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

Foodland and the bigger IGA’s have it here in SA, also the bulk bread making/ nuts/ dried fruit type shops. Health food shops charge lots for a small amount usually.
We have a shop in our Central Market in Adelaide called goodies n grains that sells it. I don’t remember if you have a shop like that in your big market ( is it Queen Elizabeth?), I’m usually too busy at the hippy clothes stalls to look anywhere else lol 🙂

Sounds like an idea. Where do you buy chick pea flour Cherrianne?

Only for weight loss. Thanks. Will do the quiz

Hmm Franash, wonder what they’d be like made with chickpea flour? My kids love vegemite scrolls and pizza scrolls to take for lunch. I haven’t been tempted so far but you’ve got me wondering….
My family have already decided that Bill’s flatbread recipe ( the coconut one but made with chickpea flour instead), with rosemary and garlic would make a great pizza base 🙂

Just ordered pure gluten flour (Made in Aus) from a Sydney website. Should be delivered tomorrow. I’ll experiment with adding this to chickpeas flour and other gluten free flours to give them, hopefully, the elasticity that wheat flour has. Don’t know the ration but after hours of searching someone suggested 1 tablespoon (15ml) to 2 or 3 cups of flour (480 to 620ml). Will let you know how it will turn out if you are not gluten intolerant.

Again, thanks to all for all of your feedbacks.

Hi Linda,
We have a forum member called Hashimoto who has the condition. She is nearly at the end of her eight weeks and has been very successful.
Not sure if there’s anyone with bipolar but I think if you are stable on meds you shouldn’t have a problem. Check in with your GP though if you are concerned. You might need a review of your meds if you lose significant amounts of weight.
Stay in touch, it will be great to follow your progress and might encourage someone else with the same conditions. 🙂

Hi Sarahg,
You haven’t said if you’re doing this for weight loss only, or diabetes management. Have you done the quiz on the home page? That might give you a better idea. 🙂

Hi joy4life,
Welcome to the forum and a better way of eating.
You’ve already mastered the first step which is preparation. If you plan your day’s eating then you won’t be caught out and grabbing the wrong food just because you’re hungry. If the recipe serves two, freeze the other portion, or double the ingredients so that you’ll always have a meal or two in the freezer for days when you’re busy.
Read through the posts as you’ll get a good idea of any challenges or successes to expect.
Some people, not all, experience a withdrawal period and symptoms may include hunger, tiredness, headaches or feeling emotional. Rarely lasts more than a few days though.
You can help yourself by making sure you drink 2-3l of water/ non sugary drinks and keeping your fat intake up. Take something for headaches, and rest and treat yourself kindly if you aren’t feeling your usual self. It isn’t really as grim as the above sounds lol 🙂
You will get plenty of support and advice if you need it so keep on posting. After just a few weeks there’s already a wealth of knowledge among members. Good luck with it.

Just a quick question. I am not sure if this is for me and which diet should I select. I did 5-2 fasting a few years ago but really struggled to lose weight. I only have a few kilos to lose and since giving up 5-2 I have gained a few more kilos so really would like to lose about 5 kilos.
Which plan would be best for me
Thanks

Captainlynne, I’m sure you’ll smash it! It must be tricky trying to keep to the plan while visiting another country.

There’s a series that we’ve been watching from your Channel 4 called how to lose weight well, and we watched the first episode yesterday. All of the diets essentially involved calorie restriction and just about everyone lost weight. The difference was how hard or easy they were to stick to. The (relative) ease of the BSD and the 5&2 modified Mediterranean plans seem to be in the fibre and fat content and in the Mediterranean diet, getting your carbs long term from whole grains or whole fruit so that you ingest some fibre at the same time as the starch or fructose. This is what halts the addictive “ingest sugar or fructose, feel hungry again really quickly” cycle.

Long term success for me is going to involve avoiding sugary snacks, any processed foods and sugar substitutes in all forms.

For you, what’s the worst that can happen when you’re in Prague? If you try and avoid the foods you know will give you problems and accidentally ingest something you shouldn’t, you might have a slight reversal in metabolic outcomes but it’s only short term.

If you’re really worried, take some of the recommended liquid shakes powder with you and have them for breakfast or lunch? You’ll be back home in a short period and you KNOW you can stick to the diet fairly easily so you’ll be back on track in no time.

