Blood sugar diet and Fast800 thread 15

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Here’s the new thread for the BSD followers, plus those following the Fast800 plan. Everyone is welcome to join us. Here’s a quick recap!

The BSD/fast 800 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:
Fast800: follow the plan above, sticking to 800 calories every day for 2 weeks. Ideal to give your weightloss a real kick start, plus improve your insulin function and reduce your sugar cravings.
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 or 2 weeks of Fast800, 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.

You can stop 800 calorie days at any time once you achieve your goal. It’s advised to limit yourself to 12 weeks maximum at 800 calorie days, but you should get excellent results in 8 weeks. Depending on your weightloss goals, you can do further ‘rounds’ of either the 8 week BSD or the Fast800.

Some useful links:

Previous thread

Blood Sugar Diet and Fast800 thread 14 http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/fasting_diet/3532374-blood-sugar-diet-and-fast800-thread-14

Meal planning ideas thread
Blood sugar diet recipe thread and menu planner meal planning thread

<a class="break-all" href="http://go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=healthyeater.com/important-tool-weight-loss" target="_blank">TDEE calculator to calculate your daily calorie requirement

information about the ‘whoosh’ phenomenon

Lnd just wanted to chip in. I have low mood and found exactly like you when I hit some massive lows I go to carbs in any form. I’m afraid I have fallen off track quite a few times but maybe there’s a way for us - to find something else to help cope with emotion. Carbs for me are like an instant hmmm feeling when very stressed. I get frustrated as can feel amazing for a while and stick to plan then crash.

For me and I think perhaps you too we need to find a healthier drug and prepare for vulnerable moments ...

If you struggle with carbs and low mood, it can help if you include some serotonin rich foods

article here

Some we can't have, eg potatoes, pineapple, but others are BSD friendly

Thank you bear.

Interestingly I did notice an elevation in mood a few days post BSD... I also can get that with fasting. It’s not consistent though and at times of stress and lack of sleep carbs are my personal default.

I attempted park run today. When I say attempted I walked half. Knees are dodge but it was lovely to be outside in the sunshine. I am planning to continue with bsd but to the letter.

Sorry still catching up with posts but star ... soufflé omelette looks so yum # googling recipes.

Laughs amazing loss. Well done all

Feelingfourty yes exactly!! I have taken 5htp to help with seratonin in the past, might look at that again, the article is very interesting bear. Thank you so much!! I hope and think that with this way of eating I can make progress even with the odd blipp. I feel it might work!

Feeling quite pleased with myself...while my dd was at her riding lesson, I joined the library near the stables. I borrowed a couple of cookery books (bear I think that this was your recommendation?) and bought a load more from their book sale...so I got exercise with the walk there and back, carry heavy bags on the way back, and I’ve got some new recipes to try!

Thanks for the hotel-picnic ideas everyone! I’ve written a list to take for next weekend

lasttime I use medichecks for private blood tests, you can pretty much choose whatever you want, I spent around £140 on a test that checked everything out I was interested in & more. A doctor does write an interpretation for you but my one at least still ignored some results that were ‘normal’ (ie in reference range) but right at the bottom and nowhere near optimal. The only thing I’d say is that I had one abnormal result that I wasn’t expecting and wasn’t one of the tests I was specifically interested in, so make sure you are happy to find out whatever information might come up on the tests you request! I think it’s a great service but could be a double edged sword especially for someone with health anxiety for example. It definitely helps to have a good understanding of the issue yore worries about beforehand.

W2D3
B: Cacao chia pudding
L: Pesto & pine nut red lentil fusilli
D: Lamb kofta with tzatziki and salad
781cals

Disappointed the red lentil fusilli didn’t stay very red once cooked! Lamb was super yummy, my favourite meat, I don’t eat a lot of meat and like to really make it count and appreciate it when I do. Thanks all for indulging my food photos, sharing them is a form of accountability/personal motivation for me to stick with it.

