Eureka : Hi all Type 2 Diabetics

Re: broadcast Public Lecture by Prof Roy Taylor. To find :
Go to ncl.ac.uk Reversing Type 2 Diabetes. See, Information for people with Diabetes. Public Lecture on reversing type 2 diabetes ( 4 th November 2014 ). Can be viewed ( press) here

This is how to find this really important information for type 2 diabetics. Listen to the whole thing including Q&A’s at the end. I also took mob pics of the slides off my iPad Don’t know why I missed this from my first posting!

Anyone not type 2 would find this helpful too. It’s’ all about his first trial & findings , which has inspired this BSD diet we are all now on!
Eureka

HivSpirit
That book sounds interesting. What s it called?
Still waiting for the whoosh effect myself!
Did you mean you only ate 340 cals in all and did loads of exercise? I suppose it’s safe if it’s not for long as people literally fast and don’t eat at all.
Penny

Thanks, Sharon … 16lb is brilliant in 3 weeks. I am sure your grandchildren will thoroughly enjoy a more healthy and agile grandma!! 🙂 I just want to be able to keep up … even a little bit would be good!!! 🙂
Kim

Hi Ruby
You could try Floradix for iron – doesn’t cause constipation!
Penny

Hi Natasa
I think calorieKing is accurate.
Re MFP. You can put in one teaspoon for example then have half a serving ie .5 of a serving. That’s what I do. Though usually grams. ie I put things in as 100 or 10 grams or mils then have multiples of them. ie I have 200 mils of soya milk every day so it’s 2 servings etc.
Good you’re getting to grips with everything in such a detailed way. That’s what I like too but I do t like to be tied down to those recipes.
Penny

Lynne … thank you … and very well done!!! 31lbs … amazing!!! Good on yer!! Do your family know what you’ve been doing, and how much you’ve lost? They will be so very proud of their grandma/nan!!

You going to Prague this week? I hope you have a wonderful holiday … you’ll have fun looking for different foods!! 🙂

Kim

Monday weigh in, starting week four and 12 lb down – 8lb week 1, 2 3/4lb week 2, 1 1/4lb week 3. Happy as away last week Monday to Friday in a hotel with delicious food which I think I managed quite well. Did have a treat a taste of my husbands deserts two nights, but only a tiny taste. I went to the gym before breakfast (husband stayed in bed), swam and we walked miles so that helped. Really enjoying variety of new recipies.

By carbs in the evening, i mean legumes with veggies. Sometimes a kiwi. Always with fat. The pulses (legumes) are protein.
This afternoon i added a small mandarin orange because my blood sugars were 71 (i have never used meds for the pre-diabetes).

Hi Hashimoto and Kim. Good to see you. Looking forward to you joining me on here – getting a bit lonely.

Opps that should of said Kimgall

Hi I’ve just completed week1 I have lost 5 lb in 9 days-which isn’t a vast amount I know but having done slimming world diet before, I had already cut down on carbs and never ate sweets apart from dark chocolate(1 small square a week).

I thought I would miss rice, toast and pasta, but I have loved all the recipes that I have tried and they have been quite satisfying.
Normally I would be waiting to have lunch bang on 12 but today managed a rugged 4 mile walk with the dog and easily waited until the homemade soup was ready well after 1pm, having had spinach and pea omlette for breakfast.
I particularly liked the blueberry and green tea shake, portobello toast with goats cheese, pepper with jewelled feta.
My blood sugar has come down from around 6 plus to 5.6.

As a person with mother and grandmother who were diabetic, being a low birth weight baby 3lb 9oz(also a risk factor), having given birth to 2 largish babies nearly nine pounds, and carrying any extra weight around my middle I feel this diet is my best chance of not becoming a full blown diabetic.
I am to become a grandmother in June and hope to welcome the new addition to the family in great shape, THANKS TO MICHAEL AND CO.

How long did this feeling last for everyone? I’m on day four and the low carb flu has well and truly gone and I’ve never felt as good in years! I know I’m fortunate that the feeling horrible bit didn’t last long for me. (why does the flu stage last so long for some people, and not for others?)

I assume I won’t always feel like superwoman on this diet?

