Starting the Newcastle Diet...

[MrsWooster]

Started yesterday after breakfast at 105.2kg. I've got a hba1c test today to track it.
So far so Good! Im using exante products as meal replacement and the almond vanilla shake was ok- quite marzipan y. The veg stir fry mixed with the laksa soup mix would have been OK if I'd added a LOT more garlic, chili and ginger. This morning's cherry berry shake was properly nasty- like thick old skool cough mixture. Live and learn.
Any hot tips, companions, advice are welcome.
Wish me luck.

Arse. 95.00 yesterday.

a possible ray of light is a slightly naicer poo... could be veg stir fry and veg soup or the inulin kicking in but still a blessing.

94.2kg.

Hold the line... Hold the line...
lunch at mil's today, who is of the school of "jolly good show on the weight loss. Still got a way to go eh? Now, here's 3lbs of potatoes." Local summer fete after that, with all the inherent risks of Cake. It's like navigating an edible Crystal Maze.

93.6kg...
Getting there, steady away... yesterday was 94.1 so it is creeping down WHEN I keep to the programme. Who knew that following the instructions would actually work? I think this is going to prove more of a change to my personality than to my blood sugar or pant size ;I never truly believe that I have to follow the rules so perhaps this will be it. Inulin is also helping regulate matters a bit, albeit as well as lots of veg and water. Coming up to the 8 weeks so pretty nearly par, according to the Newcastle diet material: 12 kilos off, and i had been heavier than that before, and that seems to be the magic figure for stopping the diabetes. Ill leave it a bit longer before getting the next hba1c, as I think 3 months is the timespan for average blood sugar that it records. The Diet says that the first week is the big b.s. drop and thereafter it is the pancreas recovery time, so hopefully the results will show what I am hoping for...

Hello Mrs W. - glad you are feeling positive - and sorry to sound boring and prissy but you do have to follow the rules for it to work! You are right though it does need a complete mind change - but better than the alternative as it does work (if you stick to the basic rules! Sorry). 12 kilos is a lot as well!

I am also pleased to have found out more about about inulin (- which I had never heard of and apparently mixes well with 100% chocolate - so may try some in my ganache!!) - so many thanks.

93.4kg
Keeping on. The change is very visible in my body; although the belly flab and apron are still around, my shoulders are smaller so that, side on, I have lost the 'thickness of back fat. I always said that I carried my weight well as I am very tall with wide shoulders and relatively narrow hips but, to the surprise of nobody, that was another part of the denial. I am beyond sad that I didn't do this 35 years ago.

Hey you've started now and with changes to prove it! I can't see us ever going back - as it just gets 'normal' to avoid bad carbs, sugar etc. Enjoy the new normal!

93.7kg
Oh, the irony, Eve! Last night, after a perfectly average day, I had a huge flashback to that weird, insatiable, craving, gorging thing that has always been around. Shakey breakfast, soup lunch (Waitrose, not 'prescription') then at tea time had a single chicken fillet (Waitrose KFC styley) along with the kids, intending to have a shake or a salad later, and then went insane when they'd gone to bed: chocolates (4), choco liebniz (2) slices of soreen and butter, SEVEN. WTF?? This feels increasingly like a confessional and I am not even catholic. Forgive me, bloodsugar and waistline, for I have sinned... It's either naked greed or a deeply unsubtle form of self sabotage or both. the familiar is oh so comfortable.

Well you have sinned @MrsW - but as you have confessed I suggest three virgin bloody Mary's and start again with all forgiven!

and forgotten (if they aren't virgin!)

93.7kg
much steadier day yesterday. On the evidence of the last 50 years, life is unlikely to be smooth sailing and my relationship with food is part of that. In the past, I have wavered and abandoned any efforts, succumbing to inertia and the same old ways. I need to realise, yet again, that every day is a new clean slate and stick to it long enough another 50 years until healthy eating becomes the default, inertia setting.
On a more positive note, in a way, I need to investigate skin. My skin, much like a party balloon three weeks on, has a delightful crepey, crinkly texture. Luckily not too much - top inner thigh, mid lower belly still able to demarcate belly into zones, sadly. Exercise seems obvious but I wonder if the actual skin will smooth out at all? Dr Google ahoy.

Good to see you are so motivated! Eve is right though, you really have to stick to the rules for 8 weeks for any hope of reversing diabetes. Once your liver gets rid of it's glucose store, then the magic can take place. Every time you have a biscuit, or something carby, however small, your liver is going to hold on to that glucose. It is like starting the reversal attempt again and again. Have you thought about buying another blood monitoring machine online? they are not pricey, its the strips that cost (but you said you had loads?) If you can monitor your blood intensely for a little while would that inspire you? The Newcastle diet is tough, but it really does mean nothing but the shakes, and 2 cups full of veg/salad a day. No protein, alcohol, carbs. It's bloody tough but think how proud you will be of yourself once you have done it.

