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New diagnosis, new diet

R

Raspin

Well-Known Member
Messages
55
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hello all,

I'm newly diagnosed. Was feeling really thirsty and drinking water by the pint over Xmas. Went to docs end of Dec and had a fasting blood test which came back with a reading of 18.1.

Was called in to see the Diabetic nurse and she put me on metformin and gave me a HBA1C test which was 109. Don't really know what it means other than its bad. I'm not sure how bad?

Also, I understand the test looks at how much glucose the blood cells have picked up in the last 3 or so months. As xmas was during that period and i pigged out on chocs, roast dinners and rum and cokes would this give a higher reading than i might usually have on a more sensible diet?

I came across this Newcastle study with the 80 cal diet, read up on it in detail, and it all seemed to make sense so decided to try it.

I'm doing ok so far other than finding it a struggle to get through the 3 litres of water which is odd as previously I was drinking like a fish.

Today is my 5th day on the diet. I'm 6'2 and weighed a hefty 18st 13 at the start but I weighed myself this morning and i've lost nearly half a stone already.

i'm wondering if I should be doing any exercise, light or otherwise?

Has anyone had much success with this diet?

Also, does anyone have any creative ideas of tasty ways to consume low starch veg and precious little else? A Stir fry with 1 cal spray is not bad, but steamed veg can be pretty bland, and any sauces i look for seem to include all the wrong things.

Any help/advice much appreciated.

Thanks, Raspin
 
Hi

I did the Newcastle diet for 7 or 8 weeks last year with good results.

I used products from a company I found by chance called Slim And save. They do meal replacement shakes, soups and 'meals' They are lower carbs than a lot of products like Slimfast.

The soups and shakes are fine the 'meals' are made with hot water and I think to call 'splodge' would be doing real splodges a disservice.
However they can be used as a sauce of one type or another. Once my sample packs ran out I never bought any more meals but I actually liked some of the shakes and soups.
I am not very good with rules, so I cheated and would sometimes use garlic butter or cheese on my vegetables or make them into soups. Or open a tin of chopped tomatoes (generally not allowed). And I bought some low carb Atkins chocolate bars to help with cravings.

I also had diet cola and lemonade etc.

I didn't do a great deal of extra exercise but upped the pace when walking etc. I wanted to but felt a bit apprehensive about it. However I wasn't really hungry and my energy levels were great. I no longer had the 'carb coma' you may have read about.

I am hoping to find my will power, which went and hid just before Christmas and hasn't been seen since, and do another 6 weeks on it....any day now...

It didn't 'cure' my diabetes although my levels were excellent on the diet. Pigging out over Christmas proved I cannot eat what I want and stay loew but I still have weight to lose. I don't think I will ,be able to judge until I lose a few more stones .

Please ask if you need any more advice/comments and let us know how you get on.

Good luck

Cara
 
Welcome to the forum Raspin and well done on the weight loss so far. Yes, your initial BG readings were quite bad but that's common for newly diagnosed. You'll soon see improvements and will start to feel a lot better. As for exercise, yes, it will certainly help both your Blood Glucose reading and for cardio-vascular benefit too ! Keep up the good work !
Mo
 
Hi Mo, thanks for the reply and the reassurance about the BS, its been worrying me a fair bit that it sounds so high but hopefully, as you say, it will improve.

Thanks for your reply to Cara

I've been doing the newcastle diet religiously for 6 days now and i've not deviated from what i'm allowed yet but its early days.

Like you, i'm not really getting hungry, bit tired, bit sick of veg and little else although stir fry is ok. Incidentally, i think you allowed tomatoes on the diet. I cook some chopped tomatoes in a pan to reduce them a bit, add some chopped onions and then stir fry some bean sprouts, radishes, peppers, chillies and mushrooms etc. Its not too bad but I can see myself getting quite tired of it quite quickly as its pretty much my only recipe bar steamed veg.

I'm using asda's meal replacement shakes. They are mixed with skimmed milk, and technically on this diet its no dairy, but they used optifast which is only available in the UK by prescription and costs a fortune to buy on amazon or such. At least it has the same total calories as optifast when mixed (200) meaning it all still ads up to the 800.

I'm having 2 shakes a day (morning and evening), 200 cals of weight watchers soup for lunch and veg in the evening. I'm also sticking to only drinking water but 3 litres is tough to get through in a day, though apparently its also important as it stops the body retaining water.

Sounds like you did well with your diet. Congrats!

