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Ways of Eating

Brunneria

Brunneria

Guru
Retired Moderator
Messages
21,884
Location
Lincolnshire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
What different ways of eating have you tried, over the years?

And which ones DID/did NOT work for you?

(I'm kind of hoping this thread doesn't degenerate into a 'MY diet is best' squabble.
It would be lovely if we all stayed with personal pros and cons... :) but when did the first post ever control the thread? ;) )
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Me and my body's reaction:

Cambridge Diet original version of 330 cal /day in 3 shakes - starvation, misery and rebound weight gain

Hunter Gatherer eating plan - felt great, but couldn't source the required quail, ptarmigan and wild boar

Hay Diet - felt great on his protein meals, dreadful on his carb meals

Vegetarian - lasted 12 months. Then ate chicken and felt the best I had for 12 months. Never looked back.

Macrobiotic - lasted 3 days. Life is too short to endure such misery.

Slim fast - felt dreadful. Reactive hypos. Gave up v quickly. Rebound weight gain.

Atkins - felt ok but kept with 1 slice bread and minimal veg = constipation. Gave up. Obviously wasn't doing it properly.

Dukan - felt good. Lasted a long time. Then fell back off the carb wagon.

Weight Watchers - :wideyed: Bad reactive hypoglycaemia. Always cold. Regular hypos. Dreadful. Rebound weight gain.

South Beach - only did it to keep Mr B company. Far too many carbs (1 decent portion a day) felt dreadful. Had to give up.

Green Smoothies for lunch and brekkie, low carb for evening meal - felt GREAT. Lost interest in the smoothies when the winter drew in.

Generalised Low Carb - wow. Seemed to work for me. Would have been better if I'd had a meter!

Very Low Carb - even better.

The Diabetes Miracle -no more than 5g carbs per meal for 8 weeks. Felt fab. A bit too strict to be sustainable for me.

VLC no grains - where I am now. Seems to work the best so far.
 
As a child it was generally porridge or cornflakes with full fat milk for breakfast. Skinny sister got the cream off the top of the milk, the rest of us what was left. Lunch would be soup and sandwich. Dinner meat or fish with potatoes and veg. Sunday roast dinner at lunch time, salad and tinned fruit with tinned cream later.

As newly wed in 1970s I got trendy with pasta, rice, curries. Then tried those dreadful Vesta packet meals. How disgusting!

As a mum in 1980s became health conscious. Fish, chicken freshly prepared veg. Sporty family.

1990s disabling accident, inactivity, weight gain. Dietician advised starchy carbs. Lots of them, and fresh juice. A lot more weight gain and T2 diagnosis.

Six years after T2 diagnosis still being advised starchy carbs despite continuing weight gain. I stopped listening, (a bit slow on the realisation there I know) discovered Newcastle diet. Followed it, got some control back.

Now still fat, just less so. BG non-diabetic for over 3 years. Can eat most things but choose to eat low carb as carbs make me gain weight rapidly.
 
Brunneria said:
Me and my body's reaction:

Cambridge Diet original version of 330 cal /day in 3 shakes - starvation, misery and rebound weight gain

Hunter Gatherer eating plan - felt great, but couldn't source the required quail, ptarmigan and wild boar

Hay Diet - felt great on his protein meals, dreadful on his carb meals

Vegetarian - lasted 12 months. Then ate chicken and felt the best I had for 12 months. Never looked back.

Macrobiotic - lasted 3 days. Life is too short to endure such misery.

Slim fast - felt dreadful. Reactive hypos. Gave up v quickly. Rebound weight gain.

Atkins - felt ok but kept with 1 slice bread and minimal veg = constipation. Gave up. Obviously wasn't doing it properly.

Dukan - felt good. Lasted a long time. Then fell back off the carb wagon.

Weight Watchers - :wideyed: Bad reactive hypoglycaemia. Always cold. Regular hypos. Dreadful. Rebound weight gain.

South Beach - only did it to keep Mr B company. Far too many carbs (1 decent portion a day) felt dreadful. Had to give up.

Green Smoothies for lunch and brekkie, low carb for evening meal - felt GREAT. Lost interest in the smoothies when the winter drew in.

Generalised Low Carb - wow. Seemed to work for me. Would have been better if I'd had a meter!

Very Low Carb - even better.

