Day Five

DAY FIVE

Breakfast: 1/2 tin John West Mackeral fillets in natural water without brine.
Lunch: Shake.
Dinner: Tomato soup. 2 Crackerbread.
BG: 9.7


Ughh... went back to bed for a bit as my energy levels have fallen back to depressed levels. Someone shoved a leaflet through the door, and my dogs jumped off the bed and started barking. I wished they wouldn't so I could go back to my dream, and I never want to go back to my dreams... but this one was about food.

Steak and ale pie, and mashed potato with gravy... Feel guilty even though I've only dreamt it.

Desperately need to go to the shop for something other than food, but I daren't yet. My brain is trying to trick me with the dream and the imaginary guilt into a "what the hell" moment.

*sighs*

It can be done.


After some thought about protein, today for breakfast I had half a can of John West Mackerel Fillets in natural water without brine. Later, for tea, I'll have more of the soup I made the other night.

Day Four

DAY FOUR

Breakfast: Mushroom soup.
Lunch: Shake
Dinner: Tomato soup. 2 Crackerbread.
BG: 10.6

Saw my usual GP today, who is brilliant and is quite happy to supervise me on this diet. Also he will prescribe me strips until my blood sugar is under control to my satisfaction.

He also weighed me, and I have lost over half a stone in a week and a half.

Since I've only been doing this diet 3 days, I think the weight loss is more likely due to cutting out carbs last week. Hopefully, it will continue.

Tonight, I had my first moment of feeling that I was "giving up" something. I felt like I was looking forward to something, and then realised that eating tea is not really an event anymore (given that it was homemade tomato soup). It passed.

I also made half of today's shake with water, and it occurred to me that the protein content listed includes the protein in the milk, so now I am wondering how to go about getting adequate protein to encourage fat loss rather than muscle, without breaking the calorie threshold.

I should also say my GP has advised me to continue on 500mg of Metformin, but not to increase the dose yet until the effect of the regime can be determined. I had stopped taking them at all for a couple of days before seeing him as I didn't want to endanger myself, but he says the metformin can't make my BG too low, so that's a relief.

Day Three

DAY THREE

Hi folks, if you're reading,

There's been a delay in posting, due to an unforeseen medical emergency (not mine, I hasten to add).

Anyway, day three went like this:

Breakfast: Nothing.
Lunch (late): Shake.
Dinner: Mushroom soup.
BG: 9.5

Things have ended up going a bit haywire today. Shortly after I posted, my mother needed an ambulance for gallstone pain, and I was at the hospital with her for six hours until she was allowed home.

So, the diet is still on track, though I've fasted most of today. Other things are okay too - she's being kept in for blood tests then will be allowed home.

After the bland veg from yesterday I wasn't really in the mood for more of the same, so I made a couple of the soup recipes to try. The mushroom and the tomato (though I added a bit of onion and black pepper to the tomato one).

Wow! Nice... I really recommend those soups, even if you're not calorie counting.

Day Two

DAY TWO

Milk for coffee (10)

Breakfast: Ryvita Wholegrain Crackerbread x 2 (38), 1 poached egg (71)
Lunch: Slim Fast (230)
Dinner: 1/2 packet Uncle Ben Express Rice (special fried) (198), 1/4 pack casserole vegetables (steamed) (52)
Drinks: Two coffees. Three pints of water.

Total Calories: 599

BG: 11.8.


Today has gone well, I think. Stuck to the plan, even though the vegetables were really bland from out of the steamer, and the Uncle Ben rice is nowhere near as tasty as Savoury Rice (which is my rice of choice usually).

I'll try and make a soup with some of the veg tomorrow, since the diet sheet seems to suggest I can use stock to make soups.

I think the hardest bit has been drinking the required amount of water. I'm only a short person, and I'm not a big drinker even at the best of times, so getting through the liquid is difficult for me.

I had a scary moment where I had a bad taste in my mouth, and instantly tested my blood sugar, worried about ketoacidosis. As it turns out, a few moments later when I took another sip of my coffee, I realised I've very quickly grown to dislike the taste of it. That's good. It means I can stop drinking the stuff. Even last week, my diet was pretty delicate taste-wise to how it was before diagnosis, so I seems my tastebuds have adjusted. A nice side effect.