Star I also love your food pics! How do you make yr chia puddings and the lamb kofta?

Chia pudding very simple 1tbsp chia seeds/100ml almond milk (I just don’t like cows milk!) and add whatever flavourings. This was 1tsp raw cacao powder and a little vanilla. You can play around with the chia/milk balance depending on your preference I like mine quite thick. This had a nice light texture but dark/bitter chocolate flavour which I like. I used to put maple syrup in but didn’t miss that sweetness at all.

Lamb kofta very simple lamb mince with spices (I think ground coriander, cumin, cardamom and a little garlic) mixed together by hand, formed into little sausage shapes and cooked in a smidge of olive oil in the griddle pan. Only need to very lightly oil the pan so they don’t stick at first, lamb is very fatty so soon gives off enough of its own fat anyway. Probably didn’t need the garlic because I made the tzatziki so garlicky anyway! Careful not to make the kofta too chubby so the insides can cook before the outside is overdone.

My cooking style is to think what I want to eat and if I’m not sure of particular ingredients/proportions then just google a few recipes and come up with something to suit. Track calories on the Cronometer app as I go and as long as I’m doing sensible portion sizes and avoiding high carb foods the calories have been working out fine so far.

I have just had further tests back. I am in the diabetes range. And my iron is way to low. My thyroid is low and my cholestoral os sky high. How the hell did it come to this!?
How have I birdied my head in the sand for so long? I’m disgusted and gutted.

LDN that's a shame, but now you know. I can imagine it's easy to not recognise your iron levels are low because we're sort of conditioned to think that 'babies are exhausting' and 'everyone feels tired' and the new mums who don't feel exhausted are either blessed with a wonderful Dh, or a 'good' baby, and it's all luck- and I imagine you put off asking for help because you feel that the (very important and busy) GP is too busy to deal with what, it seems, is a normal condition of motherhood. ---- thankfully you've found out, and it can be relatively easily rectified.
Thyroid, I'm not sure about. I'm sure a previous poster on here had an under active thyroid? And re: cholesterol and diabetes- read a bit about metabolic syndrome. It's very common for these two to go hand in hand, and their combined presence is a symptom of metabolic syndrome/syndrome X. And BSD is the perfect and optimal diet to deal with it, so you already know what to do- and you're already doing it.
Please don't feel gutted and disgusted- use this knowledge to empower you. You've taken the first very difficult steps, both by getting tested, and also by embarking on this plan.

Lndn sorry to hear that news, it must be quite devastating. I was fully expecting my HbA1c to be at least pre-diabetic given my appalling diet & BMI/fat% but I’m lucky I was just under.

Dr Mosley was type 2 diabetic and has completely controlled it with diet, that was his whole inspiration for starting the 5:2/BSD/Fast800 revolution in the first place - it is eminently manageable, and now you know it can be your motivation to stick with the plan.

For the hypothyroidism, a full assessment requires TSH, T4, T3 as well as thyroglobulin antibodies and thyroid peroxidase antibodies. From my family & others experience it is unlikely you can get all those done on the NHS but they are available through private testing (just had a look medichecks has 20% off this weekend too). Have a look at www.thyroiduk.org.uk/ for more information and support, they have an online community on healthunlocked. Minor perk - if your doctor is prescribing treatment for hypothyroidism, it entitles you to a medical exemption certificate that means you get all your prescriptions free! www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/exemption-certificates/medical-exemption-certificates - it’s an odd quirk, hangover from the early days of the NHS I believe.

Oh and www.diabetes.co.uk/ excellent site for information and support about diabetes that agrees with the low carb diet approach.