The final thing that has really helped me to maintain some discipline is reading on and listening to some of the experts in the field. Prof Taylor from Newcastle university has a recorded speech on the ncl.ac.uk reverse t2 diabetes site that talks about the research that led Dr Mosley to the BSD. The researcher/doctor that started a lot of the debate around sugar and metabolic syndrome and t2 diabetes is Dr Robert Lustig. He is an American pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco and has written a book called “Fat Chance – the bitter truth about sugar ” (available on Amazon as a book or ebook) . Think of it as a really detailed explanation and examination of the information around our body’s response to certain foods that Dr Mosley summarised in his BSD book. I bought that as an audiobook and listen to it on my bike rides or walks. There are also some YouTube video’s of lectures by him – Sugar: The Bitter Truth, Fat Chance and Fat Chance 2.0: Fructose.

It was interesting to understand the reasons why I previously snacked, ate the way I did and the foods I chose and avoided moving and exercise at all costs.

Now I understand what sugar did to me, it’s really easy to stay on the path.

Good luck for next (this?) week and into the future 🙂

Hello All,
Positive start with healthy breakfast and 4k walk and I feel pretty good.
Does anyone know if it is ok to be on this Diet when you have hashimoto’s and Bipolar?

I have been overweight pretty much all my life, my sleep was terrible, I am not diabetic but was very concerned that my sugar consumption may be putting me at risk. I have been following the 800 calories a day and cycling approx 60 kms over the past six days, I have lost over 4 kilos and I’m sleeping like a baby!! Yes there have been times where I am hungry but I’ve had a few nuts and lots of water….will keep you posted!

Hi Penny, it really does make me sound like a Japanese man, doesn’t it? You made me chuckle with that one. It was that strange moment when asked for a username and you use the first thing that comes into your head 🙂

Good luck Denise47Jones! Welcome.
Bill1954, I’m in Victoria, Australia!
Glad Georgiarose, those olives were a good choice then!
I had a little speedhump last night – I find when I bake it hard to resist having some – I made vegemite scrolls for the kids lunches. i knew it would be a challenge, I ate one, but I guess its good I stopped at only one. First decent carbs in almost a week. Yep, my last day for the first week is tomorrow. Good luck everyone, keep at it.

Hi Marjorie- well said!
As I’ve said before, we ve all been sold an addictive substance for years and sometimes we re going to slip back. But we can beat it, and I’m sure you will.
Best of luck
Penny

Hi Fin
I’m really sorry to hear you’re suffering.
I wondered about the composition of slim fast. I had a look. It’s 6 g fat, 25 g carb, 10 G protein. I think that is not really the right ratios for this diet, which really is low carb ( people often aim for 50g, per day, if they’re measuring carbs) and high fat with medium protein. ( we ve all struggled with the idea of high fat, but full fat dairy and the fat on meat keeps hunger away)
Perhaps it would be better to try following the menus for a week, or a version of them that suits you?
As an example, you could have omelette or full fat Greek yogurt with a few berries for breakfast, oily fish and salad veg for lunch, meat and green veg for dinner- including the fat! That sort of regime would fit the theory. I’m sure people will pile in with suggestions, but on this type of eating we ve all found after a few days we feel really energetic and dont crave carbs.
Best of luck with it
Penny

I made it through! I had half of each scone, a sliver of brownie and cut a fairy cake in half and only just went over my 800 as kept the rest of the day low. I have proved to myself that this is a new way of life and the whole thing doesn’t go off track for one meal. Even better, the cake tasted really sweet and I didn’t feel like I wanted more. So, back to the new normal tomorrow!

Thanks for listening.

I’ve done my first day today and have enjoyed reading this! Very encouraging to see that the hunger pangs subside, and that the weight losses are steady. Very excited about tomorrow’s lunch, but not sure about the green tea and blueberry breakfast smoothie! 😯

Thanks Cherrianne. I’ll check it out more when I get back next weekend. 😃

Hi Mandy
Welcome to the forum
I recommend a book by Jenny Ruhl called ‘low carb problems solved’ (£3 on kindle) which deals with this problem amongst others.
As Spirit days, you have to eat fat ( most of us have struggled with that at first after decades of anti fat propaganda)
to replace the carbs, which maybe you’re not doing. On Myfitness pal you can track your macronutrients.
Best of luck,
Penny

Hi Captlynne
Thanks. I know that’s true- judicious use of emojis!
Penny☺️