My god Bill, if I started telling the BBc what was wrong with me today, I would never get home.

Maybe I will do it in the weekend.

Do you know upstairs there are three vending machines just with fizzy pop, crisps and chocolate in them and at a reduced price.

Haven’t got there yet………

Love Lucia
Xxx

I’ve meditated on and off for 40 years. I wrote this recently for my daughter as I think she is ready. It may be of interest.

To help relieve the stress of everyday life – essentially the flight response that is produced in real (car crash) or apparent (not having “enough” time) crisis – we need a counterbalance. Excess anxiety will produce cumulative long-term physical and mental ill effects if not managed.

Meditation slows the breathing, heart rate, brain waves and thus metabolism and so is the exact opposite of stress. It helps you attune to your mind and body and the world via the breath. The beauty part is that each of us has WITHIN US the capacity to control and reverse the effects of stress by this simple practice. Yoga can produce similar effects due to its combo of focus and relaxation.

There are researched and documented (Harvard) benefits to meditation but simply it has 2 features that evoke the relaxation response:
1. Repetition.
2. Disregarding random thoughts (or activities) when they come to mind.

Both allow you to break the train of everyday thinking so produce temporary relief and long-term peace of mind. The world and its stressors are still out there but after meditation your mind is calmed and strengthened with a fresh perspective and insight.

You get most benefit from learning properly and daily practice – 20 mins twice per day is most often recommended to get into the habit. And it’s not easy at first – that’s why it’s called meditation practice. I have meditated for 40 years – at first every day for a couple of years, after I did a ‘breathing meditation’ course as a ‘liberal studies’ module at college. It then becomes something that is a part of you and you can tap into it on the train, as a means of relaxing before sleep, at the sea shore etc.

I am feeling badly done to…..

So the only way I would get a pink reading on a ketostix is by eating tonnes of beetroot !!!!!
😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩
Love Lucia xxxx

Complaining dear coz the bloody first batch were dodgy
BUT
Just been to Asda and got some more.
I just need to talk myself into a pee now 😀
Lucia, please take a look at the petition post. There’s a link in there to the BBC where you can email them to tell them all about your diabetes and how you deal with it.

I think I may be coming down with a cold.
I feel mardy. Cranky. Fed up. Want to be at home with a duvet day.
But still tied to my desk until late.

Sorry gang. Will take my bat, my ball and my skipping rope home.
🤒🤒🤒🤒🤒🤒🤒🤒
Love Lucia
Xxxx

Orchid, hope you don’t mind, I’ve reproduced that link in Judiths petition post in the Welcome section ( with credit to you of course)
I just feel, if everyone starts mailing the Beeb, we may just have a loud voice on our side.

Hi Bill 1954
Three ketostix, you bragging or complaining ?????

😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜
Love Lucia
Xxxx

Sounds good Bill.

People !!!
Orchid has just posted a link to a BBC article on diabetes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35959554
At the bottom of the article is a contact link that lets you email them to tell them your T2D stories.
I’ve just given them the whole 9 yards including links to this forum and the petition.
Please everybody do the same. This could just generate the publicity we need.

That’s some calories in nuts, avocado and olive oil !
Think I’ll go on the menu plan to keep it simple and to keep to the calories/carbs, although its been good to have a few days of adjustment. I reckon I must have previously been averaging 3000 cals, particularly on exercise days.

Yesterday was the finish of my 1st week, another 7 to go !! I am still very hungry and light headed and finding the food preparation and cooking extremely time consuming. My freezer is not big enough for me to double up the food and freeze half. I haven’t been out of the apartment since I started the BSD except to shop, even had to miss our wedding anniversary…..58 years. Weighed myself this morning, 1st day of 2nd week and was rather disappointed to find I had only lost 4
lbs. I had been reading other blogs and kept reading all these people that have lost 7 lbs in the first week. I certainly hope this will change because I have found that the weight loss usually gets less as the weeks pass.
However, I will persevere and carry on.
JillyB

