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Newcastle University Diet

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Good to hear Gareth ! Keep at it & keep us informed how its going pls 😎
 
Well 3 and a half years after doing the diet first time around and after 6 months of really good diet control I woke up to a 5.6 blood sugar on Saturday, the lowest non diet morning read I think I've ever had! I had toast (wholemeal) for breakfast at 8 and at 11 didn't feel well, my blood was down to 3.6! Over the past few days I've actually struggled to get my blood sugar above 8, it's generally bobbing around in the low 4's and yesterday I had another 3.6, after a quick e-mail to my diabetic nurse I've been told to drop to 2 metformin 500mg a day and test regularly!
 
smithgareth said:
Well 3 and a half years after doing the diet first time around and after 6 months of really good diet control I woke up to a 5.6 blood sugar on Saturday, the lowest non diet morning read I think I've ever had! I had toast (wholemeal) for breakfast at 8 and at 11 didn't feel well, my blood was down to 3.6! Over the past few days I've actually struggled to get my blood sugar above 8, it's generally bobbing around in the low 4's and yesterday I had another 3.6, after a quick e-mail to my diabetic nurse I've been told to drop to 2 metformin 500mg a day and test regularly!
Click to expand...

Great news Gareth 🙂 Don't be too alarmed by the 3.6s, they are within a normal range for non-diabetics (range 3.3-6 mmol/l is 'normal'). Looking really promising for getting off the medication altogether!
 
Good to hear Smithgareth. I have been getting low Bg because of the weather being hot. So don't blame yourself blame the weather ! ( & love the summer) Keep at it !
 
If you have a look on the Events section Dr Shaw is giving a talk at the Wellness day at Hartlepool 🙂
 
Just completing the 8 week Newcastle Diet

Hi guys - I am new to this forum and wish I had found it 8 or 9 weeks ago.

I have been doing the Necastle Diet (stuck to it religously and lost nearly 3 stones - should be 3 stones on Sunday when I complete my 8 weeks - taking me from 16 stone 6lbs down to 13 stone 6lbs).

Whilst the 8 weeks of 800 calories has been hard (no where near as hard as I thought it would be) I am under no illusion that the hard work actually is going to start on Monday when I return to 'normal food' and have to keep the weight off and the sugars down.

Prof. Roy Taylor suggests eating a diet of approx 2/3rds of what you ate prior to starting the diet. I had already reduced my intake down to approx 2100/2200 per day prior to diet which would suggest dropping to 1400 cals/day (which feels really small for a 6"3" bloke). My intention is to reduce to approx 1600/1700 cals instead on a low GI food diet.

My initial plan had been to gradually build up from my 800 cals/day up to the 1600/1700 cals/day over a 4 week period. My theory (and I am certainly no diet or medical expert) is that my current metabolic rate must be very low due to my 800 cals/day diet and that if I go straight on to 1600/1700 cals/day that my body will quickly gain weight due to low metabolic rate ???

However, I have just read something that says that low cal diets (eg less than 1200/day) teach the body to learn to store fat and as such you will regain all of the lost weight and quite possibly more.

Therefore I have 2 questions for those with either previous experience of completing this diet or those with a good diet/medical experience:-

1) I am be fool hardy by going to 1600/1700 cals/day as opposed to 1400/1500 ?
(I am looking at the higher figure as I have read that the Base Metabolic Rate for someone of my weight/height age etc is just over 1800 cals so I should theoretically still lose weight on 1600/1700 cals/day ? I am quite happy with the 3 stone weight loss I have already achieved as it has dropped me down to a BMI of 24 so further weight loss is not something that I am desperately chasing but wouldn't mind losing approx another 1/2 stone to give me a bit of a 'cushion' whilst I am getting used to 'normal eating' on a low GI food diet. The plan would be to gradually adjust my daily cals to a level that I find sustains my weight).

2) Should I stick to my initial plan of gradual increase over the 4 weeks or should I just start on 1600 cals/day as of Monday (assuming my stomach will allow that) ? (Eg concern is that gradual build may teach my body to store fats and give me a longer term problem ?)


Any help/advice would be VERY gratefully received guys.

Thanks in anticipation.
 
