Reply to Thread

Guest, we'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the Diabetes Forum Survey 2025 »

Message: <blockquote data-quote="HDL_ME" data-source="post: 214920" data-attributes="member: 36959">This isn't going to be too lengthy a posting, I hope... but I just wanted to let anyone know.... who is interested in attempting to gain better control of their diabetic and cholesterol bits n' doings... how I've managed a great result by having a go at an 8 week diet of 600 cals a day.It's funny how life works sometimes because coming back from a holiday in Egypt in January, I sat next to a lady who used to work for the UN. She told me about an unfortunate lady who got kidnapped and held captive in the Egyptian Desert somewhere...for weeks and weeks...& because she didn't have her medication with her for most of that time, when she was 'rescued'/released, she'd lost her Diabetes!I thought...I'd like some of that!...(though not the kidnapping-bit)So, I was kind of 'primed' as it were for when I heard about the results of the Newcastle University research a couple of months ago...& I thought... 'I'm def. going to give that a Go!'Now I thought it would be good to speak to my Doctor first, see what she had to say...though I had already decided I was going ahead with the diet, anyway. But after enquiring about making an  Appointment to see her, I learnt that she had just gone on a 2 week holiday.That was literally just a few hours after I'd read about the Newcastle diet.Having my Moon in Aries, I was not inclined to hang-around too much & so decided that I was going-ahead with the diet..starting 'tomorrow'...ie Friday 24th June. I downloaded the pdf file off the internet, to read all about the details of the experiment & then I spent a good bit of time online on the Thursday pm reading about what essential amounts of protein one requires per day and the protein profiles of a variety of foods that I might be able to eat under my 600 a day regime. Being a Vegetarian, I already eat Quorn in various forms & I could continue with quite a few types of that...though some were too caloric to be included. But it was clear that if I was going to eat enough protein & not have to go to a lot of hassle on the diet, I would have to put my vegetarian qualms aside & go for the cold chicken breast...as well as Quorn 'Ham' products... with the umpteen Salads that I knew would take over my Eating Life.So I kind of planned-out what I might eat during a dieting day.... to see just how feasible it was to do the diet without having to centre it around just 3 milk shakes a day. I knew that I couldn't possibly cope with just 3 glasses of milky-something & a pile of vedg. everyday. People on the Newcastle experiment did ...but they had all the encouragement of the Research Team & all that monitoring malarky to keep them on the ball. I just had Me and a very supportive and understanding Friend!But, being a Cancerian & having an excellent Intuition, I 'knew' that I could do it and that it was all worth doing. I already had an excellent Vitamin & Mineral Supplement each day and an effective Probiotic capsule with my brekkie, so I was not really worried about what I was doing. I was a little concerned that I might need the assistance of some kind of Dietary drink to get through my 600 cal-day on some occasions & thought that I'd write a note to my doctor to see if she might be able to help me by prescribing some 'Optifast' to incorporate into my diet. But by the time she was back from Hol. & I'd spoken to her & found out that it wasn't really going to be possible to have that option without being on an Official monitored Diet-type thing...which I did not want, I'd got so used to what I was having in my Diet anyway, I just carried on the same as I had started, without.Anyway, without boring you all to bits...I kept to the 600 cals a day ...every day...save one...my birthday...when I had 733 cals, to include a bit of Sherry Trifle and a piece of Cream cake with fresh raspberries for my 62nd Birthday Tea!My best Dieting tip...to make sure that you have at least one Indulgence a day incorporated into your diet. Mine was a bag of Walkers French Fries 'Worcester Sauce' Flavour....I had these sometimes for breakfast or if I could summon-up the willpower, I'd pour the packet full into a Lock & Lock container & eat them in little batches over the day. But the thing is in all this... I have very poor willpower, you see. That's why I ended-up with Diabetes in the first place....I eat when I'm upset/worried/tired/anxious etc etc.My sun sign of 'Cancer' is the most Emotional of the Water signs & astrologically I have everything in Anxiety & Worry...believe me!! Will Power is NOT one of my Personal Assets, please be assured on that front. When I was diagnosed with Diabetes early in 2005, I was over 16 stone. Upon diagnosis, I decided that the eating had to stop in order to get things under some kind of control & I lost some stones of weight...gradually. But for years, I've coped with eating many of things I liked to eat...cream cakes, crisps, Snicker Bars etc etc...with the assistance of 3 Metformin a day ...and a Lisinopril pill at night, to cope with the high blood pressure the crisps et al had helped me develop!But I thought that with my vision definetly on a downward drift, with the hearing loss in my left ear getting gradually worse (having Tinnitus in both ears now, in order not to lie awake thinking of all my anxieties as I listen to all that swishing noise going-on in my ears, I have an earphone in all night very quietly giving me 'Radio Five, Live' ...that helps me get to sleep past the Tinnitus noise) & knowing that a degree of mental fuzziness was getting progressively worse along with all the damaging symptoms of Diabetes...I was losing my Freedom. I'd always thought that the freedom to eat what I liked, was the important one. The freedom to please myself with a culinary indulgence or bar of chocolate..(or should that be a second bar of chocolate...sometimes, most definetly 'Yes!')But I had had enough being bossed around by the Diabetes thing...by being stuck on Pills that will certainly have some detrimental effect on my constitution, despite the fact that they are helping to guard me from the even worse ones of Type 2 Diabetes, not treated or controlled. I decided that I'd had a Lifetime of eating what I wanted. I'd done the Crisps and Chocolate and Everything-Else Fattening routine for Decades & had had a Bumper Time without any real input of the need to say "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH" You've had a Lifetime of allowing the Excess...now it's time to say 'No' for 8 weeks and give this Diet a Go!Anyway, I went to the Doctor's surgery today to collect the results of the HBA1C & Lipids tests that the phlobotomist had taken on Monday morning.I had stopped taking Metformin the day before I started on the diet...my last dose was with my Tea on the Thursday night. I have not had a Metformin since then. My glucose tests in the morning were all below 5, after a week on the diet...and are typically 4.5 now before I go to bed & before Breakfast in the morning. I started at 12 stone 5Ibs on Day One and ended-up at 10 stone 10 Ibs after the 8 weeks...a loss of I stone and 12 pounds....& having re-organised my Diet and attitude to life. I feel so much better, my clothes are so much comfier to wear...& a good deal smaller! Above all, the fuzziness that had been assaulting my mind has cleared.....yes, I still am forgetful but feel so much Brighter in myself.My Cholesterol is now on my Medical Records as Normal ... whereas before, at diagnosis, my Cholesterol was just under 10! (My Doctor at that particular time...commented that she rarely got one quite so high as that?!) And most wonderful of all...my HBA1c is now recorded as a 'Normal'-type one...a Fandabidozee 5.5! 'Whey-Hey' is all I can say to that!All the Best to you,Julie</blockquote>

Verification

Top Bottom

Search

Search

Reply to Thread