Thanks so much bill1954 will get sone on my daily walk.

Leeanne try having some full fat Greek yoghurt with berries as a late night snack (I stick the berries in the microwave for 2 mins and make a sort of Khuli)
the fat contents keeps the digestive system working and helps with those high fasting sugar readings.
Fi 4 lbs loss on week 4 for is superb. Keep it up. 😀

Cherrianne – thanks form the info – the problem is that as well as great food you Aussies have great wine and craft beers – my weaknesses. I have 2 business dinners to attend and a couple of lunches tied in with a conference. I will stick to the 800cals though. Great first week with a 5kg drop, flatlined over the weekend but exercised hard, stayed off the booze and ate well. I think I drink less water at weekends which may be a factor. Refused all booze on the plane down from Singapore but did eat the chicken and veggies and the wee piece of plastic cheese. I wont be weighing now till I get back to Singapore on Friday but I am hoping to have a good week – if anything it will test my will-power.
I was going to hide in my room away from the temptations of the bar but will go for a walk along the river instead…

Well done to you liviebutton and keep up the good work.
Welcome Leeanne its great to have another
Person on board.
I also get inspiration from the success stories.
Nidge

Sounds like you’re off to a great start. Enjoy the ride… it is surprisingly rather an enjoyable experience!

Well done Caramba! Starting my 4th week today and have lost 4lbs this week (but still obese – can’t wait to be ‘overweight’). It was my first time to slip a little this weekend as well – I had a small glass of Prosecco – but I did enjoy it!!

Cherrianne, I’m hearing about loads of people doing the BSD who have never been on the forums.
I get the feeling that we are the tip of a quickly growing iceberg on here and there are potentially thousands doing this lifestyle now.

Besan is chickpea flour Shadow2

Shadow2 Besan is the same thing.
I got mine at the Medina store at the top of Westgate hill in Newcastle beside the bowling alley
hashimoto is a North eastener too. we’re getting quite a little clan going 🙂

Hi Bill,

I wouldnt beat yourself up too much! There are probably lots of reasons for the different results. Firstly on my chart Swede is listed as High 70 – 80 but so is Celeriac. However with further research it seems that while their GI is quite high, their glucid level (sugar) is low and should not significanly affect blood sugar levels. So there are probably other reasons such as having such a late meal and perhaps not doing much exercise after so I wouldnt give up on your swede-eating just yet!

Just put a post on another thread (cant believe how nany threads there are) asking where to get chickpea flour in the north east of england. Can get besan flour but nit sure if that is the same. Hashimoto your spicy baked beans are lovely, didnt miss the toast!

Can just imagine it Bill 🙂
Franash, I’m in the lovely Adelaide hills, probably the closest place you would recognise is Victor Harbor? It’s about 20 mins from me.
I have family living in Gippsland, near the coast. Beautiful place and some great farmland too.

I have chick pea flour on order from Holland and Barratt. If you have a shop near you pay a visit. Otherwise order online.

Bill you are doing so so well you are an inspiration but it is frustrating how something works one week and not another. Does the stored sugar eventually go away after a prolonged low carb diet do you think? I certainly hope so because i probably have a lot stored. Ah … so you and I and captainlynne all from north east, certainly lovely beaches to get the 10,000 steps in. I still havent managed to get chickpea flour, do you have any suggestions where i might get it from please. I went to sainsburys and they had besan flour which i am not sure is the same, desperate to make flatbreads but can get coconut flour at £4 per packet in asda. Had avocado for first time today and quite enjoyed it. Cant believe i am not missing bread and rice.

Well done on your success,that will be an encouragement to others on here. Amazing what results the low carb/ cal diet achieved. Makes you wonder why it’s not taking the diabetes world by storm!!

They are brilliant results Mick but be careful with the sugar readings.
I had excellent blood sugar results first 4 weeks but having slight issues with them now.
I would suggest that you go for 3 weeks of good readings before you think of stopping the BSD and maybe go on to the Med diet but keep an eye on how the sugar readings are performing.

Brilliant week 1 results liviebutton, I bet you’re ecstatic !
Keep it up, we want to see far less of you

Thanks FoFi, I did drop (at last) 1 1/2 lbs the day sfter my post, seems that body has decided to play ball again.

