Pilot being run in West Berkshire; RBH reversing T2

[judihodgkin]

Hi all,

I just wanted to share my story. I started out with GD when I was pregnant with my now-seven-year-old. In 2012, it was confirmed that I'd gone into T2 and in September 2015, that became Insulin Dependent.

I spiralled into depression.

I was getting extremely despondent that the NHS approach to helping me seemed to be to offer me more medication and not much else. I made an appointment with my GP and asked outright for bariatric surgery, which he referred me for. But, I read up on bariatric surgery and was overwhelmed by the prospect of such surgery. We're still trying for a second child. What would a gastric bypass do to my ability to fall pregnant? It was a scary unknown.

Then, in February this year a friend, who had just been diagnosed T2, told me about the Newcastle University Diet. It was a programme where they were working with people on the waiting list for bariatric surgery and noticed that a significant number of them had stopped their medication as soon as they did the fasting diet before surgery. Was it the diet or the surgery making the difference? Anyway, to cut a long story short, various other universities were looking into it at around the same time and a small company called Counterweight got involved. There were some one to one tests and it looked as though the long-term solution was the weight loss, but that whether that was done through a gastric bypass or rapid weight loss didn't seem to make a difference.

Royal Berkshire Hospital is now on the second of a two-part pilot. I am on this pilot. There are 8 of us in total and we have been supporting each other through a rapid weight loss programme based on the soups and shakes formulated by Counterweight.

The programme started off with 12 weeks of a food replacement diet. We had four soups or shakes a day (four flavours of shakes and two of soups to choose from), 2.25ltrs of water, zero-calorie drinks, up to 50ml of skimmed milk in tea and coffee and nothing else, equal to approximately 800 calories per day. The majority of us were able to stop all medication on the first day of the diet. One person's BGs refused to drop as quickly and it took them a while to come off medication. At the end of the 12 weeks we stepped up to 1,000 calories in the form of one meal of between 360-400 calories, 2 shakes or soups, water, up to 200ml of skimmed milk and two pieces of fruit per day. At the end of those two weeks we were supposed to step up to 1200 calories and then 1400 calories, but so far we're on the 6th week of the Food Replacement phase and we've all elected to stay on 1000 calories.

As I can only talk about my personal situation, I have dropped from 105.7kg to 87.8kg in 18 weeks. My Hba1c was 79 in September 2015, controlled with insulin and Metformin in February when I started the diet and is now 34 without any medication. I would be losing weight faster if I was able to exercise, but I've slipped a disc and am in agony (although healing faster than I used to). My knees don't ache when I walk up and down stairs. When my back is better, I can touch my toes. I've gone down from a size 22 to a size 18 and am still dropping.

Those of us on the programme are sincerely hoping that our success stories are enough to encourage the West Berkshire Powers That Be to offer this as a routine treatment across the CCG. But, we're also hoping that West Berkshire's successes will encourage other Health Authorities to continue it.

So, if you're struggling to lose weight (I have Poly Cystic Ovaries which inhibits weight loss) and are prepared to put the time and effort in (the first week is utter hell, but it gets easier after that), please speak to your GP or even better, your Diabetic Nurse. Bariatric surgery is expensive. Staying on Metformin, Insulin and other medications is a pain. The costs involved staying healthy with T2 as you get older are only going to get higher and your quality of life will diminish as time goes on. You _can_ do the Counterweight programme privately.

And if anyone has any questions about this, I have become a passionate advocate of the programme and am willing to answer any questions you might have. I have also done a video explaining my journey in more detail, which is up on YouTube - look for Judi Hodgkin and you'll find it on my listing.

Good luck wherever your journey takes you.

 

[leslie10152]

Hi all,

I just wanted to share my story. I started out with GD when I was pregnant with my now-seven-year-old. In 2012, it was confirmed that I'd gone into T2 and in September 2015, that became Insulin Dependent.

I spiralled into depression.

I was getting extremely despondent that the NHS approach to helping me seemed to be to offer me more medication and not much else. I made an appointment with my GP and asked outright for bariatric surgery, which he referred me for. But, I read up on bariatric surgery and was overwhelmed by the prospect of such surgery. We're still trying for a second child. What would a gastric bypass do to my ability to fall pregnant? It was a scary unknown.

Then, in February this year a friend, who had just been diagnosed T2, told me about the Newcastle University Diet. It was a programme where they were working with people on the waiting list for bariatric surgery and noticed that a significant number of them had stopped their medication as soon as they did the fasting diet before surgery. Was it the diet or the surgery making the difference? Anyway, to cut a long story short, various other universities were looking into it at around the same time and a small company called Counterweight got involved. There were some one to one tests and it looked as though the long-term solution was the weight loss, but that whether that was done through a gastric bypass or rapid weight loss didn't seem to make a difference.

