• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

starting newcastle diet on 2nd jan

Hi,
The reason i was asking about the milk for shakes was if i use it for the shakes then i could just keep some out for the tea and top up the shake with water, I will probaly just use water even if it says milk and suffer with black tea.

When it comes to the multivitamins i currently take asda's own brand, What do you think about multivitamins the more you pay the better they are ?
 
hi

I think Asda brand will be fine, I'm suspicious of anything too cheap from pound shops etc, when it comes to things like this.

I stand by the comment that if it says milk then use milk to ensure you get the full balance of vitamins, minerals etc that it says on the tin.

I think the other thing I am considering is an end date to the diet. The website says 8 weeks, so probably no more than that. I'm thinking of starting with 6 weeks (I deal in half terms!) and possibly a few weeks of of more normal but still healthy, weight loss style eating, followed by a few more weeks Newcastle style,k if I need to and if I can stick to it.

I think an end date will be a good thing to think about if it's getting tricky.


Start planning your veggie recipes!
Good Luck
 
Hi,
My diet starts on sat 17th Aug, and if successful will finish on the 11th Oct. As i'm on holiday on the 15th Oct, off to Majorca,
that will give me only 3 full days to start on a balanced eating plan before i go, because i'm sure that when i'm on holiday i will be having the odd treat or two, So i will just have to wait and see how it goes.

But good luck to you Cara when you start yourself.
 
Hi Cara / Murph,

I'm in my last week of 8 now, starting to really count down the days I have stuck ridgidly to the diet no dairy products, meat, fish, beats, pulses etc. I'm not sure additional vitamins are required, I have used optifast & my GP after looking at the ingredients decided there was no reason to prescribe vitamins. Hope it goes well for you the first 3 days are the worst but once your body has gone into ketosis & got used to it I found it fine, my energy levels have been fine, if anything better than for years! I havn't suffered from cold or some other side effects people reported, just tough in social enviroments when others are eating & drinking. Exercise really helps also & I tend to drink water when I start to feel hungry. I have 6 days to go & so far lost 23 lbs.

Personally I weigh myself every morning & it is only really in the last week that weight loss has slowed I also test my bg 1 to 3 times a day, my consultant said I only needed to do once a week, but I find the daily weight checks & bg testing is motivational, as it confirms to me I am still making progress. My bg currently operates between 4.1 & 5.3 7day ave 4.6 14 day 4.8 30day 4.8 90 day 5.7. As a side issue I have also seen my blood pressure improve, it was never really bad but could have been better, but now it's in the range 104 - 116 over 58 - 70 which is pretty much perfect so the weight loss & exercise seem to be having huge benefits to me, not felt as well for years.

I will visit my surgery when the diet is finished & ask for a glucose tolerence test, I would hope I am now back to a totally pre diabetic state & if I keep my weight down & continue to exercise would hope to maintain it without any meds.

Good luck to you both, just keep focussed on the end goal & stay strong

Mark
 
Hi Cricket lover
Well done for getting this far.
I was wondering what weight did you start the diet at ?
Great weight loss at 23lbs for 7 weeks , did you lose what you thought you would lose ?
About testing your bg did you check when you got up in the morning ? also did you test before and after meals(shakes)
and finally you mentioned your blood pressure improved, did you have a monitor at home ? I'm currently on a tablet for mine,any thoughts?
thanks murph524
 
Hi Murph,

I was 12st 9 when I started weighed 10st 10 this morning but was 13st 9 this time last year, lost a stone before Christmas & being diagnosed. The weight loss has slowed in the last 10 days I was loosing about 4 1/2 lbs a week but now seems to have slowed to about 2lb a week, I was hoping to get to 10st 7 but ideally 10st 4, but I am currently trying to work a bit on building up muscle in the gym as it will help to burn calories when I come off the diet. Also really want to get my fitness back to a really good level, although a little difficult due to a bad knee which prevents me running or playing sports now, so restricted to non impact exercises.
I test my bg most mornings when I get up & is now regularly around 4.2 it used to be regularly over 8 first thing in the morning, during the day I vary the times pre meals, 2 hours after or sometimes prior to going to bed the highest reading I have had is 5.7.
I have my own blood pressure monitor I bought one for my mother who is on dialysis & has regular blood pressure probs, liked it & decided to get one for myself, blood pressure has improved as mentioned also resting heart rate is now down to around 60, so weight loss & increased exercise seem to be working on more than one front, I have exercised regularly in the past & played a lot of sport, it has only been in the last 3 to 4 years that I had slowed down due to a stream of injuries..... it is good to be getting back into it, jst frustrating I can't use my improved fitness in sports due to my knee injury.
I know finding time to exercise can be hard, I have the same problem regularly working a 50 to 60 hour week running a business but it does seem to make a huge difference to how you feel & I'm sure your bg levels, even before this diet my bg was better in weeks when I found time to exercise.

Sorry if I went on a bit, but I am getting really into this now, motivation is the key!

Hope this helps
 

You've reminded me that there were some blogs a while back about the difficulty some people were having with muscle building after losing a lot of weight. I can't remember what peoples' theories were but it may be something to do with the body reverting to protein as the last resort for energy? Do you remember these blogs?
 