Wow 3 north easterners
By the time we all lose our weight Whitley bay cliffs will rise 6 inches from the sea 🙂

Hooray…. I’m overweight!! That sounds bad, I know, but it does mean I am no longer classed as obese, which sounds even worse. End of Week 5 and BMI below 30.
2lbs lost this week. Have lost 13lbs altogether so I’ve nearly lost my first stone in weight. Feeling quite pleased because the scales showed an increase in weight during the week. What was that about? No change in the diet during the week….bit of a mystery weight gain there.
At the weekend went out for a family meal to celebrate a 40th birthday. Given an enormous piece of cake that would have been rude not to eat, so I felt I had to oblige. Only bit of processed sugary carb I have eaten in the 5 weeks and not very enjoyable at that.
Not too much harm done and I’m not going to beat myself up about it. Social occasions are the most difficult to manage without drawing too much attention and sounding too evangelical about the BSD diet.
Anyway onwards to more weight loss in the future ….and better health. Good luck everyone.

No probs Julia, thanks for the advice, and you too Judith.
Thing is, before lastweek I had been having swede every Sunday with no ill effects, the sugar thing has been ongoing since Tuesday.
I will switch out the swede for celariac this week and see how it goes and keep a very close eye on the sugar readings.
Still under the impression that if I’m not putting it in, then what’s coming out must be stored sugar but why it should happen 5 weeks in is a mystery to me.
Not to worry, I’m sure it will sort itself out.

Good stuff De13, you are lucky!!!
So whereabouts are you Cherrianne? Sounds nice.

Oh no Hashimoto, I didn’t mean you!! I meant me, feeling guilt because in general it would seem that the medical profession views type two diabetics as somehow bringing it on themselves. I am part of that profession so I know how the condition is viewed by some.
Your post didn’t come across like that to me at all. Please don’t feel bad, I love reading your posts! 🙂
I think that pasta and bread has kind of overtaken the true Italian diet. It used to be a small amount of pasta, meat occasionally but more often fish, and the main components were vegetables, beans, foraged herbs and leaves, cheese, nuts and fruit. It’s come a long way since the original peasant style of cooking and eating and is now as carb heavy as any western diet.
Scrolls are a kind of bread or sometimes scone dough which you roll out into a rectangle, spread with Vegemite and sprinkle with cheese. You then roll it up like a Swiss roll and cut it into thick slices. Lay the slices flat on an oven tray and bake. You can buy them in the shops here but they are usually too heavy handed with the vegemite and so very salty. Homemade ones are healthier.
Pizza scrolls are the same principle but spread with a tomato based sauce, mushrooms, olives, capsicum, cheese etc. great for kids lunches and picnics. If I can make them lower carb I can indulge too.
My kids do have a lovely country lifestyle. We have 95 acres for them to run around on yet are only 20 mins from the beach. We have chickens for eggs, home grown veg and used to milk our goats but they’re too old now. We are lucky enough to get fresh raw milk from a friend’s cows. As much as we can we eat fresh, seasonal, unprocessed food. We know how very fortunate we are to live like this, not something I would have thought possible if I had stayed in England.

Just realised Hashimoto was on the case quicker – should have refreshed my screen before hitting the submit button!

About to have dinner on Day 1. Was really surprised that I wasn’t hungry at all today after the avocado and tuna for breakfast and the no-carb ploughmans for lunch ( minus the ham cos I’m not a fan).

Day one for me:
Starting weight: 13st 13lbs
Waist: 35 in
Fasting bloods: 11.0 (always have had high readings first thing).
My aim is to only weigh once a week.
I’m hoping that by keeping tabs on myself on here it will help me!

Yes I also think my husband is consuming too many carbs and your suggestions are very helpful. Thank you.

Lynne and bill, that’s 3 of us in north east england!

Thank you Fofi for your suggestions. It’s really helpful to hear how others are managing the same challenges that I have before me.

Congratulations! I started today so all success stories mean a lot to me. Just enjoying plain yoghurt and blueberries for breakfast – very nice!

Depends on your goals. If you want to stick to the 800 calories you’ll have to be mindful that even some green leafy veg has up to about 30kcal per 100g. If you just want to keep blood sugar under control and generally abstain from starches, then go for it.

