Husband diagnosed with type 2

[Leadinglights]

Not really
Just suggesting a life on a pure steak diet, and fasting for twenty hours a day isn't what the op may what.
The same way you said
"Nobody said finding the right foods was easy."

Low carb is a lifetime commitment.
Low calorie isn't.
You are desperate to flip the op off their comment to low calorie.
Stand up and take the consequences of that, don't hide away from the fact fact you bombed this this thread.

I seem to recall I said, they should look at all the options and discuss it with the nurse.

 

[Bloden]

You seem to have hijacked somebody's serious thread with the argument between between yourselves.

I wish I was brave enough to say this @Leadinglights. Good for you!

Good luck @SarahLor with whatever your husband decides to do. It sounds like you’re both determined to take this bull by the horns. 🙂

 

[Lucyr]

You seem to have hijacked somebody's serious thread with the argument between between yourselves.

Happens so often that it puts me off reading and posting here, so can’t think what it does to the new people who actually start the threads

 

[SB2015]

This forum should be a place where an OP can get some suggested alternatives to help them and support.
I feel that it is a shame that all too often a very small number of people use the forum to argue over their differing views. You have both put your suggested approaches. Please leave your arguments aside and take them elsewhere @travellor and @bulkbiker . Please think of the OP and their needs, not yours.

 

[bulkbiker]

There is no pay per view on this forum. It should be a place where an OP can get some suggested alternatives to help them and support.
I feel that it is a shame that all too often a very small number of people use the forum to argue over their differing views. You have both put your suggested approaches. Please leave your arguments aside and take them elsewhere @travellor and @bulkbiker . Please think of the OP and their needs, not yours.

Sorry but I have made precisely 2 posts in this thread one pointing out that a low carb diet can be effective and the second responding to some nonsense that another member posted.
I"m not the one in "an argument" here thanks.

 

[Lucyr]

There is no pay per view on this forum.

Think that part is referring to the way leadinglights promotes the same link on every single newbie thread regardless of whether they’re interested in a low carb diet or not. Presumably because leadinglights is in some way linked to the programme

 

[Leadinglights]

The link was one that someone had posted and commented they had found it very useful as have I and it is a recognised approach by a forward thinking GP practice.
I will not bother again.

 

[SB2015]

My husband has recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The GP has advised he go on a 800 calorie per day diet to try and put him into remission and recommended a book to follow. He has agreed to commit after the weekend as he is away and he has an appointment on the 22nd with the diabetes nurse. They have said he doesnt need medication if he goes on this diet and haven't given him the equipment to check his blood glucose levels and I wanted to check if this is normal? Thanks

Hi Sarah
Sorry to hear about your husbands diagnosis. You have already seen that there are different approaches to managing diabetes.
It is not uncommon for people with T2 to not be offered test kits. Some people find it helpful to fund these themselves in order to get a picture of what is happening between their three monthly blood tests at the start. Some use the information to identify the impact of specific foods/portion sizes on their glucose levels to help them make adjustments.
Many have found that they are able to bring their levels back in a safe range without medication so it is great that your husband has this option at the start. Let us know how he gets on.

 

[Dragonheart]

The link was one that someone had posted and commented they had found it very useful as have I and it is a recognised approach by a forward thinking GP practice.
I will not bother again.

Please do continue. It’s free advice being issued by a very successful nhs practice. Their results are far better than most others so their information must have something useful within it. That fact that some very belligerent people believe it is pay per click simply proves they know next to nothing about it. Ensuring people get all the choices available offered is vital in ensuring they make an informed decision which option is the right one for them.

 

[42istheanswer]

The link was one that someone had posted and commented they had found it very useful as have I and it is a recognised approach by a forward thinking GP practice.
I will not bother again.

Although ultimately I haven't followed much in the way of their recipes etc because they lean too heavily on sweeteners for me, I found it very useful to read for the general principles when I first saw you post it

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Thanks I feel that this is more sustainable for him, I'm knowledgeable about macros and nutrition so will be able to help him but 800 calories per day for a man who works 12 hours a day, plays golf 2 to 3 times a week and has numerous golfing holidays and short breaks coming up I feel he would just become miserable, very tired and end up massively failing! Where a higher calorie, very low carb diet is more doable...I will also look into getting a monitor for him, thanks!

Welcome to the forum @SarahLor

You’ll have to forgive members here who can be pretty passionate in advocating the option that works for them.

The 800 calorie ‘Newcastle’ (soup/shake) diet is one option recommended by the NHS. A low carbohydrate menu is another option recommended by the NHS.

What matters most is finding an option that works for your husband, and gives the results you and he are looking for.

It sounds like you have some misgivings about whether the 800 cal approach that his Dr has suggested might be a viable option for him. So perhaps the best bet would be for him to have a chat about that with his GP, discuss those worries, and discuss the suitability of other options like low carb too, then make a choice based on that.