Royal Berkshire Hospital is now on the second of a two-part pilot. I am on this pilot. There are 8 of us in total and we have been supporting each other through a rapid weight loss programme based on the soups and shakes formulated by Counterweight.

The programme started off with 12 weeks of a food replacement diet. We had four soups or shakes a day (four flavours of shakes and two of soups to choose from), 2.25ltrs of water, zero-calorie drinks, up to 50ml of skimmed milk in tea and coffee and nothing else, equal to approximately 800 calories per day. The majority of us were able to stop all medication on the first day of the diet. One person's BGs refused to drop as quickly and it took them a while to come off medication. At the end of the 12 weeks we stepped up to 1,000 calories in the form of one meal of between 360-400 calories, 2 shakes or soups, water, up to 200ml of skimmed milk and two pieces of fruit per day. At the end of those two weeks we were supposed to step up to 1200 calories and then 1400 calories, but so far we're on the 6th week of the Food Replacement phase and we've all elected to stay on 1000 calories.

As I can only talk about my personal situation, I have dropped from 105.7kg to 87.8kg in 18 weeks. My Hba1c was 79 in September 2015, controlled with insulin and Metformin in February when I started the diet and is now 34 without any medication. I would be losing weight faster if I was able to exercise, but I've slipped a disc and am in agony (although healing faster than I used to). My knees don't ache when I walk up and down stairs. When my back is better, I can touch my toes. I've gone down from a size 22 to a size 18 and am still dropping.

Those of us on the programme are sincerely hoping that our success stories are enough to encourage the West Berkshire Powers That Be to offer this as a routine treatment across the CCG. But, we're also hoping that West Berkshire's successes will encourage other Health Authorities to continue it.

So, if you're struggling to lose weight (I have Poly Cystic Ovaries which inhibits weight loss) and are prepared to put the time and effort in (the first week is utter hell, but it gets easier after that), please speak to your GP or even better, your Diabetic Nurse. Bariatric surgery is expensive. Staying on Metformin, Insulin and other medications is a pain. The costs involved staying healthy with T2 as you get older are only going to get higher and your quality of life will diminish as time goes on. You _can_ do the Counterweight programme privately.

And if anyone has any questions about this, I have become a passionate advocate of the programme and am willing to answer any questions you might have. I have also done a video explaining my journey in more detail, which is up on YouTube - look for Judi Hodgkin and you'll find it on my listing.

Good luck wherever your journey takes you.

Welcome to the forum @judihodgkin. It is always good to hear a success story. I have been on insulin for twelve years, and I agree it is a pain! Keep up the good work!

 

[douglas99]

A brilliant story.
I did the Newcastle diet myself, (I talked to my HCP about it, but did it by myself)
Extremely successful, I believe I reversed my type 2 through it.

As you say, I also believe it should be a first line treatment.

 

[hooha]

Hi all,

I just wanted to share my story. I started out with GD when I was pregnant with my now-seven-year-old. In 2012, it was confirmed that I'd gone into T2 and in September 2015, that became Insulin Dependent.

I spiralled into depression.

I was getting extremely despondent that the NHS approach to helping me seemed to be to offer me more medication and not much else. I made an appointment with my GP and asked outright for bariatric surgery, which he referred me for. But, I read up on bariatric surgery and was overwhelmed by the prospect of such surgery. We're still trying for a second child. What would a gastric bypass do to my ability to fall pregnant? It was a scary unknown.

Then, in February this year a friend, who had just been diagnosed T2, told me about the Newcastle University Diet. It was a programme where they were working with people on the waiting list for bariatric surgery and noticed that a significant number of them had stopped their medication as soon as they did the fasting diet before surgery. Was it the diet or the surgery making the difference? Anyway, to cut a long story short, various other universities were looking into it at around the same time and a small company called Counterweight got involved. There were some one to one tests and it looked as though the long-term solution was the weight loss, but that whether that was done through a gastric bypass or rapid weight loss didn't seem to make a difference.

Royal Berkshire Hospital is now on the second of a two-part pilot. I am on this pilot. There are 8 of us in total and we have been supporting each other through a rapid weight loss programme based on the soups and shakes formulated by Counterweight.