Hi Bill1954
I saw the programme talking about different people’s blood sugar reacting differently to exactly the same foods. I suspect maybe swede is not liking you – it has a relatively high GI of 72. Might that be it? I thought the general advice was to stay low GI.
I am sure you’ll crack whatever is causing it though, as you’ve been so phenomenally successful so far!
Julia

Hi Bill, do you think it could have been the swede? I have just googled the nutritional value of swede – 73% carbs!!!!
I love swede, mashed swede with butter and pepper is one of my most favourite veg, but if it was the swede to blame I will be having a teaspoonful of the stuff in future 🙁

Fair enough ! I’m in Gippsland so will check out some local spots. thanks

The blood sugar saga continues.
Yesterday I had 3 slices of roast lamb with cabbage, brussels sprouts, green beans, and 4 oz of boiled swede.
I had a late tea at 9pm consisting of half a pizza ! Used a gram flourflatbread for the base with a little tomato puree, onions, mushrooms, and ham topping. To give the fat a boost I sliced half a small mozzarella cheese to finish, incorporated some dried oregano into the base – delicious.
Nothing too high carb there but a fasting reading today of 8.3
I really need to get on top of this in the coming week

Like the journalist Richard Doughty I was stunned when I was diagnosed type 2 several years ago, as I had been active outdoors for most of my life (I’m now 58) and only once slightly overweight. One thing always bothered me though – however fit I was or at ‘fighting weight’ I always seemed to have a pot belly kind of thing going on.
A couple of years ago I watched Mr Mosley’s series on health during which he tests for Diabetes and turns out to be prediabetic. Scans subsequently illustrated quite clearly that his organs were slathered with fatty tissue – he was what became known as a TOFI, and this had me thinking about my condition and the reasons for it…
Some time ago I read about Professor Taylor’s work at Newcastle and the results achieved – now that really got me thinking about my condition and my pot belly – I’m surely slathered in there!
Having thought that the Newcastle study was obviously a specialist, medically supervised, lab conditions trial, I looked forward to hearing about further progress in the future. And then I came across Richard Doughty’s article… And then I came across The Blood Sugar Diet…Everyone was doing it!!!! At home!!!
So, last week I got stuck in as per the Newcastle diet – shakes and veg with an egg or two here and there and some chicken and Salmon this weekend (got to live it up a bit at weekend!).

Started off at 61.8 Kilos with blood sugars at 7.8MM. Whatever I’d tried I’d never managed to get below this since being diagnosed.

Today, 7 days later, I weighed in at 59.5 Kilos and my blood sugar reads 5.8MM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To say I’m thrilled is a slight understatement, but this illustrates the fact that, as Mr Mosley states in The Blood Sugar Diet book, that people that are not vastly overweight may not need to complete the full 8 weeks diet (as Mr Doughty found, achieving the desired result in 11 days).

I’ll check figure again in 3 or 4 days and post back, hopefully with news to encourage others to get stuck in. Well, er, actually keep stuck out really, of the fridge, biscuit tin, cake shop…

Hi Jandz,
A cup of liquorice tea or slice of lemon in hot water really helps with sweet cravings. They soon won’t be bothering you, the cravings stop quite quickly if you stick with this diet.
Sounds like you’ve made a great start. Look forward to reading of your progress.

Hi Franash and Cherrieanne, I made a simple pizza using the chickpea flour flatbreads for lunch yesterday. Of course it doesn’t taste the same but it is acceptable. I only dry fried it one side before putting toppings on and baking in oven. In time we will get used to these different tastes and textures. Of course it is much easier for me as I haven’t been able to eat anything with flour for several years so have probably forgotten how real bread tastes lol.
When I served spicy chickpea flatbreads with beef curry last night no one seemed to notice the difference – and they weren’t on this diet. I did explain half way through the meal but folks said they just taste like Indian flatbreads.
Cherrieanne I am so sorry my post sounded like I was attaching blame to T2 diabetics. I reread my post and it did come across like that. I was just wondering if a large plate of white pasta caused bigger spikes in blood sugars than say 2 slices of white bread??? I really don’t know. That was the link I was wondering about in regards to the Italian family I know. Hypothyroidism is a metabolic disease which means diabetes and hypothyroidism are strongly linked so I am in a similar situation to diabetics. The impact of this diet on my health and well-being is telling me the link is even stronger than has been supposed.
I hope your kids enjoy the scrolls ( by the way what are they?) if you try the chickpea flour version. They have a really healthy life style – all that fresh home grown food and good clean air!
🙂

Can you eat as much salad and veg as you want, apart from root veg???