Mailed them
does this sound ok ?
Hello
I am type 2 diabetic, diagnosed about 8 years ago but told since that I probably had the disease for 10 years prior to that.
I developed retinopathy within 2 years of diagnosis and ended up having 4 vitrectomy operations and 2 cataract replacements.
I couldn’t control my sugar despite being on Metformin, Gliclazide, and Exanatide injections and I was starting to get neuropathy in my feet.
At the end of January 2016 I had an email from the BDA recommending the 8 week blood sugar diet book by Dr M Mosely and Professor R Taylor, I bought the book and it just made so much sense but recommended the opposite of what I had been told by the medics nutrition wise.
The diet involves cutting out the simple carbohydrates in the diet including bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, and of course sugar. it also instructs you to increase your daily fat intake.
There is a really good online support forum and people are posting incredible results.
I am by no means a “big hitter”, but, between Feb 2nd and April 2nd this year I have lost 2 stones in weight, Daily blood sugar readings are in normal limits, the eye hospital has noticed a marked improvement in the condition of my retinal blood vessels, and my HbA1c results taken just 4 weeks in to the diet now has me in pre diabetic range and dropping. Cholesterol is now within normal limits and my kidney function is fine. The neuropathy is slowly improving. I have dropped the Gliclizide and Exanatide and halved the Metformin dose with a view to being med free within the next 3 months.
Add to that, after the first couple of days of getting over the carbohydrate withdrawal symptoms, I have never felt hungry and seldom now even think of the food I used to eat.
Many people worldwide are getting the same results on this eating regime and their stories can be found at
https://thebloodsugardiet.com
We (the forum posters) are so convinced that this diet is the answer to no medication blood sugar control, we have organised an online petition at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/125704 to try to convince the government to use this nutritional information in their upcoming pre diabetes boot camps.
We are all totally convinced that this is the way forward in type 2 diabetes care.
Sorry I don’t wish to be interviewed by a reporter but I’m sure that many of the people using this new lifestyle will.

Best regards

William Bell

Hi Lilac, getting the diet underway before your surgery ( sorry you need surgery 🙁 ), is a great idea. The healthier you are, the quicker the recovery.
The first week is usually the hardest but you’ll be surprised at how quickly the carb/ sugar cravings disappear.
If you need advice or support let us know, there’s always someone around to help. Even just reading through the posts, and learning other people’s stories can be very inspirational. People are overcoming all kinds of hurdles and experiencing success.
So welcome to the BSD tribe, and stay in touch 🙂

Wow, theres an email address to speak to the beeb if you like.
Everyone please mail them, tell them your story, and include the link to the petition of course 🙂

Hi Lynne
one day isn’t a real problem, I’m sure I’ll be back on track tomorrow.
One thing occurs, yesterday for the first time, I used full fat milk at work for my coffees (4 cups)
Up till now I had just used the semi skimmed from the fridge. I wonder if that had anything to do with it.
Time for an experiment 🙂

*peeps round corner and whispers*

Bill

Sorry you’re not happy with today’s result. I thought the same as Judith about the Ryvita but see you’ve had it before with no problem😳 Could it be the combination with the cheese?

I’ve realised I can’t eat bread, crispbreads etc😱

Hu hum.

Hope you get a good result tomorrow.

Not an expert by any means, but I think the idea is to start at whatever level you are at and increase both speed and distance as you lose weight and get fitter. The suggested walking in the book is to increase to 10,000 steps a day, with intermittent speeds….. but only if you are able. .any exercise is encouraged.

I would be happy to lose 12 lbs in 3 weeks!!!!! I drink at least 2 litres of water a day. It is the only liquid I drink unless I make a juice consisting of kale, lime, ginger, carrot, apple, and celery. This is week 5 for me. I have chosen not to eat red meat(had it once so far) because it has a lot more calories then chicken breast or fish. Maybe I need to add it twice a week??!

Hi everyone, seems that you are all still enjoying the great benefits the BSD bings.
I am now W6D3 and my weigh-in on Monday morning showed that I lost another 0.8kg, not as much as before, but i am still pleased with it as the values the scales are showing are till going in the right direction…. I could tighten my belt another hole today, so I am now right in the middle. My belt has six holes…. When I think that only a few short weeks ago, I had trouble finding the first hole, let alone doing it up, I am thrilled…and to top it off, I finally broke through the 90 kg barrier for the first time in many years!!!! Feeling decidedly “skinny” and looking forward to giving another 10 or do kg’s away….
While looking around for recipes and more info about the evil sugar, I came across many articles suggesting that ingesting organic pure coldpressed virgin coconut oil is supposed to have lots of health benefits, one of them being to assist with loosing fat, in particular belly fat…. Something to do with the kind of fatty acid in the oil and also supposedly speeding up the metsbolism. I know it has lots of cals but it says that they are good cals…. Just wondering if any of you have experience with this …. have you tried it, and if so, does it work and does it make you feel better?
Hope you are all doind exceptionally well!!!!

Well done Evaw….. your excitement comes through your post. Keep up the good work…. I love the recipes in the book too, they are so simple to make. …. I followed another diet and I swear, I had to start preparing meals about 2 hours before we wanted to eat.

Passed the 8 weeks’ milestone today.

