I am 73 years old 5ft 8in tall medium build and have been declared Diabetic for about 6 years.
My HbA1c in January 2014 was 57 mmol/mol and had been steadily creeping up so I decided to try the Newcastle Diet which I had read a lot about, rather than go on medication, which I was desperate to avoid. I asked my doctor if he was able to prescribe the shake (Optifast) which was used in the research and he said he could not, so I decided to go it alone.
Before leaving for Florida where I have a home I rang the University and spoke to one of Professor Taylors research assistants I explained that I was going to be in Florida from September until April where a large variety of diet shakes were available and asked whether it was possible to use one of any of a number of which I suggested, She explained that it wasn't necessary to use Optifast as this was only used as it was supplied free by Nestle, so I chose Glucerna by Abbot made particularly for diabetics, surprisingly even "Slimfast" was considered OK despite its high sugar content !!
When I left the UK my weight was 182 lb I decided to try and lose a bit before I started the diet and it was 179 lb when I started on 27th January 2014 my initial target was 165 lb and then hopefully to 160 lb, I the intend to try and keep it between 160 lb and 165 lb. dieting for a day or two if it became too high.
The lowest fasting blood glucose I have on record was from a B.U.P.A. medical in 1995 when it was 5.6mmol/l recently however it has been circa 7.7mmol/l.
To date following the diet religiously my weight has dropped to 162.3 lb a loss of over nearly17 lb and my fasting Blood sugar in the range of 3.7mmol/l to 4.9mmol/l, never before have I achieved reading as good as this so you will appreciate how pleased I was!
I find the diet boring rather than difficult and decided to give it a break for a day or two, I was doing a Dinner Party for some friends and though I would partake in some of the food, so a couple of days before the dinner I decided to get my stomach used to something more than soup, shakes and salad and introduced some toast with the soup and tuna or lean chicken with the salad.
The theme for the Dinner Party was "A Taste of England" Salmon Mousse with Melba toast. Steak, Ale & Mushroom pie ( Newcastle Brown Ale) of course followed by Queen of puddings, naturally having cooked it all I ate it all!
The following day (Sunday) having suffered cramp in my lower legs continuously all night I felt exceptionally tired all the next day and only had a couple of shakes and a Tuna salad.
The whole point of mentioning this is on Monday 24 February feeling extremely well!! I decided to take my fasting blood sugar and was blown away that it was unexpectedly high at 6.9mmol/l at 7.30am. I was, extremely disappointed and disillusioned at this result, I decided to miss breakfast and go for a 14 mile bike ride ( usually do 8-10) and to test my fasting sugar again, at10.00am it was down to a very satisfactory 5.1mmol/l!! (My BS previously has always gone down after exercise.)
From the 24th February to date I have had a number of unexpected blood sugar readings:- Tuesday 25th Feb at 8.19am my fasting BS was 6.0mmol I was expecting something in the region of 5.0mmol I decided to go for a bike ride as exercise always lowers my blood sugar as it had on the 24th Feb to my utter amazement it was raised to 6.3mmol thinking I must not have checked properly I took it again 2 minutes later from a new batch of test strips it was even higher at 6.8mmol, I have no idea why this should be!! and can only assume it is not sensible to test immediately after exercise. Monday 3rd March my fasting BS was again satisfactory at 5.3mmol and I have a range of Pre- Prandial reading ranging from 6.3mmol to a high of 8.0mmol, rather confusing! Here in Florida Bayer produce a Home testing kit for Hba1c and I intend to use it before I return to the UK on 10th April I will then wait a full 90 days from my last NHS test before I ask the doctor to retest.
All in all I am pleased with what I have achieved to date, just confused by some of the more unexpected readings and will continue to diet until I achieve my target of 160 lb which I believe is reasonable for my age and build, my trousers are already hanging of my waist and I don't want to by a new wardrobe.
Not sure going it alone without any access to my UK doctor was a sensible thing but I feel exceptionally well and my blood pressure has also dropped from a high of 150/85 when I left the UK to about 117/65 which I am pleased about.
I would urge anyone contemplating this regime to download and read the "Banting Memorial Lecture 2012" by Professor R. Taylor as it makes very encouraging reading.
Hope the reader finds my experience encouraging, It's not easy! but then nothing worthwhile ever is.
