I discovered the Newcastle Experiment in June 2011, and read the research reports. As I had just been told by my Consultant at Addenbrooke's that I had to go onto Insulin, I decided to ask if the Diet would help me, and if so, could I try it.
My GP was doubtful, because of my CKD, but having read the Newcastle Reports said I should put it to my Consultant. In January 2012 I had my scheduled Diabetes appointment and took with me all the research papers. Following the standard system at the clinic, I first saw the Dietician who was very strongly against it. She said I had to follow a low-fat, high-carbohydrate, balanced diet, with a gradual weight-loss. I then saw the Nephrologist Consultant who read the papers, asked questions, and went to talk to the Diabetic Consultant. I was asked to join them; my Diabetic Consultant told me she knew the Newcastle Professor, that the results were very interesting, and that I should try it, with supervision specified by the Nephrologist. This consisted of 4-weekly Blood tests of Kidney and Liver function via my GP. Progress was to be reviewed by the hospital Diabetic team in six months. It was, and I was allowed to continue, and still am on the Diet after more than a year now.
Today, I have never felt better. My HBA1C is <6, my BP is <130/<80, my kidney function is slowly improving, and I have lost >40KG. My body-fat percentage is, unfortunately still high at 40.8%. My aim is to reduce my Visceral Fat to a health lever for my age, as it is now thought to affect natural Insulin resistance.
Last week I received a letter from my Diabetic Consultant saying "now your Diabetes is effectively 'in remission'" I was no longer to attend the Diabetic Clinic". The Nephrologist would continue to see me as part of his normal Nephrology Clinic. In short, Newcastle worked for me, with no significant side-effects at all.
We are all different cases, of course. I am not trying to say that it is for everyone. But it has changed my life, halted organ damage, and increased significantly my life expectancy. It's easy to post comments stating a personal mantra - I see several of those replies and comments which remind me of the dogged opposition of that Dietician. All I have done is report my own history; I am willing, if it would help, to provide fuller information if asked.
One other comment; I was given an iPad several months ago. I found several Diabetic Apps and tried one or two. I have used one for months now to record my vital numbers: BP, Daily Glucose after food, HbA1c, Weight, BMI, Body-Fat, and Blood Lipids. It records, charts, and analyses statistically, data for up to a year. The data and its easy presentation stunned the Nephrology Registrar, who immediately borrowed the device to Email himself a copy of the data. For me, controlling Diabetes is like learning to fly in cloud, it's not possible without good instruments - it kills you, just like Diabetes! We have had the finger blood meter for years now, but realtime data tracking is a vast improvement, showing in graph-form the daily fluctuations in Glucose and BP, related to each other by time. It has proved to be my artificial horizon for the Killer Cloud of Diabetes.
Good luck to you. Wizzco.