Newcastle University Diet

[smithgareth]

Well it's been over a year since my last post and a lot of water has gone under the bridge. It's been a busy time, I lost my job in August 2012, put on weight and didn't really look after myself. Drank too much and didn't exercise. By September my blood sugar control had gone and I was back on Metformin and Sitagliptin.
In November I got back to work, new job and getting better with exercise, eating and drinking.
Then in February my son had a febrile convulsion, scared me witless. He followed this with another three fits and this got me thinking about life again and basically made me realise I need to be around for him.
So 10 days ago I went back on the diet and I found this thread again.
It was quite a shock to reread what I wrote back then, how I felt and the positive messages from everyone.
Anyway I started at 14 stone 5 pounds (1 pound more than I was when I started this journey in January 2012. My fasting read was a wopping 9.6!
10 days in and i'm tipping the scales at 13 stone 9 pounds and my fasting read this morning was 7.1.
Did anyone else give this diet a go? I'm wondering what happened to Aldo, who had tremendous results through his diet and whether he managed to keep his numbers and weight in check?
Anyway glad to be back around,
Gareth

 

[LeeLee]

Well done for getting back into gear. It really is worth it!

My own choice of diet isn't ultra-low calorie, but somethig that's achieveable for ME for the rest of my life. So far I've lost nearly 6 stone in 13 months with Slimming World, and I'm healthier than I've ever been. I fully intend to carry on with it even after I get to where I want to be - it's free once you reach target, provided you stay within 3 lbs of that target.

 

[smithgareth]

Hi LeeLee what a fantastic result!! That must have had an amazing effect on how you feel. I know how hard work losing weight is, I was diagnosed at 17 stone, dropped to 13 and a half stone by diet and exercise and then bumbled on. My biggest problem is bad habits, takeaways when I've had a bad day at work and red wine at the weekend. I get into the habit of exercising then fall out of it just as quick!! Need to find some lasting willpower.
Well done

 

[smithgareth]

3 weeks in and 16 pounds down, blood sugar this morning 5.8. Comparing to last time, my weight loss is slower, at the same stage last time I had lost 19 pounds!

 

[LeeLee]

Slow and steady gets you there. It should also make maintenance that bit easier once you reach your goal. Well done on your fantastic loss so far, and do add it to the Total 2013 thread. 🙂

 

[WebMan]

To all you guys in this thread who have managed to stick to this, I'm so inspired to sort my own problem out.

Definitely a thread that needs keeping alive, as I'm sure theres many other people out there who are interested in seeing this.

I started this yesterday using the Tesco Ultraslim shakes instead of the optislim, so early days but I'm hoping to maybe add to the above stories and make some sort of improvement. I'm waiting on some more test strips as I'm running low, but have enough to give some basics. The shakes I've had so far are the Mango Smoothie, and the Chocolate Milkshake, and made up including the orange juice and milk respectively are supposed to come to 202 calories.

Yesterday had 2 of these shakes breakfast and lunch, and 125g of broccoli and cauliflower for dinner with a shake. Boring, not quite satisfying, but the shake was slightly more satiating. The veg was vastly improved with a slight addition of nandos peri peri chip sprinkle, but I think I gave it slightly too long in the microwave as it came out slightly more chewy than I'd hoped!

So 2-3 years ago I was diagnosed as type 2, but due to being young and stupid and enjoying beer and kebabs too much to give up for my long term health, I put on weight, enjoyed myself and thought little to the future.

I'm not overweight particularly, and am fairly muscular, as I used to train a bit whilst in my teens, but I now hold a lot of fat around my stomach, chest and back. My sugars have sometimes been high, and previously I've been put on 2 x 500mg metformin, but I don't wish to be on these any more.

Yesterday morning had a fasting BG of 13.1mmol, and this went up 2hours post shake to 14.3.

I know this is high, but I know that very quickly I'll start to see differences once I've maintained some sort of diet and introduced exercise. I know this because I've seen similar changes before within days, where it drops to semi reasonable levels, if not within the recommended range.

Hope to be able to emulate similar progress as all the other guys, and if I'm able to stop it, and bring my sugars back to normal levels, all the more better. If I don't, then I have no choice but to go on insulin, or metformin, but whilst I'm still young and relatively newly diagnosed, I may as well try and sort it.

All the best guys.

