Starting today and wondered if there was any veg I shouldn’t have on the plan? I’m not a big bean lover I prefer my veg, also is it fine roasted? Is there any fruit other then berries I can have ie apples, grapes, kiwi as again not a lover of berries, all help and suggestions much appreciated

Morning, I agree that the forum structure could be much improved now, but not knowing what platform it’s built on, I don’t know how much work that would be and website work = £’s
Judith I was another who saw my cholesterol readings drop into normal range after my blood tests 4 weeks in.
I think it’s great by the way that people are thinking about how well the site is working rather than just using it as a place to chat. That is a major difference from 99% of them.

I like the idea of a FAQ section as there is a lot of very detailed and comprehensive knowledge on the site that is getting lost. When I started in February I could remember easily and quickly find the posts on topics and when responding to someone asking about a topic – direct then to the exact topic and person who wrote it. I really struggle to find things now and find myself rewriting very similar info on topics two or three times as (not surprisingly) many people have similar concerns, worries and issues that they want to ask especially when they start.
Exactly how we extract the info and set it up is another topic! We could all suggest topics – eg ‘Has anyone experience of using Shakes?; ‘How many carbs should I have per day?’; ‘What are ketostix?’ as a couple of ideas! ‘ This would an ideal subject for a chat room 🙂 :-)!

Good choice newlife! 🙂

Wow, neodiver that is a gutsy experiment 🙂

Hi elmary, the constipation seems to sort itself out eventually. I just put a teaspoon of ground flaxseed on my yoghurt and it seems to do the trick 🙂

OMG cherrieanne, I’m planning on getting a smart phone, now I’m remembering why I haven’t yet. – it all sounds way beyond my abilities. Bluetooth – wasn’t he a Viking warrior? 🙁

Of course we pommies are having full english breakfasts while you Ozzies sup those strange drinks shhhhhhh don’t tell Michael 🙂

Hi John, I agree with the principle of what you say in ‘first thought’, but the chat does add something and builds up a level of personal contact and trust. I have recently been using another forum for an online course I have taken. There are set topics per week that we respond to and can generate some lively discussions. There is also a ‘Common room’ where chat, general topics of conversation etc take place. People asking IT questions about how to do things go in the common room as do postings of interesting articles or comments like – off line for a couple of weeks – going on holiday to x. That will often generate general chat, best wishes, comments form others who have been there etc and it is a bit of light fun. So a chat-room would be useful, an example would be – did anyone else watch ‘How to stay young’ on Thursday evening and can anyone do the sit to stand test :-(‘.
The tech staff will also move things that have been incorrectly posted in a discussion forum to the common room. Not sure if they check or if the tutor does – you can also ask for your own post to be moved if you incorrectly post. I suspect that is a bit too much for here!
The other thing we all must do ourselves is a bit of self discipline and create new posts for our own questions on new subjects if for no other reason that it makes finding things easier again in the long run. Maybe an approach would be to start your new topic with the heading of the main one – and then add your specific topic? An example ‘over the eight week line – new exercise regime’?
A question of idea for those over the eight week line who are wondering what others are doing about exercise now – are they still increasing the walking or doing now things – any ideas like the NHS C25k etc.
It will need some help from the site admins to set up some guidelines in a ‘Beginners start here’ section in the forums, but should be doable.

Hi cherrieanne, until you posted that I tbought I was the only one! My GP chuckled when I described it as being like a vulcan salute but said it describes what happens really well. I get a sudden pain in the outer edge of my foot a split second before my toes do the salute. It’s weird the way you can’t physically push them back into position isn’t it?

If the tonic water is sweet ask your doctor for some quinine sulphate tablets, they really do the trick 🙂

Hi cherrieanne you were one of the ‘old timers’ who would always be happy to help newbies. There are a good bunch of us who will always do that. Glad you agree about chat building trusting relationships.

Hi elmary welcome to the veterans club. I’m so pleased you have had such amazing results!
Why on earth would you apologise for coming from wonderful Australia? These forums hold our global family. As for weights and measures kgs and centimeters are global too, it’s just dinosaurs like me who still work with the imperial weights we were schooled in.

Newlife, don’t apologise, you’re one of us and lots of people think ahead to what will I do/what will happen when I have completed 8 weeks, that’s one of the reasons our lovely captainlynne started this thread. I know she is always keen to help our BSD family.