The programme started off with 12 weeks of a food replacement diet. We had four soups or shakes a day (four flavours of shakes and two of soups to choose from), 2.25ltrs of water, zero-calorie drinks, up to 50ml of skimmed milk in tea and coffee and nothing else, equal to approximately 800 calories per day. The majority of us were able to stop all medication on the first day of the diet. One person's BGs refused to drop as quickly and it took them a while to come off medication. At the end of the 12 weeks we stepped up to 1,000 calories in the form of one meal of between 360-400 calories, 2 shakes or soups, water, up to 200ml of skimmed milk and two pieces of fruit per day. At the end of those two weeks we were supposed to step up to 1200 calories and then 1400 calories, but so far we're on the 6th week of the Food Replacement phase and we've all elected to stay on 1000 calories.

As I can only talk about my personal situation, I have dropped from 105.7kg to 87.8kg in 18 weeks. My Hba1c was 79 in September 2015, controlled with insulin and Metformin in February when I started the diet and is now 34 without any medication. I would be losing weight faster if I was able to exercise, but I've slipped a disc and am in agony (although healing faster than I used to). My knees don't ache when I walk up and down stairs. When my back is better, I can touch my toes. I've gone down from a size 22 to a size 18 and am still dropping.

Those of us on the programme are sincerely hoping that our success stories are enough to encourage the West Berkshire Powers That Be to offer this as a routine treatment across the CCG. But, we're also hoping that West Berkshire's successes will encourage other Health Authorities to continue it.

So, if you're struggling to lose weight (I have Poly Cystic Ovaries which inhibits weight loss) and are prepared to put the time and effort in (the first week is utter hell, but it gets easier after that), please speak to your GP or even better, your Diabetic Nurse. Bariatric surgery is expensive. Staying on Metformin, Insulin and other medications is a pain. The costs involved staying healthy with T2 as you get older are only going to get higher and your quality of life will diminish as time goes on. You _can_ do the Counterweight programme privately.

And if anyone has any questions about this, I have become a passionate advocate of the programme and am willing to answer any questions you might have. I have also done a video explaining my journey in more detail, which is up on YouTube - look for Judi Hodgkin and you'll find it on my listing.

Good luck wherever your journey takes you.

HI JUDI ! Love it ! I have been telling people about Prof Roy Taylor and the Newcastle 'cure ' for months . My GP was a swine - would not encourage me , actively DISCOURAGED me . Thank God for the internet , and Prof Taylor : Google up Guardian newspaper uk , Richard Doughty type 2 reversed, and Carlos Cervantes' story. They were my example and my inspiration. Richard was my size, and Carlos was the ' end- of- the- line ' miraculous recovery which made me determined to succeed , on the basis of Gee Whiz if he can do that, so can I !!!
You are so lucky to be helped. I had to do it '' all by myself ''. The upside of that is that it gave me a tremendous feeling of power and self confidence to actually reverse my type 2 IN SPITE OF the obstacles.

 

[DCUKMod]

Hi all,

I just wanted to share my story. I started out with GD when I was pregnant with my now-seven-year-old. In 2012, it was confirmed that I'd gone into T2 and in September 2015, that became Insulin Dependent.

I spiralled into depression.

I was getting extremely despondent that the NHS approach to helping me seemed to be to offer me more medication and not much else. I made an appointment with my GP and asked outright for bariatric surgery, which he referred me for. But, I read up on bariatric surgery and was overwhelmed by the prospect of such surgery. We're still trying for a second child. What would a gastric bypass do to my ability to fall pregnant? It was a scary unknown.

Then, in February this year a friend, who had just been diagnosed T2, told me about the Newcastle University Diet. It was a programme where they were working with people on the waiting list for bariatric surgery and noticed that a significant number of them had stopped their medication as soon as they did the fasting diet before surgery. Was it the diet or the surgery making the difference? Anyway, to cut a long story short, various other universities were looking into it at around the same time and a small company called Counterweight got involved. There were some one to one tests and it looked as though the long-term solution was the weight loss, but that whether that was done through a gastric bypass or rapid weight loss didn't seem to make a difference.

Royal Berkshire Hospital is now on the second of a two-part pilot. I am on this pilot. There are 8 of us in total and we have been supporting each other through a rapid weight loss programme based on the soups and shakes formulated by Counterweight.

The programme started off with 12 weeks of a food replacement diet. We had four soups or shakes a day (four flavours of shakes and two of soups to choose from), 2.25ltrs of water, zero-calorie drinks, up to 50ml of skimmed milk in tea and coffee and nothing else, equal to approximately 800 calories per day. The majority of us were able to stop all medication on the first day of the diet. One person's BGs refused to drop as quickly and it took them a while to come off medication. At the end of the 12 weeks we stepped up to 1,000 calories in the form of one meal of between 360-400 calories, 2 shakes or soups, water, up to 200ml of skimmed milk and two pieces of fruit per day. At the end of those two weeks we were supposed to step up to 1200 calories and then 1400 calories, but so far we're on the 6th week of the Food Replacement phase and we've all elected to stay on 1000 calories.

