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starting newcastle diet on 2nd jan

tooyoung dont think of it as a cure for a few years , think of it as a fresh start on a new path
try and think how you can adapt the plan for after the eight weeks, i have had to adpat to keep my levels sensible, but exercise is def the key.
I think if you can train your mind to not crave the things that you once did you can def keep weight off and sugars good, you WILL have bad days but the secret in my opinion is to make sure they dont turn into bad WEEKs and MONTHS, cos you'll end up where u were.
Its not easy, its not particulalry pleasant as it is a lifestyle change but embrace it, ive never felt better and i wish id done it in my twentys when i wasnt diabetic lol cos that where the damage was done i think.
 
Hi Tooyoung,
Geordie is right, we have to look at this as a way of changing not just our eating habits but also the way we look at exercise (for lots of us who don't do any!!) I have found that if my levels are a bit high when I have had a meal even a brisk walk brings them right down.

This diet has really enlightened me to what I was doing before which led to me being diagnosed and I am really motivated to change the way I eat and exercise to give myself as good a chance as any to prevent my symptoms becoming any worse and hopefully as Geordie says (and Prof Taylor) in years to come I may have "cured myself".

I wouldn't be too hard on yourself by trying to stick to 600 calories, as I have my three optifast milkshakes (on prescription from my GP) plus my 250gr of veg per day, you don't want to starve yourself too much and it is what was used in the trial .When I have my Vanilla dessert shake I put it in the fridge for half an hour and it turns into a mousse which is quite filling, but I have only missed out on having veg once when I was too full with the shakes, but I do measure out exactly 250gr and no more, I have followed the diet to the letter as I don’t see the point in doing my “own style” and hopefully will see the best possible result I can.

I know what has caused me to become diabetic and I know a few small and a couple of big changes will be sufficient for me to become and stay healthier.

This is to you too Geordie, do you think if you gave your body a breather for a few months whether going back on the diet would obviously help you lose the extra weight you needed and also bring your levels down to an even more normal level better than the way you are trying at the moment?

Let’s keep going and we can all make a huge difference to our lives and tooyoung ,your story might inspire someone else as Geordies did for me.
 
I just want to add a small point here, it may be helpful it may not. My treadmill arrived today, and so I have begun an exercise program. For many it would be of little benefit, for little me after 12 years on not being able to exercise I have to take it easy. Anyway... before and after each little 10 minute bout of walking (4 sessions so far today) my BG went down. Nothing massive but between 0.3 and 0.5. So, for me, exercise does make a difference. Thanks Geordie.
 
Hi there...I have a query on this 800 cal diet thing :)

On the sheet it refers to eating 250g or 3 portions of veg from the list to make up the extra 200 calories but if you calculate the calories for the 3 portions it only comes to around 65 kcals (no matter what combination of veg used).

Is it just me or is this no where near the 200 (extra calories) target that the factsheet says is needed?

Please help. I started the diet yesterday and I am sooooo confused :crazy:
 
ArchAngel, If I were you just have the three shakes a day and your 250g with or after your third shake, otherwise you will just be snacking on a carrot through the day and nothing substantial for the evening, and dont forget you will be going for a long time after your last shake until your next one. I have one in the morning, one for lunch and then the third about 5ish and then my dinner at about 6.30-7ish, after a few days you do start to get used to it and I have felt too full to eat when I have a stir fry as that seems to be the meal that looks like you have the biggest portion. Also dont worry about the calories as if you stick to the diet menu of items you can have it works itself out.
Good luck,, it does get easier but dont forget this is just the start and it does get a lot easier after a few days, you really will see the difference as well as realizing what bad eating habits you may have had that got you here in the first place. (dont forget to incorporate an exercise plan as well)
 
Thank you Geordie and Ivenoidea for those wise words. I do as much exercise as I can although I'm not a member of a gym, I do have three or more 40 minute brisk walks every week. I'm waiting for the summer, lol, so I can play on the trampoline with my youngest.

