Hi Sue why don’t you make leek soup minus the potato then you don’t need cornflour!

Ah bread, my nemesis! I’ve found that a home made bread with 3:1 ratio of spelt to rye doesn’t spike me – I had a slice with my salad two hours ago and my BG is 5.2 now. Bought breads, including things like crumpets, spike me like crazy (or at least they have in the past).

We’re all different though – it’s a matter of experimenting. My mum also eats my home made bread now, as it doesn’t spike her either. I always make her a loaf when I do mine and freeze it in packs of four slices so it can be easily separated. It’s very, very dense and my appetite has changed in two weeks of the BSD, so I was completely satisfied with 1 slice today.

I always use a breadmaker and haven’t tried doing this by hand in the oven… would be glad to hear if anyone tries it and has success though.

3 cups spelt
1 cup rye
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon yeast
2 Cups water (sometimes less, but rye is very absorbent… at first you think you’ve added too much water but it soon gets taken up)

I add golden linseed, sesame seed, caraway seed or poppy seeds in various combinations and you can also add walnuts, pecans, or pumpkin seeds if you like. I normally put up to two tablespoons of seeds in.

Put all ingredients in the breadmaker pan and use the mixing cycle. Then put the timer on 1 hour 40 mins (40 mins proving, 1 hour bake)

This is quite a sensitive recipe to water, so you can get a little overproving if it’s too wet. Just go ahead and experiment, it doesn’t taste any different if you don’t get a nice domed top!

Thanks Bill1954, I’ve given myself a 50g carb budget and had only used 20g for the day, so I guess I thought I had 30g to play with. .. obviously not…. when you put it in % of allowance for the day, it is plain to see that it was a rooky mistake Oh well, lesson learnt and no more carb overload for me. …. other than this mistake, I’m finding the diet spot on. .. having lost about 3lb already. Really appreciating the forums. ☺

TrudiP that sounds really like she believes that, if you continue this lifestyle, you will get down into non diabetic ranges, the fact that she said to continue with the healthy lifestyle bears that out.
I too was downgraded to pre diabetic this week, doesn’t that feel good 🙂

Wow those 23g of carbs are almost half of what most of us try to stick to per day!
That was an apt demonstration of what they can do to your sugar levels if you aren’t careful.
once you get your weight and blood sugar down, it’s reasonable to expect to re introduce some carbs slowly back into your diet but at day 4, it’s really too much too soon.

I have lost 2 stones on the 8 week diet, and have now adopted the BSD med style low carb diet. I had a follow up GTT the other week, and my results have confused me a little – just wondered what the experiences of others on here have been.

I know that my fasting bloods have come down massively (9.8 in January to under 6 now – using a home monitor). My GTT result is 4.9 fasting and 10.8 at 2 hours. Given the bands for normal/impaired/diabetic, this seems to be a very big difference.

Can anyone enlighten me? My diabetic nurse has just left a message to say that I am still classed as pre-diabetic, but that she does not need to follow up with me … just for me to continue with a healthy lifestyle. Odd that she does not want to monitor my weight loss and so on further, don’t you think?

Hargsi

Well done for losing the weight. I think it’s always better to have ‘real’ food rather than meal replacements, because that’s how you re-tune your appetite.

Like you, I’m pre-diabetic (officially diabetic on the first reading!) as I found out from using hubby’s monitor. I’m still checking my blood sugar one a week. It’s going down but still too high. If you are losing weight and feeling good, you probably don’t need to monitor, but if you don’t have easy access to a monitor, it would probably be useful to buy one.

Pam1954

Well, that was a disaster. …. not really hungry for dinner so decided (as I had loads of carbs left over from my budget) that I would have a Tuna sandwich and a cup of coffee. … even though it was carb reduced bread, my sugars went from 5.9 pre-dinner up to 9.3 after 2 hours. Guess I won’t be doing that again. …. Advice please. ..do you think this is because I’m still in the early stage of the diet (just Day 4, week 1) or will I never be able to indulge in a sandwich ever again. The bread was rated 23g for 2 slices of bread and the Tuna 2g per serve.