Welcome Kimball,

I am on week 3 and lost 16lb so far, I too have grandchildren to thank for getting me to start the journey to lose weight. I have found this forum to be so helpful and there is always someone to offer support and advice. Good luck for your first week all the best Sharon.

I agree Bill. This has to be the easiest ‘diet’ to follow, and I’ve been on diets for over 50 years! After spending a fortune on various slimming clubs, learning their different systems, this is so simple. And effective. Not a ‘diet’ but a new way of eating that’s sustainable long-term.

Hi Kimgall. My fasting BG when I started this was 10.9. Today (afte e 10 weeks in the plan) it was 5.3. Diagnosed type 2 in 2009. Wishing you every success, and many happy years with your grandson. My family haven’t seen me since before I started this – they’ll have a surprise, lost 31 pounds so far 😃. Wonder what my 8-year old twin granddaughters will say LOL.

Thanks, Bill … I have to say that your posts have been an inspiration, too!!

Kim

I am very concerned when i read that Spirit is only eating 340 calories. I have a motto: take care of body first, diet is second.
My doctor told me that he only wanted me on the 800 calories for 8 weeks. He said otherwise my thyroid function would go down. We tested it last week and it has gone down; it’s low normal, down from high normal (i take thryoid). I am on day 2 of the 8th week.

To keep things moving, I have worked myself slowly up to 3 Tablespoons of ground flax seed, drink lots of water, add extra salt. On 3 occasions I have added xylitol because it causes ummm, things to move. It is ok’d by Dr. Mosely, although he doesn’t suggest it because we are trying to ease away from sweets. I find it startlingly sweet now. But, sometimes I just need it. Greens help a LOT.

When i went out to lunch one day i had what i thought was the perfect meal. Pho soup – a beef broth based soup with veggies and small slices of beef. It tasted sweet, so sugar must have been in it. It slowed my weight loss down for days. So, since i was only doing this stringently for 8 weeks, I no longer go out. (i’ll start the 5/2 with two days of 800 and the rest normal eating – i want to succeed in the long run and at my height will need to lose 90 more pounds) i do make special things at home. This mornings 2 egg omelet cooked with 1 tsp coconut oil, garlic, asparagus and chevre cheese. A special treat that will keep me feeling full for hours.

I did have one full week without weight loss. I am counting every calorie (including greens, although Dr. Mosley indicates we don’t have to). I am writing everything down. I stay very close to 800 every day. a couple of days were 50 over. I keep my carbs to under 50 a day and adjust them if necessary. Low carb PLUS fat = fat burning. My sleep was being disrupted and my doc said to put some carbs at the end of the day and that did the trick. I always eat fats and proteins to stabilize the blood sugar before I add the carbs.

Due to a back injury, i cannot exercise. My guess is that many of you are also building muscle which weighs more than fat.

I started out at 240.2 pounds. 54 3/4 ” waist. Today I am 213.8 pounds and 50 1/8″ waist. That’s all I’ve measured. But they are now using the regular sized blood pressure cuff at the doc’s! yea! My blood sugars went down from around 112 to low 70’s. My blood pressure is down.

Dr. Mosley did some good research to back up his suggestions. Please follow them! My family doc has a nutrition and endocrine background and sees that the program is good. I also have a health education background and have years dietary knowledge that frankly didn’t help me until this program.

I know the urge is to lose as much as possible, but i think some of you may actually be sabotaging your weight loss accidentally.

I am 65!

Wishing you all the very best.

Good luck!

Hi Reynards, I had my asthma review today and asked if I should see the dr and ask for a fasting blood sugar test. Imagine my surprise when she searched my records and found I had had a reading of 8 back in 2011! Though a later one was 4.5. The dr had written on my notes ‘normal. hypothyroidism’. I had no idea about that until today. I hope all you hypothyroids on this site get your sugars tested now if you haven’t already – and ask what the reading was if you are told it was ‘normal’.

Welcome Kimgall by the way you owe your grandson a present, he has given you the final push into a new healthier lifestyle.
In fact he has even given you your first target, you need to lose enough inches to let him get his legs around you again.
Loads of people on here to talk to and question, we’ll look forward to sharing your journey 🙂

Hi hummingbird I have hashimoto’s hypothyroidism and am now six and a half weeks into this diet. Can only say it has been the best thing I have ever done. I think it will improve your metabolism rather than hinder it considering how much more energy I have since I started. I have now lost 1stone and 13lbs and have a BMI of 23.6. It was 27.8 when I started. So go with it and enjoy the improvement to your life!!!

