Hi everyone — I started a week ago today and have lost about 5lbs so far, also, for what it’s worth, dropped from the obese BMI category to merely overweight (just!). So I feel encouraged – but already worrying about the weekend as I have to go out for at least one dinner, maybe two. These situations always trip me up and then I never get back on track, even when I’ve been quite into losing weight. Any advice? I’ve already said I’m trying to lose weight so they know…

I’m rereading a bit of the book every evening to stay encouraged.

I have just found another thread about it too – https://thebloodsugardiet.com/forums/topic/another-question-please/

Someone else has started a similar topic here that might help https://thebloodsugardiet.com/forums/topic/started-the-meal-replacement-shakes-yesterday-but-have-a-question/

I’m just about to start the 800 cal Blood Sugar diet and I’m wondering if it’s ok to eat things like tinned baked beans or tinned plum tomatoes, or even tinned soup, etc.

Heinz baked beans does not list sugar on the tin as an ingredient. Tomato soup and tinned tomatoes lists carbohydrate of which sugars, so does that mean it’s a carb that’s ok to have?

Does anyone know?

I bought the Blood Sugar Diet book today and have just joined this site so still finding my way around, but funnily enough the question you are asking Robyn was the first one I was about to ask.

The book doesn’t say anything about the type or make of a suggested shake.

Thanks for your answer Scottie. 20g of Sugar sounds a bit high so I too am a bit wary now of buying and starting with those. I hope someone else has some advice for us. I know I will find it so much easier to start with shakes.

Hi Lucretia.

I too have just joined this site and started looking around. Your post is the first one I have read so far. I just wanted to join in to tell you that I have been using http://myfitnesspal for just what you are asking about. You can keep a record of your weight and mesurements, food diary and they also supply a blog attached to your account.

You might find that site helpful to use in combination with this site.

Myfitnesspal was mentioned in the Blood Sugar Diet book too.

I got through OK yesterday – surprisingly wasn’t hungry, but today am finding it harder (probably cos a stressy day at work). I had yesterday omelette for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch, then vegetable curry and cauli rice for dinner (burnt the rice a bit – and veg curry needed more texture – but tasted OK).

Bit worried about next few days – am travelling for work, both days not back till about 9.30/10 which is late for dinner. So taking extra snacks and a lunch with me, but I probably will go over the 800 cal limit. But as long as I still have healthy meals I think I can make it – just don’t like eating that late!

Good luck with the next few days guys 🙂

i went with slim fast shakes, but if I’m completely honest I am regretting it. When I’ve finished the shakes I’m going to do real food… It seemed more convenient at the time.. x

I just started the diet yesterday so I’m testing blood sugar levels more frequently at the moment and just taking less tablets than before to compensate for the lower readings I’m getting due to low carb intake. I did see my diabetic nurse today and check with her which of my tablets I should cut out first (I’m on 3 different ones). So far today I’ve only needed 1 of the 3 I normally take!

My Body Mass Index is around 20, and I’m on the slim side. However, I do have a bit of a gut round the middle and very little fat anywhere else. Will the Mediterranean diet help? Part of Michael’s advice in the book is that this isn’t really suitable for those with a BMI less than 20. I weigh 75 kg and am a keen cyclist, but I would like to get back to 70 kg as that’s when I was at my fittest and lightest for climbing Alpine hills on the bike. I’m also 65 years old. I’m reasonably careful about what I eat, but probably drink too much. I have cut down on the booze, though!

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks,

Chris Walker.

Hi, is the 800 a day ok, if for example 5 out of 7 days either a body pump, spinning class and pt session are done.?

Can I ask…which shakes are you trying ? I’m still reading the book and haven’t decided whether to do ‘real food’ or shakes. Are you doing shakes because it’s more convenient ?

I love your attitude Jules! I agree we are lucky to be in a time and place where we have the knowledge to do something about it. There was a period (maybe 1800s?) when diabetics were told to drink lots of sugar to replace all the sugar they were losing in their urine. They must have progressed pretty fast on that advice.

I would interested in hearing the official word on this. I’m averaging around 55 grams of carb per day, according to my tracker.

Pretty sure it’s not anywhere. Maybe they’ll add it later? For my first couple of weeks after getting the book, this website wasn’t even up yet! I’m hoping they’ll keep adding more content like a place to record our stats.

Morning all,
Day two and my BG is down 0.2. I had a good day yesterday, stuck to the diet and came in just under 800 cals. I had yoghurt and berries for breakfast then smoked salmon with eggs and spinach for lunch, keeping the portobello mushrooms with goats cheese for supper. I also had lots of water and herbal tea. I am cooking the whole family a chicken with roasted veg for supper tonight, but making mine separately in a different dish so I can keep control over the calorie intake. I am off work ill at the moment, which is making my life slightly easier in being able to have time to plan my meals. Hope you both have a great day today. 😊😊
Hedds

Hi All,

I started on Monday with the meal replacement shakes

It didn’t go so well, really bad headache and extremely cold, so decided to have a shake for breakfast and a shake for lunch with grilled chicken and veg for dinner – I totalled it up and it came just under the 800 calories (is this ok to do?)