As I can only talk about my personal situation, I have dropped from 105.7kg to 87.8kg in 18 weeks. My Hba1c was 79 in September 2015, controlled with insulin and Metformin in February when I started the diet and is now 34 without any medication. I would be losing weight faster if I was able to exercise, but I've slipped a disc and am in agony (although healing faster than I used to). My knees don't ache when I walk up and down stairs. When my back is better, I can touch my toes. I've gone down from a size 22 to a size 18 and am still dropping.

Those of us on the programme are sincerely hoping that our success stories are enough to encourage the West Berkshire Powers That Be to offer this as a routine treatment across the CCG. But, we're also hoping that West Berkshire's successes will encourage other Health Authorities to continue it.

So, if you're struggling to lose weight (I have Poly Cystic Ovaries which inhibits weight loss) and are prepared to put the time and effort in (the first week is utter hell, but it gets easier after that), please speak to your GP or even better, your Diabetic Nurse. Bariatric surgery is expensive. Staying on Metformin, Insulin and other medications is a pain. The costs involved staying healthy with T2 as you get older are only going to get higher and your quality of life will diminish as time goes on. You _can_ do the Counterweight programme privately.

And if anyone has any questions about this, I have become a passionate advocate of the programme and am willing to answer any questions you might have. I have also done a video explaining my journey in more detail, which is up on YouTube - look for Judi Hodgkin and you'll find it on my listing.

Good luck wherever your journey takes you.

Well done on your progress thus far, Judi.

Over a few years now, a number of members have utilised the Newcastle Diet to improve their lot with T2. Many, but not all, have achieve remission/reversal (or however you choose to phrase it), and many others find they don't quite get there.

I didn't use this approach myself, but as I understand it, the calories restriction, deficit and weightloss period is relatively simple, in that your way of eating is heavily prescribed, whereas once that stage is completed, the challenge is formulating a long term way of eating to support your ongoing good health.

At that point, the results are a little more mixed, with some doing extremely well, whereas other find their weight creeps back on, and/or their blood numbers deteriorate.

Please don't interpret this message as being discouraging. It isn't. I applaud your ability to stick with such a strict and limited eating regime, but I'm just balancing the thread by citing the experiences I have observed in others. If you feel like it, if you use the forum search tool, using Newcastle Diet, you should return plenty of historic threads from the forum.

I'm really pleased this is working for you. I'll tag in @Pipp here, as she utilised the Newcastle Diet back in its early days.

 

[Fleegle]

Hi all,

I just wanted to share my story. I started out with GD when I was pregnant with my now-seven-year-old. In 2012, it was confirmed that I'd gone into T2 and in September 2015, that became Insulin Dependent.

I spiralled into depression.

I was getting extremely despondent that the NHS approach to helping me seemed to be to offer me more medication and not much else. I made an appointment with my GP and asked outright for bariatric surgery, which he referred me for. But, I read up on bariatric surgery and was overwhelmed by the prospect of such surgery. We're still trying for a second child. What would a gastric bypass do to my ability to fall pregnant? It was a scary unknown.

Well done you. These things are never easy and to make it through it is fantastic.
I am a relatively new T2 (diagnosed, no idea how long I was undiagnosed) and at the moment I am just trying to get my BG constant through LCHF diet. Whilst I am a big supporter of what it has achieved I am nervous that over time, for me, it will be harder and harder to stick to and over time my BGs will rise. There are lots of people who have been really successful but they don't seem to have the desire to have an occasional roast potato that I do

When you say you can do the diet privately - what does that mean? I am weighing up the 8 week Newcastle diet but it is tricky to get your hands on the actual real shakes even though alternates exist. Can you get the meal plans, the shakes etc somehow by paying? Are they looking for people for a phase 2 trial?

As I say - impressive results and shows what hard work can do - well done!

 

[douglas99]

There is a lot of fuss made over maintaining the diet afterwards at times.
To be honest, it's really not complicated.
The Optifast plan includes a program to reintroduce a healthy way of eating.
But, even if you decide to 'do it yourself' as I did, the eight week break with eating introduces a different relationship with food, and no longer has the 'eat as much as you want until your satiated' mindset that perhaps those that haven't actually tried it don't quite understand.
Possibly why the Newcastle diet worked as it did, and maybe why changing it now can affect the mindset at the end of it, although even those using 'real food' have also reversed their type 2.
Even being hungry isn't to be feared anymore.
Nothing bad happens, apart from having more time to do other stuff.

