Help With Newcastle Diet.....

Messages
12
Hi all,

Well, after 12 months of hubby refusing to do anything to help reduce his blood sugars, something has finally 'clicked'!
On an early post, I said about him getting his last HbA1c at over 100, and still not being prepared to change his ways. Well a week ago, he went back to his GP, to get permission to go onto the Newcastle diet. (A bit drastic I know, but he did this about 3 years ago, lost 1 and 1/2 stone, bringing his bloods right down, and kept it under control for the next couple of years, before completely falling off the wagon, and gaining a stone eating junk.)
Thankfully his doc is quite liberal, and takes the view that you need to control this as much as possible. Therefore he got the green light, and started on the shakes and veg.
He's lost about 5-6lb in 7 days, and his bloods have fallen to 5's before meals, 7's 2 hours after. (He is also testing 6 times a day now as well, as the doc gave him extra strips to the 50 per month that are on his prescription!!!) Seen as he was 10's and 14's the week before, he is over the moon with those figures.

So, I have a couple of questions:
He has been using the Asda shakes, as he still had some from before, which were in use by date. They are made up with water, and have about 25g carbs of which 6g are sugar. He looked to get some more at the weekend, but Asda have rebranded, and their new shakes are 25g carbs of which 23g are sugar! He looked at some others online (Tesco, Slimfast etc) but they all have about the same amount of sugar in. The Newcastle Diet site says to use Optifast, which also has 18g of sugars in.
Their site makes no reference to the sugar content of shakes; only the calories. So he is wondering if it will be ok to switch to one of these higher sugar ones?

Has anyone done the diet, and if so, what shakes did you use please?

Also, any ideas for recipes to help vary his 200g veg allowance? (Have done boiled, stir fry and made a nice soup that lasted for two of the days)
I don't want him to get bored of this, seen as its taken so long for him to realise he needed to do something about getting his levels down.

Any advice much appreciated.
 

Thommothebear

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,186
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I cant really comment on which shake to use, but I would look at the total carbs rather than sugars as both end up as blood glucose.


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dawnmc

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,431
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Non-insulin injectable medication (incretin mimetics)
Atkins do shakes, buy them online unless you have a big Boots that stock them.
 

trotskyite

Well-Known Member
Messages
104
I would agree with above and say that the sugar levels are not so important ,it's overall carbs, as all the carbs will become glucose anyway and the overall level in this daily diet is small. I tried the diet also but I found I did better on 3 small meals a day with all the macro-nutrients covered with 1200kcal/day. I just had so much time during the day when I didn't have to prepare food I got bored with the shakes etc. Good luck
 
Messages
12
Hi and thanks for your replies about the carbs, as opposed to the sugar content in the shakes.
He is still doing really well at it. His doc said to stop the Glic tabets if his bloods went too low. He was 3.8 a couple of nights ago, so has come off the 60mg per day he was taking. Bloods are still steady at 5 at breakfast, and before meals, and 7 or so after.

When he comes off this, he wants to start a low carb diet. (It has helped with all the news coverage of the last week or so about carbs and sugar being the baddie, not the high fat we've been brought up to avoid!)
Therefore, what level of carb intake per day would you suggest he start on? Is 100g carbs per day (IE 30g at breakfast and lunch, and 40g for dinner) too low to start with?

Many thanks. You cannot believe how relieved I am that he is now taking this seriously again...:)
 

Yorksman

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,445
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Also, any ideas for recipes to help vary his 200g veg allowance? (Have done boiled, stir fry and made a nice soup that lasted for two of the days)
I don't want him to get bored of this, seen as its taken so long for him to realise he needed to do something about getting his levels down.

The Newcastle team dod out up a list of recipes: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/documents/StudyRecipes.pdf

Don't worry about the carbs, it is a calorie restriction diet first and a low carb diet second. Ordinarily, you need something like 220 g carbs per day so you are low carbing anyway.
 

carraway

Well-Known Member
Messages
977
Type of diabetes
Prefer not to say
Treatment type
Other
Atkins shake dont have any vitamins so be careful if you choose those.

I used Slim and Save. They are not a cheap option but there are lots of flavours and they have soups ( like cuppa soup), which made a good change, all with vitamins and minerals.

They sell 'meals' -the sort you add boiling water too. I didn't really like them but they may make a useful sauce. Some of the dieters on their website got very creative.

Good luck
 
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Just to let you know if you speak to your nurse or doctor you will be able to get optifast on prescription.
 

paulins

Well-Known Member
Messages
349
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Feeling I can never eat anything sweet again or anything with carbs. But thought of diabetes complications scares me more so it is a no brainer!
I have done the Newcastle diet for nearly 8 weeks now. I did not use the shakes. I made soup for lunch, and had veggies with some very lean meat on occasion in the evenings to vary the diet, but at all times have been under or around the 600 calories. I don't really feel hungry most of the time now, though some days am craving for something more interesting to eat. I have lost 30 lbs, and all blood levels are much lower now. Also feel much healthier in general. I am not sure when and whether I can claim that my type 2 diabetes has been reversed - which is why I began the diet after diagnosis. Full bloods next week at my doctor's - will let you know!
 
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