I did see a couple of blogs, I'm hoping that once I start eating more calories after the diet I will be able to build muscles back to the levels I want them to be, my legs have muscled up a bit with some heavy weights so when I start working the rest of my body I hope not to have any problems.
 
I have seen that Roy Taylor (the lead scientist in the Newcastle diet study) has written in his updated FAQ page that he believes that the important factor is losing weight, not how rapidly it is lost, and recommends that most people take a reasonable amount of time to diet slowly rather than do the original crash diet of 800kcs, Optifast+vegetables. I don't think he has any particular evidence for this view and is possibly saying it to stop people from taking a risk with their health by going on an extreme diet.

Has anyone managed to check this out with Newcastle directly?

Also, even if you restrict your diet to 800kcs, is it not equally effective to use real food rather than formula? What difference could that make? After all, real food can be made a lot tastier and variable than Optifast powders.

Anyone's feedback and opinions much appreciated, especially as I am newly diagnosed T2 and want to 'reverse' this condition any way I can.

Thanks,
 


Might be worth getting the opinion of other establishments who study and specialise in nutrition etc., like Loughborough rather than just relying on the views from an MRI unit. From what I could see, the focus was on visceral? fat which is what one might expect from an MRI unit. But that hardly encompasses the full picture (if you'll pardon the pun). You can probably improve bGs by tickling the right part of the sole of your foot to encourage your pancreas to work better if you speak with a reflexologist.
 


Might be worth getting the opinion of other establishments who study and specialise in nutrition etc., like Loughborough rather than just relying on the views from an MRI unit. From what I could see, the focus was on visceral? fat which is what one might expect from an MRI unit. But that hardly encompasses the full picture (if you'll pardon the pun). You can probably improve bGs by tickling the right part of the sole of your foot to encourage your pancreas to work better if you speak with a reflexologist.
 
Re: starting newcastle diet

hi all
is there anyone on here who is on insulin and done the newcastle diet, that could give andycam advise or share their experiance with him
 
I have now done this diet since February and so far have lost 45 lbs. I reckon 28 lbs to go, so plan to keep on it until I am back to a normal weight. My doctor wanted me to be a guinea pig as he had heard of the diet but hadn't seen anyone do it. I don't feel hungry at all now. However, I realise that I am testing mornings, and before and after the vegetables in the evening, but I don't really know what 'normal' readings are. How will I know if it has worked?

And I have been using this site for months now so why am I still a 'new' member?
 

Congratulations on your success with the diet.

I would check the BG results you're getting against the normal range:
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045621.php

I think the 'new member' status is based on the number of posts rather than the length of time that you've been a member.
 
Thank you - that's very helpful!
My fasting readings every morning are now almost always between 5.5-5.8, with the occasional and inexplicable 6.1.
During the afternoon between 4.2-5.4.
One hour after meals between 5.8-6.5
Two hours after meals between 4.9-6.1

Now lost 46 lbs.

BUT, I eat only carbs that are in vegetables and the very, very occasional piece of lean chicken. I worry that if I eat anything else all these levels will shoot up and I'll be back to square one. When can I say my diabetes is actually reversed? Or is my life eating vegetables in an effort to avoid all those horrible possible illnesses, and trying not to die 10 years earlier than I should? I do understand why diabetics become depressed.

And another question - what kind of support should I be expecting from my doctor? How often should I see him?
 
Sorry, but I can't help with those questions. I'd suggest you re-read all the information supplied by Professor Taylor's group at Newcastle Uni and possibly watch the Professor's video.

I would check with your doctor about extending the diet beyond 8 weeks as the study done was for 8 weeks only as far as I know.

Are you using the shakes? If so, which brand?

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal.htm
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/36/4/1047.long
http://www.fend-lectures.org/index.php?menu=view&id=94

I think you can expand your diet much beyond what you're eating now, but the main factor is keeping your weight at the level that keeps your BG at normal levels - regaining weight eventually leads to an increase in visceral (liver and pancreas) fat - which is the mechanism Taylor's group believes is what causes Type 2.

Personally, I've found the LCHF diet to be excellent for maintaining weight loss. I've been following it for nearly 2 years and have never regained more than 4kgs since reaching goal weight.
 
Thanks for these links again. I re-read the paper, and watched the video. I think that I have a better sense now of what I need to achieve to be 'reversed' or 'in remission'.

I looked at and compared all the drinks/soups (carbs, sugars, calories, fats etc) and got Shake that Weight. They work for me. I will return to more normal eating, but I need to get my weight back into the normal range for my height. Apparently this is the trigger - both for getting diabetes and getting rid of it! I also now understand that if I get to normal weight and reverse it, then the important thing is not to let the weight creep back on! Eating fat seems so counter-intuitive, but from reading this forum I realise I need to rethink this completely.

What a lifeline this forum has been! Diabetes is so scary! But I really liked the Taylor article where a an interviewee said that what was so depressing was that advice to date to diabetics has been to submit to the disease - and that so much can be done if we take control of our own disease and perhaps even make real changes.
 
What's the Newcastle diet please?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…