Blood sugar diet thread 7

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Here's thread seven for the Blood Sugar Diet followers.

It's 5 weeks and 5 days until school breaks up (may vary by region!) so let's get those bodies lean for Summer!

Continuing thread for Blood Sugar Dieters:
Phase 1 lasts 2 - 8 weeks and involves restricting calories to 800 a day. Eating healthy fats is encouraged as is limiting carby foods (no specific guideline on this but some people aim for under 50g), small amounts of complex carbs are allowed but should be balanced ideally with green veg, protein and fat to lower the glycemic load and reduce the effect on blood sugar.

Hello, BSD lurker here. I'm on week 6. I lost 18lbs in 5 weeks but in the last week I've lost 1lb, put it back on and lost it again! I know I've religiously stuck to my calorie allowance and I've still got at least 2st to lose. I can't understand how it's possible to eat 800 cals a day and not lose weight for a week, any ideas?

Morning everyone.

Flighty so sorry to hear that. Take care of yourself

CS it's the classic 'whoosh' phenomenon I'd imagine, that's a great loss in 5 weeks so keep on going. Someone posted a very interesting article about 'whoosh' and water retention, basically the fat cells empty of fat and then fill with water, which means you can retain water very easily (hence 3lb +- overnight). I will try to find it to post again.

PTA social last night. I had fried calamari, and a crispy duck salad. Both contained sugar, I could tell from the aftertaste, but I resisted chips, bread, dessert, potatoes... Did have one tiny glass of prosecco and otherwise drank soda water. The reward for my efforts? 2lb up this morning!!!! Booooo, hsssss!

I'm drinking lots of water today and hoping to fast til lunch. I have an old friend coming round so hopefully she won't bring cake/goodies to tempt me.

Hope you all have a good day

Flighty sorry to hear that. Now is definitely not the time to be hard on yourself.

Bear I reckon the water will sort that gain out pretty fast. I was 2 lb up after my weekend of my dd birthday and got back on track with water.

Sorry to hear that Flighty.

I am on the bus, (then train, then car) home from the hospital. My Professor is super pleased with me. My Hba1c is the best it's ever been. And she commented on how well I was looking and how much weight I had lost.
BSD working for me. It would help even more if I stuck to it more!!

And we discussed why the diabetic community isn't embracing it more. But we both agreed there is, currently not enough 'evidence', because it hasn't been 'going' long enough, yet.

10 lb loss now in three weeks 3 days. I'm really enjoying my food at present as I have got very creative with my lunch time salads. I just love lentils with cottage cheese and horseradish sauce. Today mixed in with grated carrot and sugarsnap peas, with a few lettuce leaves and some alfalfa sprouts. I feel full of energy most of the time, but very hungry before dinner in the evening.

Interesting you should say that Oblomov. When I was researching diets before settling on the bsd I was amazed at nhs advice. It's still very much just based on calorie counting and suggests low fat version of things. I've always been anti low fat alternatives in that they taste artificial and fake and often have loads of salt and sugars packed in. (I'm aware of the contradiction in that I sometimes have diet drinks). Give me butter over low cal spread any day. Just portion control. It's much more satisfying taste and texture wise. As to those who say you shouldn't cut out a whole food group out of your diet I.e carbs, I don't. I still get carbs; just through vegetables, berries, nuts etc. Plus low carb (with, in my case, reasonably low calorie) seems to work as something to continue with as a w.o.e rather than a "diet".

Rant over. I know I'm preaching to the converted anyway.

The advice I got (twice) from nutritionists when I had Gestational diabetes was low fat, slow release carbs, no sweets, lots of fruit, whole meal bread, pasta, rice etc and diet drinks, use sweeteners etc. I then am told almost in the same breath that the likelihood of me developing T2 is high and increases with each subsequent GD pregnancy - 'not if but when' said the consultant. It does make you wonder why they haven't considered that low fat high carb isn't working. Perhaps pregnant ladies aren't the place to start as they are a little sensitive, but if someone hadtold me that I didn't need to have medication and my baby wouldn't have been born very poorly (twice) if I'd eaten like this instead of conventional 'healthy diet' I would likely have done if.

Some wise words from Dh though- 'you don't know until you know but then you know'
Once you've been converted on this plan, even if you don't always follow it, it's very easy to see that it works for a reason. Hopefully the medical profession will catch up soon!

Tobee, it's true. They know that 'low fat, high fibre' that they've advocated for the last 40 years, isn't working.
But they take too long to 'get with the programme' and advocate anything else, i.e. Perhaps low carb. I was horrified to recently hear what 2 newly diagnosed 10 year old diabetics were being advised, by the hospital.

My Proff is very forward thinking. She is top of her profession and recently was primary writer of NICE guidelines. But there just isn't enough evidence yet, to make a 'recommendation'. I do understand that.

For example, they need to look at the bigger picture. Just because something seems to work, they still need to check all the other effects, on all aspects of health.
for example, it's long term effect on cholesterol, and whether that could still be controlled by a statin. Plus zillions of other concerns and questions, I assume.