So, as long as you appreciate the Greggs and Morrison's donut diet, that I for example, was on, isn't really the best diet to go back to, and so long as you appreciate the scales reflect the amount of food you choose to put in your mouth, it's not hard to realise if you overeat, that's why the weight goes on, and you'll probably finish back where you where before.

As for weight creeping back on, if it does, trim down again, once you know you can do the diet, and it has the results, it's very easy to have a few more shakes for a few days if you've overindulged on holiday, or at christmas for example.
I have a target weight, I bob up and down on it quite happily.

 

[DCUKMod]

Well done you. These things are never easy and to make it through it is fantastic.
I am a relatively new T2 (diagnosed, no idea how long I was undiagnosed) and at the moment I am just trying to get my BG constant through LCHF diet. Whilst I am a big supporter of what it has achieved I am nervous that over time, for me, it will be harder and harder to stick to and over time my BGs will rise. There are lots of people who have been really successful but they don't seem to have the desire to have an occasional roast potato that I do

When you say you can do the diet privately - what does that mean? I am weighing up the 8 week Newcastle diet but it is tricky to get your hands on the actual real shakes even though alternates exist. Can you get the meal plans, the shakes etc somehow by paying? Are they looking for people for a phase 2 trial?

As I say - impressive results and shows what hard work can do - well done!

Fleegle - The key factor on the Newcastle Diet is the reduction of calories to the precribed level. People have used all manner of diet shakes, whether from the major supermarkets or t'internet.

If you fancy having a go at this, then either use the search facility and see what comes up, or start a new thread. Hopefully people would help you out in the time honoured way. As I have never used a diet shake of any kind, I wouldn't like to comment on the specifics.

 

[Hm112819]

I did my own version of this with similar results, Hb1ac reduction from 54 to 31. 5 stone lost.

I had slightly more calories, but exercised a lot.

All the best.

Adrian

 

[ringi]

@judihodgkin

Did you try LCHF and/or intermittent fasting first or was the Newcastle the first none medication option the NHS supported you with?

 

[Pipp]

@judihodgkin , sorry to be a bit late responding to the tag from @DCUKMod.
I am delighted that you are having success with the restricted calorie 'Newcastle diet'. Your post resonated with me, because I was in a similar situation six years ago.
Last year I started a thread to discuss my progress after 5 years. If you are interested it is here....
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/five-years-after-newcastle-diet.102937/

Some observations concerning your method:-
It seems to have been for 12 weeks a total food replacement diet. Were you at any time advised to have a portion of green vegetables and a tablespoon of olive oil each day? I ask because I wasn't given this information. I had small gallstones that had been trouble free at the start. I was aware that I needed surgery at some point to remove them. These grew caused agonising symptoms, which I believe could have been prevented with the addition of the oil.

I note that in the transition phase from total food replacement you are advised to have two pieces of fruit and some skimmed milk daily. Do you know the rationale for the choice of fruit and skimmed milk?

It is encouraging that your local hospital is running a pilot study, and that you have support of others in the group. For some people peer support is beneficial. The Newcastle team are also running further studies. Unfortunately mainstream HCPs are having to wait for study results to be published before making recommendations to patients. Perhaps with time there will be the opportunity for this to be offered to patients at first response to a pre-diabetes diagnosis. It is a pity many of us have had to wait until the weight gain and the diabetes has become well established.

As DCUKMod mentioned, the Newcastle diet will not be a solution for everyone. It appears that the success is due to removing the visceral fat from the internal organs. Professor Taylor has revised his opinion, and with Michael Moseley endorsed the 800 calorie Blood Sugar diet. He makes the important observation that the weight loss, by whatever method, is the key. Even more important, the forever after eating regime. After the calorie restriction phase there needs to be a sustainable eating plan, for life.

I applaud you for your enthusiasm and wish you continued success, @judihodgkin .

To others considering this method, I would add that there are many suitable meal replacement products. Less costly than the Counterweight products. Main thing to consider is getting support from GP, especially if you are on medication. It does take discipline and determination, but can be done.

 

[NewTD2]

Hi Judi,

I’m a newly diagnosed T2.

Please provide samples of daily meal plan.

Thank you!

Andrew

 

[Bluetit1802]

Hi Judi,

I’m a newly diagnosed T2.

Please provide samples of daily meal plan.

Thank you!

Andrew

Judi hasn't logged in since June. You may be flogging a dead horse!