Newcastle diet

Right, if I were to be in the same position as I was in 2011 when I first tried ND (i.e. morbidly obese, more than twice the weight I should be, BMI 50+, constantly increasing BG , and needing more and more diabetes medication) I would most certainly repeat the Total Food Replacement method, or at least the liquid meal replacement with supplement of veg. I believe it was the massive amount of body fat that was causing the raised BG.

As I now weight around 5 stones overweight, still obese, but less so and now with stable non-diabetes BG levels and no medication I choose to use the less drastic Newcastle diet method with up to 1200 calories. The weight loss is slower, but it is socially less isolating. I may at some time repeat the 800 calorie version to speed weight loss.

jack412 said:

@Pipp I think the 3 drinks, salad and a spoon of oil, is a very good way of sticking to it for 8 weeks, it takes away the temptations of eating, if you were cooking up a 800 cal a day meals, it wouldn;t be long before the serves got a lot bigger

more important I think is when the diet is over, and where the LC is very important, so as not to go back to old eating habits..a new way of eating for the rest of your life has to be worked out

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Our posts crossed @jack412

I agree with this. It is so easy when you are trying to just consume 800 cals of real food to lose count of the cals.

The discipline of Total food replacement, or the addition of salad and oil makes more sense. Also, the very low calorie consumption on TFR puts the body into ketosis, which in itself stops one feeling hungry. With real food on 800 hunger is a factor leading to failure to complete 8 weeks.

When I am not following ND in any form, I stick to Low carb now.

Apart from when I get tempted by too many carby foods at Christmas.

douglas99 said:

I entirely agree with you again.
It's very easy to stick to the newcastle diet, as written by Prof Taylor.
The pdf defines the amount, the 3 drinks are indeed easy to follow, and the salad, or equivalent is clear.
That's why it shouldn't be changed.
(The spoonful of oil adds more than 100 calories, for a very minimal amount of 'empty' food, so that highlights the problems with ad hoc changes, simply for the sake of them. 12.5% calorie increase, for a spoonful of liquid, that's the equivalent of an extra week's food in the 8 weeks, so you'd be looking at 9 weeks for the same diet)

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But the addition of oil protects against gallstones.

douglas99 said:

Interestingly, I did it the other way round.
I did the 1200 calorie low fat diet, and got down to a BMI of about 25, over a slower period.
But I was targeting weight loss.
Which helped enormously.

But I seemed to have a better effect when I did the 800 calorie diet for the 5 weeks later on, targeting diabetes.

So, the original Newcastle diet seemed to have been better in my personal experience, based on my own trial of both diets.
But as I always say, we're all different, and can only say what we, personally, have experience off, and what works for us as individuals.

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Yes, I would add that for me the weight loss was secondary, though welcome. For me it was the chance to 'reverse' diabetes. Whatever anyone believes that might mean , for me it is the sustained normal BG for more than 3 years. 7 months of that time without diabetes medication. Whatever happens in my future, I have possibly delayed complications.

jack412 said:

fats are an essential nutrient like protein..it's carbs the body can do without
perhaps that's why it changed from a 700 to an 800 diet, for the 100cal spoon of fat for the gallbladder ..so you don't get stones, I referred you to the optifast site before about the oil...I don't know why we are having this again..doing the ND and knowing about the ND isn't essentially the same thing

I would still add a can of sardines [in water] and olive oil to the evening salad

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Lovely, @jack412 . Just I can't bear the taste of sardines. So just drizzle some flavoured oil on veg.

jack412 said:

I'll let you off with a bit of cheese and an egg then

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For me that is where the trouble would start.

I would give a very broad definition to 'a bit' of cheese.

To @fionamarie
I do hope we haven't confused you. I would be happy to have PM from you if I can help further.

Best of luck, whatever you decide.

Not sure if the OP has been scared off by the amount of information overload here.

I am reluctant to contribute to posts about ND as they always seem to provoke criticism. Or suggestions that another diet is best. We can all choose, but need unbiased information to be able to make informed choices.

I followed the recommendations from the early Taylor research. Achieved non-diabetic BG levels within days. So, that was before the massive weight loss. BG remains stable even after eating high carb foods. Naturally, I try to avoid high carb because I do not want to regain all the weight lost. I have put some weight back on, and still have some more to lose, but having had two major operations in the interim period, causing considerable difficulty with recovery, and loss of mobility, I am not stressing too much about that. Just making sure I stay as healthy as possible by exercising when I can and sticking with low calorie, low fat, low carb diet. Sometimes with meal replacement products, sometimes with veg, yogurt (full fat) fish and lean meat.

It works for me. I can eat sugary and other high carb foods without the subsequent spikes in BG. I choose not to because if I gain weight, put down layers of fat again, I am inviting the diabetic BG levels back.