Hi. I was diagnosed with T2 last week and have an HbA1c of 80 mol. I started the Exante diet 11 days ago and it is the 600 calories a day (3 shakes) plan. The shakes have around 17g carbs each (or 20g if I have one of their bars). They market themselves as being good for putting Type 2 in remission that is why I am trying the diet (I do need to lose a lot of weight as well). Is it safe to do this? I am waiting to see the diabetic nurse to discuss what I can/can't eat , Would it be worth paying to see a nutritionist? Sorry for all the questions. I need to lose weight as well as reduce my BG levles and hope to do it quickly to get rid of the blurred vision and problems sleeping , but don't want to make things worse.
The diet you're on (known to most people here as the Newcastle Diet) is a way to kick-start weight loss and normalise bloodglucose. After the diet finishes, you'll need to transition to a "regular" low carb, high fat diet to keep the progress you made. You could've just gone with low carb high fat to begin with, as that will also have the desired effect, in both weight loss as well as getting T2 beat, but this is as good a way to start as any, really.
I saw two dieticians (one from my GP's practice, one at the hospital) and both gave me out-dated and frankly, dangerous advice. Grapefruit with high bloodsugars and the meds I was on was a really, REALLY bad combo. And the hospital's dietician's diet got me from obese to morbidly obese and diabetic. I have no faith in them whatsoever anymore, but that's me, so yeah... You might be just as well off just reading up here, or over at dietdoctor, or reading books by Dr. Jason Fung or his collegues... Would be considerably cheaper too. The most important thing for you to do, really, is test your bloodsugars. It's the only way to really know what works for
you, specifically. Strangers on the internet, specialists across a desk, all of us, can tell you a thousand different things, but your bloodglucose won't lie to you, try to sell you snake-oil, or tell you things that have been debunked recently: it'll only tell you what works for you and what doesn't.
Should you mention dietary changes to your medical team? Absolutely. Just realise they won't always support the steps you're taking in spite of improved results. Some do, some don't, that's a crapshoot. Could go either way. Just always do what is right for you.