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BBC1 Thursday 21:00 Doctor in the House...

I watched the programme and thought it was great. I've been having a hard time convincing some of my friends and family that I HAVE to ditch the majority of carbs. This will give me a little ammo!
One thing thats bothered me. At diagnosis I was told I needed to keep my BG below 8.5 mmol/l. I was really pleased with myself as they are consistently under 8 now. But the doc in the programme said it needs to be under 6. Mine do sometimes dip below 6 but are more often in the 6 to 8 range. So now I feel a little deflated and worried.
 
Don't be deflated! It sounds like you are doing brilliantly so far, things can take a bit of time to settle so no need to panic, honestly. The main thing is that you are doing the right things, your numbers are coming down - focus on that instead. Although I thought the programme was excellent, there was a real drop in not just carb intake but calorific intake too, dairy went out the window, plus he was on an exercise programme that would certainly help his levels, don't forget the guy in question was not somebody who was taking any kind of exercise in recent times.

Keep on doing what you're doing and I'm sure you will find the numbers dropping lower.
 

Yes, laughed out loud at that one. A good programme though. Low carb HAS to be the right approach. My DN gave me a diet sheet yesterday. "This is what you should eat", she said. Wholemeal bread and pasta, porridge, skimmed milk and low fat yoghurt. I explained that, yes, I used to eat all that; but the milk is sweetened and the yoghurt is full of sugar too. It's healthier to eat it with the fat and no sugar.
 

And no mention of the supplements the guy had been given.
 
LinsT said:
One thing thats bothered me. At diagnosis I was told I needed to keep my BG below 8.5 mmol/l.
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I think this comes from the NICE guidelines - 4-7 before meals, below 8.5 two hours after meals.

Dr Bernstein suggests in his book that the aim of treatment (diet, exercise and medication) should be to at least try to normalise BG. We should be aiming for the same kinds of levels as a non diabetic if possible.
 
When I was first diagnosed, my DN told me to eat carbs at each meal but to eat the same amount at each meal? So I did that for a while, luckily I found this site, I now do LCHF and have lost to date 17lb in a few weeks, although it has slowed down a bit, I still need to lose at least another 2 stone. (Any suggestions) but I have a question is it better to do the Newcastle diet or the LCHF diet?
 
dbr10 said:
I think this comes from the NICE guidelines - 4-7 before meals, below 8.5 two hours after meals.
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Ahh that helps. Mine are 6 or less before meals. Hopefully the doc was talking about the pre meal readings. Thank you @dbr10
 
I think you will find the figure of 6 was the HBa1C in %; earlier he talked about the figure of 9 before the diet started. Very few with diabetes can get below 6% although it's always a nice aim. DNs get worried if you are on insulin and go down near 6% due to the increased risk of hypos
 

That bit wasn't explained clearly. Maybe they thought they would confuse people if they went into more detail, but they sort of glossed things over.

At the beginning and end of the programme the husband was given HbA1c tests.
These can be measured in 2 different units. He was given scores of 9 (before) and 7 (after). Most of us, and most docs, use a different set of units for the HbA1c. In those units, his 9% = 75 mmol/mol and his 7% = 53 mmol/mol . Remember this is after he had come off 2 diabetes medications. This test gives an average reading over the last 2-3 months. So it is worth remembering that he scored 7 after only a month. He would score lower if he stuck to the diet for longer.

The finger prick test he did on himself was the usual blood glucose finger prick, and he got a result of 5.9 mol/l at that time.

This pic should explain.
 
I would say that for diabetes, go low-carb (I hate the acronym LCHF) rather than the ND. The ND doesn't take account of the fact that not all calories are equal and that the body stores excess carbs more easily than excess fat. For diabetics, carbs are the enemy for blood sugar as well as weight.
 
Thanks for your reply, I took a look at the ND and didn't really fancy it, where as I can live with LCHF.
 
Brunneria said:
At the beginning and end of the programme the husband was given HbA1c tests.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I should have realised this really, but just heard the '6' and jumped to conclusions!. Still to have my first post diagnosis HbA1c so I'll let myself off this time
 
Thanks for posting this - I'll check it out for sure.
 
