Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a day

Ardbeg

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I've just read about this study from Newcastle University.

Does anyone have a weblink to a diet sheet for this? I'd love to give it a go as I need to lose at least 3 stone and this could well help me achieve it AND reverse T2 at the same time
 

dusky

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

When the diabetic nurse told me last week that I have Type2 diabetes, one of the first questions I asked was ''Will it go away if I lose weight, bring down my cholesterol levels, and lower my blood sugar? she told me No, it will not go away.
 

Ardbeg

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

Dusky,

You will find lots of conflicting advice. For example, the first thing my diabetic nurse gave me was a diet sheet loaded with carbs. I believe a low carb diet is better for T2's.

There are lots of fantastic books and online help, such as this forum, which will help keep you on the right track.
 

ladybird64

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

Hi Ardbeg

Plenty of info here re this diet in the Weight Loss section of the forum, just scroll down.
 

Sid Bonkers

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

Dusky if you loose a lot of weight (assuming you are overweight) you diabetes will be better controlled as with weight loss comes increased insulin sensitivity, but it will not cure your diabetes. But better to be well controlled than not dont you think.

Ardbeg why dont you just eat less food it will work just as well in loosing weight but it will be easier to keep it off once you stop, although a lifestyle choice should be made for the long term, life even. Too often these quick fix diets will work with weight loss but as soon as you stop it the weight goes back on, sometimes it will even see you put on more weight than before.

Cutting back on carbs and eating less works :thumbup: Quick fix diets dont work, but dont be put off prove me wrong if you like but no one has so far...


Waits for Kenny and Patch to give their verdicts :silent:
 

Mothman

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

Hi,
over the last couple of months by giving up on cakes, biscuits and crisps and reducing my carb intake have lost 11lb with no real effort[other than the crisps :evil: ] and plan to continue doing this over the next few months. Not a real 'diet' as such but just watching what i eat and controlling portion size too.
Slow weight loss is far better than doing it rapidly as it just piles back on again when you relinquish control.
I see friends of mine who are also T2 just filling their faces all the time, eating what they like and wondering why their diabetes is getting worse and worse and their body mass just ballooning. Ive tried telling them but they dont seem to care.
You have to make some lifestyle changes but its nothing you cant cope with if you really want to.

Andy
 

youngmanfrank

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

I have done it and so far it has worked.Those who say it cannot work either do not understand what the Newcastle diet sets out to achieve or are mired in past thinking.The essence of the Newcastle diet is to starve your body into a situation where it is forced to consume its own body fat in order to survive.Weight loss is dramatic and along the way your body resets itself and becomes more sensitive to its own insulin,blood pressure drops,cholestrol improves,and your blood sugar levels become normal.

Where the doubters are right is that done wrong the diet can become a "yo-yo" diet.It must be combined with vigorous exercise done two or three times daily for at least 45 minutes at a time.This gives you more leeway calory wise and crucially prevents muscle wastage.You need iron willpower at first and to be motivated to continue for as long as it takes to reach your target weight.This can take longer than 8 weeks,or it can take less.In my case I lost 10 kilos and hit my target of 12 stones in 7 weeks.I remain at this weight 2+ months later.I am eating approx 1800 calories per day,and feel comfortable.My blood sugar levels are in the normal range,I am off all meds,I do not low carb or any other fad,just eat normally to my calory ceiling,plenty of fruit and white meat.Roll on my next Hb test.

Check threads on this forum for the Newcastle diet and concentrate on the positives.Go for it.
 

Ardbeg

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

I'm off to Center Parc this weekend, so intend to start my diet from next Tuesday.

Good point about the exercise; I'll have to start doing press ups or sit ups or something. Just now my only exercise is walking the dog twice a day; but it's only a little Shitzu so he needs very little exercise and stops at every lampost, wall, bush or blade of grass for a pee :wink:
 

ladybird64

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

I am glad to see that things are working out well for you Frank. On the other thread I mentioned that it would be helpful if those that had completed the diet were to "report back" on how things were going after the diet was completed.

Any chance you could check back in every couple of months or so on this thread to update?

The Newcastle diet is not something I would ever contemplate myself but as there are people who want to try it, then feedback would be useful, whether it's negative or positive.

Being honest, there seemed to be so much excitement and talk about this with various forum folk telling us how they were doing but then we haven't heard anymore!
Obviously there will be weight loss on this level of calories (even I can figure that one out!) but more to the point is whether meds are needed again, if weight continues to stay stable with a reasonable return to normality. I really would be interested to see results over a long period of time, thanks for providing the 8+ week results, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months would be great too!

Hope it all continues to go well for you.
 

youngmanfrank

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

Thanks for your interest ladybird64,I do get fed up with the negative attitudes to new things.Our own website recently sent out a Christmas email which referred to the Newcastle diet as "the biggest breakthrough in 2011".

