Hi Everyone :)

Doug_NL

Member
Messages
18
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I'm Doug and I'm in Newfoundland I'm new to the world of Type 2 having been diagnosed a few months ago. Seems the pizza & ice cream diet wasn't working.

I've decided to go for remission with the VLCD and have been at that for about 5 weeks with occasional cheat days. So far I've lost 29 lbs or 13% of my body weight. My fasting measure has normalized.

I've found the diet easy to follow. I do 3 Boosts a day along with about 3 servings of non-starch veggies (or fibre supplement).

Losing the weight is easy this way but the key will be to keep it off. I'm going to Nice in June and the food in France is very good - there will be many temptations! My thinking is to go with a Keto diet following this for long term maintenance focusing on veggies and healthy fats. That and eliminating snacking should do the trick to keep the weight off.
 
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Diakat

Expert
Retired Moderator
Messages
5,591
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
The smell of cigars
Hi there,
If you can stay off the croissants in France and eat the charcuterie you should be OK.
Tagging @daisy1 for info.
 
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Goonergal

Master
Retired Moderator
Messages
13,466
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
My thinking is to go with a Keto diet following this for long term maintenance focusing on veggies and healthy fats. That and eliminating snacking should do the trick to keep the weight off.

Sounds like a good plan - and congratulations on the weight loss and BG improvements.
 
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Doug_NL

Member
Messages
18
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Sounds like a good plan - and congratulations on the weight loss and BG improvements.
Thanks Goonergal. I forgot to mention that I was able to stop my blood pressure medication as my pressure dropped. I'm now consistently in the 'ideal' blood pressure range without medication.
 
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Bluetit1802

Legend
Messages
25,216
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi and welcome,

Good to see you take the bull by the horns and attack this condition head on. Well done.

Can I ask one thing of you? Can you complete your profile setting to show which type of diabetes you have, the treatment and medications? This will help us to give appropriate responses if you have any questions. You can't do this on the app. You need to sign in on your browser.
 
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Doug_NL

Member
Messages
18
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi and welcome,

Good to see you take the bull by the horns and attack this condition head on. Well done.

Can I ask one thing of you? Can you complete your profile setting to show which type of diabetes you have, the treatment and medications? This will help us to give appropriate responses if you have any questions. You can't do this on the app. You need to sign in on your browser.

Done it!
 

daisy1

Legend
Messages
26,457
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Cruelty towards animals.
@Doug_NL
Hello and welcome to the Forum :) Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it interesting and helpful.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 600,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 
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Doug_NL

Member
Messages
18
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Thanks Daisy1 for the information. I've found a wealth of information so far on the forum especially on the path I've chosen. For example on the VLCD make sure I get some oil to prevent gallstones - very useful!

I tend to stick to evidence based information. If there isn't a peer reviewed study backing something up I ignore it completely. There's so much misinformation (fake news! haha) on the internet it's important to focus on science backed by research. After all I don't want to be trying untested theories on myself.
 

Doug_NL

Member
Messages
18
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi there,
If you can stay off the croissants in France and eat the charcuterie you should be OK.
Tagging @daisy1 for info.

That is the challenge. Also I like European style pizza. But France also has no shortage of healthy food and small portions are the norm. I have no excuse to fall off the wagon.
 

JoKalsbeek

Expert
Messages
5,937
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I'm Doug and I'm in Newfoundland I'm new to the world of Type 2 having been diagnosed a few months ago. Seems the pizza & ice cream diet wasn't working.

I've decided to go for remission with the VLCD and have been at that for about 5 weeks with occasional cheat days. So far I've lost 29 lbs or 13% of my body weight. My fasting measure has normalized.

I've found the diet easy to follow. I do 3 Boosts a day along with about 3 servings of non-starch veggies (or fibre supplement).

Losing the weight is easy this way but the key will be to keep it off. I'm going to Nice in June and the food in France is very good - there will be many temptations! My thinking is to go with a Keto diet following this for long term maintenance focusing on veggies and healthy fats. That and eliminating snacking should do the trick to keep the weight off.
A Newf! Cool. :) Always wanted to visit Newfoundland, never got around to it. But hey, Ontario was nice too.

You're doing pretty good by the sound of it, and if you can avoid croissants and the like, you should do fine in Nice. I prefer keto myself because if I just go for as little carbs as possible at all times, I don't muck up the counting. (And achieved a HbA1c of 33 that way). Just ask for extra veggies or salad instead of spuds, pasta or bread, and the joys of the French kitchen, or at least the veggies, meats, fish and dairy parts of it, will be yours.
 
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Freema

Expert
Messages
7,346
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I'm Doug and I'm in Newfoundland I'm new to the world of Type 2 having been diagnosed a few months ago. Seems the pizza & ice cream diet wasn't working.