 

[Northerner]

Hope to be able to emulate similar progress as all the other guys, and if I'm able to stop it, and bring my sugars back to normal levels, all the more better. If I don't, then I have no choice but to go on insulin, or metformin, but whilst I'm still young and relatively newly diagnosed, I may as well try and sort it.

All the best guys.

Wishing you the very best of luck Webman! Let us know how things go for you 🙂

 

[WebMan]

Thank you for the kind words. Fingers crossed.

So it's been 1.5 days, and I've stuck to this so far religiously - through all 1.5 days mind!

Had a moment just now at work where I was craving food like crazy - doesn't help that I work for a food company! But just went and had my shake, and 10 minutes later I now feel slightly less heady, and am able to concentrate a bit better. I'm always hyper though so I'm not concerned about going too low. If anything it's probably just my body and brain adjusting to not being suffocated by sugar!

I must admit, within the space of about half a day yesterday I began to feel slightly cold (as gareth did in before in this thread), but I always get this when I clean up my diet so I'm not worried.

I'm a bit extremes as only 3 months ago I ran a 10k (albeit just over 1hr), and then after it kinda let my diet slip again - hitting the beers every friday, plus a curry without fail, plus lots of really nice and indulgent food at home... Never overly greasy, but certainly not healthy.

Was smoking for 5 years at 10 a day up till 4 months ago, which was just stupid - but over that now. In line with this extremeness in what I do - now that I've started, I'll do this to the letter. And now that I'm making a promise to add my story to these guys above it'll give me a little nudge any time I feel like lapsing. 🙂

Would be quite nice to get updates from those who did this before to see how you guys are getting on either way??

 

[Northerner]

You might be interested in the following:

http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Research...t/Research-spotlight-low-calorie-liquid-diet/

 

[WebMan]

You might be interested in the following:

http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Research...t/Research-spotlight-low-calorie-liquid-diet/

That was definitely an interesting read - will be good to see the results in 2018. Thank you for linking. 🙂

Apologies, but I'm thinking to provide (somewhat) daily updates on how I'm going, so please let me know if I'm posting too much or it's just babble that's clogging the thread and I'll cut it down.

At the moment I've not got any glucose test strips, but I have 50 that should be arriving in the post today so will update tonight if they arrive, but at least yesterdays results were positive. I was slightly worried given how high my sugar was that I was in danger of ketones, so purchased some B-Ketone strips, which (thankfully) came out at 0.4mmol before training, and 0.2mmol after. So all good there.

Must admit so far so good - stuck to the shakes (tesco ultraslim shakes do taste wonderful - esp the mango in orange juice), and last night wilted a handful of spinach, and a couple of cauliflower and broccoli florets, and to provide some flavour, made some homemade salsa which was really easy and didn't contain any added sugars or carb-aceous ingredients, but without which dinner would've been a chore. So still sticking to the advised diet.

Todays day 3, and last night, did a 1km run just to test the waters on these energy levels, and 3x12 chest press and 3x12 raised leg stomach crunches (if thats even what its called!), and felt ok. Could've run longer but want to ease into training.

I know the key for me will be to not get bored of dinner when I have veg. If I can find things to mix up for flavour, sticking to this will be a cinch (fingers crossed I've not just jinxed it!).

 

[Northerner]

That was definitely an interesting read - will be good to see the results in 2018. Thank you for linking. 🙂

Apologies, but I'm thinking to provide (somewhat) daily updates on how I'm going, so please let me know if I'm posting too much or it's just babble that's clogging the thread and I'll cut it down.

At the moment I've not got any glucose test strips, but I have 50 that should be arriving in the post today so will update tonight if they arrive, but at least yesterdays results were positive. I was slightly worried given how high my sugar was that I was in danger of ketones, so purchased some B-Ketone strips, which (thankfully) came out at 0.4mmol before training, and 0.2mmol after. So all good there.

Post as often as you wish, there are no restrictions and I am sure people will benefit from reading about your experiences - hopefully it will also help to keep you motivated!

Regarding ketones - don't worry about them. You will get dietary ketones as your body uses your stores of body fat for energy - ketones are a by-product of this process. However, they only really become a problem if associated with blood glucose levels in the high teens - this would indicate that you don't have sufficient insulin circulating, and is usually only a problem for those who have to inject insulin. In your case your own pancreas should supply sufficient insulin. 🙂

 

[WebMan]

Post as often as you wish, there are no restrictions and I am sure people will benefit from reading about your experiences - hopefully it will also help to keep you motivated!

