Do any of you know successful weight loss / low-carb / or keto dieticians in the UK? I’m wanting to refer my friends to someone who can help hold them accountable and take a bit of the guesswork out of the process for them.
Recommendations of dieticians/coaches who can help teach low-carb lifestyles?
- Thread starter Fent Hughes
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@Fent Hughes - I'm a little bit curious about the "someone who can help hold them accountable" remark you make. What does that mean in your eyes? What does it mean in their eyes, and how would a third party hold them to account?
I worked in Change for many years, and the one thing I can tell you is that for a person to make a sustained life change, the motivation must come from themselves. If an individual is not motivated to change and sustain the change, it's only a matter of time before the edges of the change start to blurr.
When a Change needs to happen, I always think a useful question for an individual to ask is "what's in it for me?". The difficulty with a change for prevention is that "I would have less chance of x, y or z" doesn't always cut it, because where the chances of an undesirable event occurring are, say 80%, there's always the 20% for whom the event wouldn't happen hanging around in the conscious or subconscious.
For an individual to change they have to see, and understand the benefits for themselves and be ready to commit to it.
I worked in Change for many years, and the one thing I can tell you is that for a person to make a sustained life change, the motivation must come from themselves. If an individual is not motivated to change and sustain the change, it's only a matter of time before the edges of the change start to blurr.
When a Change needs to happen, I always think a useful question for an individual to ask is "what's in it for me?". The difficulty with a change for prevention is that "I would have less chance of x, y or z" doesn't always cut it, because where the chances of an undesirable event occurring are, say 80%, there's always the 20% for whom the event wouldn't happen hanging around in the conscious or subconscious.
For an individual to change they have to see, and understand the benefits for themselves and be ready to commit to it.
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Hi and welcome @Fent Hughes
Going back to your search for a dietician or coach who supports low carb in the UK, my best suggestions would be to get them to sign up to this forum. The breadth of knowledge, variety of discussions, links to info sources, and general support on this forum is remarkable.
Also to read the www.dietdoctor.com website. Parts of it are free. Other parts require a signup where you get 30 days free access, and thereafter a charge of £8.99 (or similar) a month. Of course the canny person can sign up, read it all, and then cancel their subscription before the first payment. It is surprising how many people decide to stay though, based on the quality of the info, the excellent recipes, and the menu and shopping plans available.
My third recommendation is to consider one of the low carb diet programs. Several different blogs and websites offer them (including dietdoctor), but there are only two that I know of which track weight, medication and offer more. Those are Virta in the US, and the Diabetes.co.uk low carb programme. Both cost money. Virta is a hefty monthly fee that is usually paid by US health insurance. The Low Carb Programme is a one off signup fee of £30 that gives lifetime membership.
Finding a LC doc is very difficult in the UK because they are restricted by NHS guidance in the advice they can offer.
Finding a LC coach would be easier, but that has a whole other lot of pitfalls. From what I have seen (promos, you tube videos, and coaches who sign up here on the forum trying to drum up business) they often still subscribe to the Calories In Calories Out mindset, with lots of exercise and routines. Great for the metabolically healthy. Not so great for T2 diabetics who have insulin resistance and who tend not to respond well to boot camp thinking.
One thing I will say is that whatever choice your friends make, it needs to be their choice. They would be better researching this themselves, and making choices based on their lifestyle, budget, expectations and long term health intentions. As @DCUKMod says, people have to want it, engage with it, and prioritise it, in order for them to actually stick to it.
Going back to your search for a dietician or coach who supports low carb in the UK, my best suggestions would be to get them to sign up to this forum. The breadth of knowledge, variety of discussions, links to info sources, and general support on this forum is remarkable.
Also to read the www.dietdoctor.com website. Parts of it are free. Other parts require a signup where you get 30 days free access, and thereafter a charge of £8.99 (or similar) a month. Of course the canny person can sign up, read it all, and then cancel their subscription before the first payment. It is surprising how many people decide to stay though, based on the quality of the info, the excellent recipes, and the menu and shopping plans available.