Day 17 FBG 5.2
Weight 13st13.8lbs.... Ok 14st, lol.
Had a couple of weird readings 5.7 before lunch, 5.8 mid afto, don't know whether I'm getting a cold.

Ivenoidea, your bgs were in the low 4s after 1 week weren't they? I'm beginning to think the optifast has an ingredient that helps the pancreas or helps with the insulin resistance, and I'm pretty sure it is the omega 3 fatty acids shown as part of the nutritional info. The asda shakes and slimfast and others don't contain this. Could be me just being a bit obsessive, but might be worth putting it out there for the opinions of others. The way it looks to me is that you will cure the condition (for how long, who knows, but hopefully a long while) and the rest of us will see a big improvement but not quite get there. Only time will tell. I know nobody on here believes it is a cure but I would still like to think it is myself. It is one of my main motivators to keep going.

I have noticed the further you get on this diet the faster the time goes. I'm nearly a third the way through already. How time flies when you are having fun, lol :lol: I'm finding it nearly as hard as quitting smoking, but not quite. I managed that ok, so I'm sure I can do this.

Welcome aboard ArchAngel and good luck. Which shakes are you using by the way?

Geordie90, what are your latest bgs post diet, are your fbgs still good?

Onwards and upwards we'll all get there. Bye for now.
 
Weigh day again today, Lost 1kg this week so it has definitely slowed down a lot but is still in the right direction, blood pressure also down to 126/65 so weight now is 81kg down from 95kg at diagnosis and 93kg at the start of the diet.

In response to tooyoung, I have had great test results so far, I dont know if this is down to the optifast shakes or not, but when I tested this afternoon after 5 hours of not eating my test was 6.9, so I tested again straight away and it was 5.9. I then went for a short bike ride with my son and tested when I got back and it was 3.8!!! That's the highest and one of the lowest I have had for sometime so I dont know where they came from.

Whether it is a cure or not remains to be seen but I am obviously hopeful it goes someway to be a cure together with exercise and control of my diet.

I feel that as I have got further into this diet it has really opened my eyes to my eating habits and lack of fitness, the two must go together in the future if I want to live the different lifestyle I realize I need to to combat this disease.

Keep at it everyone who is on it and if your not give it a go, you've only got weight to lose.
 
Hi all

This is my first ever post, even though I've been watching this thread with interest since it started. Thanks to all (esp Geordie) for the posts which are really informative and helpful.
I'm just over a week into the diet. I'd decided last year to do it and identified this period as the easiest one in terms of being at home/being away etc.

I'm using the Asda shakes, and I do 6 half portions over the course of the day. Sometimes I can't even manage the last one or 2 portions.
I'm not that interested in the weight loss, though I'm down about 3kg since the start. (I'm now on 80kg), but very interested in the blood sugar results.
My take on the diet is that it is not a cure, and of course if you hardly eat anything esp carbs then BG's will be lower. The real test of course would be if in 2 years time you could eat a danish pastry and drink a can of coke without a flicker in the bg!
What I'm hoping though is that it may give the pancreas a rest and clear out some of the glcyogen in the liver, so that when the diet is over the pancreas can work a bit more efficiently. I'd be happy with that outcome. My endo didn't try to stop me but wasn't over optimistic saying that I would end up hyperglycimic again. I told her that I was resigned to ending up in a hospital, blind, with a leg missing and on dialysis but if I can make the difference between being there at 70 and being there at 75 then its worth the 8 weeks.
good luck to all.
 
Hi all thanks for all the kind words, im not the inspiration you all are as you are all trying to make a difference in your lives not by popping pills but by activley taking control of your condition.
Ive been off the plan a few weeks now and eating a bit more than i was, trying to stay healthy and going to the gym.
My BGs have gone up slightly but nowhere near the levels I was at before the diet. My FBG was 13.9!!
Now its in the top 5's low 6's but strangely i think i am getting the dawn effect which is something I didnt get before??
Mid afternoon my BG's are around the 4-5 mark so that is good but as suspected if I eat high carb food I do get a spike, but again that isnt rocket science i suppose.
Weight has stayed roughly same and am now on another two month program to get another stone off, want to break the 13/14 stone barrier.
I think the biggest thing for me is seeing people I havent seen for a while and them commenting on how much I have lost and how well i look.
I think we all need to be realisitic with this diet and realise that we cant go back to the way we were we will always have to have a modified diet, if we put a bit of weight on, then address it and work hard to get it off, Good luck to all who are doing it the results are excellent and give a tremendous kickstart to the next part of your life, to slow down and halt the unseen damage this disease can do to our bodies in the longterm.
 