Thanks Bill! I did a low carb diet back in the 80’s and found that I went into ketosis very quickly. I figured it would take a lot longer now, but we’ll see if we can keep it up! Tested again this morning and am still in the medium range.

I have looked at a couple of cookery books for diabetics and while the recipes meet the diabetic requirement, many of them are for two, four or sometimes six to eight people. Diabetes is a single person illness and it is unlikely to have family groups of four or six with diabetes in a single family (although there may be exceptions). I don’t have storage in which to put extra unused portions (which may be forgotten about).
I feel it would be more difficult to sub-divide a recipe for six than it would be to intuitively ‘double-up’ from one to more than one.
Delia Smith did a recipe book for one. What I would like to see (and haven’t been able to find one) is a similar cookery book but for diabetics and to include energy and nutrition details for each meal.

Thank you, your support has been brilliant.☺

Day 41 weight 10st 5lbs
Blood sugar 9.9

Have been “going” to the loo a lot more since I increased my fluid intake. Soup was delicious. Having coleslaw with salami for tea as white cabbage needs used up. I bought two leeks last week, not sure what to do with them. I used to make something with leeks, am going to have a think this afternoon in the bath – I’ll have them with the rest of the salami tomorrow.

My blood sugar seems to go up and down like a see saw, have gone through my food diary and apart from when I had a few chips and had breaded scampi I can’t find a pattern. Will keep going and see what happens. It seems to be slowly going down.

Hope everyone had a good Easter – I’ve got two eggs looking at me – my husband has said he will “help me out with them!” Ironically he has been losing weight and not dieting – there is no justice!

Anyone know if cornflour is OK to make a white sauce with. I’ve just remembered my recipe for cheesy leeks.😀

OH letting me know she didn’t realise how well I was doing until she saw me without a shirt.
Had to take a punch to my belt and make some more holes as I’ve run out of them now.
A person I know ringing me last night to ask about the BSD. I’ve known him on and off for years and he’s been T2D far longer than me and has always said he wouldn’t diet, he was happy on meds. Until his brother told him what was happening to me.
Great lift for the weekend 😀

Hi,
I’m on day 4 and everyday I learn something new..
These forums and the amazing people that share their knowledge are Earth Angels 😇 Thank you ..

Rosie, I got my book from Target $19

I also had trouble finding that App in the Apple Store so I googled it, and it gave me the link to the Apple Store 😃

Good luck .. 💙D x

But, Inka, the yoghurt also has protein and fat, which the Coke lacks, which will keep you full much longer, and make it much less likely that you’ll need to eat again soon, meaning fewer calories overall. Also means your blood sugars won’t spike like the Coke would make it. You can’t just look at the carbs in isolation. So keep eating your full portion and don’t worry!

Hi beverley google daily mail 8 week blood sugar diet and you will find 5 articles by M.M. 2 – 5 have a weeks menus. Print the menus off while you wait for your book. Bills advice is right. Sometimes it helps to see a menu and recipes when you are starting 🙂

100g Greek yoghurt with 75g fresh raspberries – 150

Greek salad with 2 tbsp. olive oil and 25g feta cheese AND a small slice of home made rye bread!! – 400 (erring on the side of caution)

Using up some fish goujons from the freezer for dinner, with a green salad – 300

I tried a longer fast today so I didn’t have breakfast until 10am, last food was at around 6pm last night. I Didn’t feel crazily hungry either.

Another non scale victory today… the slice of rye bread was delicious with olive oil dripping from the salad piled on it – it was to die for but incredibly satisfying. Usually any kind of bread would have me spiralling out of control but I’m fine at the moment. In times past I would never have had just one slice with a meal.

Probably a bit too high in carbs today.

Susan quite a few of us have been through the same thing
It has been explained as due to stored sugar being released from the liver and typically sorts itself out in 2 to 3 weeks.
I woke up one morning to find my levels back to day 1 (9.8) Now it’s 6.6 so stick with it, it will all work out.

thanks for the encouragement – does help

Inka
just point the lads to these forums, if that doesn’t convince them, nothing will 😉

Aw bless ’em Inka!

