New and about to start low calorie liquid diet

[Lordy48]

Hi!
I was diagnosed with diabetes last summer. I am morbidly obese and very aware my lifestyle has caused this so wasn’t a big surprise! I was started on Metformin and changed my diet, managed to loose 15kg, however Metformin and me didn’t turn out to be friends. I had really bad gastrointestinal issues with it, even on the slow release one. So the nurse told me to stop it before Christmas. I am now about to start the very low calorie liquid diet that can put diabetes into remission, after being referred by my gp. It’s 12 weeks of only shakes and soups provided by them, 4 a day, and then after slowly reintroducing food. I am aware this isn’t going to be easy or a quick fix but I am very determined to give it a go. Has anyone else done this diet or in the process of doing it? There’s plenty information online about the study (DiRect), but I’m just trying to see if there’s any patients feed back about their experiences on it? I’m planning to share my experiences while I am on it - sure their will be plenty of rants but hopefully some positive feed back about the changes and feeling better. Would love to hear about anyone’s experiences on it. Thanks!

 

[Drummer]

I stopped taking Metformin for similar reasons to yourself, just before Christmas 2016 and it was a great relief.
I ate low carb from the moment I was diagnosed, and was no longer diabetic (Hba1c of 47) after 80 days. I ate ordinary foods, not a liquid diet, so I can't help with that - though I was working at a firm in the English Midlands where the diet which Dr Howard developed for his patients was mixed and packaged, back in the 1970s. It became the Cambridge diet.

 

[SB2015]

Welcome to the forum @Lordy48

Good to hear that your GP is supporting you in getting to grips with your Diabetes.i don’t have any experience of using specific diets, but there may be others who have. My focus is just knowing the carbs that I am eating in order to be able to calculate my correct insulin doses, which will then deal with the glucose from any carbs that I eat.

Keep in touch, ask any questions that you have, or just have a good rant when you need to.

 

[Eddy Edson]

Hi!
I was diagnosed with diabetes last summer. I am morbidly obese and very aware my lifestyle has caused this so wasn’t a big surprise! I was started on Metformin and changed my diet, managed to loose 15kg, however Metformin and me didn’t turn out to be friends. I had really bad gastrointestinal issues with it, even on the slow release one. So the nurse told me to stop it before Christmas. I am now about to start the very low calorie liquid diet that can put diabetes into remission, after being referred by my gp. It’s 12 weeks of only shakes and soups provided by them, 4 a day, and then after slowly reintroducing food. I am aware this isn’t going to be easy or a quick fix but I am very determined to give it a go. Has anyone else done this diet or in the process of doing it? There’s plenty information online about the study (DiRect), but I’m just trying to see if there’s any patients feed back about their experiences on it? I’m planning to share my experiences while I am on it - sure their will be plenty of rants but hopefully some positive feed back about the changes and feeling better. Would love to hear about anyone’s experiences on it. Thanks!

@travellor was one of the original DiRECT trial participants & did really well with it, but I haven't seen him around here in a while.

I didn't find out about this strategy until I was along with weight loss & I was finding it fairly easy to keep grinding off a half a kilo per week. Accomplished the same thing in the end - remission, reversal, whatever you want to call it, via weight loss.

Prof Roy Taylor, the main DiRECT investigator, says that it doesn't really matter how you achieve weight loss and then keep from putting it back on. For some people, an intense VLCD period followed by "sensible" eating works best, others (like me) are fine with something more gradual.

Good luck!

 

[ColinUK]

I’ve used Exante products before and am about to embark on another period of using them again.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome.

Good luck with your weight loss project. One of our regular members @ColinUK is going back to the Exante shakes diet starting today, so you may want to compare notes with him and hopefully he will be along soon, now that I have tagged him and perhaps link you to his thread about his trials with it.

 

[rebrascora]

Whoops.... Colin found you already whilst I was typing...

 

[ColinUK]

My thread is here http://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/weight-loss-ups-and-downs-800-calorie-newcastle.84706/

I’ve not been prescribed anything but I know it works.
What have you been prescribed?

 

[Lian1979]

I’ve used Exante products before and am about to embark on another period of using them again.

Hi Colin is Exante ok for diabetes ? i was going to use it for occasional meals too but was worried about carb intake ??