93.7kg
I think I probably do need a new monitor; your post is a bit worrying, Buxton... I would be pretty pissed off to have done all this and still have diabetes. It can't be wholly keto, tho', as the shakes have 17% carbs of which 14% sugars - the coconut one that I happen to have with me at work, anyway!
Although the 8 weeks was up yesterday, I was going to hold off on the Hba1c for a bit but I might just go for it now - that would give me a pretty good indication of where things stand.
I am slightly calmer about the weights - third day at 93.7kg, even though Wednesday was pretty good eating wise. I was so tired yesterday that I had a shakey breakfast, small portion of stir fry veg for dinner (even nicer cold the second day) and, after scavenging bits of kids' tea, of beans and poached egg on toast, we went to bed at the same time. Hurrah for 12 hours sleep. The plateau is likely to be a combination of water, pooing/not pooing enough and Mysterious, Arcane workings of the metabolic system. I can only control what I can control. The Arcane is above my pay grade.

Hi - I should say MrEve did NOT follow the Newcastle diet - he followed the MM Blood Sugar diet (which is, as I understand it, is endorsed by Dr Taylor from Newcastle). MrEve did follow it very strictly for 8 weeks (800 cals a day and only ate the food recommended) - and has continued the same Mediterranean diet since March only without calorie restriction. MrEve has had two blood tests this year and both have confirmed he no longer has T2 diabetes (and not even close to being 'pre-diabetic') - so it does work. Recent research suggests he is not alone.
MrEve is older than you MrsW - so asking why he didn't follow this regime for the last 30 years isn't worth it - he does now is all that matters imo - not worth beating yourself up about it - and leave the arcane to the arcane!

I agree relationships with food can feel complex - but hey you're on the path! I like oils for my (no longer dewey) skin (although the vile stink of pure argan oil can be overwhelming and had better be good for me!)

Sorry to worry you MrsWooster, but my dietician and my local hospital administering the Newcastle were very clear that every slip up started you from day one again. I know the shakes have sugar in, but (and they are generally all the same ratios) but they are worked out to amounts that your body will use for basic function (heart, brain,lung,kidney function)
Don't be angry though; you have changed your eating habits to a huge extent and have lost weight. Both are major advantages if you have diabetes. Get a monitor, and start testing your blood on waking, before a meal and 2 hours after. Put the figures in an app called DiaConnect and it will tell you your expected Hba1c.
I had a a couple of slip ups in the 8 weeks, during which I dropped from Diabetic to pre diabetic. Then another 6 weeks to non diabetic levels. Now I can handle the odd carb, but don't push it because I will be back where I started. Even after 'reversing' type 2 you have to be careful. If you eat white bread, biscuits, pasta and white rice every day you will be back at square one. But by eating healthy diet your doctor will possibly take you off medication, and you will stave off having to take insulin, which is a nightmare.

These are the diet instructions I followed:

What was your hba1c when you tested at the beginning of the thread?

Hi
It was 51 or 53, so not desperately bad. I thought I had read somewhere that the carb thing is less important than the calorie reduction. Prof Taylor was on reddit www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/47psga/iama_hi_im_newcastle_university_professor_roy/ and this seems to be what he is confirming... i actually emailed him, mentioning this thread, and got a very nice answer bless him and he didnt say, in pitying tones, that it was a good effort but wouldnt work!! I tried to book the hba1c today but no luck and can get a new monitor for

In the 50's is not too bad at all. Mine was 102 when I started! I didn't quite understand your last bit 'he didn't say in pitying terms' so he meant a few slip ups were ok? Try and get a new monitor, it is the best indication of the good work you are doing!
Your sugars will take a while to come down , but when you see the effect just having a small amount of carb can have and how they make it rises it can be really motivating.

He seemed to think it was all going ok... his main point, which I asked him, was that the drastic weight loss is the key, of approx 15% of bodyweight, and that triggered the body's personal fat tolerance and after that then a previously diabetic person's liver responds to blood sugar like a 'normal' person's unless and until their weight goes back up and retriggers their personal tolerance level.

Well you've ticked that box, you have lost loads of weight!

Just read your diet sheet @Buxton - have to say MrEve ate poultry, lots of fish, sweet potato, dairy and pulses (though absolutely no alcohol, potatoes, turnips, pasta, bread -or 'processed' food or any 'sugar' other than the occasional bits of fruit - mainly berries). His first test result at the end was 34 and basically the same again after a further 3 months (which he was told meant he no longer has T2 diabetes?). He also thought it was the 'starvation' bit that was the most important (though I did get a bit worried about MrEve as he was just skin and bone by the end of the 8 weeks - and it has taken 4 months of higher calorie intake (though same diet) to stop seeing his ribs!) .

@MrsW - how lovely of Prof Taylor to respond to you and affirm all your efforts - and go girl as you can't let him down now!

Yes, go and get an hba1c done!hes the expert, so fingers crossed you have a fab result. If you have a mo, please would you pm me his email address, I have a couple of questions to ask him.

I got it from the University of Newcastle website Buxton. It did feel a bit cheeky but i hoped he would be pleased to receive yet more positive feedback about his research! Relieved to hear that mrEve ate from the forbidden chicken tree! I'm still pretty sure that my forays into KFC were a very bad idea but you know what I mean...