Hi
most of us are trying to hit 50g or less per day as this should put your body into ketosis (fat burning mode)

Beverley cut out bread pasta rice potatoes and sugar. Use plenty of above the ground veggies but be more careful with the below the ground ones, and check the carb (and sugar, they get cute about that) contents on any pre packed food
Stick to that until the book arrives and you won’t go far wrong.
Remember to up your fat intake and drink the required amount of water (2 to 3 litres per day) and you will be fine.

Can any of the more experienced 800-ers advise on what their carb levels are? At the moment we are in our first week. We have had 2 good (under 800) days and one over. So we are reviewing and tweaking. Lesson 1, not oily fish and cheese on the same day! But it would be really helpful to know what target we are aiming for carb wise. Just to know whether we are getting the balance right.

Hi are there any Uk newbies who would like to sign our petition?

Sunnyb what a wonderful husband!

I have twice had food from the chippy – i only have the fish and scrape the batter off- next time he wants something from the chippy you might want to do the same ::

Thanks, hashimoto. I know about lactose etc, but I dont have the nerve to argue with my boys about everything I eat. I told them, to do want they thought is right for themselves, and leave me to do the same for myself. They have been on my back for ages to loose weight so, now I am doing something seeing it through for the first time, I asked them if they would me more convinced once I lost the weight and reached my goal? Maybe, they said, still very skeptical…. anyway, I think they will stop questioning me now. The younger one must have guessed that I was getting a bit P’d with them and he came and told me that they were just concerned that the total cals and carbohydrate intake would not be enough for me and that they were worried, and that, “at my age”, I needed to make sure that I had enough nutrients….. :-). Thanks son…. But god love them, anyway! They are such lovely boys… cant really hold a grudge or be angry with them for very long …:-)

I can’t wait until the book arrives as like Rosie I feel like I’m starting a little bit blind, not knowing enough about the diet, just what I heard on the interview with Michael Mosely and read on the website. I’ve not counted carbs before or given them much consideration. My husband and I began the diet 3 days ago but our first week is going to be our ‘prep’ week. I’m recording everything we eat on a blog and calculating both carbs and calories. So far the carbs are way above 50 and we’ve managed to eat under 1200 calories each day. We’ve been working towards changing our diet for years and I think that has helped enormously. We both realised late last year that we really need to kick our sugar habit. I was beginning to wonder if we needed to stop eating cheese too, but am feeling more optimistic about that now.

I’m glad I’ve joined this support forum – I’ve already picked up lots of helpful tips and love the encouragement from everyone.

I have told EVERYONE I know! My 90 year old dad thinks ‘it can’t do you any harm’. My son at first was worried about sudden weight loss but learned about it and is fine about it now. He has even mentioned it to other people. He was amazed about bill’s results – especially the improvement in his eyes. One or two people have asked me when I will stop as they think I’m looking quite thin. I must say people have been positive especially when they see the results 🙂

I’m a bit of a Zealot about the BSD 🙂

I’m not sure why my fasting blood sugar has gone up as I’m losing weight and on very few carbs. I think it’s a bit more complex and I’m hoping that when I have more good carbs it will be lower than when I started the eight weeks. The good news is I have lost 10% of my weight in 7 weeks. I do think that blood sugar levels are only just starting to be understood and I’m sure there will be a better understanding in the future. The research so far that I have read seems to defiantly points a finger at artificial sweetener as mucking up the bodies response. I stopped using sweetener at the start of the eight weeks.
Good Luck and keep going. I must say I feel much better for doing this diet.

Hi inka milk products contain lactose – a form of sugar, a bit like fructose in fruit. Plain full fat yoghurt will not have sugar added to it so keep on enjoying your healthy full fat yoghurt 🙂

Low fat yoghurt on the other hand is packed with sugar

I have just checked my FF fage yoghurt: 3.8g sugar per 100g

Diet coke: 10.6g per 100mls

Just check you are eating plain FF yoghurt (I recommend fage ) as you are describing a whole g more.

There is a big difference between naturally occurring sugar in milk and sweeteners in coke. Artificial sweeteners have a bad affect on your blood stats

Hope this helps 🙂

Thanks for the answers guys! I (nervously) hit 899 last night BUT got up this morning (day 6) and was down FIVE lbs! Delighted, very encouraged and feel like its all starting to make sense! Thanks for the support!