Day One

DAY ONE

Today was the first day of the diet.

Breakfast: 1 Pink Lady Apple
Lunch: Shake
Dinner: Low Fat Noodles, Blueberries w/25g Greek Style Natural Yoghurt.
BG: 8.8

I have felt quite hungry, but not terribly light-headed. I suspect that the hunger will diminish as my body gets used to the lesser amount of food. I took the dogs out for exercise.

Moodwise, I have felt more positive than usual, though I have been a little more irritable.

Anyway... that was the day.

I have made an Excel sheet to track my mood, blood glucose and weight at once, so that I can see any issues as soon as they arise and take steps to deal with them. As the weeks pass I may share some of those on this blog for information.

My BG today was 8.8, midway between breakfast and lunch. Incidentally, that's the first time I've seen it in single figures.

Not knowing what to do about Metformin (I am supposed to be on 500mg, going up to an eventual 2000mg), I have decided not to take it. I have an appointment with my usual GP on Monday, so will defer to him on whether to continue with it or not whilst on this diet.

What is it?

What is it?

It's a diet of less than 600 calories a day for a two-month period.

Part of the calorie intake is by way of a shake, the other calories are made up with non-starchy vegetables.

I may be varying the vegetables with fruit and other things, but the calorie limit is going to be adhered to.

The Diet

FAQ

Information for Doctors

Why the Newcastle Diet?

Okay, so a new blog. I've never written one of these before, but I guess the obvious things to do first are answer a few questions.

1. Why am I writing?
2. Who is my audience?
3. What do I hope to achieve?

I've decided to write a blog detailing my imminent experiences as I go through the Newcastle diet to try and rid myself of Type 2 Diabetes, or at least get my blood glucose under control. This is partly so that I have a record, partly in case it helps other people, and in some small way, a final few words in case the experiment should claim my life.

Why should it? Well, the diet itself is less than six-hundred calories a day, which is pretty daunting. Luckily for me, I also have bipolar disorder, and this diet is pretty much all that has sustained me in the past during hypomanic and manic episodes. That said, it's extreme, likely dangerous, and I've already been advised by one of my doctor's not to attempt it.

In going against the advice of my doctor, I should say that the reason I've decided on this course of action is because I have been told I cannot be given blood glucose testing strips. To the uninitiated, these are clever little things that you slip inside meters then use with a drop of your blood to test it for a dangerous level of glucose.

Because I have no opportunity to test my blood regularly, any normal diet I try for my diabetes will likely be very hit and miss, and it may take months and months to realise if the things I do aren't working to reduce my blood glucose as they should. As I am only 36 years old, I don't relish the thought of my body falling to bits in ten years time. Hence, drastic action that can be relied upon to have some effect.

I am not completely stupid, however, and have bought a pack of these test strips myself in order to check my blood glucose for going too low (diabetic coma). I'll bet you didn't know that a diabetic coma can also occur in high blood sugar (Type 2 Diabetes) hyperglycemia. I'll be testing regularly and posting my results on this blog along with my thoughts, moods and physical symptoms. I'll explain what the levels mean at that point.

That's the why out the way. The other two questions should be much easier to answer.

My audience is of course anyone who is thinking of trying this for themselves. Obviously, nothing on this blog constitutes medical advice of any kind whatsoever. It is just a diary of someone in desperate straits, trying to replicate a supervised clinical trial, against the wishes of doctors, in the hope of improving the situation. My words here may be taken as experience or a warning. They will never be instructions.

To conclude this first entry, I hope to achieve at best a remission of my Diabetes Type 2 that will enable me to live a somewhat ordinary life, without the spectre of blindness, kidney failure and loss of lower limbs down the line. I will be happy with a normal blood glucose result from clinic.

Tommorw, I will begin. I will post what I eat/drink, and when. I'll also go into more detail about me and my situation.

Thank you for reading.