The Diabetes Miracle -no more than 5g carbs per meal for 8 weeks. Felt fab. A bit too strict to be sustainable for me.

VLC no grains - where I am now. Seems to work the best so far.
Click to expand...


OMG!!! Didn't realise there was so many to try!!!
 
After 15 ways if eating it is good to know that VLC no grains works is the best so far.

I too eat try to eat no grain. When I have strayed recently for a panini out with OH we could feel a mass the size of a tennis ball very slowly travelling through my stomach and it was also very uncomfortable.

I will never go back to grains of any shape even if it was gluten free.

Not a VLC for me as prob up to 70g a day including the milk in my plentiful coffees but low carb has been my way if eating for vast, vast majority of my 50+ years and this is why I have never had to try any other diet..

I honestly never appreciated until seeing your list just how many ways of eating are out there.. I knew WW, slimming world, paleo and LCHF. That was about it!

Thanks for the education. Uts enlightening.
 
Brunneria said:
Me and my body's reaction:
Click to expand...

Nice! I do not know so many ways are already there. Now reading on all those ways, interesting.

Brunneria said:
Me and my body's reaction:
Cambridge Diet original version of 330 cal /day in 3 shakes - starvation, misery and rebound weight gain
Hay Diet - felt great on his protein meals, dreadful on his carb meals
Macrobiotic - lasted 3 days. Life is too short to endure such misery.
Click to expand...
Your description on these 3 diets made me smile. Yes, following a specific diet is not easy. I always believe in 'for extra-ordinary results, we need to put in extra-ordinary efforts.'
 
Remembered another one!

Raw - well, everything raw except proteins. Ended up 80% raw for a few months. It was good. Masses of fruit and veg, but too high in carbs/fructose. Moved into green smoothies after that.
 
Strange though because I always thought I ate moderate portions and lifestyle of food. I learnt here a couple years ago I was actualy a lower carber. So got educated then.

I find it educational and makes me more appreciative of others by reading posts like this with @brunnerias attempts to find a lifestyle of eating.

Inteesting to read. I hope others respond as it so educational.
 
I did try Slimming World. Their eat as much as you like red and green plans 25 years ago left their mark physically and psychologically.
 
Pipp said:
I did try Slimming World. Their eat as much as you like red and green plans 25 years ago left their mark physically and psychologically.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah. And the whole organised-diet-moral-boosting-public-weigh-in complete with tubby Pep Talking Cheerleader.

* shudder *

Of course, it works like a charm for some.
But not me.
 
Never been interested in the more faddy diets, and the idea of things like weight watches and slimming world just make me cringe so I have always tried for a balanced diet at home.

I did try the weight loss tablets prescribed by the doctor and while they worked well for a year they effect your fat absorbtion and influence you to eating a low fat diet, which unfortunately drove me towards more carbs, which is probably why they stopped working and certainly didn't help the diabetes side.

As I have high cholesterol I was always pushed towards the low fat diets, and when I was diagnosed with diabetes as well, I just got the message that the diet had to be low fat and low sugar, limited fruit and only brown bread, pasta etc. I was left feeling that there was nothing left that I considered nice to eat, even fruit had to be limited.

I guess for me the best diet is a balanced one, but with the balance slightly different to what is normally pushed. Less carbs, normal fat options rather than low fat, raspberries rather than grapes, that type of thing. Nothing is out of bounds but quantities are different to what I used to have, I can have 1 grape or 3 raspberries as it were.

My best change has been getting my meter, I have always responded to a quick result, getting weighed once a week never worked, I still prefer to get weighed daily and just look for trends, my meter gives me a very quick answer if I have done something wrong.

I read somewhere that research done on the different dieting methods had found that they were all equally good at helping you lose weight, the difference came in that different people could stick to different regimes and whichever diet you could stick to was the best one for you.
 
Ruth B said:
I read somewhere that research done on the different dieting methods had found that they were all equally good at helping you lose weight, the difference came in that different people could stick to different regimes and whichever diet you could stick to was the best one for you.
Click to expand...

I think that is a general truism for people whose metabolisms who fit into the 'normal' range. Even for 'normal' diabetics - so it'll be true for most.