My third recommendation is to consider one of the low carb diet programs. Several different blogs and websites offer them (including dietdoctor), but there are only two that I know of which track weight, medication and offer more. Those are Virta in the US, and the Diabetes.co.uk low carb programme. Both cost money. Virta is a hefty monthly fee that is usually paid by US health insurance. The Low Carb Programme is a one off signup fee of £30 that gives lifetime membership.
Finding a LC doc is very difficult in the UK because they are restricted by NHS guidance in the advice they can offer.
Finding a LC coach would be easier, but that has a whole other lot of pitfalls. From what I have seen (promos, you tube videos, and coaches who sign up here on the forum trying to drum up business) they often still subscribe to the Calories In Calories Out mindset, with lots of exercise and routines. Great for the metabolically healthy. Not so great for T2 diabetics who have insulin resistance and who tend not to respond well to boot camp thinking.
One thing I will say is that whatever choice your friends make, it needs to be their choice. They would be better researching this themselves, and making choices based on their lifestyle, budget, expectations and long term health intentions. As @DCUKMod says, people have to want it, engage with it, and prioritise it, in order for them to actually stick to it.
Thank you for your responses @Brunneria @DCUKMod and @Guzzler . I will check out the Low Carb Programme on this website as well as Diet Doctor (I've been on there before but haven't spent much time on it yet). I'm relatively new to LCHF myself, so still have a lot to learn.
Responding to your question on why accountability is important, I think that many people (myself included) do better when someone is watching, at least initially. I know that says bad things about my discipline level etc For instance I've recently been working on my distance swimming. It's helpful for me to know that my coach is going to ask about my workouts and it's very helpful to know that my coach thoughtfully put it together with her knowledge of my current abilities etc. Not that everyone needs that type of handholding (or wants to pay for it) but I do think that "training wheels" have a place at times. I do agree wholeheartedly @DCUKMod that the best form of control is self control, and let's hope we all grow into more of that.
Responding to your question on why accountability is important, I think that many people (myself included) do better when someone is watching, at least initially. I know that says bad things about my discipline level etc
For instance I've recently been working on my distance swimming. It's helpful for me to know that my coach is going to ask about my workouts and it's very helpful to know that my coach thoughtfully put it together with her knowledge of my current abilities etc. Not that everyone needs that type of handholding (or wants to pay for it) but I do think that "training wheels" have a place at times. I do agree wholeheartedly @DCUKMod that the best form of control is self control, and let's hope we all grow into more of that.
- Messages
- 14,298
- Type of diabetes
- I reversed my Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
Thank you for your responses @Brunneria @DCUKMod and @Guzzler . I will check out the Low Carb Programme on this website as well as Diet Doctor (I've been on there before but haven't spent much time on it yet). I'm relatively new to LCHF myself, so still have a lot to learn.
Responding to your question on why accountability is important, I think that many people (myself included) do better when someone is watching, at least initially. I know that says bad things about my discipline level etc
Fent, it is noteworthy that if your friends looking for the LC support have been diagnosed with diabetes (and maybe even pre-diabetes) the Low Carb Programme (LCP) on related site can be accessed by NHS prescription.
https://www.lowcarbprogram.com/
The LCP also has a Fremium option, which allows access to the various trackers and some content, but restricts access on most of the educational stuff.
Edited to correct the LCP link. Apologies.
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Guzzler
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I prefer to use self reliance, I do not need discipline or self control and I certainly do not need to feel that someone is there looking over my shoulder or requires that I report to them. The basic construct of the LCHF and Keto lifestyles is not rocket science, the more support one has the better and guidance from fellow users is invaluable but as individuals we must make our own choices because our reactions will be different and ultimately the changes we choose to make to improve our health comes down to personal responsibility.
May I ask if you and your freinds have been diagnosed with Pre Diabetes or Type 2 Diabetes? I ask this in a way to to point out that even if you all have a metabolic dysfunction you will all be very different in terms of how much change has to undertaken, personal goals set, medications prescribed, other health concerns etc etc. As is often said on this forum, no one size fits all.
May I ask if you and your freinds have been diagnosed with Pre Diabetes or Type 2 Diabetes? I ask this in a way to to point out that even if you all have a metabolic dysfunction you will all be very different in terms of how much change has to undertaken, personal goals set, medications prescribed, other health concerns etc etc. As is often said on this forum, no one size fits all.
