi orchid
Very impressed. Very Flash Dance. What about BSD WORKS printed on the back of the T shirt?
Eureka

Hi eureka
I’ve had a better day today, low everything, except fat! Going for a post evening meal walk tonight before bed, I don’t know how people can drink booze all day and night and not feel bloated, I’ve had another half glass of prosseco and had to give most of it to hubby as its too sweet for me! We had a cooked lunch today and I asked for a Diet Coke, then having taken a sip I had to check it was diet! She said yes definitely, it was sooo sweet I had to give that to hubby too! I’m finding just plain water a good balanced sweet now though, when before the ‘diet’ it was just plain water, I now like it better than sugary diet drinks!
Christine

Eureka, yes they have! There is a whole programme of lectures on all kinds of low carb topics with guest speakers. It sounds amazing!

Sorry deleted – need to rethink.

Hi hashimto
Love that you actually ran a mile after the food, more than I could do lol.

I may snuggle with Michael again tonight as I learned various things.
Love Lucia
Xxxx

Hi FoFI,
MM’s comments about any breads was that even the ‘good’ wholemeal products have a lot of added sugar and that is why it is not recommended in the 800 phase. Rye is on the ‘eat’ list along with quinoa etc as a grain on it’s own.

Hi Christi1948
Glad you had a good bday. Don’t let the reflux spoil it. Mine is all gone on low carbs. It was very painful.
Enjoy the rest of your hol
Eureka

I have the odd slice of Rye bread. It does seem to fit with the wholegrain, low GL ethos of the book, but not everyone on this forum would agree.

hi Amp511,

This is far from the Mediterranean origins, but when I have travelled I have skipped breakfast and then had a low carb protein bar for lunch. I have then had something more normal for dinner, but with 600 kcals to spare it is easier than usual. There are several companies selling shakes and bars which might be more suitable than the one I had. The ‘good’ thing about these bars is that they aren’t so nice that you are tempted to eat two. The guilt free brownies travel well, but I find it harder to resist eating two!

If you can have either breakfast or dinner with a meal replacement shake you should be okay. If not tinned vegetables might travel well – I’m thinking small tins of chickpeas or kidney beans with some cheese.

I think that there are hard boiled eggs that don’t need refrigeration (saw them on dragon’s den).

Good luck with the diet if you can make it worth I think that you’ll find it worthwhile

B: Greek yog/strawberries
L: egg salad
D: egg, bacon

(My cal counting book states bacon as 117 per grilled rasher – the packet I opened from Waitrose stated 134 for 2 slices – so I erred on the side of hunger/greed and had 3!)

Hi hashimoto

We all have to learn, but un oeuf is an egg! You see oranges don’t say “Ouch”. The nurses will get it?

Once had to encase my husband’s arm in ice after a visit from a doc taking blood. He’d volunteered for it as part of a genetic familial study of bowel cancer. That’ll teach him!!

Hope the test results are good
Eureka

A lot of sound advice above, especially if you can re-freeze your water bottles to keep the cool bag cool. It is great to be able to prepare your own food and so be assured of what you are eating, but if you only have a kettle the options are limited (you can boil
eggs in a kettle, or make miso broth for example). How much time and energy do you have to go shopping, and are there any local
stores? Things like smoked salmon, cheeses and houmous are pretty widely available even without a superstore. If you can get to a
large supermarket then ready prepared salads, celery, tomatoes, and so on are a reasonable proposition, but wont keep overnight.
As a final resort, I would scope out some places to eat nearby where there is one meal that you can rely on. Breakfast would be anywhere that would do scrambled eggs, dinner anywhere that does a plain steak or grilled fish. You might have to accept a level of
repetition in your weekday diet, which you might like to offset by preparing more exotic meals at the weekend. I would recommend having something in the freezer ready for your arrival home on a Friday night.

Hi, I looked at this site a month or so ago, it has the info you want – not sure if they allow you to download a spreadsheet. I did find one that could…. I’ll dig around a bit later.
http://www.glycemicindex.com/foodSearch.php

Hi Janet1973
No, you didn’t give up, she did! No imagination . . .

Cruising sounds very Alluring. I feel the Pitons calling! Wonder if they’ve got low carb lectures & Pilates on tap? It’ll do for me
Eureka

Well done David – I look forward to seeing your progress and you confounding your doctor!