Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
I used some of the recipes from the 8 week blood sugar diet recipe book when I was following a very low cal diet but mostly had things like home made soups and salads. Don't know if this is the same book as you have ordered as mine is a few years old and only has the foreword written by Mosely. The recipes in the blood sugar book can be quite high in carbs so I would advise caution - I still use a few recipes from it but I have also invested in a few Keto recipe books at around £6.00 each usually from the Works. Buying recipes books is not really necessary though as there are lots of recipes out there, I just add keto in front of something I fancy and do a search. There is usually a low carb version of the meal that someone has already adapted.
The book was written in 2017 all by Michael Moseley, will have a look at keto thank you!
 

Rowgirl

Well-Known Member
Messages
58
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi, I have just been diagnosed with type 2, my blood test was 54 and I am overweight. I will be honest it wasn’t a shock as diagnosed with prediabetes a few years ago and well, did nothing about it. Other half started researching and read everything about reversing it, saw documentary by Michael Moseley. Bought the book as a starting point for healthy eating and off we went. Was over 17 stones and 3 weeks later 15 stone 5. We were positive and were taking a proactive attitude ...until the diabetes nurse rang. Let’s just say she had never heard of this healthy lifestyle plan and jumped to the conclusion I was just on low calorie packet shakes, I’m not. Was quite adamant it doesn’t really work etc.

We have our first face to face meeting coming up and I’m not looking forward to it. I was trying to put a brave face on and kept thinking I was doing well, this has totally floored me and I don’t want to go. I want the chance to try and reverse it but it doesn’t sound like I will get the chance to.

my reason for posting is to ask what information I should be getting and what answers I need to enable me to tackle this properly. Hands up I have screwed up but surely I must be able to help myself somehow?

thanks for any advice given
Hi, it sounds like you've made great progress so far, well done. I got diagnosed T2 in March, it's been a difficult few months. I thought I could sort it out myself but struggled. It wasn't until I came onto this site that I realised a balanced died for non diabetic isn't a balanced diet for me to maintain good blood sugars. After my hba1c rising from 50 to 67, I've basically cut out a lot of carbs, no bread, pasta, pastry, potatoes etc. Carb levels of below 5g per 100g has brought down my blood sugars. At times this has been overwhelming, but coming onto this site and reading that i'm not alone. My gp is very sweet but it's been the diabetic nurse who deals with diabetics at my surgery. Again she is very nice, but just says a balanced diet and exercise. But it's much more than that. I've got a monitor, and it is helping to find out what to avoid. Good luck.
 

BoringBrian

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Housework
That’s great thank you! I don’t really understand how it all works to be honest in terms of how and what food affects you?
Hello Owlie,
Can I suggest you watch some Dennis Pollock Beat Diabetes videos on YouTube. He explains it better than I can, plus lots of inspirational stories of people taking control of of their health.
I found that eating 2 meals a day suited me, and within a six hour window. It’s something you can gradually build up to if you want to give it a go.
Just try to avoid snacking to give your liver and pancreas a rest, and always read the carbohydrates label on anything you buy.
I can also recommend Sarah Hallberg TED talk video and any by Dr Jason Fung.
Lastly google Dr David Unwin and download his charts on equivalent teaspoons of sugar.
I hope what I said makes sense and can help you.
Best wishes
 

Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
Hi, it sounds like you've made great progress so far, well done. I got diagnosed T2 in March, it's been a difficult few months. I thought I could sort it out myself but struggled. It wasn't until I came onto this site that I realised a balanced died for non diabetic isn't a balanced diet for me to maintain good blood sugars. After my hba1c rising from 50 to 67, I've basically cut out a lot of carbs, no bread, pasta, pastry, potatoes etc. Carb levels of below 5g per 100g has brought down my blood sugars. At times this has been overwhelming, but coming onto this site and reading that i'm not alone. My gp is very sweet but it's been the diabetic nurse who deals with diabetics at my surgery. Again she is very nice, but just says a balanced diet and exercise. But it's much more than that. I've got a monitor, and it is helping to find out what to avoid. Good luck.
Thank you for sharing and for your advice!
 