Below is the diet they used for the study which i'm trying to follow in case anyone else is interested. Apparently, 11 people who followed it to completion sent their diabetes into remission and 3 months later most of them had kept the weight off and the BS down (presumably by continuing to eat very carefully).

really appreciate the support, Raspin



Low Calorie Diet Programme (800 calories per day)

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  •  Meal replacement with Optifast (3 sachets each day) – this provides a total of 600 calories and the necessary daily vitamins and mineral requirements

  •  Eat up to 3 portions of non-starchy vegetables each day (total of 250g each day) (for fibre content) – this will provide another 200 calories

  •  Drink - 3 litre of water or calorie-free beverages each day During the 8 weeks of the diet;
  •  No poultry or fish or meat

  •  No bread or pasta

  •  No dairy products (even full skimmed milk!)

  •  No root vegetables like potato, sweet potato, turnip

  •  No pulses

  •  No fruits

  •  No alcohol

    During the first few days of the diet, you may experience some symptoms like - headache

    - dizziness - tiredness - hunger- cold

    These are expected as your body adjust to using your fat store as energy source.
    The symptoms will improve after 2-4 days. It is important to keep up your fluid intake and remember to wrap up warmly!
Telephone: 0191 248 1150 Fax: 0191 248 1151 www.ncl.ac.uk/crp www.ncl.ac.uk/magres

Magnetic Resonance Centre

Newcastle University Campus for Ageing and Vitality Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 5PL

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Breakfast: Lunch: Evening meal: Snacks/super:

Day Plan and Ideas

Optifast milkshake
Optifast soup or milkshake/salad
Optifast soup or milkshake
Salad/roasted veg/ home made soup/ vegetable snacks

Vegetables allowed (at least 240g per day ~ i.e. 3 portions per day)

Cabbage Celery
Carrots Peppers Brussel sprouts

Tomatoes Cauliflower Broccoli Cucumber Onions Bean Sprouts Lettuce Leeks Mushrooms Artichoke Radish Water chestnuts Mung bean sprouts

You can have all these vegetables (and some others as well – see below). Boiled, grilled, dry fry, stir fry, wrap in tin foil and roast in the oven.

Herbs and Spices

You will need to use some flavouring to prevent your dishes tasting so bland. Try to find some you like e.g.

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Basil Oregano Tarragon Rosemary Thyme Chillies Ginger Black pepper

Lemon juice Vinegar Chilli powder Curry powder Dried chillies Coriander Cumin

Sage

Parsley Tumeric Cinnamon Vanilla essence Rum essence


http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal.htm
 
hi Raspin,I have been on the Newcastle plan since 31st of oct using a mix of Cambridge diet shakes and bars and avidite shakes and bars (they are a bit cheaper, due to use by date issues, which I don't have being passed my own lol).
also have two meals of either a large salad with prawns ,chicken. beef.or boiled eggs ,or large pot of low carb veg soup, with a dash of fresh cream or butter in it.
I have just had a operation so not been to the gym for 6 weeks but I have managed a walk everyday as well.
its not been all plain sailing I've had a few relapses but I've had no medication since the first week when I had a hypo ,i have a blood test due on the 29th when I hope it will show that my bg levels are under control now. good luck and best wishes ps read terminal and scare's post, keven is a lovely bloke and others here will give lots of advice and help.
 
Hi 2chirstine,

Thanks for the reply. Where did you get the cambridge diet shakes from and avidite shake? Be interested in looking into those.

Other than the milk in the shakes i'm following the diet to the letter, no meat, no butter, no sauce, no fish, no taste! and just water, not even tea. Maybe i'm being a mug, or naive, but i'm really hoping I can turn around my post xmas diagnosis altogether. It won't be for want of trying.

It sounds like you have done incredibly well. I'd be very interested to hear how you get on come the 29th. Best of luck and hopefully you reap the rewards of your handwork :-)
 
I managed to lose 2 stone in about 6 weeks on the Newcastle, but really struggled with protein cravings after week 5, I ended up dreamed about roast chicken! Have you looked at the reciepes on the website - the red pepper soup is really tasty still eating it now only in larger quantities and the pasta sauce is good to - I used 125g of the sauce with 125g courgette pasta (cougette slice into v thin ribbons and boil for about 2-3 minutes) also plenty of salad with a fat free dressing (usually salt, pepper and a wine vinegar). Planning to give myself another 4 week blast shortly. Not put any of the lost weight back on on my reduced carb eating but not losing any more either. Good Luck
 
Hi. It's good that you are trying to reduce weight thru a diet. Personally I wouldn't worry too much about specific named diets. The key to weight and blood sugar reduction is reducing the carbs. I would challenge a few things in the Newcastle diet that you have listed. I wonder why you have to have 3 litres of water? Also pulses are good for you in sensibly small quantity as they are low-GI carbs. Fruit is OK in small quantities and even alcohol. So' don't be too religious about it but the low-carb aspect I go along with.
 