Back to gym tonight, did not feel like it at all, got a bit of cold coming on i think but dragged my carcase along lol
did 28 mins on eliptical trainer
did 16 minutes interval training on running machine, speed 9.2, 15 secs on 15 secs off
100 crunches
180 russian twists
3 minutes worth of plank

thought id sprung a leak lol
but increased my interval training time by one minute so pleased with that

just got to keep going with it.
 
geordie90 said:
Back to gym tonight, did not feel like it at all, got a bit of cold coming on i think but dragged my carcase along lol
did 28 mins on eliptical trainer
did 16 minutes interval training on running machine, speed 9.2, 15 secs on 15 secs off
100 crunches
180 russian twists
3 minutes worth of plank

thought id sprung a leak lol
but increased my interval training time by one minute so pleased with that

just got to keep going with it.
Click to expand...

You're doing brilliantly Geordie, a real inspiration. I started yesterday, so far so good.
 
@Tooyoungforthis

I am on the ASDA shakes aswell. Not sure if it will have any difference to the optifast as I think they too are just basically a sliming aid too :D
 
I just wanted to post a good news story

I started the ND on Feb 1st and lasted until 15th March (so 6 weeks). I was having a shake for lunch and a soup for dinner so all told probably less than 400 cals a day. I admire those that lasted the full 8 weeks, but for me I can only liken it to cold turkey (not that I've done that) as it was so much harder mentally than physically. It was breaking me so I finished it. In those 6 weeks I went from 14st 7 to 12st 4. I was on 1 gliclazide and 2 metformin per day. I havent' taken any meds since end of Jan.

My diet since finishing has been very up and down. While I didn't gorge when I finished, I did go for a few days of having all the things I had denied myself. Portion size has now come down and doesn't seem a problem.

Anyway, this week the wife is away for the week and she does all our cooking so I have been left to my own devices. Needless to say, my diet this week has been shocking. Bacon sarnie, chocolate, chips, cake etc, you get the picture.
Today my firm had arranged for Nuffield health to come in to do a 15 minute health MOT. The usual tests BP, BG, Cholesterol, height, weight and so on. BP of 137 over 71 :) resting heart rate of 54 :D cholesterol 5.1 :) BG 6.9 (not a smiley big enough!)
I wanted to kiss the woman doing the test. I had rather cowardly avoided doing a bg test at any time since I finished as I wasn't sure I wanted to find out it hadn't worked (despite knowing it may not). It's not conclusive enough to say I'm cured, I still intend to go for my full HB1's in 6 weeks or so but the signs are good.Yesterday I had a bag of choclate buttons, steak and chips, some jaffa cake bars. This morning I had a large bowl of porridge and I still get a 6.9. I was expecting a number possibly in the teens. Pre medication I was late teens early 20's. For those starting or still on the ND, persevere...it bloody works!!
 
Excellent news crouching but dont get complacent, i always said i wouldnt live like a momk after diet had finished and everything in moderation is ok , or so im finding it. One day of rubbish then the rest of week sensible can solve all the problems .

Keep at it im back on it as i want to lose another stone to get under the 14st figure which for me will be a real milestone. I want to see the scales read 13.? lol
 
Well done crouching,
I think the rapid weight loss could have done the trick on your pancreas! which is the whole idea, just dont slip into any bad habits.

