- Messages
- 10
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Diet only
I've been doing a Newcastle type diet (800 calories or less a day but using real food) for just over 7 weeks now. I thought it was all going well, I've lost 27 lb in weight and by also low-carbing (50g or less a day) I've been keeping my BG at pretty decent levels, mainly in the fives with some in the mid to low 4's and post prandials often still in the fives or low sixes. The only spikes have been where I've tried a new food which is obviously not ideal as its pushed me into the 7's. There was also one weekend where I had such a rotten cold I kind of gave up on the 800 calories and ate probably about 1800 a day including some oatcakes, thinking what my body needed to deal with the virus was lots of food and another weekend where I was away so had to eat out and couldn't count what I was having. But bar those times I've been very strict.
Last night I had a long standing engagement I'd agreed to before I was even diagnosed with diabetes, a charity dinner dance thing. So I decided it was the perfect opportunity to see what I could handle. Ok yes also I was just having a good time and wanted to indulge as well! So I started with a white bread roll with butter and it was the most delicious thing I can remember eating in my entire life. Everyone was laughing at my noises of pure bliss as I consumed it, not having had bread for so long it was like eating the best cake in the world! Then the starters arrived and my veggie one was salad and pesto on....yes more bread! It was delicious and I had it all. I was loving life then the main course came - veggie rissotto - carb heaven yet again. I couldn't finish the whole portion, my stomach has shrunk so much on this diet, but I got through about 3/4 of it. The speeches started so i thought it was a good chance to nip to the loo and see what all this naughty food had done as it was now nearly 2 hours since that first bread roll.
10.1!!! : ( The highest reading I'd had since I got my meter a week after diagnosis.
I was pretty shocked. I must admit I had had this little fantasy that I'd be one of the lucky ones and reverse the diabetes and as I'm nearly at 8 weeks of this very low calorie diet I really had hopes I might be now able to handle things like bread and rice. Needless to say the shock of the 10.1 ensured i wasn't tempted to eat the dessert course.
My diagnosis HbA1c was 91 so I am far from being a borderline T2 diabetic so maybe my hopes were unrealistic, but I have to say I'm disappointed. Am I being too optimistic in thinking I could have expected to see a better response to a carb heavy meal at this stage?
The good news is that 5 hours after starting eating I was back down to a more normal (for me) night time level of 4.3 but I also tested 3 hours after starting eating and it was 9.1 so it wasn't a momentary blip.
I know I'm extremely lucky to have discovered this forum the evening after I was diagnosed therefore I learned that low-carb was the way to control things immediately and so I have been able to get good control of my sugar levels from the outset, and of course I can and will continue to eat as low -carb as I need to to keep the levels safe for life if necessary. But I did also want that holy grail of reversal, I really really want that. Not so I can go back to my pre-diagnosis frankly appallingly unhealthy way of eating but just so that I can on occasion go out to eat with friends like a normal person and enjoy good food without having to consider what's in it. I don't drink so eating out is my main form of socialising and pre-diagnosis I probably ate out 4 or 5 times a month. that's all been stopped since I started the Newcastle protocol but I miss it.
Sorry for the essay! I don't know any other diabetics in my 'real life' so though everyone I know has been very supportive of what I've been doing diet-wise I just needed to have a little vent to people who will hopefully understand better than any of my non-diabetic friends can about how disappointed I was last night.
Thanks for reading
Last night I had a long standing engagement I'd agreed to before I was even diagnosed with diabetes, a charity dinner dance thing. So I decided it was the perfect opportunity to see what I could handle. Ok yes also I was just having a good time and wanted to indulge as well! So I started with a white bread roll with butter and it was the most delicious thing I can remember eating in my entire life. Everyone was laughing at my noises of pure bliss as I consumed it, not having had bread for so long it was like eating the best cake in the world! Then the starters arrived and my veggie one was salad and pesto on....yes more bread! It was delicious and I had it all. I was loving life then the main course came - veggie rissotto - carb heaven yet again. I couldn't finish the whole portion, my stomach has shrunk so much on this diet, but I got through about 3/4 of it. The speeches started so i thought it was a good chance to nip to the loo and see what all this naughty food had done as it was now nearly 2 hours since that first bread roll.
10.1!!! : ( The highest reading I'd had since I got my meter a week after diagnosis.
I was pretty shocked. I must admit I had had this little fantasy that I'd be one of the lucky ones and reverse the diabetes and as I'm nearly at 8 weeks of this very low calorie diet I really had hopes I might be now able to handle things like bread and rice. Needless to say the shock of the 10.1 ensured i wasn't tempted to eat the dessert course.
My diagnosis HbA1c was 91 so I am far from being a borderline T2 diabetic so maybe my hopes were unrealistic, but I have to say I'm disappointed. Am I being too optimistic in thinking I could have expected to see a better response to a carb heavy meal at this stage?
The good news is that 5 hours after starting eating I was back down to a more normal (for me) night time level of 4.3 but I also tested 3 hours after starting eating and it was 9.1 so it wasn't a momentary blip.
I know I'm extremely lucky to have discovered this forum the evening after I was diagnosed therefore I learned that low-carb was the way to control things immediately and so I have been able to get good control of my sugar levels from the outset, and of course I can and will continue to eat as low -carb as I need to to keep the levels safe for life if necessary. But I did also want that holy grail of reversal, I really really want that. Not so I can go back to my pre-diagnosis frankly appallingly unhealthy way of eating but just so that I can on occasion go out to eat with friends like a normal person and enjoy good food without having to consider what's in it. I don't drink so eating out is my main form of socialising and pre-diagnosis I probably ate out 4 or 5 times a month. that's all been stopped since I started the Newcastle protocol but I miss it.
Sorry for the essay! I don't know any other diabetics in my 'real life' so though everyone I know has been very supportive of what I've been doing diet-wise I just needed to have a little vent to people who will hopefully understand better than any of my non-diabetic friends can about how disappointed I was last night.
Thanks for reading
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