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Trying out Newcastle diet.

E

endgame

Active Member
Messages
43
Location
Leicestershire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi. I'm hoping to complete the nd over the required 8 weeks, anyway bit of background, I'm 66 yr old T2 male, last 6 month check was not very good. My dn suggested more pills, (im on 4x 500mg metformin) bit of a blow !! I said to my nurse I would sort it out and declined the extra pills.

What to do? Turned to Google which came up with the BSD, armed with the book had a good read, why I didn't see this before only him upstairs knows.....this of course encouraged me to look into the nd.

3 weeks before my holiday I changed my total food intake and ditched some of the junk/processed food, breakfast was small bowl of porridge, lunch tin of soup, dinner whatever being cooked but smaller portion's, BG improved and I lost 3kg in the 3 weeks..... Holiday, paid for all inclusive so just enjoyed the food, no BG testing for the week.

So onto the nd, started 16th so one week completed, start of week 2. Will update after my liquid lunch lol
 

Good luck on your journey, @endgame .
 
Good luck - I've just finished 10 weeks of a real food version of the ND & so I know that you are probably over the really bad bit (those first three days were very difficult).
 
Thanks for the encouragement, also for the information on what to ask at the clinic, will ask for print outs of all my past visit's as I would like this info and also the date of diagnosis for T2 ( few yrs ago).

Have stopped taking my meds x4 500mg metformin and x1 10mg statin . Weight on day1 70kg bg 7.5 mmol/l
Using ultraslim replacement shakes x3 and veg to make up 800cals.

First couple of days shakes made up with 250ml skimmed milk, then less milk and more water having checked out other members efforts on nd.
Day2 bg 6.2
Day3 bg 6.4
Day4 bg 6.2
Day5 bg 6.1
Day6 bg 5.5
Day7 bg 4.9
Weight at end of week1 67kgs.....drinking min 2 litres of fluid sometimes 3 litres. Had to tighten my belt and put in more holes. Found veg content took abit of getting use to, but overall the week was ok . Hunger was there most days but as they say no pain no gain.

Now into week 2 will update as I progress, my Shake's this week will be made up with 250 ml of water, so need to increase my veg to make up the difference in cals. Also taking my bg testing from same hand as other members have reported different results using other body bits!! Regards.
 
OK so end of week 2, update for the week, Monday was fine but Tuesday not so good, bit light headed and felt sick, increased my fluid intake and the symptoms seemed to go away before bedtime . Wednesday to Sunday everything ok, plenty of fluid seemed to do the trick. Hope to make it to the end of the 8 weeks. As stated all shakes made with water, increased my veg to make up the difference.

Day 8 bg 4.9
Day 9 bg 5.6
Day 10 bg 5.3
Day 11 bg 5.3
Day 12 bg 4.9
Day 13 bg 5.4
Day 14 bg 4.7

Weight at end of week 2 is 67.5kgs???? Help, no I had to have a think about this figure, seems the NEW digital scales I have bought myself are super accurate!!!!! My old scales under reading by 2kg so on old scale I would be 65kg, can not measure half kg with my eye sight on old scales, anyway suffice to say I'm now going with the new scales and will record with these as I progress.

Week 3 started today, still taken no metformin or statin gives me hope of staying med free which is the driver for me . This week hope to do a bit more exercise as I am feeling a lot better and more positive.
Had my flu jab today, hope it doesn't upset my system, time will tell lol. Will update again at end of week 3. Regards
 
It is very lickly your scales are misleading you, also your weight will change depending on the time of day, when you been to the WC and how much water you drink, along with your salt intake. Therefore don't stress about what the scales say at this stage.
 
Good luck!
 
How are you getting on with it? I'm now doing two weeks on the ND then two weeks off, rotating, as a way to ensure I'm not regaining what I lost.
 
Hello Chook, to answer your question, I'm coming to the end of week 3 and this week has been a lot better than previous 2 in that I'm less hungry as my body adjusts to the 800 cal intake, I also find a stick of celery in the morning with the shake helps at breakfast time to set me up well to lunch. I'm drinking minimum 2 litres of fluid which also help's. Had to buy some psyllium husk to have for couple of days but that seems to have settled down now, ( found the husk in Indian greengrocers and also a lot of low carb food for after the nd). Are you doing your extra nd on real food or with shakes? This seems a good way to keep/maintain the weight loss achieved and of course we don't want to change our wardrobe to often lol. Good luck to you, I'm happy that I've stopped my meds for now and of course hope to stay med free, will update each week, Regards
 
Hi @endgame

It sounds like you are doing great! Yes, there were a few days when I was in need of psyllium husk - I didn't know you can get it in Indian greengrocers - I got mine from eBay. Good idea about the celery in the morning.

I'm just eating 800 calories of real foods on a two weeks on / two weeks off basis (hopefully timing my two weeks off to coincide with Christmas and New Year).
 
I just have a general question about the Newcastle Diet. When I first got the T2D diagnosis, I read a lot about it, but it was stated that it could not be done except under strict medical supervision. Yet here on the forum, I see a lot of people "doing this at home" despite the warning. Are the warnings wrong?
 
I w
I went to my Dr - I told him what I was doing and he had no opinion at all except that we should test HBA1C at some point after the diet to see if had any impact. I think seeing your DR is important in case you have anything else going you need to take into account.