Thank you bear and star, you made me all teary with your immediate advice and kind words. I feel like I have made new friends on here. I’m in abit of a shock but I shouldn’t be really. Every single woman in my family have diabetes even the “slim marathon runners”. And if there was ever a motivation to stick with the diet it’s now, hey.
It feels so fucking unfair, sorry had to get that out. But then again, it’s hugely unfair that my beautiful cousin died of cancer at 48 too and that I’m on my way next week to comfort my god children who now have no parents. That’s hugely unfair too.

I’m letting this be my wake up call for never again taking my physical or mental health for granted.

Thanks everyone, just feel like cryingbut determines to put my big girl pants on.
Thank you for all your help x

And yes bear, you nailed my reason for not asking for help. Nailed it.

LND I am so sorry to hear about your blood results - there is no reason to be disgusted (!) I had even more respect for you to have been sticking to this as much as you have whilst you must have been feeling so shattered.

I am wondering if these have all been contributing to carb cravings and low mood. Goodness, you have been doing so well. So in some ways like bear states this may empower you and I think once these things are under better control you may start feeling much better too.

I found a huge difference in my energy (and mood) levels when my iron levels improved. I also now regularly have the spatone water that has iron (although you will may need a higher dose if blood levels are low) it did take time to correct. I also wonder if your carb cravings may be partly linked to out of whack blood glucose which means this may lessen with time.

You've obviously found the right diet. I have to say I know little about thyroid but surely if this is treated surely you will start to feel even better.

Star has posted some good links too.

Some great results everyone. I did write a long post a couple of days ago but lost my internet connection and it disappeared and it’s moved so quick since then!

Bear - thanks for the new thread. My mother sounds exactly like yours. No doubt she thinks the world of me but is obsessed with my weight / progress as well as her own. It started when I was in my late teens. She just can’t help herself! Hope you have a fab holiday and the weather is kind. Forecasts aren’t really reliable until 48hours away.

QR - good to hear that our similar ages aren’t impeding your loss, thank you.

Purple - a really great loss! Have a fab holiday. The case must really have been an eye opener.

Star - that graph is looking good! I’m using happy scale and I’m finding it odd but interesting to weigh every day as normally I try and avoid the scale. Loving all the photos. Someone in the previous thread made pea and Parmesan mash. It inspired me to do something similar with cannellini beans, shallots, garlic, creme fraiche, Parmesan and lots of seasoning. Delicious with a lamb steak.

Laughs - fantastic results and I’m in awe of anyone going sugar free. I too am 5’ 8” so I need to be chasing your tail.

Lndn- sorry to hear you had a tough week and about your results. The BSD diet is exactly the right place for you to be. Well done for getting the tests done, it’s hard to face up to and you’ve done really well just addressing that.

So an up and down week for me looking at happy scale I’m hovering around 11.10. Am on a two year retraining course and after struggling with an assignment yesterday reached for the wine and cheese last night. I should have been able to stop myself. I find the days ok, it’s the evenings I struggle with. Still it’s a new day and I find this thread very supportive. Good luck to everyone for the week ahead!

@lnd I totally echo what the others have said. Now you know & knowledge really is power. You had already decided to make changes and this is just confirming that you made the right decision. Being disgusted with yourself won't help, but bringing your lovely @ldn style to tackling this will most definitely help.

I've had an underactive thyroid, well I was ok but right at the bottom for the NHS but counted as low enough for meds privately. I only needed levothyroxine for a little while & then was able to come off it after 9 months.

Don't let the shame you feel about this push you off course, take a moment to feel everything it brings up and then go back to focussing on your 800 cals and getting this thing beat!

I came in yesterday just over 1600 cals and imagine today will be around 1200. I knew this weekend would be like this and I need to try to be ok with weekends like this every few weeks or I will have no social life!

I did however join my friend's boxing/circuit class yesterday and sweet Jesus did it kick my ass. But... I didn't know my body could do all those things, and it certainly wouldn't have been able to carrying 30 extra lbs so it's definitely a win!