I think a very important feature of these forums is that they are so friendly and supportive. Like Bill1954, my son is a member of a number of forums and remains surprised at how friendly, supportive and non-competitive these forums are.

I like your idea of a thread for newbies questions, it ties in with Cherrieanne’s idea and would solve a lot of problems.

John, I booked in for a cholesterol test a fortnight a go. Sadly the phlebo made a mess of it so am seeing the nurse on tuesday. Mary is the second person to have a lowering of her cholesterol after being on this diet, let’s hope we both find the same!
You’ve started quite a discussion, John! I think there is consensus that something needs doing about the sheer number of threads but people like the friendly, chatty approach as well. Hopefully we can find a way of sorting it.
🙂

Hi Bill, what’s the weather forcast for today? Is it going to rain and you can play or will you be painting the fence?

You could keep the painting in an amusing keep fit game. There was a movie called karate kid.
His mentor made him do simple, but repetitive arm movements to strengthen him,
Wax on wax off, Left circle right circle, up down.

Google the movie, I could be your mr Meagi.

Feeling like, seafood today, off to find something that needs a mortgage to buy.
Love Lucia
Xxxx

Hi ElMary,
Ace progress – particularly impressed with the cholesterol lowering – never thought of that. I might have a re-test – it would be great to come off Statins.
Keep posting.
John

Well done Ali2on 🙂

I’m eating out today for the first time – a pub lunch. I’ve looked at the menu online and chosen the best option, burger (no bun) and salad. Avoiding the desserts will be my first real test of resolve and I don’t have the birthday excuse to use 😉

Happy Birthday TWills63, have a lovely day and enjoy your birthday meal 🙂

I’m at the same stage as you, coming to the end of 4 wks and a stone down! It’s a good feeling, isn’t it?

I guess I’m one of the people guilty of derailing this thread as I’m only a 4-weeker. Sorry guys.

I do think the chat is what makes these forums so special though. From chat comes support and friendship. I wouldn’t like the threads to become too regimented.

Perhaps the main threads could be stickied?

eg – weigh-in, what did you eat today, this one…

And if there was a stickied thread near the top of the page entitled Newbie Questions that would encourage newbies to post in that one thread rather than starting lots of new ones.

Streuth Cherrianne, bilingual – English and Strine, I love it! BSDers going global.

Thanks for these tips, like the sound of soup and hard boiled eggs, will give that a go, see how I get on,

Thanks
Andt

I stir in about 1/4 tsps of stevia & powdered milk into my tea & coffee. Sometimes I drink up to 4 cups daily. I am wondering if I should stop using sugar substitutes. Does anyone have any insights on this. I would be most grateful.

Yes, it probably was from the calorie restriction Janet. You are a gem. I will increase my total calorie intake to 1000 & see if that works better. Will update the result of that change. Have a good night.

Only 6.16 at 2 hours! Count me tickled pink! Unfortunately, I need to crash for the night, so I won’t be awake for a test at 3 hours.

This one is on the exaggerated claims for Metformin and lack of randomized trials for diabetes meds. This one really motivated me to stick closely to my diet goals!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUOC5d0Siws&nohtml5=False

I will be interested to know if anyone else liked his presentation.

I found 2 utube videos that I thought may interest other type 2 diabetics here on the forum.
This guy James McCortmack is I think an academic pharmacologist and I am impressed…he crunches the data in a way I can understand it. He’s obviously a huge Tom Hanks fan.

The Tom Hanks conversation (imaginary) is good but the medication analysis in the nexty link down is (I think) phenomenal at least for me it really did confirm what i have suspected but never had clarified in numbers.

I feel well protected against negative suggestions about my non meds approach next time I go see my GP. 🙂 I got a new younger GP and he seems more accepting of my involvement in my own treatment decisions, the last one was complaining about my 6.5 HbA1C and claiming I still need metformin. Hence my searches for more info.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOxxHbdyXcg

Thanks for all the encouragement on here folks
I’ve awoke at 4 am again but decided today is going to be my FIRST DAY on this plan so here goes
Up up and awwwaaay but down with readings hopefully
Alan

5.7 at 1 hours post my 33 net carb salad! So far, so good!

I like both the Shiratake (made form cojnac) and the kelp.

I use the Shiratake for dishes where I would use rice noodles (the texture is similar), and the kelp where I would use regular pasta. As to the latter, the taste is different (mostly non-existent), but the texture is very similar to regular pasta.

