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'Newcastle diet' advice

When my latest HbA1c was 5.3, I asked my GP about reducing Metformin from 500mg td. Given the emerging evidence of its protective qualities in a number of areas, she advised me to continue with them.

Regards

Doug
 
VinnyD said:
I agree the carb sugars in Shake that weight are not particularly low (between 9 to 11g) which is why I tend to have not more than one of these in any single day. But it is really good to see the dramatic change in your Bg readings as you are within the NICE target range for non diabetics which is great.

Incidentally I forgot to mention that I am still on medication. I take 1 metformin tablet in the morning after breakfast and one in the evening after my meal. My doctor wanted me to increase my dosage but eventually I want to eliminate the medication altogether. I would be interested to know if you still take medication.
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Well I stopped all my medications at the beginning of ND but my a1c was 39 at the start of nd which I got down from 142 with diet change only in 6 months but I wanted to give this a shot too and see if it can help me reverse it or put it into remission.
 
brettsza said:
Well I stopped all my medications at the beginning of ND but my a1c was 39 at the start of nd which I got down from 142 with diet change only in 6 months but I wanted to give this a shot too and see if it can help me reverse it or put it into remission.
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OK that's good to know. Do let us now how you get on. I want to consider going off 1 Metformin a day after a month then review it again before going off it completely.
 
Osidge said:
When my latest HbA1c was 5.3, I asked my GP about reducing Metformin from 500mg td. Given the emerging evidence of its protective qualities in a number of areas, she advised me to continue with them.

Regards

Doug
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Yikes! What evidence for which conditions?
I was quite ecstatic to be able to stop Metformin last year, 9 years after first starting them. Surely it is best to be medicated to the minimum requirement. I have been told by the GP of my elderly relative that many older people are admitted to hospital due to polypharmacy problems. As I am getting on a bit I would prefer to avoid that myself.
 
Pipp said:
Yikes! What evidence for which conditions?
I was quite ecstatic to be able to stop Metformin last year, 9 years after first starting them. Surely it is best to be medicated to the minimum requirement. I have been told by the GP of my elderly relative that many older people are admitted to hospital due to polypharmacy problems. As I am getting on a bit I would prefer to avoid that myself.
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I have heard a bit of this, of late. @jack412 is a fan, as was @douglas99, I believe. Those are just examples of those who have been told this, and believe it to be correct.

Like you, Pipp, I prefer to be I medicated if I can.
 
here's an example
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140807215552.htm
Patients treated with metformin had a small but statistically significant improvement in survival compared with the cohort of non-diabetics, whereas those treated with sulphonylureas had a consistently reduced survival compared with non-diabetic patients. This was true even without any clever statistical manipulation.

"Surprisingly, the findings indicate that this cheap and widely prescribed diabetic drug may have beneficial effects not only on patients with diabetes but also for people without, and interestingly, people with type 1 diabetes. Metformin has been shown to have anti-cancer and anti-cardiovascular disease benefits. It can also reduce pre-diabetics' chances of developing the disease by a third.
 
jack412 said:
here's an example
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140807215552.htm
Patients treated with metformin had a small but statistically significant improvement in survival compared with the cohort of non-diabetics, whereas those treated with sulphonylureas had a consistently reduced survival compared with non-diabetic patients. This was true even without any clever statistical manipulation.

"Surprisingly, the findings indicate that this cheap and widely prescribed diabetic drug may have beneficial effects not only on patients with diabetes but also for people without, and interestingly, people with type 1 diabetes. Metformin has been shown to have anti-cancer and anti-cardiovascular disease benefits. It can also reduce pre-diabetics' chances of developing the disease by a third.
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Thank you, Jack. I had read something on that recently, but it is good that you have provided the academic paper to back up the claims made by osidge.

I would like to see a more long term study, though I am a bit 'long in the tooth' to wait for the results of that.
For me the aim is to be on as little medication as possible due to the various compounds reacting with each other to cause more symptoms which then require more medication. For example, aspirin has been recommended in low dose for those at risk of cardiac disease, but has later been shown to cause abdominal symptoms for some people. I was on a variety of meds for arthritis which interacted with other meds and caused a severe, non-reversible allergic condition, exacerbated by some meds for BP. So would always be cautious about adding in another medication to the cocktail I already have. Life is after all terminal. Polypharmcy is not for me.

Sorry about the derail of the thread. Heading back to the naughty corner.
 
here is another take on Metformin....this time a little more scientific than te daily mail....http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jdr/2012/716404/
Interesting is the correlation between NAFLD (non alcholic fatty liver disease) and T2 Diabetes....it would appear that metformin has a number of other advantages....think I will go back on it :)

As for the newcastle diet...I applaud all that have done it....massive congrats. I have reduced my weight via LCHF and with exercise I am also off the med HB1AC in may 39. What I want to know is from the Newcastle dieters is....what do you do once the goal has been achieved? If I so much as look at a chocolate or drink a beer I gain the next day???

