My 'Newcastle' Experiment.....

[clearviews]

An awesome, inspiring account of the 600 cal diet.!! Well done to you.
I too used it to kick start a weight loss of about 7 kilos and very quickly lost 4 of them. I am back to my low carb way of eating and the weight comes off gradually.
I would never be happy with a spike of 8 but that is a personal choice and if that is an improvement for you then it is an improvement and be happy with that. My personal goal is to be 6 and under at any time of the day or night and I can't achieve that if there is any bread or fruit let alone rice, pasta, potatoes etc. Even full fat greek yoghurt is not my friend though I would like it to be!
My coconut milk based shake is back into my breakfast menu with a vengance as berries are in season in my garden and I can do berries. I love my shakes!!

 

[johnts]

Good work HDL_ME keep it up youve done well Im started to see good results 1 week through mine now

 

[provincial1]

Just an update on my previous report. I am at the end of my 600 diet which lasted from 1 august to 30 september. I lost 2 stone and did not cheat once. I had two slimfasts each day and a varied 200 calorie meal once a day. After about 3 weeks I stopped all my tablets, but saw a rise in my pre-breakfast fasting blood, gradually to a high of 11.8, having been in the 3-4-5 range before the diet. At the suggestion of my Doctor, I went back on to 3x500 mets, but left off the glickies. My level soon went down to 6-7 and has been maintained. My subsequent blood tests and urine confirm I still have diabetes, but my 3 month blood average is now 7.1, reduced from 8.1, my cholestorol is 3.2, down from over 5, and my BMI is under 25, down from over 30. I no longer wake in the night to go to the toilet, I am much less thirsty in the morning, and I no longer wake up 3/4 mornings per week with a headache. Also, after many years of failure, I can now indulge in normal sex, being able to maintain an erection. All in all I feel considerably more healthy, which will be a considerable incentive to keep off the weight. I am keeping a supply of slimfasts which I enjoy and at the suggestion of my diabetic nurse have reduced the mets to one per day with my main meal. Other than that meal of 3/400 calories I eat porridge for breakfast and a banana and a yoghurt for lunch. The suggestion is that in a week if my levels in the morning are maintained, I try leaving off the mets and see how it goes. I wanted to lose 2.5 stones and missed by the half stone, but if everything goes well I will try for the extra in about a month, and do it slowly over say a month. I can recommend the method even if it does not get rid of the diabetes. I feel brilliant and the bride has a smile on her face! Incidentally, my diabetes is the result of a genetic disorder called Haemachromatosis, and it may be that in such conditions it was too much to expect any other result.

 

[provincial1]

My previous report was under the name baggers- see above. The forum would not accept that title again when I tried to use it, hence the name at the front of the above of Provincial1. Sorry if anyone is confused.

 

[borofergie]

Also, after many years of failure, I can now indulge in normal sex, being able to maintain an erection. .. I feel brilliant and the bride has a smile on her face!

Wahay! Get in there son! :mrgreen:

Seriously, well done.

I wonder what happened to all the naysayers who were saying that this diet was dangerous and had no place on the forum? If you listen very carefully you can hear them choking on their words. True, not everyone could stick to it, but we're seeing an awful lot of real success here now.

And now, after provincial's testimonial, I might suprise the new wife by smuggling a pack of Slimfast to bed with me!

 

[HDL_ME]

Enjoyed reading the comments/posts....& dare I say it...but 'keep it up' provincial1..?!


Forgive me if I repeat myself but I would like to say, from my heart ...to anyone who thinks there's weight to be lost & a greater degree of good health to regain.... if you're so inclined, do give the diet a Go? Because IF YOU'RE DETERMINED to make it work, all that effort you're putting-in, will repay you several-fold.
That's my experience, anyway.
Even a 6-pack of my beloved Worcester Sauce-flavoured 'French Fries' can't match-up to the pleasure of realising how much less-worse I now look in my swimming costume?!

All the best,

Julie.

 

[luminox]

Julie,,,it was lovely reading all of the comments that resulted from your posting..
I take blood pressure tablets which have successfully controled my blood pressure for many years and had my 6 monthly blood test about 3 months ago.
As previously posted, the nurse asked to see my regarding my glucose level which she said was a little high.It turned out that after fasting it was 12.2, she told me not to worry as spikes happen with everyone but we should be looking at my eating habits etc and arrange another blood test in 4 weeks time. I asked that could the test have been affected maybe because I had taken a drink before bed and in the morning with my tablet, she said unlikely but possible.