Use less than you would think Kazd, it does absorb an awful lot of liquid.

Hi all!

“Nanny, your tummy is too fat for me to get my legs round” says 4 year old grandson yesterday, as I was carrying him! So, the 8 week blood sugar diet book I have been reading this last week, and your fantastic stories I have been engrossed with, and my ratbag of a grandson have finally convinced me I need to do this!!! Although right now, in the middle of the afternoon, feeling tired, becoming obsessed with my next meal, and what I have already put into my body today, I know I might NEED to do it … the question is, CAN I??

Fasting blood glucose this morning? 10.8!! Ouch!
Test at 1 pm today, before lunch? 5.6!! Can’t have been there for a long time cos I was definitely shaky!!! Now I know that’s no hypo, but I also know that the reaction is because my body is not used to not having loads of sugar in its blood!! 🙁

Yes, I’m afraid I am one of those long term type 2 diabetics (15 years diagnosed) that no matter what I do, may well never totally reverse my diabetes, however I know that with this lifestyle change I could very well reduce a lot of medication and go on to see my ratbag of a grandson (and his brother and cousin) go on to become gorgeous young people … and maybe even plague the lives out of them for a long time to come. Here’s hoping!! 🙂

It looks to me as if the answer is in my hands!!

Thank you, one and all, for sharing your trials, tribulations … and many successes … because those have helped me to come to the decision to try and do something about the situation I am currently in!!

So, looking forward to continuing to read your stories, but no longer from the side lines … but as a fully paid up member of your club!! 🙂

Thank you Bill1954, I have made do with regular flour today but will add coconut flour to my shopping list.

Congratulations CaptainLynne! Brilliant effort and great results from your 10 weeks, looking forward to joining you in the ‘8 week’ club some day!!

I think the chickpea flour goodies are a winner.
Thanks Bill and it’s really great reading everybody’s stories.
I’m due for my measure in tomorrow. Now the flu symptoms have gone I am feeling good. Still drinking loads of water and am in this for the long term.
Life style choice now.
Jane

Hi Humming bird
I am on 150mg. Have been on diet 2 weeks and have lost 12 pounds. Most noticeably I have soooooo much more energy and not too many cravings. This is not to say that I wouldn’t like to dive head first into a vat of Cadburys Dairy Milk because to be honest I would love to ..but the feeling of being able to fit into clothes more comfortably and having more energy, plus feeling incredibly pious as I load my trolley at the supermarket with nuts, seeds, natural yoghurt et al is a great buzz and so I have to remember that when I feel a bit peckish ! I asked my GPs about going on it and they didn’t say no so I am doing it for 8 weeks and seeing if this can be the change I need. It took me 5 months of blood and sweat at the gym and diet to lose one and a half stone last year and had truly thought that I would never lose the weight I had put on thanks to my underactive thyroid, but this has given me hope, so as long as your GP is OK with it and you have no other health issues I would recommend it. I was diagnosed a pre-diabetic last month and this was enough to make me get my life sorted out..the BSD is step one !! Best of luck if you do it.

Hi Bill, I’ll take you up on posting recipes! So far I haven’t remembered to photograph anything. On a completely different note I had my annual asthma review this morning and took my blood sugar diet book and my file of recipes with me as well as an excel spreadsheet of my daily weigh ins, number of steps and BMI. As soon as I walked in the nurse was amazed – she could see instantly I had lost a lot of weight and looked full of energy instead of dragging myself in. She said there is diabetes in her family, she made a note of this website and book title and said she is going to be on board with this. Hopefully this will filter through to other staff and diabetic patients. I said I had booked an apptmt with a GP to ask about having a fasting blood sugar test done. She searched my record and it showed that there have been spikes in my readings between 4.5 and 8!!!!!!!!! as far back as 2011. Classed as ‘normal’ because I have Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism! The reading of 8 was back in 2011 and I had put a lot of weight on since then so God only knows what it was before this diet. I should definitely have waited to start the diet til after it was done. Now I know I am sticking with this way of eating for life!
My file of recipes contains the recipes in the book but I googled ‘daily mail 8 week blood sugar diet’ and printed of the pages with the recipes. I find it easy to open up the file, look at the pictures and make what takes my fancy. I often change the frittata recipe to have more veg, no chickpeas, and sometimes a couple of rashers of grilled bacon chopped into it.