CaptainLynne – you’ll be great – don’t sweat it! In answer to your question, Australia. Good luck and have fun. 🙂

Hashimoto – definitely dancing emojis! That’s great news all round. 🙂 🙂

Have to say it feels great to have made it through the eight weeks!

Captainlynne, a belated bon voyage! Very good advice there from justabloke! Enjoy! 🙂

Hi Justabloke, an amazing thing happened to me yesterday. If I previously (old living style) ate as much as 1200 – 1400 calories I was putting weight on. So, I experimented: for three days I ate 900 calories and my weight stayed the same but yesterday I ate 1500 and my weight still stayed the same. Couldn’t believe the scales at first. Stepped on and off a few times. The almost 8 weeks of this diet has caused a rather fundamental change in my body. NO MORE WORRIES about coming off 800 calories.
So back to 800 calories for another week or so to lose the 9lbs I want to be rid off.
I’m so relieved and happy !
Once on my target weight I will stick to this eating plan but just increase the calories – it seems easy to do that. I had a few more nuts as snacks after meals and for the evening meal I had a plate of beef curry, full fat raita and 2 chickpea flatbreads AND a glass of red wine.
I’d put a dancing emoji on if only I knew how 🙂 🙂 🙂

Brilliant advice/information Justabloke. Thanks 🙂

Hello!

Just finished reading the blood sugar diet book and can’t wait to get started!

I’m a little concerned about how to feed the whole family as my 10 and 7 year old won’t be fooled by courgetti and cauliflower rice!

Just wondered how others go about cooking for the whole family and if there are any cook books with more recipes that anyone might recommend?

Thanks in advance 🙂

Hello Mandy, I’m glad to read you are sticking with it. I had the same problem as you after week 1 and had to make some adjustments. Can you have bacon rashers with egg for breakfast perhaps or a gammon steak with egg and mushrooms or similar for dinner? You are right, oily fish is good, but maybe just hoik back a bit on protein and increase veg? Steak with the fat on is another good one.

can you dribble some extra virgin olive oil on your salads? Have a look In the recipe section here to see if anything else grabs you.

x

Hi Justabloke. Thanks for such a great reply.

I’m off to start the journey in about 30 minutes but saw this 😃

Rationally I know I can do this. It’s only five days, but I’m leaving my ‘comfort blankets’ behind. Hence the wobble. I know what I can and cannot eat, and I’m used to much smaller meals, even missing lunch on many days (unheard of previously😱).

Then there’s the extra walking.

I normally visit USA or Italy, which have their own challenges so this is a different adventure.

Unfortunately I can’t use the shakes, so that isn’t an option. But I have my plan and try not to stress too much. At the worst, it will mean visiting food shops and eating in the hotel room. At the best I’ll find some great places to eat and great (on plan) food.

One of the penalties of being a control freak. 😳

Thanks again (btw what country are you in, noted your comment about Channel 4).

Waiting for taxi. May not be around much until Friday night/Saturday. Will be back on here then. *waves*

Just been for my morning run which has given me time to think. I do eat oily fish – sardines, mackerel, salmon with salad for my lunch isn’t oily fish fat? Can’t think of other ways to add fat to the diet – I’ve never been on a diet before nor avoided fat so I’m not sure how to do this. M x

Congrats and keep it up. I started today but have opted for a liquid diet for the first 2 or 3 weeks except for breakfast. Be careful doing exercises. I watched an hour interview with Dr Michael Mosley with live connection also to Prof. Roy Taylor. Roy insisted that there should be no training during the diet period.

Ok it’s day 2!

Yesterday was surprisingly easy, didn’t feel hungry at all, but did have a moment where I wanted something sweet in the afternoon and after tea last night.
This I think is more habit than actual need, I normally have some chocolate or snacks on a Sunday while watching catch up tv and a pudding after tea 😱

I had 4 teaspoons full fat Greek yogurt at about 8pm and that did it for me, yum, yum!

Anyway today will be a test of what’s to come, I start a month of overtime at work so 12 hour shifts here I come….both lunch and tea are going with me to reheat. Strangely I think the overtime may help me stay on track as I’ll be home late, it’ll be a hot drink and in bed within an hour of getting in!

Thanks for the advice – I need to eat more fat. What fat am I supposed to eat? I fry vegetable where I can in rapeseed oil. I’m dairy intolerant so can’t eat milk or cheese. I do drink a small amount of full fat coconut milk. I don’t know what other fat to eat? I can’t just glue oil from the bottle . Any advice greatly received. M x