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Fasting / 5:2 diet

Blood sugar diet thread 12

998 replies

thenewaveragebear1983 · 31/07/2018 08:10

Shiny new thread for the blood sugar dieters. Info to follow.....

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thenewaveragebear1983 · 31/07/2018 08:11

Here’s the new thread for the BSD followers. Everyone is welcome to join us. Here’s a quick recap!

The BSD is a low carb, Mediterranean style way of eating, with the primary aim of stabilising your insulin response when you eat. You achieve this by: eating fewer carbs, cutting out sugar and sweet tasting foods including most fruit, and by following a low calorie plan that reduces your visceral fat meaning that everything functions more effectively. Less insulin means less fat storage (in a nutshell, although more info can be found on this online). The diet was designed to reduce T2 diabetes symptoms (or even reverse it entirely) but can also be used for weightloss.

Eat:
Meats and fish
Oils
Eggs
Full fat dairy products
Nuts, seeds
Pulses/ beans
Veg that grows above ground
Limit fruit: apples, pears, berries- in moderation, with meals, with fats

Occasional alcoholic drinks allowed (spirits, red wine are preferable to beer, lager, etc)
Tea and coffee, herbal tea etc.
And water- drink lots of water!

Avoid
sugar, sweets, and ‘naturally occurring sugars’ such as fructose, maltose, honey, agave, puréed dates etc....

Potatoes of any variety
Pasta
Rice
Breakfast cereals (occasional steel cut oats are ok)
Breads/ flour based products

Exercise:
Michael Moseley recommends HIIT workouts to increase calorie burn and help to tone up, and recommends walking more (increasing your steps weekly until you hit around 10000 a day)

Mindfulness
MM also suggests a programme of mindfulness, meditation, practised for a few minutes each day.

How to follow the plan:
8 weeks BSD- 8 weeks, follow the guidelines above- 800 calories a day. You don’t need to count carbs grams because the diet is naturally self limiting.
BSD 5:2- for a more leisurely weightloss journey, or as maintenance, or once you’ve done an 8 week stint, you can play around with a combination of increased calorie count, ‘free eating’ and fasting days (800 cals) until you achieve your goals. Many of our long standing members now follow this approach.

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thenewaveragebear1983 · 31/07/2018 08:13

Some recommended links from the last thread (thanks choc)



<a class="break-all" href="http://go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=healthyeater.com/important-tool-weight-loss" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">http://go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=healthyeater.com/important-tool-weight-loss (TDEE calculator)

https://caliberstrong.com/how-whooshes-impact-your-weight-loss/

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thenewaveragebear1983 · 31/07/2018 08:14

And here’s the link to our previous thread

Blood Sugar Diet thread 11 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/fasting_diet/3267071-blood-sugar-diet-thread-11

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Hoviscats · 31/07/2018 08:54

placemarking!

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DandelionAndBedrock · 31/07/2018 09:47

Thanks, Bear!

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Alicatz66 · 31/07/2018 10:23

Placemarking too !

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Snowglobes · 31/07/2018 11:34

Found you all. I’ve just posted on thread 11 that I’ve undeservedly lost 6lb this week! So that’s the 3lb holiday gain plus an extra 3lbs. Very surprised as I’ve not planned or anything! I moved the scales and weighed several times but seems to be true! Grin

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NoUnderpantsinSpace · 31/07/2018 11:42

Snow excellent loss, well done!

Ok, so... I posted on the old thread and then realised it was nearly full so I thought it best to save my questions for here...

Firstly: breakfast. When I do a FD on 5:2 I generally wait until around lunchtime to have my first food. Is this doable on the BSD as well?

Secondly: flexibility. Throughout August we have many family birthdays and in fact I think our weekends are all booked up around “eating” type events for the whole month.
Is it more sensible to wait until I don’t have weekend commitments? Is it possible to eat around those commitments or can I take a flexible approach and do weekdays at 800 and weekends as “normal”? Where necessary?