BTW - until I told my DR about it he had never heard of the ND...
 

Ah - I haven't got any medical training and I wouldn't want to advise anyone to go against medical advice - but my doctor isn't very supportive when it comes to any diet that isn't the standard Eatwell plate. So I wouldn't want to say that the warnings are wrong but if I had to ask my doctor every time I want to change something in my diabetes care I would never do anything as its (currently) a three week wait for an appointment and on the one occasion that I did try to discuss a change in diet with him (on to low carb) he was very dismissive.

Personally, talking just from my own perspective and experience, I didn't find ND a problem at all as long as you test BGs very frequently and are aware of how you feel - if you feel a bit 'off' then check BG and be prepared to end the diet if there is any problem.

But I'm the crazy woman that's happy to try most dietary approaches - so far I've tried intermittant fasting (of various types), zero carb, ND, one meal a day and just about anything else that I think might help. My personal philosophy is that its me thats got T2, not my GP or the DNS and, as long as I'm careful, then I'll do what I think is good for me.
 
Fleegle said:
BTW - until I told my DR about it he had never heard of the ND...
Click to expand...

I have a first cousin who lives in the UK. He was diagnosed with T2D about a dozen years ago. Like me, he was not overweight, and has always been very physically active (more than me). His job requires a lot of physical activity.

He did the ND when it was very new. I think he was possibly either at a clinic, or at the very least, under close observation.

He told me that the result was inconclusive. He said the point was to "get rid of the fat" in the liver or pancreas and kick-start the insulin production, or something.

He has good control of his BG, and pays no attention to diet or drink. But he is on meds (no insulin). At least this is what he tells me!

The ND does not seem to make any sense for me, but it is a fascinating subject and it is great to see doctors attempting something imaginative and successful (and by all accounts perfectly safe if done properly).
 

If someone is taking drugs or insulin with a risk of hypos, the dose needs to be reduce or stopped. As long as someone is willing to have their BG higher for the first week, and has the skills to measure their own BG, and the willingness to take responsibility for their life, I see no real problem. (But learning carb counting and how to adjust your own insulin dose, should come before trying the Newcastle Diet. or intermittent fasting. Maybe you should not be on your own for the first week if using insulin.)

Remember we have one option that is clearly is not risk free, and will all knew will lead to very bad outcomes, that is do keep eating the "NHS Eatwell plate" and taking the drugs..... So you must decide between risks yourself, as there is not a risk free option open to us.
 
Hi Chook, I was reading the threads on this site and someone mentioned going to the Indian supermarket for the psyllium husk, I did check out eBay of course but found it much cheaper from the Indian supermarket, also some of the recipes on diet doctor called for it in certain recipes as part of the ingredients, also I read a recipe by someone on here that made very low carb bread, what's bacon and egg without a slice of buttered toast (lchf) yummy, only 5 weeks and 2 days to go.
Your timing and mine look OK for the festive season, how strict will you be?, no mince pie or Christmas cake, I'm going to be having maybe 1 or 2 mince pie, l don't eat Christmas cake so that's good and will make up for it with plenty of Turkey.
Two weeks on/off on real food (800cals) sounds good to me, could call it tmd? Regards
 
That's a really handy tip as I go to a lovely Indian supermarket in Sheffield once a month. I'll have to look around for the psyllium husk.

This will be my third low carb Christmas. The first one was very depressing without pud / cake / chocolate - but last year was a lot better as I experimented more with low carb recipes I found on-line including a really nice Christmas cake (better than the one I used to make before T2) and I also made some gorgeous boozy fresh cream chocolate truffles and a lovely New York style baked lemon cheesecake for dessert.

I don't know if doing the ND has put my diabetes in to remission (I'm intending to do a home oral glucose tolerance test when I can pluck up the courage) but I have discovered that I can certainly tolerate more carbs since I finished the ND - so, if my lower BGs continue, I may well have a naughty helping of Christmas pudding with double cream and possibly a mince pie - but not on the same day.
 
Have you tried the high protein rolls from Lidl? I love them toasted.
 
Hi Grateful, I'm no expert, lots of people on here know a lot more than me. Anyway I came across a book called the 8 week blood sugar diet by Dr Michael Mosley, from which I learnt more about my T2 than when I saw my doctor or diabetic nurse, all they wanted to do was more meds more meds you get the drift, I needed to sort out my problem before I had real problems and we all know what can happen if you let yourself go. I too am not fat but TOFI, according to Michael Mosley, which means thin outside fat inside and there lies the problem. As said by your cousin fat in liver and pancreas, is correct, I've been T2 for a few year's not really understanding what was happening so that is why when things started to go wrong I looked on the internet to try and find help.......got the book and which I might add is a good read which also referenced the ND by Prof Roy Taylor.(ND) in my opinion should be MBE.

Came across this web site and read about other members experience with the ND, so my journey began on the nd rather than the BSD because I don't need to count the cals apart from my veg portion as the shakes look after themselves, my take is its a diet, and if I have a problem I would revert back to taking my meds, I did not see my doctor or dn, would have to join the 3 or 4 week queue for that to happen and I don't think they would understand my reasoning, so can the warnings be ignored, that I think is up to the individual. I hope to stay off my meds after the nd but if not it wasn't for lack of trying.......5 weeks 2 days to go but who's counting, lol Regards.
 
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