Results: 14 lb lost. Not a lot, compared with some of you brilliant achievers, but I’m still happy with it. We had 2 big social events in the middle which put me off course, so for 2 weeks I didn’t lose any weight.

BMI has fallen from 33.7 to 31, so still obese, but heading in the right direction. Can’t take my waist measurement very well – my belly doesn’t keep in one place when I try! My blood sugar has dropped but I’m still in the pre-diabetic range, which is disappointing, and my blood pressure is still on the high side of normal, even though I haven’t dropped the medication. Maybe it takes a lot longer to improve your insides than it does to lose the weight. Still, I feel energised and happy with myself, even if I still hate my large belly!

Hubby has stuck pretty well to the diet. He had to fast for 24 hours one day last week for a medical test, after which the nurse made him drink something sugary because his blood sugar was below 5 – he can’t remember the last time it was below 5. But it is usually around 10 or 11, so I suppose he still has a lot of glucose stored in his body, because he isn’t putting it in now. Has anybody else had stubborn blood sugar readings?

All the best.

Pam1954

Thank you all so much for all your words of support. I’m now on Day 3 of the BSD and it’s mostly good so far – though the minced lamb on the Day 1 menu was yuk! I have turned my GPs reaction into a positive personal driver so maybe he did me a favour after all. Petition has been signed.

Hi Christi1948,

It is 15 years today, second time round for both of us after a horrible divorce and awful memories but so much better this time.

I am the same as you with fats etc, just seems so much harder to find full fat anything now! Must say it does taste so much better. We had the green tea and blueberry shake for breakfast and I’ve checked the online menu for the restaurant we are going to tonight and there is a lot of suitable choice so can’t wait, even better that we got a £50 gift voucher for christmas for the restaurant!

You describe the ‘fog’ so well, hubby has been there for many years after the worst work related stress breakdown, happily last couple of years have been good but it is always lurking somewhere.

B – Yoghurt, raspberries, seeds. ..thanks Orchid your suggested proportions were spot on😆
L – left over luxury fish pie and veg
D – mustard and Parmesan coated chicken breast, Brussels with bacon and green beans

Cals 754. Carbs 49g

B – plain yoghurt/10 cherries
L – salad/tinned mackerel fillets in tomato sauce
D – ham salad/1 babybel cheese

Milky coffee with half pint whole milk
Teas

Wow Nalin, they are pretty fantastic results already 🙂 you really are off to a great start. Thanks for posting that, it will inspire some other new starters.
If you are getting those fasting levels without the metformin I wouldn’t worry about taking them. Maybe just do one extra random test per day as well eg: two hours after breakfast one day, two hours after lunch another day, again two hours after dinner on a different day and then one or two bedtime readings. If, over the course of the next week or so, your levels are under 8.5 then don’t bother with taking metformin.
Non diabetic levels are 4.0 – 5.9 fasting and under 7.8 after meals.
With regards to your blood pressure you should talk to your GP about stopping your medication. Go armed with your blood pressure readings for him to look at. Michael does say in the book that your blood pressure may go too low after starting the diet if you are on medication.
Looking forward to your next set of results.

Hi Eureka
Thanks for the really fulsome advise. I bought some Omega Mixed Seeds in Holland & Barret a couple of days ago, this mix includes linseed and I have started to use this in the mornings with yogurt. Will get some chia seed today and add that in. Managed to go a bit this morning, but not nearly enough considering I haven’t been for at least a week! Feel like there’s more to come – but when!!!

Anyway, I will persist. It is definitely impacting on my weight, as it has crept up by almost a pound since weigh-in on Monday morning and the only variable in lack of bowel movement, as I have kept on top of the cals, carbs and fluid intake. I’m so frustrated, as I was hoping to hit one stone lost by Friday morning, but that so isn’t happening now.

I’ve tried one from Tesco in the past think they’re ten pounds for three boxes with several sachets in box
But they contain I think fructose so is this bad ,I would love to know as theses are a cheap supplement ,I lost two stone couple years ago on these and subway salad bowls but put it back ,good news was I lost it without exercise so imagine doing this too !!!

Hi catgirl,
So funny, not gross at all, we all have to do what we have to do,
Happy anniversary, how many years?
I’m still getting my head round more fat, more protein, hence me checking everything before I eat, for instance today I have had Fargo yogurt and blueberries for breakfast, not sure about lunch, but tonight’s meal will be chicken with something or other not decided yet, need to check carbs on things first.