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Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
Hello Owlie,
Can I suggest you watch some Dennis Pollock Beat Diabetes videos on YouTube. He explains it better than I can, plus lots of inspirational stories of people taking control of of their health.
I found that eating 2 meals a day suited me, and within a six hour window. It’s something you can gradually build up to if you want to give it a go.
Just try to avoid snacking to give your liver and pancreas a rest, and always read the carbohydrates label on anything you buy.
I can also recommend Sarah Hallberg TED talk video and any by Dr Jason Fung.
Lastly google Dr David Unwin and download his charts on equivalent teaspoons of sugar.
I hope what I said makes sense and can help you.
Best wishes
That is brilliant thank you so much! Going to start looking at this list now!
 

Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
Can anyone recommend a book that lists what is good to eat because I get confused with the different carbs and what fruit you eat.

Also, once you get your Hba1c back to normal sugar wise, can you then go to a balanced diet or do you have to stick to a low carb diet forever?

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to reply with invaluable advice!
 

MoorT2

Well-Known Member
Messages
104
Also, once you get your Hba1c back to normal sugar wise, can you then go to a balanced diet or do you have to stick to a low carb diet forever?

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to reply with invaluable advice!

I'm interested to know this too.

I think the reality is once you are diabetic you are for life. So we are always going to have to be careful. Being a 'healthy weight' and exercise can help improve body's ability to process blood sugar but I don't think it ever gets back to "normal".

I'd love to be corrected on that though.
 
Last edited:

Resurgam

Expert
Messages
9,849
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Can anyone recommend a book that lists what is good to eat because I get confused with the different carbs and what fruit you eat.

Also, once you get your Hba1c back to normal sugar wise, can you then go to a balanced diet or do you have to stick to a low carb diet forever?

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to reply with invaluable advice!
I have made up my own list of things to eat just jotting them down in a note book.
Mixtures usually come packaged so they have details in the nutrition list.
One thing to be aware of if you look up information on the internet is that in the US they include the fibre in the carb count, which is odd as it is pretty much indigestible, but they spell it 'fiber' so it is possible to tell.
 
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jonathan183

Well-Known Member
Messages
373
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Also, once you get your Hba1c back to normal sugar wise, can you then go to a balanced diet or do you have to stick to a low carb diet forever?

Peoples ability to tolerate higher carbohydrate content varies between people. This will also be affected by how much damage has been done by the high blood glucose levels.

Carbs can be addictive so you will need to consider that if you decide to significantly increase carbs once you have achieved your targets. I'd suggest after you achieve your targets you could increase carbs a little to increase the range of foods you are able to eat but would stay away from highly processed carbs and sugar ... but its only my suggestion ;)
 
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Daibell

Master
Messages
12,642
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Can you recommend a glucose meter? Thank you
Hi. A commonly recommended one is the CodeFree on Amazon as it has low cost test strips. All the meters meet the same standards of accuracy so go for the ones with the lowest cost strips. Note these are VAT free if you are a diabetic.
 
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Reactions: Owlie123

Daibell

Master
Messages
12,642
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Can anyone recommend a book that lists what is good to eat because I get confused with the different carbs and what fruit you eat.

Also, once you get your Hba1c back to normal sugar wise, can you then go to a balanced diet or do you have to stick to a low carb diet forever?

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to reply with invaluable advice!
You will find you need to control the carbs as part of an ongoing lifestyle. The traditional Western diet isn't balanced for health which is why so many are obese. We no longer exercise or live in cold homes as we once did so carbs need to be kept down. As long as your BS remains OK and your BMI is good then that amount of carbs is OK.
 