Hi there,

I’m also hypothyroid, on 150grm of Levothyroxine. I’ve been doing the 5:2 (2 day ‘fasting’) for nearly a year and have lost 10 Ibs, but struggling now with the last stone, and have not really been very motivated since before xmas. I’m toying with BSD, but concerned the calories are so low it will mess up my metabolism, anyone else have those concerns?

Of course I meant increase the fat – silly me

Perhaps you just jumped in without planning things.
Try planning a weeks menu in advance, choose from the recipes in the book or on site or even use your own as long as you cut out the carbs and fat.
DO NOT berate yourself – disgusted and annoyed isn’t an expression we want to here from you EVER again.
We all had to start, some of us made slip ups along the way, but, above all, we are all here to help.
If you feel like binging come on here and tell us about it, we’ll soon talk you out of it.
You are part of the BSD family now and all the help you need is here.

I have to agree with you that the relaxed way the book is written makes it far easier to follow for me.
UK users may feel uncomfortable at first with the US way of measurnig things, a handful of this, a cup of that, but behind all that is the simple message, get rid of the simple carbs and eat the good stuff.
It’s so simple, why complicate things ?

Hi there. I am not too sure how to work the “start a new topic” thing but hopefully I can enlist some help. I started real well with the BSD last Monday and I’ve just had a big binge. I am so disgusted and annoyed with myself. I would love someone’s help to get me back onto the diet. I don’t know what is wrong with me!

Thanks in anticipation

I actually found some at the weekend and had a little taste this morning! It is delicious, tastes very rich for someone who has not had dairy for 13 years now, so would only need a little at a time. It is pretty calorific, I think maybe 50g would be a good serving…

it is delicious, but a bit calorific at 183/100g 🙁

Pleased you enjoyed them sooze39
They really are so versatile and can be used as the base for loads of yummy goodies.
I’m just like you in that I don’t get hung up on calories. I look at the ingredients and I’m not a big eater anyway so no worries about portion control. If the ingredients are healthy, I’ll eat it 🙂

I hardly post at all, but read the forums assiduously and find them both supportive, highly entertaining (some of the humour really helps keep me motivated!) and inspirational – in fact, am off to buy some gram flour for the chickpea flour pancakes!
The stir fry cabbage idea also sounds good to try.
I am a bit of a cheat – started before Christmas at around 91 kilos, but was seriously derailed due to a very nasty and prolonged bout of flu for the first 2-3 weeks of the year. Due to all that ibuprofen and paracetamol, I was a bit panicky about the low carb approach while stuffing my sensitive tummy with the meds, and also felt too awful to be able to plan and shop, much less cook BSD stuff. Have also had a week in Spain with in-laws who barely know what some veg look like, so gained a little which I then had to lose again. So you could say I am 2 weeks off completing the 8 weeks considering the break(s). I am now down to 84 kilos… and all due to the support here. And an inch or 2 off the waist too, although it seems most weight has come off those love handles higher up than anywhere else!

Keep it all going folks.

And to KatieB – I’m with Bill: go into that appointment full of the joys at what you’ve achieved in reducing the BS readings – you now seem to be in the pre-diabetic zone rather than the diabetic zone with that level. Below 42 is normal – so you are getting there! How can any GP argue with that improvement?

Hello Jules,

Coconut yogurt sounds lovely, I will look for it too.

I am sorry to hear that Gram flour is not good either; my husband is the same, anything that has chickpeas would bother him. So, I am looking for an alternative legume or bean flour.

All the best,

Coconut flour make a very good thickening agent as it absorbs lots of liquid.

Does anyone know if Dark rye Ryvita are okay to have as they are made from whole dark rye? They are low on calories.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for a thickening agent. Am making Hairy Bikers Lasagna and looking to thicken the béchamel sauce. Friend pointed me in the direction of Arrowroot over cornflour as no sugar but it is high in carbs and comes in at 85 on the GI chart.

Has anyone got any suggestions please.

Thanks Bill, that really helps – much appreciated!