 

[ColinUK]

Hi Colin is Exante ok for diabetes ? i was going to use it for occasional meals too but was worried about carb intake ??

Because it’s so low calorie it’s ok. Yes it’s a little carby but it is one of the recommended products for VLCD regimes for T2 weight loss.
Just avoid all of the soups and the coffee walnut shake as they’re vile.

 

[Lian1979]

Because it’s so low calorie it’s ok. Yes it’s a little carby but it is one of the recommended products for VLCD regimes for T2 weight loss.
Just avoid all of the soups and the coffee walnut shake as they’re vile.

oh wonderful thankyou!! ive done it before along time ago now but i quite liked the shakes so thats great thankyou for replying

 

[ColinUK]

oh wonderful thankyou!! ive done it before along time ago now but i quite liked the shakes so thats great thankyou for replying

Do you want a referral code or do you still have an account?

And don’t forget to link your nectar card as you get triple points I think.
Also they have a discount for those with diabetes but the code/method is buried on their website so you have to search for it. They send you a single use code I think.

 

[ColinUK]

 

[Lian1979]

Do you want a referral code or do you still have an account?

And don’t forget to link your nectar card as you get triple points I think.
Also they have a discount for those with diabetes but the code/method is buried on their website so you have to search for it. They send you a single use code I think.

oooh never knew about these discounts !!! i will have to hunt for the diabetes one !! whats a referral code by the way ?!

 

[Deleted member 21371]

@travellor was one of the original DiRECT trial participants & did really well with it, but I haven't seen him around here in a while.

I didn't find out about this strategy until I was along with weight loss & I was finding it fairly easy to keep grinding off a half a kilo per week. Accomplished the same thing in the end - remission, reversal, whatever you want to call it, via weight loss.

Prof Roy Taylor, the main DiRECT investigator, says that it doesn't really matter how you achieve weight loss and then keep from putting it back on. For some people, an intense VLCD period followed by "sensible" eating works best, others (like me) are fine with something more gradual.

Good luck!

I decided to take a break for a while, (probably the bombardment of low carb into every low calorie thread to be honest, as that never worked for me, but that's a personal opinion)

I wasn't actually one of the trial participants, but I did see the Newcastle diet results, as they were well televised just when I was diagnosed. My doctor supported me doing this, so I went for it as to me that was the only proven, researched, diet that appeared to have a positive effect on diabetes, and involved a short intervention in diet, not a complete lifestyle change for the rest of your life.
I have a lifestyle that involved grabbing food on the go, eating out, and I wanted to continue with that lifestyle.
So including a sandwich from Tesco's, a bag of crisps, and a bag of chips and mainstream restaurant meals had to stay on the menu.

Professor Taylor noticed that bariatric surgery patients seemed to reverse their diabetes, from losing weight prior to surgery.
This was on a very low calorie diet, consisting of diet shakes.
He trialled this onto morbidly obese diabetic patients, with a good result.

I decided to repeat the diet, using the diet he had proven to work.
I used Tesco shakes, they were very close in composition to the trial shakes.
I lost the weight, I reversed my diabetes.
I also found I could exercise better, and (until the lockdown) kept this up, and found this was also very good for my blood sugar.
I found the effect of stopping eating had the beneficial side effect of changing my relationship with food, it was very easy to eat the same food as before, but only when I needed to, rather than over eating and putting weight back on.
Also I stopped eating sweet foods, and switched to savoury.
(Steak bake from Greggs, not the donut now)


It does appear, when questioned about weight loss, Professor Taylor was asked if diabetics had to use shakes, or would other ways to lose weight work. His answer was something like, he had only trialled the shakes, but any weight loss would obviously be beneficial.
This was immediately picked up by many writing books to sell other diets, some which have worked on some people, some which you need to keep on for life, some which have had no effects.
I have also, anecdotally, noticed that losing weight quickly, rather than slowly, seems to have had a more significant effect on the reversal of diabetes, for those who continue with a high carb diet later. But again, that is purely opinion.
But the other trials of the Newcastle diet. based on the same shake style diet, have appeared to reinforced the first trial, and no other results appear from different diets that don't involve a specialist way of eating for life later have been published.
So I would say you are definitely on the right course, just don't be tempted to alter the diet, don't add anything, and finish the course, then refer back to the doctor for the follow up diet sheet, which is the normal, NHS, healthy food options.

