Habitual

[Davephuk]

Hi All

I've been on low carb diet now for several months. I've lost some weight and reduced my HbA1C from 63 to 46. However my weight loss stalled so I wanted to get the weight shifted ASAP. I've just subscribed to Habitual as it's an 800 diet targeted at diabetics and reversing type 2. On low carb my fasting blood sugar got down to 4.6 - 5.7.

I've been on Habitual since Monday and my fasting blood sugar has been 7.5 and 7.8. Looking closely at the ingredients most of the food has glucose syrup in it including the soups and the one has caramelised sugar syrup. I challenged the company today and they advised they have to keep the carbs up to a certain level. I can't see any reason why they can't use other diabetic friendly carbs like sweet potatoes especially in the soups. My understanding is pure glucose syrup is bad and its exactly what we are trying to stop from being in our blood.

Am I being unreasonable and is there any good reason to add it?

Thanks everyone
Dave

 

[Docb]

SOY Protein
Carrots (17.5%)
Maltodextrin
SOY Oil
Inulin
Coconut
Emulsifier: Lecithins (Containing SOY)
Yeast Extract
Tomato Powder
Spices (2%) (Turmeric, Cumin, Chili, Fenugreek Seeds, Fennel, Spices)
Potassium Chloride
Salt
MILK Protein
Natural Flavourings
Tricalcium Phosphate
Dipotassium Phosphate
Colour: Carotenes
Glucose Syrup
Vitamin and Mineral Premix (Choline Bitartrate, Maltodextrin, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Zinc Citrate, Ferric Pyrophosphate,Niacin, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Sulphate, Vitamin A, Sodium Molybdate, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin D, Biotin,Potassium Iodide, Vitamin B12, Folic Acid, Copper Citrate, Vitamin B6, Riboflavins, Vitamin K, Thiamin)
Garlic
Herbs (Coriander, Parsley)
Magnesium Oxide
Stabiliser: Triphosphates
Antioxidants: Fatty Acid Esters Of Ascorbic Acid, Alpha-Tocopherol
Anti-Caking Agent: Calcium Phosphates

May also contain: egg, celery, mustard and sulphites.

That is the ingredients list for their carrot soup. And its 50% carbohydrate.

Nuff said in my book.

 

[Robin]

The number one priority of meal replacement shakes is to keep the calorie intake to 800 and make you feel full enough so you’ll stick to it. They work by helping you ditch the visceral fat that’s clogging up the pancreas and liver and preventing them functioning properly. How they do it probably largely depends on price. Some people on here use the Exante shakes, which have a list of minerals and vitamins to reassure you that you’re getting enough nutrients, but are quite expensive. I expect the cheaper ones use whatever's cheapest, and if that's glucose syrup then that's what they'll use. I'll tag @ColinUK because I know he has used various brands of shake in the past.

 

[harbottle]

Both low carb and low calorie are aimed at losing weight, just by different diets. Low carb will obviously lower BG, but the real aim is to lose weight, remove the visceral fat around the organs and kick start the dysfunctional beta cells. This has been shown to be effective in some people - but not all.

You don't need to 'sign up' to do it, the Newcastle Diet has a document online somewhere that goes through some foods you can use and alternative shakes are available.

 

[Davephuk]

SOY Protein
Carrots (17.5%)
Maltodextrin
SOY Oil
Inulin
Coconut
Emulsifier: Lecithins (Containing SOY)
Yeast Extract
Tomato Powder
Spices (2%) (Turmeric, Cumin, Chili, Fenugreek Seeds, Fennel, Spices)
Potassium Chloride
Salt
MILK Protein
Natural Flavourings
Tricalcium Phosphate
Dipotassium Phosphate
Colour: Carotenes
Glucose Syrup
Vitamin and Mineral Premix (Choline Bitartrate, Maltodextrin, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Zinc Citrate, Ferric Pyrophosphate,Niacin, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Sulphate, Vitamin A, Sodium Molybdate, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin D, Biotin,Potassium Iodide, Vitamin B12, Folic Acid, Copper Citrate, Vitamin B6, Riboflavins, Vitamin K, Thiamin)
Garlic
Herbs (Coriander, Parsley)
Magnesium Oxide
Stabiliser: Triphosphates
Antioxidants: Fatty Acid Esters Of Ascorbic Acid, Alpha-Tocopherol
Anti-Caking Agent: Calcium Phosphates

May also contain: egg, celery, mustard and sulphites.

