Started a 'NCD' of sorts - 800 cals per day.......

Duffysmum said:

My OH is type II diabetic, and has struggled all his life with his weight, and since being diagnosed has had a gradual and now increasing increase in his medications! So having read so much about the Newcastle/Blood Sugar Diet, we have both taken the plunge (as I have a lot of weight to lose too) on an 800 calorie diet for the next 8 weeks to see how much of a difference we can make to our combined waistlines and his medication. We have tried the HCP support route, but it is very much the eat carbs don't do anything else don't test response.

BBD (before Boxing Day!) he was on 2 x Metformin slow release and 3 x Gliclazide. He has already dropped one of the Gliclazides as we are concerned about him having a hypo and I am now testing him first and last thing (although missed Monday evening - did test, but didn't write it down). He has always whenever I have managed to get him to test before (very rarely and the tests always expired before being used.... :-( mainly because HCP told him he doesn't need to test), been in the 10 - 12 bracket. His last Hb1ac was higher than before (that's the best I could get him to tell me...).

So, these are his bloods so far.....

Tuesday FBG 13.9 Bedtime: 8.4
Wednesday FBG 7.2 Bedtime: 7.5
Thursday FBG 10.8

Was happy with Tuesday to Wednesday progress now not so sure as this mornings reading was high (although still a reduction on Tuesday)

Foodwise -
TUESDAY
Breakfast - Lighter Life Bar
Lunch - Slim and Save sachet
Dinner - Slim and Save sachet

WEDNESDAY
Breakfast - Lighter Life Bar
Lunch - Beetroot and Cannellini Bean soup (Blood sugar diet book)
Dinner - 3 Quorn sausages, 1/2 can baked beans and cauliflower

THURSDAY (so far)
Breakfast - Slim and Save Bar

I just wonder if the baked beans were the wrong food, even though within the calorie count, maybe too high in carbs?

Any help or advice appreciated!

Thank you

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It seems his morning readings are so much higher than the evening ones that he experiences this "dawn phenomenon" thing. That could make the trend in morning readings over time very interesting.

I've seen some people who have high morning readings say they can't get them down no matter what. I can't recall if any have tried to do so by ND style severe calorie restriction long-term.

Anyway congratulations to the both of you, I wish you the best and I hope you keep posting the results!

Re the beans, I guess you could either do readings before and after that particular meal, or just keep on witht the morning readings - if, after a few weeks, you notice a trend that the morning readings are always higher after certain meals, then you'll have your answer.

Duffysmum said:

Thanks Adam, its hard enough to get him to test as it is, but he is relatively willing now (more than ever has been in the past! LOL!)

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Haha! Well if the main thing you are logging is before-sleep and after-sleep readings, and he starts putting up resistance again, then you could always do it for him just as he's nodding off / waking up and tell him there must be biting insects around

What you are doing may have been done before and I just haven't spotted it when reading around this forum and elsewhere. But it's just possible that you are in fairly untrodden territory, in that somebody with quite significantly higher morning readings than bedtime readings is trying this type of diet long-term. I'm very interested to see what happens, it could possibly even inspire/inform people who are very frustrated by always having high morning readings.

First, congratulations for taking the decision. All credit to you and if you follow it, it's bound to have major benefits. I'm into my third week now and I've seen massive improvements in FBG and weight and I've also been able to reduce my meds, so I can testify that the Newcastle Diet works. But... we can't backslide. I think it would be a mistake to try to make the diet look pretty much like normal meals - it's a massive change and we have to recognise that normal food, for now, is part of the problem. So I think the beans was being a bit optimistic, thinking it probably wouldn't make much difference. In fact, beans are loaded with carbohydrate and often added sugar so they probably did make quite a difference. I'd chop down the quantity for sure and preferably drop them altogether. Look at a day where the numbers were really good and repeat that day - then you have one more good day in the bank. After the first week I saw some excellent changes and my numbers are now regularly way down - in the 5s and sometimes even the 4s.

Secondly, I think you've already done really well over the three days. FBG from 13.9 to 10.8 is already a big drop and down to 7.2 is even better, so you're well able to follow the diet. I'd keep a close eye on the calorie count because it's easy to slip up by adding something unhelpful. The answer, I think, is to test before and after meals to spot when there's a spike and eliminate the most likely candidate. Bit by bit, we recognise the culprits. Your OH needs to be convinced that it's important to put up with the test to identify the problem foods and eliminate or at least control them. That's a commitment he has to make, I think. Without testing, we can't be in proper control. Once we have a good routine, the testing will be less often.

Third thing I'd say is that it helps me to think of it as a medical intervention over eight weeks rather than a diet that I may or may not follow. It has the potential for massive change but it's not like other diets - the changes are medical and life-changing and not just about weight loss. We're actually shocking our liver metabolism into a much healthier state over a period of weeks and I don't think I'll get the full benefits unless I really stick to it. So commitment is the key and we have to be completely convinced it's what we want to do and that we'll stick with it. It's as if, once we're on the train, we don't get out until we get to the station, at eight weeks. I've told myself that anything not on the diet isn't actually food so for me, it's just not edible at present.

I wish you all the success with the ND. You've already shown you can do it. If you take it day by day and keep repeating the successes, you'll be fine. Good luck.

Duffysmum said:

Thanks Adam, its hard enough to get him to test as it is, but he is relatively willing now (more than ever has been in the past! LOL!)

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The dawn phenomenon is quite common and it's where the liver dumps glucose because it reacts to a fall in blood glucose early in the morning. But it's a consequence of the abnormal metabolism of the liver when it has excess fatty deposits. As the ND takes effect, the fats in the liver will fall dramatically and it will then recover some insulin sensitivity so it won't react in the same way. So there's every reason to expect that the dawn phenomenon will lessen and even stop altogether. I had exactly that experience in the first four or five days of the ND.

AlcalaBob said:

The dawn phenomenon is quite common and it's where the liver dumps glucose because it reacts to a fall in blood glucose early in the morning. But it's a consequence of the abnormal metabolism of the liver when it has excess fatty deposits. As the ND takes effect, the fats in the liver will fall dramatically and it will then recover some insulin sensitivity so it won't react in the same way. So there's every reason to expect that the dawn phenomenon will lessen and even stop altogether. I had exactly that experience in the first four or five days of the ND.

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Haha! I've read your thread recently, clearly I wasn't paying enough attention to the numbers! I've always wondered if an ND would eventually "get rid of" dawn phenomenon if persevered with for long enough. There doesn't seem to be any mention of it in the data coming out of Newcastle/Glasgow. Well that's that settled then, for some people at least

Duffysmum said:

@AlcalaBob and @AdamJames thank you both for your advice on this, much appreciated.
I am probably going to go to blog progress from here, otherwise the thread will get too long (and boring!!)

The help on this site is so good, thank you one and all!!

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Good luck, I'll be following the blog with interest!