Tannith

BANNED
Messages
1,230
Hi, I have just been diagnosed with type 2, my blood test was 54 and I am overweight. I will be honest it wasn’t a shock as diagnosed with prediabetes a few years ago and well, did nothing about it. Other half started researching and read everything about reversing it, saw documentary by Michael Moseley. Bought the book as a starting point for healthy eating and off we went. Was over 17 stones and 3 weeks later 15 stone 5. We were positive and were taking a proactive attitude ...until the diabetes nurse rang. Let’s just say she had never heard of this healthy lifestyle plan and jumped to the conclusion I was just on low calorie packet shakes, I’m not. Was quite adamant it doesn’t really work etc.

We have our first face to face meeting coming up and I’m not looking forward to it. I was trying to put a brave face on and kept thinking I was doing well, this has totally floored me and I don’t want to go. I want the chance to try and reverse it but it doesn’t sound like I will get the chance to.

my reason for posting is to ask what information I should be getting and what answers I need to enable me to tackle this properly. Hands up I have screwed up but surely I must be able to help myself somehow?

thanks for any advice given
The low calorie diet or T2 diabetes very much does work if you start it early enough in the progress of your diabetes ie in the first 4 to 6 years approx. So much so that the NHS has adopted a version of it. Your nurse should absolutely know about that. It isn't easy, but as substantial weight loss will work using any diet, you might like to try what has been dubbed the Newcastle style approach which is a gentler version of the famous Newcsastle diet. This worked for me.
https://diabetesmyway.nhs.uk/preventing-diabetes/nhs-low-calorie-diet-programme/
 

Tannith

BANNED
Messages
1,230
Hi, I have just been diagnosed with type 2, my blood test was 54 and I am overweight. I will be honest it wasn’t a shock as diagnosed with prediabetes a few years ago and well, did nothing about it. Other half started researching and read everything about reversing it, saw documentary by Michael Moseley. Bought the book as a starting point for healthy eating and off we went. Was over 17 stones and 3 weeks later 15 stone 5. We were positive and were taking a proactive attitude ...until the diabetes nurse rang. Let’s just say she had never heard of this healthy lifestyle plan and jumped to the conclusion I was just on low calorie packet shakes, I’m not. Was quite adamant it doesn’t really work etc.

We have our first face to face meeting coming up and I’m not looking forward to it. I was trying to put a brave face on and kept thinking I was doing well, this has totally floored me and I don’t want to go. I want the chance to try and reverse it but it doesn’t sound like I will get the chance to.

my reason for posting is to ask what information I should be getting and what answers I need to enable me to tackle this properly. Hands up I have screwed up but surely I must be able to help myself somehow?

thanks for any advice given
Reversing Type 2 Diabetes and ongoing remission
  • Public Information
  • Background
  • DiRECT
  • Life Without Diabetes
  • Scientific Information

The information on this page is for doctors and scientists. It includes slides on various aspects of the reversal of Type 2 diabetes as well as published papers.


  • Newcastle research has established that type 2 diabetes is caused by excess fat in liver and pancreas.
  • If this fat is removed in the first ~6 years of diabetes, functional beta cell mass gradually returns to a completely normal level over 12 months in most people.
  • The immediate loss of fat from the pancreas following weight loss is from a labile pool, and this is observed only in those with type 2 diabetes and not non-diabetic people.
  • The small, irregular pancreas typical of type 2 diabetes returns towards normal volume, and returns to completely normal shape over 2 years of remission.
  • Provided weight loss is maintained, beta cell function does not decline over the following years.
  • The UK consensus definition of remission of type 2 diabetes [link to https://doi.org/10.15277/bjd.2019.221] is an HbA1c <48mmol/mol (<6.5%) off all diabetes medication, achieved by weight loss and maintained for 6 month
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal/#scientificinformation
 
Last edited:

klogs17

Well-Known Member
Messages
67
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Can anyone recommend a book that lists what is good to eat because I get confused with the different carbs and what fruit you eat.

Also, once you get your Hba1c back to normal sugar wise, can you then go to a balanced diet or do you have to stick to a low carb diet forever?