Neither bother my blood glucose.

Hi gefspacegirl26
I have type 2 diabetes, dealing with food sensitivities and am also on a FODMAP diet (major IBS) and am just doing my own recipes…I use the Monash FODMAP phone app guide for shopping, so I just don’t buy anything not on that plan… and I am using a phone app for my carbs and calories…working well now, takes a few days to get the combinations going but it isn’t hard.

You don’t have to use the book’s recipes for this diet they are just examples. You just need to stay within the 800 calories and keep the carbs down…that is do-able with FODMAP and low amine and salicylate diets. If anything, it really simplifies it. 🙂

What does help is having a good kitchen scale.
Instead of onion I use the green of leek leaves and skip the white.

Thanks! Ha, no. But it could 😉

Ok. Time for a real-time test. I just made the Chickpea and Hazelnut salad. 33 carbs. More than I’ve eaten in one sitting since October. Gulp!

Starting BG – 5.0 (A tad higher than I would like to start at for this many carbs). I’ll report back in about a hour with the next installment!

on the fast diet web site you can store your data, thats what I’m doing now

I think the pasta made from cojnac is pretty good and genuinely low cal…the Japanese do alright on it. But it doesn’t have any flavour or texture so I tend to eat it in salad rather than hot food.

I occasionally use frozen blueberries but more often now olive EV oil or avocado oil with paprika and salt flakes, pepper ground over. Looks pretty too but it is definitely for those who like savoury foods. I have been working very hard to change my taste away from sweet foods for awhile now and I know this wouldn’t appeal to everyone. I use a lot of cinnamon if I am hankering after a sweet flavour.

Big difference between ketones in urine indicating fat burning and ketoacidosis. That common confusion is mentioned in the book I think.

Fantastic article posted a few pages back by (was it?) susan…thank you very much. It explained a lot that was previously really confusing me about weight loss and diet and blood sugar…seemed very counterintuitive and it is! I itnend to reread and integrate it…seems very important from where I am at in this saga.

Thank goodness this was posted! I’ve been having these issues too and thought it was just me! Definitely recommend the psyllium husk. We have a product here called metamucil and you can get natural husk from any supermarket.

Thank you to captainlynne for starting this post. It’s great to see and share everyone’s successes and to help each other out. Sorry I’m from oz so everything is in kgs and cms here. I’ve just got to the end of my 8 weeks and I’ve lost 6.5kg and about 9cm off my waist which i haven’t been able to do in years! The most amazing thing is my most recent blood tests showed my cholesterol is in the normal range (it’s been in the very high range for years) and the most incredible result is the autoimmune disorder the dr picked up last year is gone! I still have slightly low white blood cell count but when they did a follow up blood test check (sorry don’t know the technical term) the Autoimmune disorder was gone! Might not be the diet but I’m really happy about that! Not to mention all my Hdb1c results are normal and I don’t have to do any two hour GTT tests anymore! Yay!

Janet there are all sorts of fitness trackers online, some that will work with android phones and some with apple. You need to download their specific app and sync it by Bluetooth to your phone. Some will display on the unit itself and some are a sensor only and you read the results on your phone. Check on eBay to find one that fits your budget and your needs. Make sure you read the size of the unit as some of them are quite clunky looking. Also if you can replace the wristbands. I bought one that was a reasonable price and quite small. I can also get different wristbands to colour coordinate with my outfit

Well today I woke up to a nice reading of 6.4 (due to taking the Metformin again) and tonight I just did a reading and it was 5.8…woo hoo! Just hoping my body can handle the lower reading without a hypo tonight.
I’ve increased my fat intake today by eating Mr Porky pork scratchings. They are an 18g bag and I had four of them, but boy with all that fat it kept me full for hours, then tonight I had my 3 cabbage rolls and some green beans and I’m still full.
I’ve consumed 698 calories for the day and less than 10g of carb and around 40g of fat.
Still all a learning curve to me.
Now if I can just shift some of this belly fat I’d be a very happy bunny.

hugs
Karra

Cherrianne it could have been a disaster couldn’t it?lol.