Thank you!
I think those are the things that I’d really like help with. I know my willpower is nonexistent when in a social situation and I struggle with control. Those are things that I want to change. But I also accept that I need a degree of flexibility in my long term diet/way of eating because I’m not sure that will ever change dramatically, if I am really honest.

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TheAmazingShrinkingWoman · 31/07/2018 11:43

Hello!

I've made an amazing salad for lunch based on the m&s lentil and goat cheese one. I'll report back!

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TheAmazingShrinkingWoman · 31/07/2018 12:01

Oh. My. God. It's come out fantastically well.

Blood sugar diet thread 12
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thenewaveragebear1983 · 31/07/2018 12:22

Amazing that looks gorgeous! What’s in it??

Nounderpants - yes, a lot of us wait til lunchtime and do a sort of 16:8 eating window. I sometimes eat lunch at 12 and dinner at 5/6 and have a longer fast. It’s good to play around and see what works for you, but I find if I eat too early I just eat all day.

(For reference, it’s quite a common thing in diabetics and insulin control, it’s called the dawn phenomenon. The hormones from waking cause everything else to go out of whack and plays havoc with insulin resistance but only for a short period of time each day)

Your other question about flexibility- yes, be flexible. For example- you could stick to only BSD foods at your events, but not calorie count. Or you could allow one total meal off /day off. On holiday I am planning to follow the principles of the plan but allow as much quantity as I want but only at mealtimes. No snacking/grazing (I did this last holiday and lost 2lb!). For me, flexibility is what makes this plan a winner and means I don’t get that ‘sod it, I’ve blown it now so I might as well eat all the carbs for the next 3 days as punishment....’ mentality.

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thenewaveragebear1983 · 31/07/2018 12:26

Info about dawn phenomenon

www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-glucose/dawn-phenomenon.html

The result for me is that if I eat (especially like yesterday when I ate yoghurt) too early, I’m already high glucose, so then I just add more, then my body has to compensate with insulin, and then I feel all low sugar-y all day. When I had gestational diabetes, the consultant literally couldn’t pull my sugars down in the morning and yet by lunchtime I was having hypos from too much insulin. So if breakfast makes you a bit weird, this could be why!

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Westwing1 · 31/07/2018 12:42

Hi everyone, thanks for new thread Bear. Alicatz we are on another thread together Smile welcome. What the heck happened yesterday, bad day for me too, DH had the day off unexpectedly, meal plan out the window, we all had takeaway junk which we rarely do, then wine, movie. Felt terrible this morning, haven't gained weight so far, it might hit tomorrow? Only had water so far today, stir fry tonight, I will stick to 800.

Amazing congrats on weight loss. Hope root canal was ok. Congrats Snow too, you lucky thing.

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TheAmazingShrinkingWoman · 31/07/2018 12:57

Lentils, goats cheese, peas, yellow pepper, wholewheat giant couscous and a dressing. I can post the recipe if you like? 323 calories, 22g carbs per portion.

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TheAmazingShrinkingWoman · 31/07/2018 13:00

Leaving for root canal in an hour, West. It's just finishing of so the nasty bits are already done. I'm recreating the Nando's superfood salad for supper as a treat. Just made the buttermilk dressing with a recipe I found online and it's incredible. Possibly shouldn't have eaten raw spring onion and garlic before dentist though Blush

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thenewaveragebear1983 · 31/07/2018 14:06

Sounds good amazing

It appears yesterday didn’t punish me too harshly as I weighed in after running and I am still 10.2.6 (by the skin of my teeth). Just had a nice lunch of avocado, cheese, sun dried tomatoes, cucumber and ham.

Tonight we’re having chicken in a sauce from a new range of Latin American things in Asda. Bit pricey (£1.99 a pouch) but has little sugar (and some in the range have zero added sugar) and v few carbs (about 5g per serving). Not for all the time but I do find it very useful to have a few convenient foods in for those days when I just need something quick.