I've decided to go for remission with the VLCD and have been at that for about 5 weeks with occasional cheat days. So far I've lost 29 lbs or 13% of my body weight. My fasting measure has normalized.

I've found the diet easy to follow. I do 3 Boosts a day along with about 3 servings of non-starch veggies (or fibre supplement).

Losing the weight is easy this way but the key will be to keep it off. I'm going to Nice in June and the food in France is very good - there will be many temptations! My thinking is to go with a Keto diet following this for long term maintenance focusing on veggies and healthy fats. That and eliminating snacking should do the trick to keep the weight off.

hey welcome here Doug_NL
this is the right place to be , to get lots of inspiration from so many different people in here... , you seem to have found the way already.. the road to remission... hope you´ll join in in all the discussions we have in here.. hi from Denmark kind regards from Freema
 
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Doug_NL

Member
Messages
18
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
hey welcome here Doug_NL
this is the right place to be , to get lots of inspiration form so many different people in here... , you seem to have found the way already.. the road to remission... hope you´ll join in in all the discussions we have in here.. hi from Denmark kind regards from Freema
Thanks for the welcome Freema from Denmark :)
 

Doug_NL

Member
Messages
18
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I cheated last night and broke every rule. We ordered pizza and as they were busy the order arrived at midnight.

I checked my blood this morning expecting very high results and got a reading of 4.1.

I'm pretty happy with that but am continuing with the VLCD for another three weeks just to be sure I get remission.
 

JoKalsbeek

Expert
Messages
5,937
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I cheated last night and broke every rule. We ordered pizza and as they were busy the order arrived at midnight.

I checked my blood this morning expecting very high results and got a reading of 4.1.

I'm pretty happy with that but am continuing with the VLCD for another three weeks just to be sure I get remission.
Uhm, Doug... I barely dare say it, but ah... Once you achieve remission, which can take a rather long time, depending on whose criteria you go with, you have to stick with the low carb thing... I didn't call it remission until I had non-diabetic bloodsugars and was medication and complication free for two years. Because of how I eat, not because my body suddenly decided it could handle carbs after all, because hey, I'm a diabetic for life. Just give me some cake and see my numbers fly, even if I've been a good keto-girl for quite a while now. The moment you go back to the old way of eating, you'll be back where you started. You're still insulin-resistant, that doesn't go away in a couple of months, though it can improve. You're prone to high bloodsugars, that isn't going to change. The only thing that can change, is your diet (Or meds, granted). T2 can be controlled, not, technically, cured.

...You keep mentioning Boost. I take it that's a meal replacement? I also take it that would get boring as ****? Maybe time to check what foods do agree with you and you could eat long-term without it getting old. Dietdoctor.com would help. As for pizza, try making your own: Fathead pizza is more work than just using a few eggs with italian herbs as a base rather than dough. (I'm no kitchen princess, so that's what I do). "Real food" is more enjoyable and healthier, in the long run... And something that's easier to keep up.

I know it's not what you want to hear, and I'm sorry to be the barer of bad news. But i'd hate to see your hard work go up in smoke 3 weeks from now.
 
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Doug_NL

Member
Messages
18
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Uhm, Doug... I barely dare say it, but ah... Once you achieve remission, which can take a rather long time, depending on whose criteria you go with, you have to stick with the low carb thing... I didn't call it remission until I had non-diabetic bloodsugars and was medication and complication free for two years. Because of how I eat, not because my body suddenly decided it could handle carbs after all, because hey, I'm a diabetic for life. Just give me some cake and see my numbers fly, even if I've been a good keto-girl for quite a while now. The moment you go back to the old way of eating, you'll be back where you started. You're still insulin-resistant, that doesn't go away in a couple of months, though it can improve. You're prone to high bloodsugars, that isn't going to change. The only thing that can change, is your diet (Or meds, granted). T2 can be controlled, not, technically, cured.

...You keep mentioning Boost. I take it that's a meal replacement? I also take it that would get boring as ****? Maybe time to check what foods do agree with you and you could eat long-term without it getting old. Dietdoctor.com would help. As for pizza, try making your own: Fathead pizza is more work than just using a few eggs with italian herbs as a base rather than dough. (I'm no kitchen princess, so that's what I do). "Real food" is more enjoyable and healthier, in the long run... And something that's easier to keep up.

I know it's not what you want to hear, and I'm sorry to be the barer of bad news. But i'd hate to see your hard work go up in smoke 3 weeks from now.
Hi JoKalsbeek. Boost is just a temporary meal replacement while I do a VLCD then I'll go to a low carb style of eating.

Thanks for the advice and don't hesitate to share your thoughts. That's why I'm here - to learn from people who know more about this than I.
 
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