Just want to say thanks to Bill, I made your chickpea flour pancakes for lunch, I used half cup flour, dessertspoon of Greek yogurt, salt & pepper and parsley, plus enough water to make a batter. It made 2 individual size pancakes. Husband and I have just had one each topped with tuna, bit of grated cheese, dsp sweetcorn and a dollop of mayo, with a pile of salad leaves. Yum.

Loving this diet and finding it easy, we’ve been on it about a month now and have lost around a stone each. I’m not hung up on sticking strictly to the 800 cals (life’s too short to count cals, in my opinion!), I know for a fact we’ll be eating a lot fewer simply by cutting down drastically on carbs. Cut out sugar 2 years ago when I was first diagnosed as T2. I don’t stick slavishly to the recipes in the book either (although some of them, like the aubergine with lamb are gorgeous), I just make up my own following the guidelines in the book.

I’m no longer bloated, joints don’t ache anymore, I feel clearer headed and have more energy. I reckon we’ll be eating this way for the foreseeable future.

The recipes in the book, although delicious in the main can be modified to suit your tastes.
Just be sure that the substitute is just as low or free from simple carbs as the original and that the calories don’t differ too much.
Welcome to the BSD and good luck !

Hello! I have started the 8wk BSD today – Does anybody know if you have to stick to the food in the book religiously (as I hate cheese – even Feta) or can a substitute be made, with the same amount of calories and still sticking with the Mediterranean type food?
🙂

Congrats to AllieBee and Ally, sounds like it’s going really well. I have had a good week, losing 5lb and a half inch off my waist, not as impressive as your results AllieBee, but getting there! I’m hoping my results will not drop off too drastically this week, but I’m not expecting to lose another 5lb this week – would be nice to drop three though.

Have found the diet is making me think about what I am cooking and sparked some inventiveness. I am making a moussaka for this evening, using lots of veggies to pad it out and only using aubergine, no potatoes. Found that 30g full fat yogurt with 25g of sultanas soaked in rose or ginger tea makes is surprisingly filling and satisfying as a sweet treat, if needed for a fix of something sweet – comes in around 107calories, depending on the yogurt used.

Overall though, not really missing carbs and my body seems to be coping fine without them. Have found I am sleeping better, my only problem is constipation, as I struggle to drink enough – it’s always been a downfall of mine. Added to that a naturally sluggish bowel and this drastic diet change was always going to have an impact in this area. It’s not causing a huge problem and I’m working to resolve it. This has been the only bugbear for me though and seeing actual results on the scales, more than makes up for a blip in this area.

Best wishes to all those that started the BSD last Monday as well – hope you are see good results too and that it will continue.

Very good! They free range and I get 10 eggs each day so they need a few extras! They are getting the pasta too now!

Sorry, with stir-fried cabbage, should have said that I add 1-2 tablesp chickpea flour towards the end of cooking. Gives it a slightly nutty flavour.

I admire your desire to eat a ketogenic diet but some of the advice being given in this thread is far stricter than that proposed by Michael- legumes are quite acceptable on the 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet so don’t be afraid of them- they are a good combination of complex carbs and protein and don’t substantially affect glucose levels in regards to spiking= they’re also an excellent choice if you’re a vegetarian or vegan.

Low carb is subject to a number of interpretations as to what exactly counts as “low carb”- the Diet Doctor has also discussed this and classifies anything up to 100 grams of carbs as “easy low-carb”. I’m trying to stick to 40 grams of carbs since it allows for some fruit, but everyone has to find their own level at which they are happy- if I go lower than this I’ll binge eventually due to rebelling from the choices available and if I go higher than this I’ll end up on a downward slope of carb-creep eventually leading to bingeing, a scenario that led me to have the problems with visceral fat that I now have.

For me personally I find the looser interpretation by Michael more appealing since it is sustainable in the long-term. I also wanted to say that the Optifast shakes that were initially used in the Newcastle experiment are not low carb but it is the level of calories taken in that makes ours and the Newcastle diet ketogenic.

Good luck with whatever levels you choose.

Thanks, Bill. This time, it has to work. I love a wine or two, but then I eat, eat, eat. Inspired by you & the others!

Stick with it Yael
your rewards will come on your weigh day 🙂
Congratulations on your fortitude BTW