Blood sugar diet thread 12
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KevinTheYuccaPlant · 31/07/2018 15:20

Bonus side effect - I've just realised that after two weeks of eating this way the eczema on my scalp has almost completely gone and I'm nearly dandruff-free Grin I always knew it flared up with sugar, but I'm down to two very small patches instead of virtually my whole head.

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TheAmazingShrinkingWoman · 31/07/2018 17:40

Kevin, that's fab. My eczema is significantly better too.

This is tonight's supper - my take on Nando's supergrain salad with peri peri chicken. Very nice indeed. 456 calories, 27.4g carbs.

Blood sugar diet thread 12
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Polpette · 31/07/2018 18:00

Bear that info about breakfast is fascinating, thanks for sharing. Also the checklist at the top of the thread is really useful - made me realise that I'd completely forgotten/ignored the mindfulness advice.

Snow well done on that bonus loss.

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veryveryquietly · 31/07/2018 18:49

nounderpants yeah I'm another like bear who does much better skipping breakfast and eating in an 8 hr window (usually 11:30 - 19:30); if I have breakfast I'm hungry all morning, whereas if I resist the cravings for a few minutes I'm fine till early lunchtime.

yay snowglobes that's an awesome whoosh! Go, you!

kevin I was crazy overweight when I started this (now just pretty darn overweight) and one of the hands-down best benefits has been a huge improvement in my skin. I used to get horrible cystic acne and recurrent breakouts (oh the joy of perimenopause), and since going BSD I get maybe one pimple a month, a little manageable one that goes away quickly. It's really annoying because people always say 'cut out sugar to improve your skin', and damnit, it did actually work for me (cutting sugar and carbs way way back). But then again, I was a super excessive consumer of sugar and carbs, not a normal eater. Now I do still get eczema and hives, but not as badly as previously and it's now occasional outbreaks clearly related to stress rather than constant.

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TheAmazingShrinkingWoman · 31/07/2018 18:52

Nounderpants - my best days are when I eat at 12pm and 5pm

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veryveryquietly · 31/07/2018 18:56

Overdid it today a bit calorie-wise, but also got way more exercise than normal, so I'm not unhappy. 988 cals and 40 gr carbs.

I guess this is Round 3, Week 1, Day 2? Shooting for strict (850 cals) but less than 1000 plus significant exercise also equals a great day. I still have 4 stone to lose, but am nonetheless enormously (or no longer so enormously) happy with what I've lost (73 lbs) since January. I'm fine with slowing down a little as I work to lose the rest.

Yay all of us!

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Alicatz66 · 31/07/2018 19:10

I'm going to try to eat at 11.00, then 3.00 then a small dinner from tomorrow.. but going to Cornwall Saturday for a week !!

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Changeisneeded · 31/07/2018 19:53

Hello

So I thought I'd post in here as I started the BSD a week ago and so far so smooth!

A couple of years ago I had blood tests that indicated I was in the pre diabetes range. However, I lost weight and seemed to have normal results the next time they were tested. I have subsequently put on the weight and if I'm honest I've buried my head in the sand over it all.

Today's weigh in showed I'd lost 4.3 kg in a week so I'm thrilled with that but know the weight loss will slow down now the first week is over. Today's weigh in took me from obese to overweight so it's a step in the right direction!

At the end of the 8 weeks I'm going on holiday so will have an enforced break before I work out what is next.

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thenewaveragebear1983 · 31/07/2018 21:47

Brilliant change. The blood tests are interesting. I had gestation diabetes so I have to have an annual HbA1c and I’m really interested to see what mine is this year. I also have pcos but my blood tests recently showed that I had totally reduced the hormones to the point of being not in the range of needing further tests for pcos (? Does that make sense!?) which is a very positive thing for me. This diet definitely does more than weightloss!

I’m closing the kitchen in 1100 cals, 40g carbs, 16k steps (which includes 8km run and 45mins circuits). Tomorrow might not be so good though as dd and I are having a girly day out and going to Nando’s for lunch. Not been for ages so I’m not sure what the menu will be like- I’m guessing chicken right?

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