Regarding ketones - don't worry about them. You will get dietary ketones as your body uses your stores of body fat for energy - ketones are a by-product of this process. However, they only really become a problem if associated with blood glucose levels in the high teens - this would indicate that you don't have sufficient insulin circulating, and is usually only a problem for those who have to inject insulin. In your case your own pancreas should supply sufficient insulin. 🙂

I think it will definitely keep me more on track than I would otherwise... My brain is starting to emulate the tastes and flavours of all the foods I used to enjoy; I can actually taste whatever food I end up thinking of at the time!

This morning was tasting lamb sheekh kebabs and buttered naans - so very wrong! But now I'm framing it in terms of whilst it tastes good on the palate, what it must be doing to the cogs internally - I imagine the oil that runs from it and imagine that surrounding (in particular) my pancreas and liver, basting it in a sticky, suffocating glue.

I was worried about ketones because my BG has been up to 16-18 before; also had a slight fruity breath & sweating smell that is associated with ketones. However, today this has subsided very significantly, and along with my lower test result on the ketone strips I feel this should go away in the next day or two - if it returns I'll definitely visit a GP - I understand how serious DKA can be.

 

[smithgareth]

Well it's two years since I completed the diet first time round, brought my blood sugars and weight down fantastically then lost my way. I gave it another go last year and got to 4 weeks.
Congratulations to anyone who wants to give this diet a go, it's hard work at times, but there is always water in the tap and it's amazing how much a small glass of water helps with hunger pangs.
I've read a lot about the diet and kept track of developments since and it's interesting that there is now a lot more advice around about how to maintain weight loss and keep on track.
The best bits of advice I've seen are:
1) 800 calories a day, 2 days a week
2) Weigh yourself once a week, write it down and if you go up two pounds increase the exercise, no treats and 800 calories for 3 days.
3) Treat yourself, go out, have a meal, eat what you like, but always, always pay back, exercise a little more and eat a little less the following day
4) Check your blood sugar and react, don't just accept bad readings, go for a walk, have salad instead of chips
5) If you feel down, fall off the wagon, feel like it's pointless then check your fasting blood glucose (It's probably high). 800 calories a day for 3-4 days and I guarantee you'll feel better.

My blood glucose was 6.0 this morning, 5.4 this afternoon after a trip to the park with my son. I'm still on Metformin (4 a day), but I feel good and it keeps my sugars under control.
Good luck and keep us posted

 

[WebMan]

1) 800 calories a day, 2 days a week
2) Weigh yourself once a week, write it down and if you go up two pounds increase the exercise, no treats and 800 calories for 3 days.
3) Treat yourself, go out, have a meal, eat what you like, but always, always pay back, exercise a little more and eat a little less the following day
4) Check your blood sugar and react, don't just accept bad readings, go for a walk, have salad instead of chips
5) If you feel down, fall off the wagon, feel like it's pointless then check your fasting blood glucose (It's probably high). 800 calories a day for 3-4 days and I guarantee you'll feel better.

Hey, thanks for updating; good to hear that the sugars are under control and thanks for the tips.

Definitely agree with the water, am going through 3 liters a day and it's crucial to keeping hunger away.

I had a couple of questions though...

Is there any reason why this diet wouldn't work in reducing sugars? I just tested my bloods, fasting (bar 3 tic tacs on my commute in - I have breakfast at work), which came out at 15.4mmol.

I don't understand why it's still so high as I've been sticking to the diet to the letter... It's now my 4th day (or is this too soon to see any real changes?)

Was hoping for at least around the 10ish mark... Could it be this salsa I made (tomato based, higher in sugar?) is causing it to rise? Bar that I've only had the shakes and a small amount of veg...

Does eating lower BG? I'm sometimes not having my breakfast shake, then a lunch shake at 1pm, but compensating later in the evening with a later (9pm ish) shake, and a tea time shake when I get home (5pm)... Could this be causing my bloods to rise?

How often were you measuring your bloods, and out of them, which would you say is the most important to use as a measure (fasting in the morning I presume?)?

