starting newcastle diet on 2nd jan

Well done for getting back on track Geordie - not sure I will be able to climb back on if I fall off!

MY FBG this morning was 5.7!!! Chuffed to bits with that

No worries, Geordie. BG's are usually much higher!

Could be the gym - have started going everyday rather than my usual two or three times a week. I was low carbing before I started this diet, so it could be my body adjusting to a low fat, low calorie diet instead. Probably the gym though!!

geordie90 said:

Lets just have a laugh, give each other support and those partaking in the diet stick to it, those interested observers feel free to read, but lets not get into arguments and differences of opinion.

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Assuming your comments were aimed at me geordie, sorry but this is a forum where different views are discussed openly and anyone is free to comment on any thread and yes these are threads not blogs and if I see something that I believe to be wrong I will say so. If you just want to write about your experiences then write a blog because if you post to a forum people are going to express their opinions.

And to be pedantic the title of this thread is wrong as there is no such thing as far as I am aware as a Newcastle Diet I believe you mean the Newcastle Study which used the Optifast Diet to conduct research on eleven diabetics who had been diagnosed for under 4 years to see if it could reduce their visceral abdominal fat, and the conclusions were inconclusive due to the small number of participants and the fact that they has been no long term follow up.

I really am surprised that so many people are trying this diet as it is extremely unlikely to succeed, it is well known that the best way to loose weight is slowly one or two pounds a week, a lifestyle change that is sustainable for the rest of your life, yes the rest of your life - as that is how long you will have diabetes. Sorry if I sound harsh but I cant bite my tongue any longer and watch more people get sucked into what IMO is just a dream of a quick fix. If anyone can say they used this diet for 8 weeks and have kept their weight down for a year or more afterwards then I may change my mind but forgive me if I dont hold my breath waiting for that day.

Nothing personal geordie just my opinion, and as you say everyone's got one and here everyone can express theirs, thats what forums are for so please dont try to censor this one.

Although the perceived wisdom is that losing weight slowly is the best way, it may not actually be true. After all, the "perceived wisdom" is that diabetics should eat a carb laden diet lol.

Many people have lost weight and kept it off on the lighter life diet, a low fat, very low calorie diet that also uses meal replacements. More than eleven people have done that diet successfully! The point of the diet is to learn to control food, rather than have it control you which is all I am hoping for by following this diet.

Loads and loads of people have very little success at keeping off the weight they have lost slowly too. That is why they rejoin weightwatchers/slimming world etc year after year. There are always more members there trying to lose weight than are there to maintain even though the classes are free once you reach target weight! Let's be honest here - ALL diets are extremely unlikely to succeed which is why the diet industry does so well - most people have regained at least some of the weight they have lost a year after reaching their target.

I totally agree that there is very little evidence that this regime "cures" diabetes, but if I don't try it, how will I ever know if it could have worked. My doctor is happy for me to follow the diet, even if the only benefit I see is weight loss - eight weeks out of my life is not a lot of time to use. If at any point either I or my doctor feel that it is having a detrimental effect on my health, I will stop.

Geordie said "Well Sid be prepared to eat your words old fruit.
As far as the thread and blog conundrum goes, i started this as a light hearted attempt to document my experiences during the diet. There are as previously mentioned plenty of other places to discuss personal opinions around the merits or not of this diet, eating carbs, exercising etc."
Understand your point, but on this forum you can't say "this thread is all about me, so butt out if you have a different opinion" most threads tend to morph with time, and if someone makes a comment others disagree with, they're going to comment.
Also worth pointing out that this diet, or as we should say "experiment", is NOT as someone said about losing weight. It was an exercise to see if type 2 diabetes could be cured by a short term extreme diet. The key is wether or not, when people have completed it, they could pass an oral glucose test.

geordie90 said:

all about me!
I started the bloody thing if you dont like it dont read it

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Sadly, starting it doesn't mean you own it.

geordie90 said:

you might even try it yourself and become a convert.

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I did back in the eighties and it didnt work thats why I hold the opinions that I do. And since being diagnosed with diabetes I have changed my lifestyle stopped eating as much as I did and cut back on the carbohydrates and I have lost 4 stone which I have kept off for three years, happy days

beancounter said:

Although the perceived wisdom is that losing weight slowly is the best way, it may not actually be true.