I got the Cambridge from a local councillor, I found the list on the internet, she would not let me have it without my gp permission, the selection is great. , the Avidite diet from a diabetic food supplier also on the internet(I look for their clearance offers) I have lost 1st13lb and 8oz so far.my eye sight has improved ,itchy skin ,thrush problems, short temper, and depression ,pain in legs and feet and hands and kidney pain all gone.it does not suit everyone I know, but it has me.
Still a bit unsure whether I will beat though.
 
2christine said:
I got the Cambridge from a local councillor, I found the list on the internet, she would not let me have it without my gp permission, the selection is great. , the Avidite diet from a diabetic food supplier also on the internet(I look for their clearance offers) I have lost 1st13lb and 8oz so far.my eye sight has improved ,itchy skin ,thrush problems, short temper, and depression ,pain in legs and feet and hands and kidney pain all gone.it does not suit everyone I know, but it has me.
Still a bit unsure whether I will beat though.
Click to expand...
just found the avidite webpage looks good what do you use on there as a newbie id be interested x
 
Slim and SAve have a website and some of their things are on Ebay too.
Atkins bars are at Asda or Amazon
 
Thanks for the replies guys,

Lesci, 2 stone is great, especially as you kept it off.. You must be chuffed. 1 week in to the diet I can defo understand why after 5 weeks i might be dreaming of roast chicken, or curry! How did the diet effect your BS levels? The recipes suggestions sound interesting and i'll defo look into them and try some.

Daibell, the reason i'm following the diet used on the newcastle study is because of the results they got with it.

Having read the research paper they were careful to state that they believe that the results could be achieved with a variety of very low cal/ow carb diets.

They suggest you drink lots of water.to fill you up and suppress appetite. Also, apparently, when dieting heavily your body starts to retain water. If you drink plenty of water it reduces the bodies tendency to retain water. Dunno the science but it seems to work. I'm not hungry hardly at all.

Regarding pulses and such, i think the diet is so restricted because they were dealing with a test group so wanted to reduce the variables as much as possible while including fibre that was low-cal and low carb (non-starchy veg).

It might sound silly, but the reason i'm following the diet as religiously as possible is due to the results they achieved. I don't want to incorporate something different into the diet myself, get to the end, not get the same results, and be left wondering if what i changed made a difference somehow..

I'm not a dietician or a researcher but I suppose the research offers a bit of hope, and it also makes me feel like i have a bit more control over how things go from here.
 
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Hi,

Popped into the father-in-laws on the way home today (who is also type 2) and he tested my blood sugar. 8.9 this time which i was well chuffed with as 2 days ago at exactly the same time of day, having eaten exactly the same calories and even same food, it was 13.4. It might still be high but its lower so i'm happier. I'm going to not have anything after 7 pm on thursday and stop by his on the way to work around 7.30 am to see what it is then.

Also, weighed myself and another couple of pounds have come off. Today is a good day.

One thing I was concerned about on this diet was using the asda shakes with milk. With skimmed milk each shake adds up to 200 cals with 26 grams of carb. I was thinking i could sub the milk for water to avoid the 12g of carb from the milk but then the skae would be around half the calories. So to make up the difference i'd have to add double the shake mix (and then prob more water) but then the shake will have almost the identical amount of carbs as with skimmed milk anyway..

With this in mind I looked at the optifast they used in the study and that has 20g of carb per serving, only a few grams less. Slimfast made with milk has 35 g of carb per serving so even made with water would have around the same grams of carb as the asda meal replacement i am using with milk. So it seems like asda meal replacement shakes aren;t bad at all but my question is this. The newcastle diet says no dairy, so baring in mind using milk keeps my carb intake kind of similar to the shakes they use, is there any other reason i shouldn't be using skimmed milk?

Also, with the shakes and the 2 soups i'm having each day i'm taking in about 76 grams of carb plus however much carb is in the 200 cals of non starchy veg I have in the evening. Does that seem low enough for a low carb diet? I realise the diet works based primarily on low calori eintake but I want to keep my carbs as low as pos for my BS.

Any help/advice appreciated. Thanks, Raspin
.
 
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6.4 fasting blood sugar this morning., down from 18,1 10 days ago.

I think that'd good, so i'm chuffed.
 
Brilliant! How is the weight loss? How are you feeling in yourself?

Cara
 
Hi Cara,

Weight loss has stopped for the last 2 days at just over half a stone but that's ok; that'll happen i guess. Feel ok, bit tired but also not bloated in the way i would maybe be in the past when i'd eat far too much.

I'm not finding it too hard to maintain for the most part. The shake in the morning, soup for lunch, shake in the evening is easy cos i don;t have to think about it so i donlt have to think about food. Bit more tricky trying to decide on appetising ways to have the 200 cals of vegetables though.

It going well all in all. How are you doing?
 
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