Also this morning I was curious as to how much sugar was in the shake and was surprised to see that it was over 20g per serving?
I’m a bit worried, will it have the opposite effect on things due to the amount of sugar?

I’d be grateful for any help please x

I also got the hard copy after reading the kindle version karenv as it’s frustrating looking at recipes on the kindle!

How did you first day go? I managed to get through. My food was uninspiring and I’m going to try to cook some more tasty options later. Difficult when your juggling children and work, but not going to use that as an excuse like I usually do.

Hoping to get some ready made courgette spaghetti today and make a chicken, olive and anchovy sauce. I have a waitrose and a morrisons near me, Waitrose is probably the best bet to get the ready made courgetti.

Good luck for day 2!

Good luck – lots of new starters this week!

Hi Happywife, I just logged on to ask this exact question. I’m pretty much following the menu plan but am making up my own recipes too (I’m a chef and I can’t help myself) and I would really like to know roughly what the breakdown of carbs, protein and fat I should be aiming for each day. Can anyone help?

Hi Sara
I got the book about a week ago, I bought lots of food, nuts, eggs, veggies, that can be used in the recipes from the book, or to just make up my own stuff using those ingredients. I started the 800 days yesterday. My first day was not as bad as I thought it would be! I’m using ‘my fitness pal’ to record food, and because I shift work, and had two meals at work yesterday, I just improvised following the Med style rules for lunch and dinner, with one of the egg recipes from the book for breakky.
We bought in food a few days before starting the 800 days, and just played with making up meals with the Med style ingredients. I hope this helps!

Hey thank you for your reply. I do eat eggs and beef.
How long have u been doing this for? I only picked his book up yesterday
What do u eat daily?
Sara

Hi mysupersalami
What a way to combat depression, gaining 45kg. My heart goes out to you, but I guess you needed the help at the time. Hopefully this journey will get you feeling like your old self (without depression) and looking great too! If you eat fish I think you are all good on this diet, and in some of the other protein sources Michael talks about in his book to complement the fish. Do you eat beef and eggs? I don’t eat fish but can see that I will be able to modify the diet for my own needs using alternative proteins.
Good luck! Looking forward to hearing your progress!

Hi Katy Rose
Maybe you could look at it this way, before you had diabetes you had a predisposition to develop it. Like a lot of chronic diseases it’s a two stage process, firstly you have a predisposition, and a second trigger, usually lifestyle choices. If this diet returns you to the predisposition stage by correcting the lifestyle part, then you don’t have diabetes anymore, just as you didn’t before your diagnosis. The only difference is you now know your predisposition, and if you slip back into old ways you are at risk of developing diabetes again. (You know there is a gun in the cupboard, your choice to load it or not)
This diet is a second chance to take you back to only being pre-disposed to diabetes, as you were for your whole life before you had diabetes. So yes, essentially a cure, but you need to remember that you are predisposed to this disease if you return to a sedentary high carb/sugar lifestyle.

It would have been helpful to have an approximate list of as many of the appropriate foods as possible in the book rather than needing to look them up.

Hi Jules & Michaelmas Daisy, welcome
My eyes are already affected by diabetes. It didn’t take long & can’t be reversed BUT I can try to halt the progress. Do fight for your eyes to be tested ASAP after you are diagnosed, it took too long for me & I wear specs & am regularly tested at opticians.

Reflux isn’t helped by eating chocolate. It decreases pressure in the lower oesophageal sphincter allowing gastric reflux to occur. Ain’t much fun in life sometimes is there!

However, this project is all about self help & encouragement. We can do it. All tips & ideas welcome. Knowledge is power.

We can all tolerate some carbs I think, the trick is, HOW MANY? To find out we have to eliminate them & then bring them back into our diet gradually. If you are type 2 diabetic get testing as you reintroduce carbs & see what elevates those blood sugars!

I know I know about protein portions etc & it’s in my books. Just need time to re read them. I think you can find out good info from Jenny Ruhl web site Blood Sugar 101. She’s American, a diabetic & done loads of research & writing on diabetes. You will find her very helpful & knowledgeable

After diagnosis with type 2 six years ago i moved to Cyprus where a ‘light’ Mediterranean style diet and exercise kept my diabetes under control but moving back to the UK over one year ago saw my weight ballon and readings of the scale. I thought I will try the BSD after reading Michaels book cover to cover several times over the weekend. Highest reading this weekend 12.5, reading after the first day 6.5. Onwards and upwards (hopefully downwards!!!!)