I've only been diagnosed a week. My sister-in-law has been diabetic for 3 years and she was telling me all the things I should eat (from her diabetes group) so went out and bought a load of brown rice, quinoa, couscous, low-faat yoghurt, decided not to get the porridge because I hate it I wasn't particularly happy with the thought of this new lifestyle but then I found this site and realised I had just wasted a load of money!!! I think the LCHF diet will suit me fine once I get to grips with it. I've been concerned about exercise though because I have arthritic knees but I loved this doctor's idea of getting the guy to walk as fast as he could for 2 minutes and then keep repeating it until he was out of breath and measuring how much further he was going each time by the numbers of the houses he was reaching. I feel I could do that, and it's instantly measurable. I can also just start by doing a few minutes a few times a week and build it up.

I was a little confused and worried about him saying they had to cut out all dairy products as being able to have these things in my diet would make the fact that I have to cut out carbs and sugar more acceptable. Glad to see that none of you agreed with him on this.
 
Dr Loren Cordain's Paleo Diet bans dairy. On his LCHF Dietdoctor website, Dr Andreas Eenfeldt allows dairy but suggests cutting it out if you are having trouble losing weight. Amelia Freer, the nutritionist who helped Sam Smith lose weight, in her book 'Eat Nourish Glow' is anti-dairy as is Ella Woodward of 'Deliciously Ella'.

I eat high fat and fermented dairy eg creme fraiche, double cream, clotted cream, soured cream, sheep's milk yogurt, Mozzarella, Brie, cream cheese, fromage frais, kefir, Greek style yogurt but not milk or cottage cheese. I eat small amounts of hard cheeses eg Cheddar, as part of recipes. Hard cheeses tend to be higher in protein and so higher on FII and they're also higher in salt generally. Because I eat high fat dairy, milk seemed 'thin' and I stopped liking it. But the higher the fat, the lower the lactose (milk sugar) and it's the milk that contains the protein also, not the fat.

I was surprised, but since cutting out the milk (after assessing that my food was still providing adequate calcium), I started losing weight again. Not dramatically, but steadily, which IMO is good.

A fair few people will have watched that show and be confused because their GP advocates the Eat Well Plate.

As for the sausages, the GP wanted to bin, they looked from the packaging, to be a certain brand with the same name as towns in Surrey and Yorkshire

Dr Chatterjee was keen to remove ALL processed carbs, which is what Dr Eenfeldt's version of LCHF does and so does Dr Cordain's original Paleo diet. Dr William Davis also advocates removing all wheat in his book 'Wheat Belly'.

I don't eat ANY added sugar, wheat, grains or additives now. I ate gluten free sausages earlier in the week (rice filler not breadcrumbs) and BG rose a bit.
 
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There was a point in the "show" when the guy was chastised by his wife for putting too much cheese on what looked like a pizza..? You can never have too much cheese..

I felt sorry for the guy. I felt he thought that was "as good as it gets" on all the D meds he was issued with. The partner thought she could monopolise the opportunity with the live in doctor. Though to be fair. A lot of her issues was down to menopause. But she didn't seem to take the low carb kick in her stride like the bloke did.. I thought the guy did well..!
& as for the daughter..? I learned a long time ago if you don't work in an environment with kids, you save money on cold & flu remedies.. Lol
 


To me they are different things, the Newcastle diet is a diet whereas I look at LCHF as a normal way of eating (for diabetics)... NOT a diet

I would say that if newly diagnosed with very high BS levels and overweight etc... the newcastle diet then LCHF could be the way to go............

But other wise would go LCHF every time, as its very adaptable ........... (higher or lower carbs)


Suggestions ..... if you are still losing weight slowly just stay as you are , its not a sprint, get to your target weight then experiment with which/how many carbs you can have...............


ATB
 
I know it's not a popular view point on these forums, but when someone e.g. Dr Chatterjee advocates ditching the processed carbs, that means eliminating them, not eating toast, rolls and cereals. You may be fine with them now, but that doesn't mean that you'll be fine with them later.

There are good reasons for advising people to ditch processed carbs, not just because they raise BG - they can be inflammatory too and some people may have hidden gluten intolerances.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Jaylee said:
There was a point in the "show" when the guy was chastised by his wife for putting too much cheese on what looked like a pizza..? You can never have too much cheese..
Click to expand...
It was a huge plate of nachos. And he labelled it 'a snack' ......
 
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