Life after the Newcastle Diet - your advice!

AlexMagd said:

Hi everyone

So I'm thinking about starting 2018 with a run at the Newcastle Diet, hopefully armed with some more clinical information from Prof Taylor's speech at the diabetes symposium in December.

One thing I'm curious about, however, is how people have managed afterwards. People on the forum who've done the ND, how do you eat now? Low-carb? Normally but with reduced portions, as Prof Taylor has suggested may work? I'll be honest the reduced calories and the hunger don't bother me at all, but I'm worried about how you then transition back into normal food and avoid regaining the weight! I also thought it might be good to have some of this info all in once place, as I know a lot of people here have done the ND, but few have reported back afterwards about how well it worked.

Also my understanding is that the ND is believed to work by letting the pancreas 'wake up' dormant beta cells that have been clogged up with fat. However, to me that implies that the ND will likely only work for people whose diabetes 'problem' is reduced insulin production rather than, say insulin resistance of the body's other cells (i.e. can't produce enough insulin vs the insulin being produced isn't being accepted by the cells). Is that a wrong interpretation? Taylor's research implies that this can be an effective treatment for most people, especially those recently diagnosed, but I can't make the connection myself!

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Hi Alex - it's definitely a good idea to plan ahead a bit.

My colleague, @Pipp did the ND some years ago. She might like to say something.

Good luck with it all.

Thank you for tagging me into this thread, @DCUKMod

@AlexMagd, it is just over 6 years since I lost a lot of weight and 'reversed' my T2 diabetes using the Newcastle diet method. I do still carry too much excess weight though.

In the first 3 years after ND I followed dietician recommendations, basically the NHS Eatwell plate. I did regain about half the weight lost, but blood glucose remained stable at non-diabetic levels. I add that I have several other medical conditions, and during that 3 years had two major operations, and subsequently was severely restricted in activities, immobile, and dependent on hospital food and the food preparation by people caring for me. Not much choice.

Since discovering the low carb eating regime, that is my preferred method. I tend to maintain weight, and feel better. I do eat less often than before, and smaller portions, but think that could be due to my age, (Retired). Also I do not feel hungry.

I am aware that I need to be vigilant as for me high carb = weight gain. Weight gain could push me over what the Newcastle team call the 'personal fat threshold'. To date, I have managed to keep HbA1c levels steady, but have hovered close to the 41 level recently.

Good morning @AlexMagd.
I did outline my experiences in this thread:

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/posts/1237814/

Which I think I really ought to update.

To answer your immediate questions, I was testing BG regularly for the first few months after completing ND. When I was in hospital they also had a strange regime of insisting on testing, not at logical times, like before and after food. They were more random, and the readings were always under 5. I stopped testing after a few months because it became tedious and expensive, and I always has the low enough readings, plus bruised fingers.
I do test now, but only on two days a week, or if I have eaten something new that I haven't tested before. I rely mostly on the three monthly HbA1c tests which are still just about under the threshold for prediabetes levels.

The weight regained was a bit of a shock, especially as I was following diet advice from dietician. It took a while for it to dawn on me that it was that same advice that caused the weight gain in the first place. A bit dim, perhaps, but as I was eating the same way as my husband and kids, who were all slim and healthy, it didn't occur to me that the diet high in carbs was not going to be ok for me.

It was when I became a member here that I gained the info from the shared knowledge of members about how damaging high carb diet was for me. I could kick myself for not making the connection. We had never as a family consumed sugary foods or takeawys, or ready meals, but included carbs at every meal.. Of course, it is simple when you think about it, even the wholemeal carbs break down to sugar in digestion.

I am not sure why you think low carb eating is not sustainable. I understand how life can be busy when you are younger juggling work, family commitments, etc, but it really is not too difficult. I only returned to Eatwell diet after ND because I was not aware of the alternative. It was that established that low fat and complex carbs is the healthy way to eat. I thought folks here who advocated LCHF were a bit weird (sorry folks). It went against everything HCPs had advised. I tried LCHF but took the HF part a bit too literally and gluggled a lot of cream and cheese, and made myself ill. Also, I wasn't aware that when you have been used to consuming a lot of high carb foods it is best to reduce them gradually.

Now, I would not return to the Eatwell style of eating. In fact, I find carb foods unpalatable, and feel sluggish and tired when I occasionally indulge. Apart from buttered seeded toast, but I try not to think of that so make it a rare treat.

I am aware that it would be advisable for me to lose some more weight. I have been considering following the ND method again, although this is not something I would advocate, as the Very Low Calorie Diet is only a short term method to lose weight rapidly. If relied on as a lifetime method of weight control it would encourage 'yoyo dieting' which is very unhealthy. When I followed ND, perhaps if I had continued until I reached optimum healthy weight it would have been better for me. Perhaps, like many, I ought to have paid more heed to Prof Taylor's advice that it is what one does after the calorie restriction phase that is important. That needs a look at lifetime eating regime.
Would I have done anything differently? Well, I would repeat the calorie restriction phase, but research and plan for the forever phase. It took me some time to get the balance right, I now eat low carb, with moderate amounts of fat. I shun anything labelked low fat, such as yogurts and skimmed milk, opting for full fat. Have butter, coconut oil and olive oil instead of synthetic fats, and enjoy foods, replacing the high carb stuff with extra veg. Oh and reduced fruits opting for berries instead.