Lucia,
You have all my sympathy and prayers, depression has dogged me most of my life, nervous breakdown, clinical, reactionary, you name it I’ve had it, I used to shy away from telling anyone, now I don’t, it’s an illness, and people need to know so they can compensate for your needs. Even mild depression because of the weather, or whatever, I tell people so they know not to take anything I say as personal while I’m in the ‘fog’
I hope you are feeling better soon, all my prayers for you today.
Christine

Thanks Bill. I completely agree with you. As for me, I’ve finally cracked the first stone off in 5 1/2 weeks, so I’m more than happy. I’m sure the stable low BS readings will follow.

If new facts were needed, the latest WHO organisation report paints a grim picture. It will be interesting to see what (if any) actions come out of it. Just posted on BBC news. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35959554

Yay evaw, what an awesome result!

Kags that is heart rending to hear about your Mum
I’m getting close to the end of my alloted span but I want to make damned sure that when my Grandchildren grow up, the correct information is in place for them to take control of their own health.
That’s not too much too ask, is it ?

Already done Bill.

Today:
B: yoghurt, mixed berries, mixed seeds
L: smoked salmon, mixed salad
D: 3 egg omelette with grated cheese; tomatoes, red onion and cucumber on the side

About the only exercise I seem to enjoy is walking but anyideas on distance and speed ?
I do have a rowing machine maybe I should get this cumbersome piece of apparatus out.
I’m not starting this plan till Saturday 9 April and am preparing groundwork for it first !

Oo
there’s an Asda just over the road 🙂
Guess where I’m going at lunchtime (Avoiding the golden arches in there of course)
Thanks Catgirl.

Great stuff evaw, you don’t need luck, just keep doing what you’re doing and don’t get despondant if you hit the odd plateau. Lots have but perseverance pays off and the weight starts to drop off again.
Enjoy week 2, and let us see your next set of great results.

Hi Bill1954,

I got mine at our local Asda pharmacy and they are the same as we use in hospitals so they are trustworthy. Good luck.🍀

Newlife 😀 😀 😀
Yeah the evidence that is growing daily and which they all want to ignore Mummytummy.
By the way, would you condiser signing our petition ?
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/125704
We want to see the government providing the correct nutritional info in their up and coming pre diabetic bootcamps.

Hi Everyone,
I have just finished the first week on the blood sugar diet and I have lost 4,6 kg. I am absolutely over the moon!!!!! I have a total of 34 kg to loose, so still way to go, but I am so happy that I had a really good start to the diet and my motivation levels are up up up! I have followed the recipes from the book and I love most of them, so I am always looking forward to the meals and I have to say, the portions are ok, I don’t feel like I am not getting enough food. So that is great. Wish me luck for week 2!

Hee hee, tell it like it is 🙂

I do have a lot of sympathy for GPs, I’m in the medical profession myself, they are under tremendous time pressures and they have very high stress levels. But that kind of attitude towards someone who is taking responsibility for their own health (rather than wanting a magic pill which doesn’t exist) is unacceptable.

Keep going Debs. I lost 8lb in the first week and then 2lb/week in weeks 2 and 3. It’s not unusual.

Agree about eating more fats – I know how hard it is when we have been so brain-washed over the years but tehy are really beneficial and you’ll feel much more full. Also don’t forget lots of water.

Catgirl 😀
Not being one to give up on things and remembering that I was showing ketosis the last time I had a dodgy sugar reading, I decided todo a test this morning.
A bit overkill but I used 3 strips to try to get some sort of result and they are definitely dodgy. one of them had the coloured part peel off as soon as it was wet but the other 2 showed a colour change but just in a thin strip in the centre. I may have ketosis going on, not too sure.
I’m going to have to try and see if the local chemists have them, I’m not buying them online again.

Newlife, that made me laugh 😂😂😂

Another way of looking at that is ……sometimes, when you visit your GP and they aren’t listening to you, you’re dealing with a great big EGO!

Keep going Lostgirl – you’re making such wonderful changes! Remember we’re all going to have ups and downs, the important thing is to learn from them.

Agree about stopping the Pepsi – bite the bullet and do it! Your body deserves not to have all those chemicals inside it.

Thanks Bill1954, great article! I was a clinical research nurse for 5 years, not in the Pharmaceutical industry, but in the NHS; so I know all too well how powerful the big pharma companies are.
What I liked about the BSD book is MMs reference to not just one or two clinical trials, but the evidence base as a whole.

Ha ha Newlife, at least I only called someone’s doctor a ‘plonker’ on this website!! But you’re right!! 🙂

Catgirl, that made me chuckle – sorry – sorry.

I think fat might be the answer! x

Steve, I’m so sorry your GP was an asshole. Next time you go, make him eat his words!

In the meantime there’s tons of support and advice here 🙂