 

[Docb]

Hi @SarahLor.

Do you know the Hba1c result that lead to your husband's diagnosis? As @everydayupsanddowns says, there are different approaches to dealing with diabetes and in trying to work out the best way forward for an individual it seems to me to be useful to bring the "size" of the problem into the equation. HbA1c on diagnosis is a good guide to that.

 

[nonethewiser]

I dont know the specifics but will ask him, he isnt massively overweight, probably has about 30 to 40 pounds to lose, that why I was questioning it, I feel at the age of 52 he will lose significant muscle mass which at his age isn't ideal

Losing that weight could make a big difference.

Although not officially diagnosed type 2 instead prediabetic my wife went on a diet & lost 5 stone, since then all her bloods have been normal & she doesn't really follow a restrictive diet but obviously keeps an eye on her weight.

 

[Eddy Edson]

I dont know the specifics but will ask him, he isnt massively overweight, probably has about 30 to 40 pounds to lose, that why I was questioning it, I feel at the age of 52 he will lose significant muscle mass which at his age isn't ideal

So I reversed my T2D by losing ~10kg.

I wasn't "overweight" by the BMI measure to start with - BMI of 25 point something. It's visceral fat around the liver and pancreas which matter, and a better rough guide to that than BMI is the waist-to-height ratio. NICE guidance says height should be at least 2X waist, probably a pretty good target.

If you want more background on the losing-weight/losing-visceral fat approach, Prof Roy Taylor of Newcastle University was lead on the clinical studies and he has a bunch of information for both lay-people and scientists at https://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal/

Although the studies and the NHS protocol are couched in terms of rapid weight loss via a very calorie-restricted short term intervention using soups & shakes, it's not really an essential part of the approach. Roy Taylor has said & essentially all experts I know of involved with this say that a more moderate approach can work perfectly well. It did for me, cutting back eating somewhat and grinding off maybe a half a kilo a week for a few months. So that's something to consider.

Along the same lines, a research program partly funded by DUK called NewDAWN is looking at other approaches besides for soups&shakes for long term sustainable weight loss. https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about_us/news/funding-new-type-2-diabetes-remission-research-NewDAWN Not much immediate help, but does reinforce the point that the important thing for this approach is to lose weight; doesn't matter much how you do it or how quickly you do it, to a large extent.

You have a valid concern about losing muscle mass. I'm not sure how well the NHS soups&shakes program deals with this, but it's important. Basically, weight loss should be combined with resistance training to minimise the impact. It's one reason why it's best to pursue weight loss with the advice & under the supervision of a practitioner with appropriate skills.

Wish I'd known that at the time! I lost a bunch of lean mass, which has taken a long time to restore.

 

[Leadinglights]

Although ultimately I haven't followed much in the way of their recipes etc because they lean too heavily on sweeteners for me, I found it very useful to read for the general principles when I first saw you post it

I hadn't looked at any of the 'sweet food' recipes only the savoury ones but looking just now at some of them they seem to use erythritol but so do many other recipes for puddings, cakes etc on other sites. I know there is now bad press about erythritol.

 

[Dragonheart]

I hadn't looked at any of the 'sweet food' recipes only the savoury ones but looking just now at some of them they seem to use erythritol but so do many other recipes for puddings, cakes etc on other sites. I know there is now bad press about erythritol.

Bad press from a single, very questionable, study. There are others available or simply use a lot less than suggested.

 

[42istheanswer]

I hadn't looked at any of the 'sweet food' recipes only the savoury ones but looking just now at some of them they seem to use erythritol but so do many other recipes for puddings, cakes etc on other sites. I know there is now bad press about erythritol.

Regardless of bad press, most of the popular sweeteners are basically indigestible carbohydrates and can have a laxative effect. I have IBS (though it definitely improved when I went low carb and hasn't been too bad for years) and most sweeteners can trigger it. So personally I try to avoid them. Also I tried to avoid them as much as possible in my children's diets when they were small because I was worried about the lack of research of effects on children. Now they are teenagers I let them make the choices more, one has found similar to me that they cause abdominal discomfort so mostly avoids, the other has them a bit more often.

 

[Dragonheart]

Regardless of bad press, most of the popular sweeteners are basically indigestible carbohydrates and can have a laxative effect. I have IBS (though it definitely improved when I went low carb and hasn't been too bad for years) and most sweeteners can trigger it. So personally I try to avoid them. Also I tried to avoid them as much as possible in my children's diets when they were small because I was worried about the lack of research of effects on children. Now they are teenagers I let them make the choices more, one has found similar to me that they cause abdominal discomfort so mostly avoids, the other has them a bit more often.

For some of them I certainly agree. Maltitol, sorbitol and inulin have horrible effects on me. Whereas erythritol and xylitol are perfectly fine.

Each of the sugars alcohols are processed slightly differently and in different parts of the digestive system, so can vary in effect.