But when you start putting other health conditions into the mix the whole concept falls apart. For instance, there is growing evidence that people with insulin resistance do better on lower carbs than lower fat. Of course, this is only of interest to insulin resisters, so few others are aware. I will try and remember to look for the references and post them.

I'm afraid I find the phrase 'fad diet' makes me cringe. That's a personal reaction. I have no idea what was going through your head when you used it and I make no assumption about your intention, so please don't take this as a criticism of what you have said.

However, many people, including myself, have been criticised for choosing fad diets when what we are really doing is searching for a different way of eating in the hope it will make us feel less dreadful. My entire ways of eating list above is exactly that - a search to feel well. Thankfully, I am getting there. But it has taken 30+ years. Which IMHO is rather tragic.

There are many others in the same boat, whose search for coping mechanisms leave them open to the 'faddy diet' accusation. I'm thinking in particular of glucose, lactose, grain intolerances. Psoriasis, caffeine sensitivities, food intolerances, various intestinal issues. PCOS. Reactive hypoglycaemia. Religious or cultural preferences. Avoiding foods that cause inflammation, fatty liver disease and food cravings, etc...

There's a woman at work who was mocked for 2 years for her 'faddy diet'. Even after a diagnosis of gluten intolerance, they still treat her like an eccentric drama queen (behind her back, of course).

That kind of annoys me.

Now I come to think of it, that may be why I titled this thread 'ways of eating' rather than 'diets' - to avoid that kind of misunderstanding.
 
Brunneria said:
Oh yeah. And the whole organised-diet-moral-boosting-public-weigh-in complete with tubby Pep Talking Cheerleader.

* shudder *

Of course, it works like a charm for some.
But not me.
Click to expand...
Sure I saw lots of people get really good results. For me the danger was 'eat as much as you like' plans.
 
Pipp said:
Sure I saw lots of people get really good results. For me the danger was 'eat as much as you like' plans.
Click to expand...

I worked with a woman whose life was transformed by WW.
Lost 3.5 stone. Hit target. Became a lifetime member. Kept the weight off for the 4 years I knew her.
Awesome result - so it definitely works for some.
 
Brunneria said:
What different ways of eating have you tried, over the years?

And which ones DID/did NOT work for you?

(I'm kind of hoping this thread doesn't degenerate into a 'MY diet is best' squabble.
It would be lovely if we all stayed with personal pros and cons... :) but when did the first post ever control the thread? ;) )
Click to expand...

Good luck :rolleyes: :D
 
Brunneria said:
I worked with a woman whose life was transformed by WW.
Lost 3.5 stone. Hit target. Became a lifetime member. Kept the weight off for the 4 years I knew her.
Awesome result - so it definitely works for some.
Click to expand...

I'd tend to agree there, but many of these people may have "better" fat thresholds, keeping the big D at bay, and therefore more "normal" metabolisms. I think this thread is the perfect example of "we're all different"/"horses for courses" type cliché. Our challenge is finding our needle in the dietary haystack.

@donnellysdogs - Where do your 70gr a day come from? I'm not challenging your figures, but have read various postings you have made, if asked to guess, I'd have pitched you quite a bit lower than that.
 
I've tried various "weight loss" diets over the years before my T2 diagnosis:
Weight Watchers
Rosemary Connellt classes
SlimFast (and various other Shake based diets)

They all worked and I could easily lose a couple of stone, but then I'd have a hiccup, fall off the wagon and regain the weight and usually a bit more besides.
 
To me a fad diet is something that arrives as a garrenteed way of losing weight, often quickly and with fairly strict rules. They seem to be taken up by people who are either looking for a miracle answer to weight loss, or those that don't really need to lose much if any. Those that start on them normally can't stick to it as the restriction are too tight. They then fade as the next fad arrives and becomes the miracle answer.

I certainly wouldn't include anything that can be viewed as a lifestyle change, or that is makes a person feel better as a fad. I guess the example I see at the moment is the 5/2 diet, eat normally for 5 days and fast (less than 500 cal) for 2 days a week. Certainly not something you would normally want to do for the rest of your life but if you can manage it, possibly good to get you in the bikini on holiday.

Of cause opinions also change over time and I will admit to being wrong in some occasions, I considered the Atkins diet a fad when I first heard of it, then I came here and the LCHF is very similar and is a lifestyle many of us chose, myself included to an extent.
 
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