That is the ingredients list for their carrot soup. And its 50% carbohydrate.

Nuff said in my book.

I didn't get this one as it taste gross but I don't think the tomato and red pepper one would be any better. Made up with with water it's not 50% carbs (55g plus 250ml water = 12.1g carbs) but with the glucose syrup and the Maltodextrin looks very diabetic unfriendly. Yet they advertise it for diabetics!

 

[Davephuk]

The number one priority of meal replacement shakes is to keep the calorie intake to 800 and make you feel full enough so you’ll stick to it. They work by helping you ditch the visceral fat that’s clogging up the pancreas and liver and preventing them functioning properly. How they do it probably largely depends on price. Some people on here use the Exante shakes, which have a list of minerals and vitamins to reassure you that you’re getting enough nutrients, but are quite expensive. I expect the cheaper ones use whatever's cheapest, and if that's glucose syrup then that's what they'll use. I'll tag @ColinUK because I know he has used various brands of shake in the past.

Thanks Robin. Exante and Habitual are around the same cost. I did look at Exante but I went for this one as all the blurb is based around diabetes and diabetes reversal. Exante has maltodextrin but not glucose. The food does taste pretty good and i could stick to it. Do you think short term pain to the blood sugar for long term gain? Thanks for tagging Colin would be interested in his view.

 

[Davephuk]

Both low carb and low calorie are aimed at losing weight, just by different diets. Low carb will obviously lower BG, but the real aim is to lose weight, remove the visceral fat around the organs and kick start the dysfunctional beta cells. This has been shown to be effective in some people - but not all.

You don't need to 'sign up' to do it, the Newcastle Diet has a document online somewhere that goes through some foods you can use and alternative shakes are available.

Thanks for this, much appreciated. will look it up.

 

[gll]

tesco slim shakes are £4 for 10 and you need to add 250ml of milk. I tended to buy UHT milk for shakes so no one else would drink it in my house.
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/276141577
200 cals each.

Newcastle diet booklet:
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/media/wwwncla.../files/201809 Sample Recipes & meal plans.pdf

 

[Windy]

There's also a free diet plan by one of the academics that worked on the Newcastle diet - links here to The Lean Team diet. It's based around home made soups etc, so you wouldn't get the ease that pre made meals offers, but it's another choice if you're interested.
Sarah

 

[ColinUK]

Exante is one of the very few used by the team behind the Newcastle Uni research.
Yes it’s got carbs in it and yes it spikes BG but the intention is to drop the weight. That 10-15kg weight loss has been shown to improve pancreas function by stripping out the fat which is in and around it and hampers its functioning.
Read Roy Taylor’s writing. Read the Newcastle Uni papers themselves.

I used Exante and occasionally Tesco versions but it’s Exante I go back to when I want to go back on the shakes for a little while. That said I tend these days to eat low carb rather than low cal. Yes I put weight back on but BG is generally ok and I’m eating “real” foods and am happier. But I’ll use the shakes if I need them.

 

[harbottle]

I've been using one called 'Almased' that's around 15g of carbs per shake. I only have it around for when I can't be bothered to make something and I do find that they keep me satiated for ages. I haven't seen any spikes from them. (I mix it with Almond or Soya milk, not real milk, as I find it slightly disgusting unless it's a cappuccino.)

Yep, the research by Taylor seems to show beta-cells in some people start to respond when weight is lost and this is linked to levels of fat in the bloodstream and around the organs. The assumption has been that beta cells die (Apoptosis, but there's actually no evidence for this) but it seems in at least some of us they maybe just shut down and change to a cell that no longer produces insulin, but this function can return - at least one paper I've read mused that this might be a biological protection mechanism in which the cells change to protect themselves from the broken metabolism.

 

[harbottle]

I had an Almased shake for tea:

Before: 5.3
After: 4.7

(15g of carbs)