Anonymous Question Low calorie diet for type 2?

[Anonymous Question]

Anonymous question submitted:

I have been reading through your website and others regarding the reversing type 2 diabetes. I understand a 700 calorie diet can achieve the reversing of the disease. I am not over weight (10st 11lb and 5ft 11in tall). What advice could you give me regarding this diet I have read.

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[Bluetit1802]

I think you are talking about the Newcastle Diet, which does claim to have reversed type 2 in some people. However, this is a weight loss diet. It is the weight loss that has improved the diabetes. I suggest you have a look at the low carb forums as this is much more sustainable and suitable for anyone, not just those needing to lose weight.

 

[izzzi]

Use your BG meter to gain control and choose your own diet that suits your personnel requirements.
Also take your time in making a wise choice that works.
As we are all different and there are many diets, things may become more confusing.
I decided to try a vegan type diet over two years ago and all things became well controlled, not that I would recommend you to go vegan, just making a point that many diets do work ( I also never had a weight issue ).

 

[Sid Bonkers]

The Newcastle study diet has achieved great results but is said to only work well in diabetics diagnosed for 3 or 4 years or less, Im not 100% on the years but it is not for those who have had the condition for many years.

It works by reducing or removing the visceral fat that T2 diabetics have around their internal organs, this fat causes insulin resistance which in turn causes the bodies insulin to become ineffective, visceral fat is not visible so the fact that you are slim makes no difference at all you can still have visceral fat and if it is removed you will have a very good chance of reversing your condition and then by adjusting your diet slightly and by eating fresh whole foods you may just maintain that reversal so its well worth trying if you are newly diagnosed.

 

[Pipp]

The Newcastle study diet has achieved great results but is said to only work well in diabetics diagnosed for 3 or 4 years or less, Im not 100% on the years but it is not for those who have had the condition for many years.

It works by reducing or removing the visceral fat that T2 diabetics have around their internal organs, this fat is not visible so the fact that you are slim makes no difference at all you may still have visceral fat and if it is removed you will have a very good chance of reversing your condition and then by adjusting your diet slightly and by eating fresh whole foods you may just maintain that reversal so its well worth trying if you are newly diagnosed.

I had been 6 years since T2 diagnosis when I achieved success with Newcastle diet.

 

[Daibell]

Hi. The ND diet started life as a crash diet and is calorie reduction based. As your weight is OK and you are mainly trying to reduce blood sugar then you need to focus on carb reduction. You don't need a specific diet for that but just keep the carb content of meals down and have recipes that you can maintain for the long-term. Protein and fats should be fine to make up for the reduced carbs.

 

[AndBreathe]

Professor Taylor talks about "personal fat thresholds" in his work and presentations, and conceeds that the word personal in that statement is key. Some people can tolerate higher fat levels in their bodies than others, before insulin resistance/diabetes comes into play.

Your current BMI is 21, with the healthy weight range of 9st 7lbs to 12st 12lbs, so you could lose some weight without becoming clinically underweight, so that could be worth pondering, if you fancy giving the ND a go.

Professor Taylor's work shows a significantly positive probable result for those who lose weight, and haven't been diabetic too long. But, and it's an extremely important but, it isn't guaranteed diabetes will be reversed by following the diet, and further reasearch need to be completed (it's under way) to determine the longer term efficacy of the approach and looking at a larger sample of participants.

If you haven't read his work (as opposed to reading journalistic articles), I suggest you do. You can find all sorts of excellent stuff here: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal.htm And don't forget to click through all of the links.

I didn't do this myself, as I was achieving enormous progress without recourse to the harsh very low calorie approach, but other have. There have been several threads about this in the past, so a forum search would also return excellent reading material.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[jack412]

As Daibell said you may find reducing your carbs is enough.
it’s a long page and a few good video’s
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
For me, the more carbs we eat the more carbs we want. they don’t give up easy
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarb101/a/firstweek.htm

 

[bkr]

A superb thread, something I had been curious about too - how to achieve the 700/800 calory Newcastle diet possibly without Optifast meal replacement drinks.

Nice one Pipp, did you document your reversal on the forum? (Im keen to know more, its inspiring to know you made it happen )