Dr Mosley’s Blood Sugar Diet

[mcdougall86]

I see that lots of folk here have done/are doing the Newcastle Diet. I’m really interested in doing an 800kcal diet but I’m not a fan of diet shakes at all. I think I’m much more likely to be successful if I just keep my cals under 800 by eating small meals. I’ve done a few days as a test and I’ve done just fine with a small breakfast, soup for lunch and a low cal and low carb dinner. I’ve just read Dr Michael Mosley’s 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet book, which has a foreword by the Dr who developed the Newcastle Diet, and it certainly seems like he supports a version of the diet using “real food”.

I guess my question is for those of you who have done the 8-week blood sugar diet, did you find it worked? I have steroid induced diabetes. I was diagnosed in 2016. After coming off steroids my blood sugars remained stable and my a1c has me in a prediabetic state. I’m now unfortunately on steroids again and my blood sugars are behaving quite well but I’m overweight and I know each course of steroids is increasing my chances of tipping over in to diabetes and I want to do what I can to counter this! This diet seems like a good way to drop weight fast while I’m battling with all the side effects of steroids and I believe it’s something I can stick to for 8 weeks! Any help or advice is appreciated.

 

[Pipp]

I see that lots of folk here have done/are doing the Newcastle Diet. I’m really interested in doing an 800kcal diet but I’m not a fan of diet shakes at all. I think I’m much more likely to be successful if I just keep my cals under 800 by eating small meals. I’ve done a few days as a test and I’ve done just fine with a small breakfast, soup for lunch and a low cal and low carb dinner. I’ve just read Dr Michael Mosley’s 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet book, which has a foreword by the Dr who developed the Newcastle Diet, and it certainly seems like he supports a version of the diet using “real food”.

I guess my question is for those of you who have done the 8-week blood sugar diet, did you find it worked? I have steroid induced diabetes. I was diagnosed in 2016. After coming off steroids my blood sugars remained stable and my a1c has me in a prediabetic state. I’m now unfortunately on steroids again and my blood sugars are behaving quite well but I’m overweight and I know each course of steroids is increasing my chances of tipping over in to diabetes and I want to do what I can to counter this! This diet seems like a good way to drop weight fast while I’m battling with all the side effects of steroids and I believe it’s something I can stick to for 8 weeks! Any help or advice is appreciated.

Hi, @mcdougall86
If you can follow the programme you will most likely lose a fair bit of excess weight, and see improvement in your blood glucose levels. The challenge comes at the end of the 8 weeks. If you don't consider your future eating regime, i.e stick to a follow on plan, with reduced carbohydrate intake, and keep watch on BG levels and weight, and take action immediately if they increase, then you could be wasting your time.
I also need to have steroid medication from time to time, and this does impact on weight and BG levels. So far, in the seven years since I first followed the very low calorie / Newcastle diet method, I have managed to remain in non-diabetic level, though I have regained some of the weight originally lost. I find the steroid meds affect levels out after a few weeks as long as I keep to low carb diet.

 

[mcdougall86]

Hi, @mcdougall86
If you can follow the programme you will most likely lose a fair bit of excess weight, and see improvement in your blood glucose levels. The challenge comes at the end of the 8 weeks. If you don't consider your future eating regime, i.e stick to a follow on plan, with reduced carbohydrate intake, and keep watch on BG levels and weight, and take action immediately if they increase, then you could be wasting your time.
I also need to have steroid medication from time to time, and this does impact on weight and BG levels. So far, in the seven years since I first followed the very low calorie / Newcastle diet method, I have managed to remain in non-diabetic level, though I have regained some of the weight originally lost. I find the steroid meds affect levels out after a few weeks as long as I keep to low carb diet.

Thanks for your reply! My plan is to continue on a low (moderate) carb diet following the 8 weeks. I see the 8 weeks as more of a kickstart. The last time I was on steroids I followed a moderately low carb diet and lost 2st, kept my blood sugars low and felt full and satisfied all the time! I’ve been doing that again for the last few weeks but I just feel like since I had to go back on prednisolone but I would like to jumpstart it a little and the 8 week plan seems to be a great way get my blood sugars under control and lose the excess weight quickly. After reading the book it does seem like a really great way to speed up the process and I know from my own experience that I stick well to strict plans and respond well to quick results!

 

[eggs11]

Hi @mcdougall86 I followed a slightly higher calorie - 1000 calories a day - version of the Blood Sugar Diet for a couple of months when first diagnosed - well actually I started it about 2-3 weeks before my official diagnosis. It worked well for me - I lost weight rapidly over a stone very quickly then another stone more slowly - including visceral fat - and my bs readings improved accordingly - I managed to reduce my A1c from 72 to 62 2 weeks later when I had a repeat test to confirm diagnosis - then I had another test 2 weeks after that (purely because I had to have my full blood count retaken, and I think my nurse took the opportunity to see how I was doing) and it was down to 55.

I have my first proper 3 month review blood test next week and hope it to be at least in prediabetic range, if not lower - my day to day readings show a non-diabetic level of control, but I know A1c accuracy can be affected by a few things, so not going to count my chickens. Plus my fasting bs is still very unpredictable. But day to day readings look good - most meals I'm 4.7-6 before meals, then back around 6.2 or a bit lower after 2 hours - it was lower than this when sticking to the low calorie regime but last month or so I have been experimenting with upping the calories but remaining low carb and doing intermittent fasting as well.

2 points that helped me doing it - I was strictly under 50g carbs a day, which for me reduced hunger pangs/cravings and I tested my blood sugars throughout and still do, as some things, such as lentils do spike me, and I wanted to avoid that.