You don't just change dietary recommendations for the last 40 years, lightly, if even if many believe them to be a load of old tosh!

Hello All
After reading the book, I have started this today... Hoping it is going to be my final successful weight loss attempt!
Any tips greatly received!

Hello alem and welcome. Don't be surprised if you feel a bit terrible at first. The consensus seems to be drink lots of water! You should feel better by the end of week one.

Back to the low fat v. low carb etc diet debate, I think the thing is that eating low carb and high fat seems to be sustainable as a way of eating. Obviously, I don't know re long term impact on cholesterol etc. But the success of this "diet" for me is challenging my eating habits and then eating more healthily and being able to stick with it, for a long time. There's also plenty of variety.

Bear I'm a bit shocked about your doctor saying you will get diabetes! I had gestational diabetes, have a mother and grandmother who developed type 2 later in life. When I had a blood test some years ago indicating pre diabetes at gp the practice nurse specifically emphasised that my getting diabetes was not a foregone conclusion at all despite my initial doom and gloom. Especially if I lost weight. Latest tests say I'm still ok.

Welcome Alem, I think just being creative with food is helpful, lots of pulses, interesting salad stuff and ideas out of vegetarian and vegan recipe sites are keeping me interested. yes, after the first few days you feel very well and are not hungry except at meal times (when I am ravenous and very ratty). off home for some butternut spaghetti stuff with a nice pepper and tomato sauce + salad soon. Although you need to count the carbs an apple seems to take the edge off cravings when you really really need something.

Tobee I think it was because I had it 3 times and each time worse. In fact one of the reasons I even thought to do a preg test with #3 was because I recognised the diabetes symptoms. consultant said that my body is proving that it cannot regulate its hormones when under stress, so any time of hormonal stress (eg menopause) it will likely struggle. Of course this will be reduced by following this plan and losing weight. Even on this diet, it doesn't remove t2, you still have it, you just control it.

One of the good/bad things about this plan is that because so many people have done so very well on it, it has something of a cult vibe about it. I'd love to know what the actual success rates are, how many people don't manage the 8 weeks, or don't get the results. I know this makes me sound like an old sourpuss but I find the Facebook group very hard sometimes because everyone's doing so amazingly well and doesn't crave sugar at all and I'm struggling not to eat half a leftover fish finger off ds's plate. That makes me sound really mean doesn't it?! I'm honestly not. I I think we are more real on this group and everyone has off days, which helps so much. --Not sure where I'm going with this.....

Tonight's tea- chicken casserole with pesto, olives and feta, griddled asparagus and kale. Can't wait!!

Bear I've not been on the Facebook page but I've looked at the official bsd site forums which have a fair mixture of posts. I also tend to ignore and not open the happy titles if I'm struggling . At the moment I'm coping with the fact that I'm starving today, I don't know why. Mostly I'm not.

Ooh and another tip for alem that worked for me, try to go food shopping 20 minutes to half an hour after eating. By then my food has gone down and I'm less tempted by naughty things and don't feel faint at the sight of food!!!

Thank you
I have been ok today, just cooking a tea of chicken breast with brocoli.
Is there a magic number to keep the carbs under, if I plot on MFP? The book said about 40g protein, but I dont remember what it said about carbs.

Alem Some people aim for >50g but it's not an official thing. If you cut out all the 'big 5' (pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, and sugar) and stick to allowed fruit (berries, apples, pears) , plus stick to 800 cals or thereabouts, you'll be hard pushed to have too many carbs.

Welcome Alem. My tip is a brain one: tell yourself "I don't eat that" not "I can't eat that". It's a small thing but it changes how you think about your choices.

My husband says "are you allowed x y z" and I reply " I am allowed whatever I want, I'm choosing not eat x y z at the moment"!

Last night I drank all the booze! My food choices were really good, I stayed as close as it was possible to be in the place we ate. But I drank A LOT! But I walked quite a lot so my exercise offset put me at 900 overall. I know we don't eat back exercise cals but there you go!!

Today has been tricky, I had a noodle thing for lunch, it wasn't that nice. But it was low-ish calorie. And really cheap. And Wetherspoons so on MFP.

I am hungry at the moment but on a train with v limited choices, another hour to go till home. Aaargh!

Flighty's tipis spot on imho

• tip is

My top tip is don't, (like I did all this week - my third week so no excuse ) forget to count the calories for veg and salad its not the same as slimming word, similarly but on a happier note remember to buy some nice cheese in, its not the same as slimming world fortunately

Good luck.

So I've been reading up about this whoosh effect, and a common piece of advice is that a whoosh can be triggered by eating a high carb meal. Do any of you seasoned BSDers have any experience of this? I'm a bit scared to try it, I'd be worried that I'd kick off cravings and I haven't cheated once.

Charlie I tend to whoosh (both in this and in a more general low calorie plan) and my whooshes happen at will. They tend to be 2-3 lbs at a time then post whoosh I'll stay static again for a good few days. Didn't notice carbs influencing them but water does.

I'm down a lb this morning, which is good but I can't help thinking that after the number of days I've been static it should have been 2-3. I'll make sure I drink loads of water today.