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Unfortunately this is one piece of wisdom that does seem to hold true, loose weigh fast on an extreme diet and you learn nothing about controlling your appetite and eating less food, as soon as you stop the tendency is to return to the eating habits learned over a lifetime, loose it slowly however and you can rewire your brain to a accept a new lifestyle where you are happy with less food

Simply put diets dont work, lifestyle changes do, as I have already said diabetes is for life and diets are for weeks or months, no one can diet forever IMO.

geordie90 said:

all about me!
I started the bloody thing if you dont like it dont read it

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Your post has been hi-jacked, Geordie, and I'm sorry for my part in that. I find your results very interesting - as with all the other threads posted by forum members tryingthis type of diet.

I'm going to do it purely to kick-in a quick weightloss to motivate me at a time of year which is the worst for my self-control. I shall watch my blood glucose levels with interest, but in MHO, as I can't expect the James Cook to do me a couple of MRI scans at my own request, my version will add nothing to the Newcastle Study, which is concerned with the depletion of fat in the pancreas/liver area and subsequent improvement (not cure) in Type 2 diabetes.

Once I've finished it, 5 or 8 weeks depending on results, I shall go back to my (now normal for me) low-carb lifestyle. With the odd slip and too much alcohol! :lol: :wink:

Viv 8)

Hi, Sid - it is one piece of wisdom that holds true for you, but maybe not for everyone Chuffed to bits for you that you have kept the weight off My gut feeling is that you are right, and that for me, permanent lifestyle changes are the way to go. I am just not sure that approach is for everyone!!

I have always tried to lose weight slowly, and have had no success keeping the weight off long term. This is the first very low calorie diet I have tried, and I must admit that I have found the fact that I can manage without snacking a revelation. All the other diet regimes I have followed have allowed some snacking on fruit, or veg or low fat yoghurt etc so I have never been cured of my need to eat between meals. I am not actually advocating losing a lot of weight quickly, but I am hopeful that for me, managing without "food" for this period of time will cure me of my addiction to overeating.

Of course, I am not following this regime for the purpose of weight loss - this will hopefully be a welcome side effect. I really do want to see if it can improve my blood sugar control. I have no idea if it will work or not, but I found the findings of the study, and the reports on this forum of other members who have followed the regime intriguing. If it doesn't work, at least I will have kick started my diet - with a lot to lose, it can seem daunting to know it may take six months or more to get within the normal weight range xx

Once the eight weeks are up, I will carry on my lower carb regime to continue to lose weight. Lower carbing for me is not a diet, but a lifestyle choice. Once I have reached a normal weight, I may try "tweaking" the diet and eating a few more carbs, but I don't expect that I will ever be able to go back to my pre-diagnosis ways.

Sorry but I think you are being a bit harsh Geordie.

I have learned so much from this forum and it is because people are willing to share their experience, knowledge, opinions and wisdom. Sometimes you can learn more when original threads go off on tangents! In this forum I do not think it is essential to stick to the main topic as long as the posts are relevant to the original topic, which they have been. When reading an interesting thread I generally tend to forget the headings. It's the content that is important to me.

Sorry, I realise I have deviated a bit and I am not usually so opinionated but just felt you were being a wee bit unfair.

Anyway, I'm off my soap box now and I do think you are doing really well on this experiment and, as I said earlier, I admire your determination and stamina. You are benefiting well from it and, after all, that is the main objective-for each of us to benefit in our own ways.

I am interested in this Newcastle experiment and that is why I have been following this thread. However, I am new to diabetes but not to diets and that's why I need more information to get my head round it and work out if it is for me. That's also why I like to read others opinions and experiences.

Good luck with the rest of it and please don't be put off posting your experience because it is interesting to read.

Not bothered about having a pint, but a chicken shish kebab with lots of salad and lemon juice would be lush

Hi all.
Please remember to keep friendly, supportive and not get personal.
Anna.

Hi all, what on earth has happened here?!!!

Just to post I am so so so pleased, after getting a bit despondent about this diet I have today had 2 x 6.5 and just had a 5.6 which to me is fantastic. This diet has really made me think about what I need to eat in the future and think, at this minute, that it will have changed my eating habits after my diet ends. i really was quite depressed about my unknown type of diabetes before Xmas and this has helped me so much. There is a lot of arguments about this but as i said in one of my previous posts the consultant is fully behind me on this.

What is wrong with losing weight, be it quickly or slowly? It can only do some good and if the weight stops off after or just a bit goes back on then that is good. As Geordie says come back in a years time but in the meantime a little bit of faith and hope could go a long way into supporting people in their quest which, if im not mistaken, wasone of the reasons why Geordie started this thread.

Lets keep at it, time will be the great answer to our questions. Lets support each other.

Just off to play footy..