I feel infinitely better; I have more energy, I feel happier and less irritable and a bit more at peace over the last few days so thats a plus, and I've lost maybe 1kg or so...maybe it'll take more time for BG to noticeably fall..?

Many thanks,

 

[Carmina]

I've been wondering about doing the diet using meal replacement drinks but their sugar content worries me. I'm currently on a low-carb diet and my BG readings are very good but I'd love to be able to stop taking the Metformin because it's causing a couple of problems. In addition I've still got quite a lot of weight to lose and my loss has slowed down now (Although it's still around 1lb a week so I should be happy)

Would the sugar in the drinks send my BG higher? If so, would it settle after a while? I can't quite work out how using something with such a high carb content would help.

I did consider trying the drinks for a day a monitoring like crazy, but would I need to give it a longer test?

 

[smithgareth]

It can take up to a fortnight for you BG to drop into the 'normal' range, and the day it does you will know!! You'll feel very out of sorts, lethargic and odd! It will also drop suddenly. I dropped gradually during the first week, but I suppose it depends on your starting blood glucose, medication etc.
I would say that missing breakfast doesn't seem like a great idea, I had a shake for breakfast at 7-8am, salad between 11 and 12, 2nd shake between 2 and 3, vegetables between 5 and 6 and then my final meal was my evening shake between 8 and 9pm. That way you keep your intake very level, helps the body to normalise.
In answer to the question on sugars, yes they are high at up to 25g, but as you are not taking any carbs, fat or protein, your body deals with them exceptionally well. From about week 3 my post shake readings were all sub 8.0.
Looked at the Tesco's ultraslim shakes and they look very similar to the Optislim ones, good flavours and good price!
I used tomatoes to make soup and also in my non-shepard shepards pie! I also lived on cauliflower curry which is very easy to make and very filling.
Any questions please do ask, good luck and keep going!
PS lose the Tic tacs and get some Extra gum, gives your mouth something to chew on
Gareth

 

[smithgareth]

Oh and the fasting glucose is the one that really matters at this stage, thats the one that indicates your improving control

 

[WebMan]

It can take up to a fortnight for you BG to drop into the 'normal' range, and the day it does you will know!! You'll feel very out of sorts, lethargic and odd! It will also drop suddenly. I dropped gradually during the first week, but I suppose it depends on your starting blood glucose, medication etc.
I would say that missing breakfast doesn't seem like a great idea, I had a shake for breakfast at 7-8am, salad between 11 and 12, 2nd shake between 2 and 3, vegetables between 5 and 6 and then my final meal was my evening shake between 8 and 9pm. That way you keep your intake very level, helps the body to normalise.
In answer to the question on sugars, yes they are high at up to 25g, but as you are not taking any carbs, fat or protein, your body deals with them exceptionally well. From about week 3 my post shake readings were all sub 8.0.
Looked at the Tesco's ultraslim shakes and they look very similar to the Optislim ones, good flavours and good price!
I used tomatoes to make soup and also in my non-shepard shepards pie! I also lived on cauliflower curry which is very easy to make and very filling.
Any questions please do ask, good luck and keep going!
PS lose the Tic tacs and get some Extra gum, gives your mouth something to chew on
Gareth

Hey Gareth,

Thanks so much for the reply and advice.

So far so good - weight down from 84.2kg on Monday morning to 80.9kg this morning, feeling a little slimmer definitely. Back into 34R waist trousers!

Noticed that by leaving my shake till later, my ketones do rise - this morning before my morning shake was 1.0mmol, but I had quite an intense training session last night, but 1.5 hrs after drinking my shake this morning for breakfast it was back down to 0.3mmol. To be honest, first time it's gone up as high as 1.0mmol - not sure if this is something to be worried about, or whether its just a response to training, as every other fasting one has been a max of 0.5-0.6mmol. Am definitely going to start maintaining a morning shake from here - i imagine it has a similar effect on my BG, as my liver may pump out more glucose until I eat.

Still waiting on my glucose strips, but will maintain training and diet till they arrive (either today/tomorrow).

Thanks for the recipe ideas - the shepherd's pie sounds great! (don't happen to have a link to recipe or is it your own recipe?)

I've kind of gotten into the impression that it was supposed to be shakes during the day, then 150g of veg in the evening - so I've literally been steaming 150g of veg in a steamer, shaking a slightly sprinkle of salt, and throwing on some salsa - that's been 3 of my dinners this week. The intenseness of the salsa is helping, but it will become a drag sooner rather than later.