LDN yes, I can see it feels unfair. But the truth is, anyone who eats lots of sugary/carby food, even very slim people, have this 'ticking time bomb'- they just don't realise it. So your wake up call is a blessing in disguise- and you're in the right place.

I'm so sorry about your cousin.

I've informed my children that after our holiday we're going sugar free at home - between Ds's birthday next week and my birthday in July- no sugary anything except: 1 thing a day in lunchboxes, and 'Sunday treat night' (each dc has a 'goodie box' that they can choose from on a Sunday after dinner). We did this before for about 6 months and it went surprisingly well. It's astounding how much sugary stuff my dc can eat, especially my little Ds who has inherited my sweet tooth, and I feel
Like such a hypocrite knowing that I avoid it for health reasons but allow the dc to eat it all the time. It will be a challenge for us, but worth it.

It's rainy here in Tenby this morning, off to a local attraction. I've made my salad lunch and had Greek yogurt with pistachios for breakfast.

Have a great day

Feelingforty weighing every day I find it good as then I start the day with a focus on my health project, if you like, but you do have to steel yourself for a bit because it’s inevitably not just a clear loss each day. I seem to be doing alternate days loss or STS/gain at the moment, the happy scale app smooths it out though and shows the downward trend. I was thinking a white bean mash for this week when DP and I have dinner together - usually sausages & mash is one of our favourite go-to dishes. Will have a ponder about what else to put in it :-)

Lndn it’s definitely unfair! Horribly unfair! But - you’ve already been soldiering on with everything, unknowingly suffering with diabetes and hypothyroidism, and you’ve muddled through. Now you know, and you can manage these things - it should get easier. I know a lot of people with new health diagnoses like this will then suffer with related anxiety and depression because of them. Don’t be shy to reach out for help on the mental health front as well if you feel it would be useful for you. It’s about more than just taking the pills/eating your greens. I guess that’s why Dr Mosley recommends mindfulness (I think 10mins daily) alongside diet & exercise.

Phoenix big respect for a boxing circuit class! I can only dream of that at the moment - am very impressed!

Well there’s still blue skies here in London at the moment - think we’re getting the rain later - I’m going to clear my weedy, overgrown yard ready for a re-design & new plants.

Thanks for the info lndn I'll get some bloods done over the summer to investigate thyroid in more depth. Thanks also star for the link to more info. I hope you feel less bad about your bloods now you've had a bit of time Lndn. It's not disgusting it's just where you are. And at least the symptoms of low iron are an easy fix. Spatone or similar will make you feel lots better. Addressing the causes might be harder but hopefully possible.
I'm currently delighted as I'm finally on meds that have an impact on my cholesterol. I have a genetic profile that leads to sky high cholesterol and heart disease. You cant really influence itveith diet or exercise and om intolerant of stains so its taken years to find something that hopefully will work enough to protect my health. If your cholesterol doesn't tally with lifestyle it's worth asking for genetic testing.
Anyway despite sick child related hard day I resisted comfort eating last night. That feels like more of a success than weight loss. But I've also lost a kilo this week. But I really stood there in kitchen for a good few minutes reminding myself of how I've felt on the sugar wheat and asking myself what would eating any of these things solve?

bear - power to your soapbox on women putting themselves last and the impact on health. Absolutely. I'm trying to address this in my life. I'm a carer our dad is disabled and dh has a disability that mainly makes him tired. The emergency we lived in for years is main reason I'm overweight and unfit.Yesterday after picking up reigns with sick dd until feeling tearful and shaky I initiated talk about needing him to curtail the naps he needs in these situations as much as possible as it's too much for me. Im no longer just accepting that I pick up all the slack.

Star bean mash sounds great. I find being low carb sometimes akes my tum grumble at night so I think beans etc sound more filling.

I stood on the scales this am... it wasn't great but reality check. It's so hard to change habits of a lifetime too. Feel sad - eat. Feel exhausted eat. Now it should be feel sad - have a massage, put soem music on, feel tired have a kip