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to reply with invaluable advice!

Hi @Owlie123 I’ve mostly relied on the DietDoctor website/Instagram, it is so useful for finding good recipes. It also has handy carb diagrams for fruits, vegetables and nuts. I’m only 2.5 months into this journey and understand that it is info overload from all directions.
 

Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
Hello Owlie,
Can I suggest you watch some Dennis Pollock Beat Diabetes videos on YouTube. He explains it better than I can, plus lots of inspirational stories of people taking control of of their health.
I found that eating 2 meals a day suited me, and within a six hour window. It’s something you can gradually build up to if you want to give it a go.
Just try to avoid snacking to give your liver and pancreas a rest, and always read the carbohydrates label on anything you buy.
I can also recommend Sarah Hallberg TED talk video and any by Dr Jason Fung.
Lastly google Dr David Unwin and download his charts on equivalent teaspoons of sugar.
I hope what I said makes sense and can help you.
Best wishes
Hi, fantastic thanks so much for taking the time to get those links and info, going to have a look now!
 

Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
Reversing Type 2 Diabetes and ongoing remission
  • Public Information
  • Background
  • DiRECT
  • Life Without Diabetes
  • Scientific Information

The information on this page is for doctors and scientists. It includes slides on various aspects of the reversal of Type 2 diabetes as well as published papers.


  • Newcastle research has established that type 2 diabetes is caused by excess fat in liver and pancreas.
  • If this fat is removed in the first ~6 years of diabetes, functional beta cell mass gradually returns to a completely normal level over 12 months in most people.
  • The immediate loss of fat from the pancreas following weight loss is from a labile pool, and this is observed only in those with type 2 diabetes and not non-diabetic people.
  • The small, irregular pancreas typical of type 2 diabetes returns towards normal volume, and returns to completely normal shape over 2 years of remission.
  • Provided weight loss is maintained, beta cell function does not decline over the following years.
  • The UK consensus definition of remission of type 2 diabetes [link to https://doi.org/10.15277/bjd.2019.221] is an HbA1c <48mmol/mol (<6.5%) off all diabetes medication, achieved by weight loss and maintained for 6 month
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal/#scientificinformation
Wow! I just hope I am within this time frame, thank you so much for the links!
 

Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
Hi @Owlie123 I’ve mostly relied on the DietDoctor website/Instagram, it is so useful for finding good recipes. It also has handy carb diagrams for fruits, vegetables and nuts. I’m only 2.5 months into this journey and understand that it is info overload from all directions.
Thank you so much for the information!
 

Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
Hi. A commonly recommended one is the CodeFree on Amazon as it has low cost test strips. All the meters meet the same standards of accuracy so go for the ones with the lowest cost strips. Note these are VAT free if you are a diabetic.
Great thank you!
 

Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
You will find you need to control the carbs as part of an ongoing lifestyle. The traditional Western diet isn't balanced for health which is why so many are obese. We no longer exercise or live in cold homes as we once did so carbs need to be kept down. As long as your BS remains OK and your BMI is good then that amount of carbs is OK.
Thank you!
 

Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
The low calorie diet or T2 diabetes very much does work if you start it early enough in the progress of your diabetes ie in the first 4 to 6 years approx. So much so that the NHS has adopted a version of it. Your nurse should absolutely know about that. It isn't easy, but as substantial weight loss will work using any diet, you might like to try what has been dubbed the Newcastle style approach which is a gentler version of the famous Newcsastle diet. This worked for me.
https://diabetesmyway.nhs.uk/preventing-diabetes/nhs-low-calorie-diet-programme/
Hi, thank you for this. Researched it, Practice knew nothing about it but there is a programme but it states you can’t go on it if you already have a diagnosis, which makes no sense especially as the adverts show a patient with type 2 reversing it, so not expecting to be accepted! Was told to expect heart disease, strokes etc as the disease progresses and now other half is terrified. Hard to be positive today, well done to you!