Hi Charlycroker Very well done on sticking to the diet and losing weight. I did the diet for 3 to 4 weeks before a holiday and lost a lot too though for me it was about trying to reverse diabetes. Is that why you did it and I'm interested in hearing what your blood glucose levels were and are now? It certainly didn't 'cure' me but low carb eating helps with control. Sorry I can't answer your questions about ongoing calorie needs.
 
Hi Lindarose,

Thanks. I also did it for reversing Diabetes Type 2. My BG levels on day 1 were 9.6 (though to be fair that is high for me, my average was normally approx high 6's to low 7's).
Iam currently getting mid/late 4's and early 5's - and the very occasional weird spike to 6 or so, which has happened about 3 or 4 times).

Just hoping that they remain that low when I come off the diet and that my when the Dr takes my bloods the HBA1C readings drop - as they were about 7 last time).

Really need to understand what I need to do next though (as in the post above) to make sure that I don't reverse the good work that I have achieved.

Congrats on your weight loss - did you sustain it and the blood levels ?
 
Those readings are brilliant Makes it all worthwhile and I'm sure your next gp tests will confirm things. I have kept all the weight off by going from the newcastle diet to low carb eating. Tbh I'm weighing a bit less than I would like now probably because I eat less calories than I used to. I think if you try to gradually eat more and weigh yourself at least weekly you will see whether you are maintaining or gaining (or losing more of course). If you watch the carbs and test regularly you should be able to work out which foods your body can deal with best and so keep those levels down Good luck!
 
If anyone who has done the Newcastle Diet is interested I have had an enquiry about a new book being written that is looking for case studies to be included in the book. It's being written by a very well-respected broadcaster so should be a good and fair assessment.

Please contact me, either by Private Message, or using the 'Contact' link on the top of the screen and I'll send you more details 🙂
 
Great thread smithgareth.....

On this now (4th week) at the halfway stage. Not on any meds...so my intention/goal on going on this is to prevent me on HAVING to go on the metformins.

One question.....the big elephant in the room. In my case a big brown elephant .Well for me anyway 😡 *blush*

Constipation .....I had a look at senokot, but this medicine is not advised to be taken by diabetic people. Any ideas to avoid or minimize this problem???

With the sugar concerns with the shakes....you could always swap the shakes for the 2 soups a day and then one shake. As the soup will always have the lower sugar level..

My concerns about webman, is that prof rod taylor advises not to do any exercises whilst on this diet plan..Exercises can raise ur BG levels in a very short time, and taking the whey protein drinks (instead of the optislims) may contain resistant starch which may have a detrimental effect on your glucose resistance. Prof Taylor always advise that you should not take anything 'starchy'


Anyways, keep up the good work and good luck to one and all.
 
Hi emmo26, welcome to the forum 🙂 I hope that you succeed with the diet, and it sounds like you are taking care of yourself which is often a concern when people try these things outside of the research environment and conditions that imposes.

A lot of medications have the advice 'not suitable for diabetics', pretty much as a catch all to prevent litigation, but if you aren't on any meds then I would suggest asking your pharmacist if Senokot would be OK for you, or if they could recommend an alternative. I think a lot of these products contain glycerine (or glycerol - never quite sure!), so would probably raise levels. It would be worth asking about straightforward, unadulterated senna tablets - I got some when I had a similar problem a while back and they worked a treat! Well, it was certainly a treat at the time! 😱

Good luck, please keep us updated! I'm not sure of the original poster is still reading here as he was on some time ago.
 
emmo26 said:
What were they called, so I can ask the pharmacist about them
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They're simply 'Senna 7.5mg' tablets, no brand - they were prescribed by my GP. Just ask the pharmacist for that, I can't imagine you need a prescription for them 🙂
 
week 5 of 8

Now at 10 st 6 lb from a starting weight of 12 st...Saw Doc about the constipation...she said that I have to keep drinking 3 litres a day, something which I was not doing. Thus causing my poop problems. All cleared up now... 🙂
 
emmo26 said:
week 5 of 8

Now at 10 st 6 lb from a starting weight of 12 st...Saw Doc about the constipation...she said that I have to keep drinking 3 litres a day, something which I was not doing. Thus causing my poop problems. All cleared up now... 🙂
Click to expand...

Good to hear emmo! Well done, not long to go now and a great weight loss 🙂 How do you feel?
 
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