Have any of you considered the Banting Lifestyle? A form of LCHF designed by Prof Tim Noakes ( a fellow diabetic)
 
robertconroy said:
Metformin destroys men's hearts. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...rt-disease-thyroid-problems-experts-warn.html
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The Daily Mail? I rest my case. Seriously, the research paper, "Metformin and low levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus" written by Jean-Pascal Fournier, Hui Yin, Oriana Hoi Yun Yu, and Laurent Azoulay, and published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal only set out to compare Metformin monotherapy with sulfonylurea monotherapy. They found a difference in the risk of producing lower amounts of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) between the two therapies. It's conclusions were, and I quote "The clinical consequences of this need further investigation". They say nothing about heart disease, maybe I missed something.
The Daily Mail love making stuff up, ought to be a law against it.
 
Andrew Colvin said:
I can concur Syd as I have not followed the newcastle diet but reduced my intake and upped my exercise (well just getting up from the computer screen did that) and have lost lots and have achieved the same results
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Hi Andrew,

I feel that Syd's approach is okay for some, but most of the people who partake in this Newcastle Diet after being Diagnosed with Diabetes don't want to wait 6 months or so to see a downfall in their weight and their BGL's, as they want to see results vertually within weeks, if not days. As this then becomes encouraging making them more positive in their approach, but by taking the longer course even though it may be more healthier, they are less likely to continue when not seeing the benefits of their efforts on a regular basis. So I personally take my hat off to them all as it's no easy task to loose the amounts of weight they require to loose, not only to reverse their Diabetes but to get too a more healthyer weight via this diet, so congratulations to all of you and good luck in the future.

Stemar, (Downunder)
 
Understand that it's a quick way to lose weight....nothing wrong with that....issue is how do they keep it off after the diet?
 
Brightside said:
Understand that it's a quick way to lose weight....nothing wrong with that....issue is how do they keep it off after the diet?
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There's a lot of dieticians who would disagree with that 100% and say that quick weight loss leads to yoyo dieting. As you say though, the issue is keeping the weight off because it's obvious that a return to old habits is a return to your old weight.

Whatever somebody was eating before something like the Newcastle diet was helping them to maintain their old weight, returning to their old diet would eventually help them gain weight again.

I haven't mentioned a calorie once. LOL

I've not tried the Newcastle diet yet and in the 8 years that I've taken diet and nutrition seriously I lost 4 stone when I stopped taking rosiglitazone (no change in diet or exercise required), I didn't then lose the next 3 stone until I cut back on carbs to about 80 grams a day and the next 1 1/2 stone didn't go until I had to take diclofenac and flucloxacillin after a Total Knee Replacement last November (no further dietary change required).

The weight loss stopped at the same time as the drugs stopped and the theory is that the slowing down of my intestinal tract transit time means I am absorbing more nutrients than when the two drugs were causing faster intestinal transit time.

Any experts on the Krebs cycle and ATP production out there?

Dieting and losing weight can be a bit like rocket science, it's certainly more than cutting calories. It's why my major worry that while the NHS like to say the type II is life style related, there's a lot of people who do all the right things and still gain weight and still become diabetic. Just my opinion.
 
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Brightside said:
Understand that it's a quick way to lose weight....nothing wrong with that....issue is how do they keep it off after the diet?
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"Understand that it's a quick way to lose weight" ....don't think that's the point, more to get the BG levels lower and more stable AND the hope that as Prof Taylor's study showed, " the possibility that one can reverse T2, and believe me, as someone who has only 2 days to go until I finish the ND, after 8 weeks of eating Rabbit food and soup, I can assure you that I've learnt "portion control" and a new lifestyle way of eating that involves "eating by my meter" with the added benefit of having lost 31lbs, Happy days
 
Brightside said:
Understand that it's a quick way to lose weight....nothing wrong with that....issue is how do they keep it off after the diet?
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Unfortunately that's not always the case and it can lead to health problems. I went on a similar diet years ago as a last ditch attempt to lose weight. In 8 weeks I lost about 8lb and felt very ill - my GP told me to start eating proper food again because my metabolism was shutting my body down because it thought I was starving.
 
Daphne917 said:
Unfortunately that's not always the case and it can lead to health problems. I went on a similar diet years ago as a last ditch attempt to lose weight. In 8 weeks I lost about 8lb and felt very ill - my GP told me to start eating proper food again because my metabolism was shutting my body down because it thought I was starving.
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Agreed.
It depends whether your 'thrifty gene' is turbo charged, or not.
 
Wildrover said:
"Understand that it's a quick way to lose weight" ....don't think that's the point, more to get the BG levels lower and more stable AND the hope that as Prof Taylor's study showed, " the possibility that one can reverse T2, and believe me, as someone who has only 2 days to go until I finish the ND, after 8 weeks of eating Rabbit food and soup, I can assure you that I've learnt "portion control" and a new lifestyle way of eating that involves "eating by my meter" with the added benefit of having lost 31lbs, Happy days
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Hi Wildrover,

Congratulations on your effort too not only get your BGL's Down, but to get yourself into a more manageable weight, as I can only imagine how hard it was to stay facused in this task originally, so congratulations to all who are able to manage their situation once they realise the overall benifits. So take care and enjoy the future.

Stemar, (Downunder)
 
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