I went to the gym for the first time today, "BLIMEY!!!!" how unfit did I feel??? I'll have to learn all the names of the machines before I tell you what I did.
I had a doctors referall so I had a personal trainer for an hour and was told I was a lot fitter than I thought, he did a fat test on me, last time I went I had 33% fat and this time I had 25% fat, blood pressure was fine and when I was exercising my heart rate was about 140 (don't know if that's any good?) but must admit to feeling good about going, so I am aiming to go 3 times a week and swimming twice..... we'll see how that works out.

Keep at it everyone ..... end of week six for me on Monday..... 2 more to go!!!!!
 
Ivenoidea said:
Well done crouching,
I think the rapid weight loss could have done the trick on your pancreas! which is the whole idea, just dont slip into any bad habits.

I went to the gym for the first time today, "BLIMEY!!!!" how unfit did I feel??? I'll have to learn all the names of the machines before I tell you what I did.
I had a doctors referall so I had a personal trainer for an hour and was told I was a lot fitter than I thought, he did a fat test on me, last time I went I had 33% fat and this time I had 25% fat, blood pressure was fine and when I was exercising my heart rate was about 140 (don't know if that's any good?) but must admit to feeling good about going, so I am aiming to go 3 times a week and swimming twice..... we'll see how that works out.

Keep at it everyone ..... end of week six for me on Monday..... 2 more to go!!!!!
Click to expand...

Oh wow well done. My cleaning lady has also been given a referral as she is overweight, I said that I would go with her and as two rather unfit ladies we could work together. I am not sure when she plans on starting going but I will go with her, which will help me on the ND no end. End of week 1 for me Monday, so you're a good bit ahead of me, but this really is becoming somewhat of an amazing experience for me. It is hard and you really do have to be determined and disciplined, but in my opinion, so worth the hard work and effort. Well done!! :clap: :clap:
 
Hi all excellent to see so much gym participation. Remember every journey starts with the first step, dont expect to be able to run a marathon after one week , set yourself small short goals, that are achievable but challenging, and an excellent thing to do is to take photographs weekly so if you dont lose any weight you can still see the change in your body shape.
The benefits are amazing and you do feel so much better after a good sesh at the gym, be careful though as it can become addictive lol and you feel terrible if you dont go, lol what a conundrum.
Isnt it amazing though that they are now offering exercises as a solution, it should be the first port of call before medication etc.
Good luck everyone, take photos, set goals and targets and dont lose heart.
 
Hi everyone
Well done crouching and thankyou for sharing that with us. That is just what I needed to read after my day 21 results to give me the faith to carry on. Here they are:

Day 21
FBG 5.9 :(
Weight 13st 11lbs (starting weight 15st 1lbs)

Did my bg just before me shake at tea time this aft and it was 5.2 :? Can't understand these.

It might be because I haven't been able to have me walks this week, two reasons: 1 it's been persisting it down all week. 2. Just spent £50 on new shoes and they're blisterin the heck out of me heels lol.

Last time I went to a Gym was when I was bodybuilding in me late teens. I admire you all for going, maybe I'll go when I can afford it.

Crouching, did you do any exercise during your six weeks, or do you exercise now even? Oh and please keep updating us with life after the ND like Geordie. I certainly intend to, in five weeks time - can't wait.

Ivenoidea I'm really looking forward to the final outcome of your ND, as I'm sure you are.

Best of luck everyone
 
Hi all
Some excellent results and I think BG's can fluctuate over the day, strangely mine go up after gym but that is probably down to body releasing glucose to fuel my muscles.

Life after the ND takes getting used too, I think the reality is we can never go back to old ways, we will always needto be careful but if we know that then we are in a better position than we were before and we also have the answer in our hands, its down to us to make it happen. We all go to the doctors and expect them to give us the magic bullet when in reality it is in our own hands.
I have been diagnosed for nine years and it has worked for me, yes its not a cure, well not for me anyway, but it an easy way to control my weight and more importantly my bgs to minimise the damage i am causing to my body. Oh of course there are the benefits of feeling good, although full of cold at minute, looking good(vain i know), having a confidence boost and not having the depression/stress that can sometimes be associated with the disease.

I will def be continuining on this road and if i have a slip for a week well then i have a slip but i will get back on it at least its not a nine year slip !!

Be good
 
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