Hi,
I’m from nz and are 45kg overweight due to antidepressant meds for my clinical depression.
I have a very big hangover tyre I guess you could say and hoping this will help reduce it.
I guess I’m worried bout the choices as I don’t eat chicken, lamb or pork.
I eat fresh fish but not prawns etc
Is this still doable ?

Look forward to hearing from u
🙂

Pot bubbling away now with what might be a chilli or a curry. Can you curry barley and cannelloni beans? I was worried I wouldn’t find enough things to eat but my fridge has prawns avocado hummus cottage cheese (NOT low fat) goats cheese celery carrots and much more. Not worried. Day 3 tomorrow.

Hello everyone. I am going to start the diet tomorrow and am feeling encouraged by people saying that they aren’t hungry.. I’m not diabetic, but am about 3 stone overweight and definitely addicted to carbs. I have yo yo dieted for years and always give in to bread and chocolate cravings. I’m hoping that if I see results quickly I will be able to stick to it!

Hello Jules,
I agree a shopping list would be an advantage, it took me a long time to work out what I needed and then do the online shop. On the plus side today I cleaned out my cupboards ready for the new items. I have put a all the children’s food goodies into one cupboard at the opposite end of the kitchen to where I prepare food. This should help me stay away from the chocolate.
It’s good to know from someone with firsthand experience that the BSD does work.
Good luck

Hedds

To be honest for the puddings and crumbles (which are a bit of a treat really) the ground almonds should be fine to completely replace the almond flour rather than as a mixture (the flour often has the healthy oils removed in the process and is probably higher GI anyway). The texture is just a bit more chewy which I quite like. But unfortunately they do tend to be a bit more expensive.

Hi starting blood sugar diet in the morning, i’m a fish eating veggie, any advice on healthy alternative’s to meat?

You can use ground almonds as almond flour. Technically almond flour has some of the oils removed and you can get coconut flour online, health food stores, some of the bigger supermarkets also sell it.

I suppose it all depends if you want to get into low carb baking. I tried the courgette and sppke muffins today but the trick with coconut flour is that absorbs loads of liquid so I think I put a bit too much in as the mixture was a bit dry and not sticky. Therefore you may find that you will have to adapt the receipes when cooking with these ingredients i definitely didn’t need 150g of coconut flour today.

Its also much cheaper to make your own almond and coconut milk as well.

Hi Zelliah,

Some of the recipes in the book and on the website look very nice, but I agree, some of the ingredients look faddy and expensive – I bought hazelnuts instead of pine nuts for one recipe because the former cost less and taste fine. I like the plum pudding recipe too, but have never seen almond flour … unless that’s finely ground almonds as opposed to chopped almonds.

Hi Eureka,

I once tried not eating bread and other wheat products because I thought I was sensitive to gluten, and I’d read the ‘wheat belly’ book and a comment about wheat making acid reflux worse. A blood test indicated that I wasn’t a coeliac, but I did think that the break from bread and pastry helped my reflux problem to settle down. Perhaps it was the fat in wheat products that made it worse. Holidays to France are a bit tricky as bread and cakes are so tempting there – along with chocolate, and alcohol! Perhaps the temptations had better be tiny in future.

Hi,
I’m trying to adjust my eating to be much more Mediterranean (although not with large pasta portions!). I initially tried the fast 800 calories a day diet, but not exactly – I might even have eaten fewer than 800 calories a day, for two to three days, and didn’t like it. I added a small amount of porridge oats and 25mg portions of rice to some meals, and these helped me to tolerate the meals without extra carbohydrates. I don’t have type 2 diabetes though. I’ve lost some weight after two weeks, and am continuing to try the recipes like the portobello mushroom with pine nuts (I chopped hazelnuts instead), and creamy goat cheese and some salad leaves – lovely. I’d like to get my waist size below 30″ as it’s about 32″ at the moment.

Hi,
I read the book two weeks ago and can’t remember seeing a recommended daily carb allowance. I got the impression that pretty much all starchy and white carbs were off the list – there might be a few included in some of the menus in the book? There are carbs in beans and peas and fruit, plus a little in yoghurt and feta cheese, and in vegetables. Strangely, ordinary potatoes only contain about 17% carbohydrate (I read this in a book once), but they’re starchy and quite high on the glycaemic index. I initially tried no carbs other than legumes, etc., but felt strange, constipated, and grumpy! I then included a very small amount of porridge oats for breakfast (the slippery slope….) and two small boiled potatoes at dinner..and felt alot better; I even made a ham and pea risotto where the risotto rice was a 25mg portion in alot of peas, rather than the other way around, and that helped me tolerate other meals with no carbs. I then found I wasn’t hungry for hours after a Subway salad and single portion of meatballs alone – although the meatballs probably contained some carbs, such as breadcrumbs or flour.