Hi Natalie,

I know exactly how you feel… something happens on day three! Being an emotional eater and having lost about 4 stone from my heaviest, i’ve had to conquer this (even before i started BSD). I find if i can just distract myself for a moment, or force myself to do one action i can get through cravings. For instance, I’ll literally throw something in the bin half eaten, or make myself get in the shower, or boil the kettle, leave the kitchen and come back and make a green tea, or send a text etc – anything you can do which halts the frantic need for something. It empowers you, and you feel in control. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt.

Best of luck with it all, its all a learning curve!

Hi all, started back on bsd on Monday, fasting blood sugar up and down 7/7 yesterday and 8 this morning I’m not on medication as I’m hoping to get it back down to the 5 range after the 8 week plan, I couldn’t resist hopping on scale this morning and I’m down four pounds so very happy, should I worry about the rising fasting blood sugar. I love all the support on the posts, thank you.

Great attitude Anthony,
Once you get into the swing of things you’ll find there is no effort involved at all.
As your body gets rid of the carbs and starts on burning fat, you will feel and sleep better and the weight will start to melt away. Check it after 7 days, you may shock yourself.
Be sure to try to keep carb intake at 50 grams or less per day and keep the fat intake up. this will definitely help with any feelings of hunger.
Looking forward to your first week results

Penny
replied 🙂

Can I just say the chilli beef is to die for!!!

Today made my own breakfast

Debbie and Andrew sausage ( bad I had 2)
Scrambled egg
Mushrooms and tinned tomato

Not sure where I stand but yummy. I’m not bursting for being to full but comfortable

It was nice to have a breakfast like that.

I do miss the toast.. I have promised myself 2 stone goal is a slice of proper bread .. Toasted with butter.

Hi Bill
I’ve resent
Penny

Bill, all the positives keep rolling in for you!!
I had a similar experience last night when a friend dropped in ( she hadn’t seen me for a fortnight) she said I was unrecognisable and looked like I had knocked 10 years off my age 🙂 She has borrowed my book for her and her daughter to look at 🙂

Hi Steve
That is such a disgraceful attitude.
That doctor is paid a fortune to come out with that sort of Rubbish.
Be assured you are not alone- we are all here to support you. Good luck on Monday.
Penny

That’s great Bill1954, nice that your OH made this comment and a big success for you. …. Wow, 2 new holes in your belt? Holes are a couple of cm apart right? Thats so great…. I have a favourite jeans jacket, I still sometimes wear, but I cant button it closed, so I leave it open. The two sides were at least 10cm apart ( I really shouldnt have worn it then) but when I put it on the other day just to see if there is some difference, I was pleasantly surprised that the buttons on one side and the holes on the other are coming together :-). Still cant do them up, but at least the two sides of the jacket nearly meet each other now. Sometimes this type of measuring, and not always the scales, can be just as effective a tool to monitor my progress. If you lost this much, you must have had to buy new clothes…. this alone would be nice and a further signal, that you can leave your old fat person world behind. My hat off to you :-))!

Steve take a look at my results in the over the 800 line thread.
That’s what a GP should be acting like, TBH yours is a disgrace. Next time you see him just ask him how much his practise would save if all the T2D patients could reverse the disease.
The best way to shut him up is to do the full 8 weeks and then go back with your weight and sugar results. I found that handing over a copy of the notes printed from this site and handed over at the start of the conversation helped.

There is also a useful app for those who have an iPhone or iPad. It is called the Australian Easy Diet Diary. It is free, and will track your daily intake, your weight loss,it also has a list of foods and their nutritional info. You can scan barcodes or enter your own foods and store the info. Type in recipes and it will work out cals/ carbs etc per serve.
The icon looks like a blue spiral bound notebook with a picture of a pear on it.