Any other recipes you can recommend?? Is it more about a meal that is 200 cals, whether that be from a handful of veg, or from a square inch of quiche?!

What about Quinoa? This recipe looks quite nice that could be adapted, and would be warm and flavoursome and different at least http://skinnyms.com/skinny-quinoa-skillet-supper/

Also, another question - is there any leeway for days off? For example, what with valentines coming up, wondering whether theres any sort of restrictions, or if by having a bigger-ish meal (not overly crazy) would reset the work done prior? Or if it just needs to be offset the next days/weeks afterwards? Any advice on what to stay away from? Is meat allowed at all as a one off? Caesar salad without dressing/chicken?

Many thanks.
Kev

 

[smithgareth]

Hi Kev,
There are some great links on the this page http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal.htm
I'd have a good read, they recommend 250g of vegetables each day split into 3 portions, I preferred to split them into 2 portions.
The whole point is to limit intake of carbs, proteins and fats, so I would be inclined to stick to shakes, vegetables and salads. Optislim now do 200 calorie meal bars, Slimfast also do an equivalent bar. They have very similar contents to the shakes.
I personally would avoid days off, I believe from the paper that it takes 3 weeks to get up to maximum fat burning and I would guess that days off would push that back.
I figured it was just 8 weeks of my life and if I stuck to my guns it could change my life for ever!
The non-shepards pie is quite easy:
250g of chopped mushrooms, one chopped onion, three carrots peeled and diced, 2 beef oxo cubes, 1 tin of chopped tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, a splash of worcester sauce, salt and pepper to taste and about 250g of grated uncooked cauliflower.
Dry fry the onions and garlic in a non stick pan, add the mushrooms and cook for a few minutes, then add the tomatoes, carrots and worcester sauce. Mix the oxo cubes with 200ml of boiling water and add to the pan. Cook on a medium heat for 10-15 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper as you like. Tip the mix into a pyrex dish and cover with grated cauliflower. Pop it in the oven at 180 degrees C for 15 minutes and serve. You should get 3 servings out of this,
Good luck and keep going!!

 

[WebMan]

Hi Kev,
There are some great links on the this page http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal.htm
I'd have a good read, they recommend 250g of vegetables each day split into 3 portions, I preferred to split them into 2 portions.
The whole point is to limit intake of carbs, proteins and fats, so I would be inclined to stick to shakes, vegetables and salads. Optislim now do 200 calorie meal bars, Slimfast also do an equivalent bar. They have very similar contents to the shakes.
I personally would avoid days off, I believe from the paper that it takes 3 weeks to get up to maximum fat burning and I would guess that days off would push that back.
I figured it was just 8 weeks of my life and if I stuck to my guns it could change my life for ever!
The non-shepards pie is quite easy:
250g of chopped mushrooms, one chopped onion, three carrots peeled and diced, 2 beef oxo cubes, 1 tin of chopped tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, a splash of worcester sauce, salt and pepper to taste and about 250g of grated uncooked cauliflower.
Dry fry the onions and garlic in a non stick pan, add the mushrooms and cook for a few minutes, then add the tomatoes, carrots and worcester sauce. Mix the oxo cubes with 200ml of boiling water and add to the pan. Cook on a medium heat for 10-15 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper as you like. Tip the mix into a pyrex dish and cover with grated cauliflower. Pop it in the oven at 180 degrees C for 15 minutes and serve. You should get 3 servings out of this,
Good luck and keep going!!

Many thanks for the recipe - made a veg hotpot which used similar ingredients as above, with a few non starchy additions - absolutely lovely, and great wholesome food.

I had a bit of a wobbly one this weekend as went round my sisters for their kids party, and in the rush to get there forgot to bring my shakes with me. Instead, nipped into costco on the way and bought some maximuscle protein shakes with 135 cals in each bottle, which tided me over till I got home.

This mornings fasting BG down to 13.1, so a bit better - getting there but still a while to go - will be starting a new training program this evening though, so looking forward to seeing how that impacts things.

You're right about the days off - if I'm going to do it, might as well do it properly. Not so sure what choices that leaves us for Valentines day dinner but we'll figure something out.

Many thanks again for the advice and support.