I reversed my diabetes this way, and it certainly changed my life.

 

[Lian1979]

I decided to take a break for a while, (probably the bombardment of low carb into every low calorie thread to be honest, as that never worked for me, but that's a personal opinion)

I wasn't actually one of the trial participants, but I did see the Newcastle diet results, as they were well televised just when I was diagnosed. My doctor supported me doing this, so I went for it as to me that was the only proven, researched, diet that appeared to have a positive effect on diabetes, and involved a short intervention in diet, not a complete lifestyle change for the rest of your life.
I have a lifestyle that involved grabbing food on the go, eating out, and I wanted to continue with that lifestyle.
So including a sandwich from Tesco's, a bag of crisps, and a bag of chips and mainstream restaurant meals had to stay on the menu.

Professor Taylor noticed that bariatric surgery patients seemed to reverse their diabetes, from losing weight prior to surgery.
This was on a very low calorie diet, consisting of diet shakes.
He trialled this onto morbidly obese diabetic patients, with a good result.

I decided to repeat the diet, using the diet he had proven to work.
I used Tesco shakes, they were very close in composition to the trial shakes.
I lost the weight, I reversed my diabetes.
I also found I could exercise better, and (until the lockdown) kept this up, and found this was also very good for my blood sugar.
I found the effect of stopping eating had the beneficial side effect of changing my relationship with food, it was very easy to eat the same food as before, but only when I needed to, rather than over eating and putting weight back on.
Also I stopped eating sweet foods, and switched to savoury.
(Steak bake from Greggs, not the donut now)


It does appear, when questioned about weight loss, Professor Taylor was asked if diabetics had to use shakes, or would other ways to lose weight work. His answer was something like, he had only trialled the shakes, but any weight loss would obviously be beneficial.
This was immediately picked up by many writing books to sell other diets, some which have worked on some people, some which you need to keep on for life, some which have had no effects.
I have also, anecdotally, noticed that losing weight quickly, rather than slowly, seems to have had a more significant effect on the reversal of diabetes, for those who continue with a high carb diet later. But again, that is purely opinion.
But the other trials of the Newcastle diet. based on the same shake style diet, have appeared to reinforced the first trial, and no other results appear from different diets that don't involve a specialist way of eating for life later have been published.
So I would say you are definitely on the right course, just don't be tempted to alter the diet, don't add anything, and finish the course, then refer back to the doctor for the follow up diet sheet, which is the normal, NHS, healthy food options.

I reversed my diabetes this way, and it certainly changed my life.

This is amazing thankyou so much for replying and congratulations on reversing it what an achievement

 

[Eddy Edson]

I decided to take a break for a while, (probably the bombardment of low carb into every low calorie thread to be honest, as that never worked for me, but that's a personal opinion)

Yep, the normal Internet echo-chamber evolution, unfortunately.

 

[ColinUK]

oooh never knew about these discounts !!! i will have to hunt for the diabetes one !! whats a referral code by the way ?!

This is the stuff about the referral code... basically you recommend someone, they get a discount and you get a discount




My referral code is COLIN-R91 so you enter that in the relevant field when you register.

And Nectar are currently doing 6x points per £1 spent at exante if you go via their website (and have a nectar card obviously).

 

[ColinUK]

@Lian1979 I’ve just been sent this link... It’s a link to the page where you can verify having diabetes.

If you sign up that way then I get £100 discount. I think.

Get a discount
https://secure.gocertify.me/at/exante/diabetes?gcref=eb270327

 

[Lian1979]

This is the stuff about the referral code... basically you recommend someone, they get a discount and you get a discount


View attachment 16153

My referral code is COLIN-R91 so you enter that in the relevant field when you register.

And Nectar are currently doing 6x points per £1 spent at exante if you go via their website (and have a nectar card obviously).

i don’t honestly know if i am registered or not i will check it out but thanks so much for all this info and help i really appreciate it i will definitely use the referral code if it turns out im not registered!! i don’t have a nectar card unfortunately!!!!