Post diet and off meds what is interesting is that testing shows a "normal" response to glucose increases ie eat a relatively high GI meal and blood sugar levels go up and come down quickly as the insulin works.Because of this I am not paying much attention to the type of food that I eat,but I am spending some time calculating the calories that I am consuming,aiming for a maintenance level of 1800 calories.The biggest spike I have had recently was an 8.6 after a fast run,which as I had not had breakfast at the time was the body breaking down fat or releasing glucose from the liver to give me energy.This soon reduced naturally back to normal levels.Fasting levels(whole blood) have varied between 4.7-5.5 (normal range @4.0-6.0) on the increased calories compared with my diet,where I averaged 4.7.

I believe that slow dieting over a long period does not force the body out of store mode (whereby all excess calories are stored in fat) and into demand mode where surplus calories are burnt off and fat stores in the body are easily accessed.
 

minn

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

Some of us do keep posting, although not as often or in such detail as when we were doing the diet. To be honest, getting back to normality included no longer giving detailed updates online! The week before Christmas, 6 weeks or so after finishing the diet, eating sensibly, my FBGs were consistently in the 5s with no meds and my weight was 1lb less than the day I finished the diet. Not getting on the scales until next week, but though I'm sure Ive put some weight on, all the smaller clothes I dug out at the end of the diet still fit so I dont think the damage has been catastrophic. I intend to have another go in February, when my personal circumstances will be such that I will find it easier to stick to the diet- setting myself up for success rather than failure.
 

Grazer

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

Don't wish to sound like a Doubting Thomas because I understand the theory and can see how it could work, but lots of the feedback seems to be about weight or fasting BGs. In reality, lots of us maintain a good weight and good (non-diabetic level) fasting BGs without medication. What I would like to see is wether or not those who have been on the Newcastle diet could then pass a proper Glucose Tolerance test. That to me would be a pretty definitive proof and I'd love it if it worked. Has anyone done this after finishing the diet - say, about 6 weeks after?
 

youngmanfrank

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

My GTT was 5.5 immediately after coming off the diet and 5.8 a month later when I had my first Hb test.My Hb was 5.6% and this covered the period of the diet and the succeeding month on normal rations equivalent to 1800 calories a day.

I agree you can "fiddle" a fasting blood test,but you can't easily fool a GTT or Hb.In some ways I think the GTT is the most interesting as it demonstrates how well your body deals with high spikes.

Only time will tell whether the Newcastle diet is a cure.It could be that as hunter gatherers for hundreds of thousands of years we need a period of starvation every year as a way of restoring the bodies ways of dealing with excess food.Or it could be that with a sensible diet,eating no more calories than are needed to sustain life,the improvement will be permanent.

Time will tell.
 

Grazer

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

youngmanfrank said:
My GTT was 5.5 immediately after coming off the diet and 5.8 a month later when I had my first Hb test.My Hb was 5.6% and this covered the period of the diet and the succeeding month on normal rations equivalent to 1800 calories a day.

I agree you can "fiddle" a fasting blood test,but you can't easily fool a GTT or Hb.In some ways I think the GTT is the most interesting as it demonstrates how well your body deals with high spikes.

Well done on your results youngman. Although you can't "fool" an HbA1c, many of us have non-diabetic HbA1cs on diet only. The OGTT is the key. You said yours was "5.8" when tested a month after the diet ended, but What exactly do you mean by that? Not challenging it, but I thought with an OGTT done at hospital/clinic, they monitored the result over 30 minutes, an hour, 2 hours etc. and note the highest reading. A non-diabetic can go to 11 but returns to, say, 4.6 after an hour or two. What were your full readings?
 

youngmanfrank

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

I live deep in the countryside and my rural practice does not send its patients into the big city for GTT tests.Instead they have their own version of the GTT whereby you drink a known quantity of glucose and test after 2 hours.On diagnosis I was somewhere in the 8's using this test,so my insulin was not working well,as you can see I am much improved now which indicates an increase in insulin sensitivity.

By memory anything under 6 is regarded by them as normal.
 

minn

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

The GTT done at the Liverpool Royal (which is a big city teaching hospital) that resulted in my diagnosis was less exhaustive than you suggest - I had to chug a certain volume of glucose (cant remember how much, just that it was revolting) and had blood taken 2 hours later after sitting still in a waiting room for the entire time. The result of that test was the basis of diagnosis.
 

youngmanfrank

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

Forgot to mention that the GTT at our practice is done in conjunction with a fasting blood test.When I was diagnosed I was given first appointment at 8.45 am and bloods taken for a fasting blood test,I then glugged my drink and came back at 11.00am for further bloods for the GTT.Both sets of bloods were then sent into the hospital for analysis by the lab.
 

Grazer

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

good results youngman, will you do more OGTTs in the future to see if things change?
 

borofergie

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Re: Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by eating 600 calories a

Grazer said:
good results youngman

You sound like Brian Clough.