In the meantime and prior to the next test, I made a decision to go on my own version of a low carb regime which meant no potatoes, white bread, white rice, pasta etc etc,, although I love my shredded wheat I dropped down to 3 times a week as a nibbler.I have 2 slices of danish wholemeal with butter for beakfast, 2/3 apples and a banana/pear for lunch and various salads with salmon,chicken,beef, pork etc, brown rice and fish. for dinner,maybe once a week steak, eggs mushrooms with 5/6 chips, lots of variations but mostly based around these items.

I got myself a bike and cycle to work 4 miles each way 4 days a week.

I had my second test which came back after fasting 11.1.
On the bottom of the test results paper it stated very clearly if test is MORE THAN 11.1 with symptoms then you are type 2. My Doctor said amongst other things that once a Diabetic always a Diabetic and that you shouldn't believe everything you read on the Internet.
He the asked if I wanted to take medication and offered no words of encouragement or advise.
I got quite angry and asked why he had interpreted my results as Type 2 as apposed to Glucose Intolerance....NO REPLY Other than you are the same as most people who refuse to accept the thay are Diabetic.
I was not happy and requested a further blood test.after a further weeks of my low carb regime and my bike, I have gone from 13.7 to 12.5 and my last after fasting blood test finished up at 6.1 and Triglicerides at 1.00 which is the lowest they have ever been.

I made an appointment with my doctor who announce my results looking slightly embarrassed and said you are no longer a Diabetic but heed the warning. He booked a further blood test in 6 months.

Although I was very unhappy at the start of all this, I am now totally commited to keeping myself in better shape and have no intention of going backwards.. I do not and never have in the past stuck to any formal diet, I simply eat that I think is right,,, no sweet things unless out on a special occasion,,, I read packaging more than before,I love all the food I am eating and I dont consider, going without a load of carbs is a hardship...the one difficulty I have is that the nurse advised hard fruit as apposed to soft fruit but other than apples/pears.there is very little else, but I do enjoy my 1/2 bananas a day.

There appears to be too many blinkered doctors on the planet who refuse to accept that there is any possibility of reversing conditions, but who prefer to simply prescribe a bottle of pills.

I am not complacent about Diabetes and neither do I expect to live forever but what can be better at 67 years of age to be in better shape and hopefully better health although I have to say Isleep much heavier now than Iused to,, maybe its the bike,,,who knows,, good luck julie

 

[RussG]

I wonder what happened to all the naysayers who were saying that this diet was dangerous and had no place on the forum? If you listen very carefully you can hear them choking on their words. True, not everyone could stick to it, but we're seeing an awful lot of real success here now.

Hmm. Not sure about this comment, Borofergie. There's a number of people who have had some success with this diet but no long term evaluation yet, and a number of people previously doing it have gone suspiciously quiet. It's not surprising to me that a very low calorie diet with very low carb levels would cause both good weight loss and BG levels, but let's not quite call victory over diabetes yet, eh?

Kudos to anyone who has controlled their weight and BG levels with any method, including this one but I for one was saying that this diet should only be done with the agreement and support of your GP, like Bowell did. I'll stand by that comment all day. No choking from me at all.

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Well said Russ, Borofergies comment about those with a different viewpoint seemed rather childish and na na na nana, I dont think anyone would knock anyone for their determination at sticking to this diet or for those that found it too restrictive and dropped by the wayside. But as you said Russ It will be interesting to see how many are still reporting the 'good news' in 6 or 12 months time.

And the reason some people were concerned is that the Newcastle study was a controlled study and they even warned people not to try to replicate it without medical supervision which most people have not done, in fact with the exception of Bowell most seem to have cobbled their own version of the diet together using other products that had a different nutritional profile.

So 'naysayers'? No just people able to see the big picture, theres no need to ridicule someone just because they dont have the same point of view as you

 

[Patch]

If there is one thing that those of us that have had success on this diet CAN jump up and down about, is the fact that following the diet didn't do any of us ANY HARM.

Unlike the current prescribed method of "trial and error until we find a drug that works".

I'll be having another bash at ot in Feb' next year.

 

[RussG]

If there is one thing that those of us that have had success on this diet CAN jump up and down about, is the fact that following the diet didn't do any of us ANY HARM.

