Reversing T2 with diet shakes, info please

Rosiediabetes

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi guys,

I recently read about reversing type 2 diabetes with Professor Roy Taylor, and I'd really like to go about doing this, but I am struggling with working out what diet shakes were required.
In the book, He does not name any particular brands, he just mentions that they should be 'complete nutrition', so I'm a little stuck.

Can anyone give me the name of what shakes they used to start themselves on this diet please? and if you'd like to share your story on how you revered your condition, I would be thrilled to hear it.

FYI: Type 2 diabetic for six years, nearly 7. Diagnosed at 25 years old. Overweight, but not terribly, 60kg / 9 stone 7, 4'11. Was probably around 10 stone and a half at my biggest. No family history of diabetes. Vegetarian since aged 14.

Many thanks

Rosie
 

xfieldok

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,182
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Much nicer to attempt to reverse your diabetes with real food.
 

Geordie_P

Well-Known Member
Messages
849
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Just going by the info on this site, the diet was
  • Optifast meal replacement sachets, which provided 75% of the calories (600 cals)
  • The other 200 calories came from non-starchy vegetables.
 

Rosiediabetes

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Just going by the info on this site, the diet was
  • Optifast meal replacement sachets, which provided 75% of the calories (600 cals)
  • The other 200 calories came from non-starchy vegetables.

Thank you Geordie. Do you know if my usual drugs will need to be taken?
 

Rokaab

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,161
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Reply, I am sure it is! But I already eat that and nothings changed.
It might be helpful if you could give an example of what that would normally be, it may not be as T2 diabetic friendly as you think
 

HSSS

Expert
Messages
7,471
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Lots of advice given out as suitable for diabetes is awful. Really awful. And it comes from health professionals all too often. But it is slowly changing. Lots of evidence that low carb - not low fat, not wholemeal or brown versions - works best.

As suggested why not let us help tweek your current way of eating and try a few weeks on low carb eating as most of us in here do to control our type 2 before resorting to shakes. If our way doesn’t work you still have the option of shakes later. They are a temporary fix and you still have to find something appropriate after the 8 weeks. There is a risk of reducing metabolism too.
 

Rosiediabetes

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Okay, so breakfast might be 1/2 a can of tomato soup and 2 pieces of brown toast, or crackers (probably a little carby?), or veggie bacon and eggs. Sometimes 2 potato waffles on their own.
I'm having trouble finding veggie bacon at the moment (even before the C Virus Crisis)

Lunch is usually a snack. Some cheese, crisps or fruit. Cheese and pickle on a cracker or two maybe.

Dinner I usually make if I can. It could be risotto (tomato, olive and mozarella), homemade pizza (pitta breads x2 with tomato passata pizza sauce recipe, plus cheese and veg on top), halloumi and roasted veg, sag halloumi (like a curry with lots of spinach), linda mccartney sausages and mash and gravy with veg for a roast sometimes...

I realise I eat a lot of tomato things and cheese. and often potatoes, but not as often as teh first two!
 

HSSS

Expert
Messages
7,471
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Toast crackers crisps fruit rice pitta potatoes are all really not good for type 2. The bad news is you are eating all the wrong things. So the good news is there’s lots of scope to improve your condition with food. It’ll be quite a big change and take some wrapping your head around but it really really works. And after a while it stops feeling weird. Honestly.

it is more challenging as a vegetarian to eat low carb but it is possible. Especially if you still eat dairy.

There’s a vegetarian section here that could help. Or depending on your motivation and reasons for being vegetarian you could reconsider and add fish and meat back in as a number in here have done. (The whole saving the planet argument is badly flawed as is the healthier one. The moral or religious ones are the only choices that are really valid)

have a read through the last two links in my signature and pop into the vegetarian section here. Then ask lots of questions.
 

HSSS

Expert
Messages
7,471
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Which medications are you on? Some need careful monitoring and adjusting if you eat lower carb. They were prescribed for you existing high carb diet and if you lower the carbs you need to lower the meds with your dr or risk hypos.