If it’s only ingredient names then that’s OK. …just as long as the “pommies” aren’t eating full English breakfasts and high afternoon teas without us knowing. ….. lol. 😉

LOL, I got my book online from the UK cos I couldn’t wait for stock to arrive in Australia. Guess I’m lucky I’m bilingual then and didn’t need it to be translated from English to ‘Strine’ 🙂

I’m four weeks in. And I have been alcohol free the whole time – with one (pre agreed) exemption being Easter Sunday f family meal. I went crazy and had four glasses of wine.

I’m a heavy drinker so worried it might be tough. Not just “craving” but the social aspect.

I’ve been pleased that I haven’t missed it (hopefully means I’m not dependent on the stuff) and have found the social aspect is solved by going out and drinking soda water.

A few ribbing from mates but more than Offset by positive comments about my weight loss!

Hi Judith, my toes do the Vulcan salute too! No one else I’ve mentioned it to has had this happen. My feet actually turn when the cramps are severe and I’m left trying to stand on the outside edges of them until it passes. I find extra salt and some magnesium helps. If I’m out and about I grab a bottle of San Pellegrino mineral water and that does the trick. Electrolyte replacements ( not the sports drinks yuk) spike my blood sugars so I daren’t use them. I’ll look at the sugar content in tonic water, I’d forgotten about quinine. Thanks 🙂

Wow Toofastblack that’s a huge loss in 4 weeks. Great stuff. Does your user name reflect your car?

Hi All,
I agree with what seems to be the general consensus on here that we do need to chat but we also need to tidy up the various threads under specific headings. Without the chatter we wouldn’t have got to know and trust each other the way we do.
There are people who only pop in to ask questions or chart their progress and are happy with that.
I’ve noticed that a lot of newbies start new threads to ask their questions and they might only be specific to them. The problem with this is it constantly pushes the older threads down the list and often they have useful info in.
It might be good to collate threads under specific headings and make them sticky so that they are easier to find.
Not sure how that would work either because sometimes I think people pick the thread at the top of the list and ask their question there.
I know that several of us spend a fair bit of time looking for, and following up on new starters to encourage and advise them. That is I one thing that I think makes this site special, that we show care and concern for others. I know that won’t change 🙂

Congratulations on your half-way in results – that’s an awesome amount to lose over 4 weeks and really encouraging for myself who started at 110kg (104kg 10 days in). I am super confident we’ll both reach our long term goals. 🙂

Hi Kags, I think that is how the major threads started, with the idea of a dedicated theme – like this one, but with more people and more issues it’s what happens. ‘chat’ is a natural consequence of communicating. I think we need the information for new or newer starters collating by the tech team into FAQs to help newbies find what they need. I think all new threads will end up with a certain amount of chat which goes ‘off piste’ so to speak. For instance this thread was for people who had crossed the 8 week line to post their stories of their 8 weeks and what they had achieved and how they proposed to progress as inspiration for those just starting out. Which is pretty similar to one of John’s ideas.
I do wonder though, whether that solution will prevent some new people from engaging in ‘chat’ and building relationships. For people doing this on their own or without other moral support it is important. I’m quite happy to continue trying to answer questions from newbies as, I am sure, will a lot of the other old timers!
As this is the only forum I have ever been on I can’t quite imagine how something as formal as ‘coffee and chat’ would work – it obviously does or it wouldn’t be on forums you are on, but for me personally it would seem a bit contrived. Off topic chat often occurs during a reply or question, not necessarily just for the sake of chat.

Happy Birthday TWills63! Enjoy your pudding – as you say treats are okay it’s just the frequency we eat them that we’re changing. 🙂

I’m down from 104.4kg yesterday to 104kg today. I think cutting back on my cups of cocoa (which I drink instead of tea or coffee because they hype me up too much) did the trick. I’m switching to fruit infusion teas. To help with drinking enough water each day I’ve placed a 1.5 litre jug on the kitchen bench and added some lemon juice and have a glass when I’m in the kitchen. I have been getting a few headaches, especially in the morning on waking and later in the day.

Hi janice, perhaps the tech team could collate all the useful tips/discoveries now that the forums have been on the go for a while and put them on a FAQs tab on the tool bar? 🙂

I am a member of other forums where they have a thread specifically for off-topic chat, some with names like The Bike Shed or The Coffee and Chat thread. I completely agree that we need to chat and support one another – that’s what makes doing the BSD so much easier. I think it would make sense to have dedicated threads for different topics – progress, issues, food recommendations, etc. just to make it eaiser to find all the fantastic information and support that everyone offers.