I dont know if male skin differs any in elasticity to female skin, but I can say that after losing 5 inches and counting from my waist measurement (had to make 2 new holes in my belt this week) I dont notice any more flabby skin than normal.
Had a top moment last night, walked into the OH’s bedroom (we have to have separate rooms for medical reasons ) without a Tshirt on.
She took one look and said “by I knew you were losing weight but your stomach has almost gone”
Just a small comment but a huge reward for me 🙂

You are right Hashimoto, your wise comment brings things into perspective again.
I still have a fair way to go and being healthier and being able to DO things again, not feeling frumpy and to some degree “handicapped” anymore because I cant move properly, being able to buy clothes which dont resemble tents ( I get really angry about the price they are charging for tent-clothes – not talent or work involved to sew down a couple of straight lines) should be all I should concentrate on. Thanks again.

Hi Ros,
The app is a great tool. You can also enter the ingredients of a recipe and how many serves it makes. The app will tell you how many carbs, cals etc is in each serve. The icon looks like a blue spiral bound notebook with a pear on it.
Somebody told me that Big W had copies of the book but I had already ordered mine online by then. This was a couple of months ago so not sure if they’d still be there.

Steve T I’m sorry you had such a discouraging reaction from your GP. You will show him the error of his way when he sees you in 3 months time. You will be slimmer, healthier and hopefully reducing your metformin by then. Look at Bill1954 ! That is all the. Inspiration you need to begin this journey. The forums are full of helpful friendly people who will support you and just shout if you want any advice, there is always someone somewhere in the world who is awake and ready to help.

I cant help noticing it is april fools day. I think your GP is the April Fool lol

Welcome to the forums 🙂

Thanks, Neohdiver, interesting read.
My two sons and my husband know, I have not told me daughter yet. She lives in a different city to us, but I will be visiting her in a few weeks. I dont want to spoil the ” wow, mum, how did you do that?” kind of expression. Well, hopefully it will be that way. Have until mid-May and if things keep progressing the way they are at the moment, I should be able to get rid of a few more pounds.
My sons, they are both uni students, were horrified when I told them what I was doing,. They noticed that I had stopped eating “Mum’s favourites” and then the younger one saw that I was watching a YouTube presentation by MM and “That Sugar Film”. They tried to dismantle the arguments about why this diet might work demanding to know on what peer reviewed scientific study the basis of this diet relied on….. They now look at labels, at least they look now,. Standing in front of the open fridge door, with my plain pot set greek yoghurt in one hand and a can of coke In the other, they tried to tell me that both products had the same amount of sugar in it…. and one of them said: ” How do you think they get the milk to ferment to get the joghurt? They need sugar for that!” I gave up at that point, but must say, I snug back later to check myself: The joghurt has 4.8g per serving (100g) and the coke has 9g per serving size (also 100g). The joghurt is lower, but I must say, I was surprised. I had expected the joghurt to be much much lower….. So maybe, next time I eat the joghurt, maybe I should 1/2 my portion. This experience made me a bit sceptical about some of the low carb recipes and I will pay greater attention to the sugar content of the ingredients, which until now, I did not really scrutinize, because they long have been perceived as low or even no sugar anyway….
Natalie, my OH, is somewhat indifferent and has a similar attitude to yours.
He no longer believes me, too many Monday Starts! I told one friend and she is supportive. She is doing the 5:2 and is doing quite well on it. She cant handle cutting out the carbs. So we have a bit of a friendly competition between us and often compare notes to see what works best for each of us. When I reach my goal, and knowing both diets quite well, I might do a mix of both of them, so I can sometimes “have my cake and it it all”. 🙂

Hi
how long have you been on the diet ?
It’s usually within the first week that you get the sugar cravings.
They can be offset (believe it or not) by eating a small piece of cheese, a few almonds or walnuts, or my personal favourite, I have a couple of packs of frozen berries in the freezer so I just throw a few in the microwave for a couple of minutes to mak a sort of khuli and have them with some Greek yoghurt.

Hi
the long fast isn’t an intentional thing, it’s just that the only time I ever eat breakfast is while on holiday.
My normal day is lunch at about 12:30, dinner at around 7, and if I decide to have a snack that would be at around 9:30.
Others have noted that an extended overnight fast does help so why not give it a go ?

Thanks everyone! When you visualise it in packs of lard/sugar whatever, it is a lot.

Well done too to Bill.