Do you have a bgl meter that you use?
 

mouseee

Well-Known Member
Messages
663
Cheese is fine. 0 Carbs. However, over half the things mentioned there are carby. Even Linda's veggie sausages have about 6g each from memory.

Also, lots of veg are carby too, eg carrots.

If you are only on Metformin then you can make a big change with diet. Cutting junk is a brilliant step, but cutting carbs does make a huge difference to your numbers.

Have they tested to make sure you are actually t2 and not t1 and you weren't misdiagnosed?
 

Brunneria

Guru
Retired Moderator
Messages
21,889
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
@Rosiediabetes

If you plan to do the Newcastle Diet, I would urge you to use the actual protocols, which are available on the Newcastle University website.

They will give you the suggested parameters for the shake nutrition, and all sorts of other details, including why adding a little oil or fat to the veg meal each day is a very good idea.

There are so many different variations on the theme nowadays, from the Michael Mosely real food version, to a hundred other copies. You can choose to make it up as you go along, or stick to the official protocol, shakes or real food, 800 cals or something more, or less.

My main suggestion would be to watch the blood glucose readings. Some of the 'full nutrition shakes' can have enough carbs in them to send you much higher than you might like.
 

Geordie_P

Well-Known Member
Messages
849
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Newcastle diet is pretty drastic, and I suppose you should really have some medical advice or assistance.
I actually cobbled together my own version of a 600-800Kcal diet when I was first diagnosed, just eating green leafy veg and very small amounts of fish and egg. It got the weight off, but I put most of it back on.
As some of the posters above note though, you are eating a ton of carbs: honestly, I think if you just cut right back on the carbs you might well see some good results., Cheese is good, eggs are good, spinach is good, but the brown toast, potato waffles, rice, crisps and fruit look pretty unsuitable. There's a lot you could do with cauliflower instead of rice and potatoes.
Good luck with it!
 

VashtiB

Moderator
Staff Member
Messages
2,283
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Hello and welcome,

Do you have a meter? A meter is the single most useful tool to 'curing' type 2 diabetes. Not sure cure is the right word but managing it.

The fact that I have learned is that losing weight isn't the initial goal- controlling your blood sugars is- I found that controlling my blood sugars has lead me to losing weight. I don't count calories and generally don't go hungry.How? Well I went really low carb. My blood sugar levels were in the m middle of the normal range quite quickly.

Read around this site -there is a lot of helpful information and people here.

Get a meter and test- you may well find that a sharp reduction in carbs will lead to a reduction in your blood sugar lab\vels.

Good luck.
 

Pipp

Moderator
Staff Member
Messages
10,633
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
My opinion on this.. having used Newcastle diet method with some success.

If on medication or have any other health conditions seek advice from GP surgery. (It is hardly likely to be a priority issue for them in current circumstances).

Read and make sure you understand info from the Newcastle research team
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal/

It is 9 years since I first followed Newcastle method. I originally lost 49kg using Lipotrim products, and returned to non-diabetes blood glucose levels within the first 2 weeks, with monitoring from GP and pharmacy, over 12 weeks, break of 6 weeks then another 9 weeks on Lipotrim. Unlikely, but possible pharmacies will be willing to monitor with the current increase in work load.

I regained around 20 kg, over 2 years after loss, due to following NHS dietary guidelines. Discovered LCHF and maintained at that weight most of the time. Have had some success using products from shakethatweight.co.uk sticking to the shakes (which are lower carb than some products).

Over the last few years I have tried LCHF, (maintained weight and good BGlevels) 24 +hour fasts, (lost weight, but had some instability with BG, which kept rising until I ate) . My last HbA1c was back in diabetic range, but I currently am eating very low carb, and have been losing weight. Even with health problems needing steroid meds,.

Confused? Yes, me too.
Bottom line.. If I had known about Low Carb method all those years ago I would have tried that first. Any foods could be difficult to get hold of within coming weeks / months, but meal replacement companies are seemingly keen to sell online. You are unlikely to be able to get close monitoring by GP at moment, and need to consider meds.
If you decide to embark on Newcastle diet, at very least follow guidelines from The Newcastle team.
 
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