I struggled a bit over the weekend as I went out for a meal but the good news is that I haven’t gained any more weight but I haven’t lost any either

Hi everyone, been on the diet one week. Starting weight 19st 6lbs and one week on 18st 9lbs plus 1.5 inches off the waist and feeling great already. Fasting bloods reduced a little but I’m not expecting a rapid reduction as I’ve been type 2 for 25 years. I’m using the “Fat Secret” app which is geared up for the UK and measures Fat, protein, carbs and cals. Found the book very inspirational as well as informative. Thanks Dr M. Determined to continue. The other thing I’ve done is opted for an eating time window of 8 hours. I only eat between 11am and 7pm giving me 16 hours fasting. It’s not for everyone but being retired it fits in with my lifestyle. Wishing all of my fellow travellers on the Fast 800 big reductions.

Good luck Rosy! The book and this site have given me the confidence to go low carb, after not being sure it was the right thing to do (after reading lots of conflicting stuff). After a few days, I am beginning to feel better. Early days, but feel motivated to continue. Just impatient to see the weight start moving!!

Hello everyone, started the BSD 8 week plan one week ago and finding it very easy to stick to. My starting weight was 19st 6lbs and one week on I’m 18st 9lbs and have lost 1.5 inches round my waist. My fasting blood sugar average was 9.6 and is now 9.3. I’m not expecting rapid reduction in numbers as I’ve been type 2for 25 years. But this is a great start.

Hi, I’m a new joiner today having read the book cover to cover yesterday. Don’t know if I missed this somewhere in my haste to read book and get started but is there a recommended daily amount of carbs whilst on the plan?

Sorry if I’m being a bit thick and have missed it but would be grateful if someone can answer.
Thanks

Hello. Today’s my first day on the BSD. I thought until recently I was diabetic for life. Now I believe differently. Due to back problems I can’t exercise very much but I can do something about my weight. So here goes.

I wholeheartedly agree. It can be tough to stick to the principles of
low carbing, but the Newcastle diet and the knowledge that it is possible to put your diabetes into remission,which is provided by the books you mention above , give hope to those of us who are already diabetic.knowing that it is not inevitable to deteriorate into insulin dependence and loose eyesight, a limb or kidney function as I have observed in older relatives.

I have started on the BSD today, following the menu plans in the book to the letter. Not being a great fan of shakes in general and the like, I found this mornings blueberry and green tea shake very acceptable and easy to make. Quite looking forward to having it again in 4 weeks time!! Looking forward to tomorrow blood sugar reading. Good luck to everyone going for it.

I am type 2 . I have completed the Newcastle diet in 2013, using the shakes and veg on Professor Taylor’s website. It worked really well and until recently I have kept my hb1ac levels below the medication threshold and my diabetes under control with diet and exercise alone. However recently after a bout of illness, I have put on some weight and done less exercise. I am currently preparing to do it again using the diet sheets in Dr Moseley’s excellent book. I am trying out some of the recipes in advance of my doctors appointment later this week , so can I make a few suggestions…A shopping list for each week of the diet plans would be super useful, I will start making one of my own before starting , as the ingredients are necesarily many and varied. I am using a kindle version of the book and a live link between the diet sheets and each of the recipes would save a lot of book marking or flicking backwards and forwards.
I know how lucky I am to be diagnosed at a time when a realistic option for controlling the progression and even reversing my diabetes are available to me. I look forward to making a start very soon .

Good luck Louise and Hedds! I’m starting today as well. Planned a couple of days of food on MyFitnessPal but haven’t done a shop yet. I notice there are some nice looking recipes on this website that aren’t on the book so must have a look through them as well. Had a spinach and pea omelette for breakfast this morning, quite nice and still full from that. Chicken salad planned for lunch, veg curry and cauliflower rice for dinner.

I bought the BSD book on Kindle which isn’t ideal as it’s harder to browse through the recipes. So I might buy the physical book too. Shopping delivered is a good idea – I will do that and avoid the chocolate aisle 🙂

Hope your week goes well both of you, and anyone else who is starting today!

Good luck too Hedds. I have also planned the week of food but haven’t actually bought it yet! Online is a good idea, no supermarket smells and offers on chocolate!

Welcome Hedds and well done on making a start to change your lifestyle to a more healthier one. Is is plain yogurt you don’t like eg the sharpness or yogurts generally? If its the sharpness just mash the strawberries a little bit to release their natural juices and sweetness and mix it in with the yogurt .

There are chair based exercises that maybe you could look into? I try to think of it as moving more and less about exercise. Its the sitting still for hours that kills us even housework counts.