Unlike the current prescribed method of "trial and error until we find a drug that works".

I think you missed a word or two Patch.

the diet didn't do us any of us ANY HARM that we're aware of in the very short term, and of course as almost none of us did it with medical supervision, nobody qualified is testing us to see what the actual results are or what any intended consequences might be.

Fixed it for you there.

As I say again, kudos to anyone losing weight and controlling their blood sugar but the original research was clear that the long term benefits or risks have not been studied. Let's try keeping some perspective people. I sincerely hope it hasn't done any harm, but the experiences of a small number of people roughly copying an experiment of their own backs, without sticking to the elegibilty criteria or methodology of an initial trial does not count as scientific proof in my book.

 

[Patch]

You keep on living in fear of anything that your care team aren't completely comfortable with (ie - anything they cannot safely prescribe without fear of recrimination).

I'll keep trying to get the better of this disease.

Like I said - roll on February!

 

[johnts]

You keep on living in fear of anything that your care team aren't completely comfortable with (ie - anything they cannot safely prescribe without fear of recrimination).

I'll keep trying to get the better of this disease.

Like I said - roll on February!

And that goes for me to I went to my GP they werent intrested

 

[Patch]

Fight the power, johnts!

I assume yor BG has gone through the roof and you've put on large amounts of weight since starting your "little trial"?

:lol:

 

[Patch]

P.S...

...Russ=Ken.

 

[johnts]

No the opposite be putting my daily readings on right now lost a stone in 3 weeks and Bgs down from 14mmol to 5/6 mmol if Im not cured by the end of the trial atleast Ive learned a valuable lesson in food intake and control of my T2 with no medication But I can understand where the others are coming from it was a trial and still needs to see what the long term outcome will be but nothing ventured nothing gained but at the present Im more than happy and comfortable with the diet thus far

 

[RussG]

Johnts - exactly. Well said.

Look Patch, I'm T1 and got my HbA1c down from 13.7 to 5.2% in three months, so you can knock off the 'I live in fear of anything my team doesn't tell me to do' stuff for a start. Personally I thank my team for saving my life by advising me to start taking insulin.

Perhaps you might like to look up this summation of your argument, Patch. Please direct me to the posts I made saying that this diet would cause weight gain or escalating blood sugars. I'll save you the difficulty because you can't; I never said it.

You remind me of the old joke about an astronomer, a mathmatician and a physicist on a train to Scotland. They see a black cow in a field and the mathmatician says 'Wow, Scottish cows are black'. 'No,' replies the physicist, 'we can say a black cow exists in Scotland'. 'Well actually' says the astronomer, 'we can say one side of one cow in a field in Scotland is black.' It's not the world's funniest joke, for sure, but can you see how you cannot make exaggerated claims about what the attempt to copy the Newcastle diet can do for your diabetes? Can you also see how pointing that out does not diminish what people have achieved in terms of weight loss or BG control?

How's your fat level around your pancreas Patch? Do you know? No, you don't. And therein lies the issue. For the time that you followed the diet, you lost weight and had good BG levels. Kudos to you. That does not mean that the diet made permanent improvements to your liver or pancreas ((C)Kenny) or that it will not have any long term issues. Equally it doesn't mean that it didn't. You just don't know. You're making bold claims, I'm saying there is no evidence yet. I'll leave to you work out which viewpoint is intellectually honest.

Oh, and one more thing: Yes, I am Ken. I freely admit it. I've fooled everyone. Only the mighty Patch was clever enough to have spotted it and I would have got away with it, if it weren't for you darn pesky kids.

 

[Patch]

You sure sound like Ken...

Please direct me to the posts I made saying that this diet would cause weight gain or escalating blood sugars.

I never said that you did say that.

Nice link to the Straw Man Argument.

 

[carty]

Welcome back Ken we missed the Ken and Patch show :lol:
CAROL

 

[Grazer]

Forgive me if I've got this wrong, I've not read it up much, but my understanding is that the Newcastle experiment isn't about losing weight (BOUND to happen on 600 cals a day) nor about lower BGs during the diet (BOUND to be lower on 600 cals if the ratio of carbs are about the same) but is about curing diabetes? If so, I assume we won't know if any of this has been any good until the people trying it come OFF the diet and presumably resume a normal non-diabetic diet (not a low carb one) and see what happens to their BGs then? Or is the plan to do a GTT?