# DIY Newcastle diet / Fast 800



## Zimt (May 24, 2022)

Hello from an island in the Mediterranean sea.. 
so I am not in the UK and a bit unsure if I am allowed to even post here, but I wanted to share my experiences with the Newcastle diet, since reading other peoples threads here has been so motivating for me..

I have completed week 2 of 12 and I am down 6.3 kg.. after exactly one week on the diet on day 8 my fasting blood sugar readings have been exactly as promised in the non diabetic range..
The first 2.5 days were a struggle to get through.. especially day one.. I was so hangry.. but I am glad I stuck to it.. I feel so much more alive than before.. I don't feel as tired or lethargic.. I do feel cold now though.. I don't think this diet would be possible for me in the colder months..

I am making my own shakes / porridge as Exante has not yet started selling their products in this country. They consist of soy or pea protein, oats, flax or chia seeds and a bit of psyllium husks. To that I add a multivitamin and the prescribed portion of veggies.
It is very freeing not to have to think about food.. the decision is just shake or porridge.. the vegetable preparation is minimal as well. In previous attempts to stick to the fast 800 diet I was obsessing over calories and how I would be able to fit just a tiny bit more food in to feel satiated. 
Hunger is another thing I have noticed this time around.. It is almost absent. While I do still have the urge to just snack out of boredom, yesterday I felt so full I did not even want to drink the last shake.. 
I do wonder why this is though.. is it the lack of excitement around food by just having the shakes? did my body finally realize that there is enough fat to survive this famine? or am I in a state of ketosis (the internet claims one does not feel hungry while on keto)?

Anyway.. I was first diagnosed with type two diabetes in late 2014 and have since then most of the time kept it in check with a low fat diet.. but diets only work if you keep doing them.. It was in december 2020 that I first saw a very high reading of over 16.. I did my best for two weeks and then after the shock had worn off I ignored the issue.. 
Untill two weeks ago.. I had been getting hungrier and hungrier, tired, eating more and more junk food late at night..
I am so glad I started.. 

Some stats:
Starting weight: 104.7 kg
Starting fasting blood sugar: 28.4 mmol/L 

week one
Weight: 101.4 kg
Fasting blood sugar: 5.4 mmol/L

week two
Weight: 98.5 kg
Fasting blood sugar: 4.8 mmol/L

I wish to keep this as a diary of sorts with weekly updates.. because I really need to keep doing it..
70 days left and I am already worried about what I will do after the diet


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## harbottle (May 24, 2022)

I believe everyone is welcome here. Your progress looks good! 

Most of my meals tend to consist of protein, fat and some cabs in vegetables/fruit. Fish, chicken, some herbs, olive oil, white wine and steamed vegetables or salad. I haven't tried any of these shakes, I just went with a low carb recipe book and make meals that I find are better than most chain restaurants. 

Which island are you from? Malta? Minorca? Mallorca? Lampedusa? Corsica?

My guess is... Malta.

Should be some nice fish locally...


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## Leadinglights (May 24, 2022)

I hope your new regime kick starts you into a healthier way of eating.
You mention low fat diet which is where the health system fails many people with diabetes as it is carbohydrates which the body has a problem with not fat, fat is the one thing which does not convert to glucose so many people who have success in reducing blood glucose levels do so by low carb and either high fat or more likely just not low fat. The healthy fats help to stop you feeling hungry and together with protein and lots of veg there are plenty of tasty filling meals without having your plate filled with high carb foods.
I posted a Youtube link which explains very well where the standard advice falls down. Sadly the doctor in the presentation passed away a couple of months ago.





Don't worry about not being in the UK as there are people from quite a few different places, the only confusion can be in the units used in their country for blood glucose readings. In the UK we use mmol/mol for HbA1C or mmol/l for spot readings from a home blood glucose monitor. So welcome to the forum.


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## travellor (May 24, 2022)

Low fat worked perfectly for me.
I followed a low fat diet in conjunction with the NHS dietician initially.
Excellent advice, and excellent support, as many are finding out, especially with the roll out of the shake based 800 calorie diet on the NHS here.
It's a well proven method, but may not suit everyone to be fair.
Lost weight, and put my BG in the normal range.
I then did the shake based Newcastle diet, and reversed my diabetes.I
This was is the very early days, I self funded Tesco diet shakes.


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## Zimt (May 24, 2022)

I am a vegan so low carb will be hard to keep up after I give up on the shakes.. low fat worked well.. it controlled my blood sugar as long as I kept doing it even without losing weight.. but while I think most diets can work. None of them work when you give up on them.. 
But the time to decide is still far away.. for the moment I enjoy the bliss of not having to make decisions.. and not having the urge to visit the shops on the way home from work to buy junk food..


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## harbottle (May 24, 2022)

I just had a phone call about a referral to a 'Desmond' course 9 months after diagnosis and the GP surgery wanted weight height and blood pressure readings... when I said I'd already lost weight and got BG into normal levels they looked at my record and it said 'no further action'. Not sure I need to do it now!

I was looking at the Newcastle diet and it's quite similar to my own, although I was wondering if the shakes might be good for a quick lunch.


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## Leadinglights (May 24, 2022)

Zimt said:


> I am a vegan so low carb will be hard to keep up after I give up on the shakes.. low fat worked well.. it controlled my blood sugar as long as I kept doing it even without losing weight.. but while I think most diets can work. None of them work when you give up on them..
> But the time to decide is still far away.. for the moment I enjoy the bliss of not having to make decisions.. and not having the urge to visit the shops on the way home from work to buy junk food..


That does put a different complexion on it, so whatever works for you.


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## Zimt (May 24, 2022)

I'll watch the video you recommended to me @Leadinglights .. YouTube has been recommending it for a while but I never watched it..
@harbottle I am in love with the simplicity provided by the shakes..


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## Zimt (May 31, 2022)

Week three was hard.. I felt hungry and weak.. weightloss was slow and fasting blood glucose has been creeping up these past days.. from 4.3 at the start of the week to 5.. 
In the end I lost 1.4 kg (3 pounds) this week and thus 7.6 kg in total.. 
5 (or 9 weeks) left to lose the 7.4 kg left of the magic 15.. I wonder if that will be enough.. 
At the moment I wish the diet was over and done with.. I want to eat fruit again.. and bread..


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## rebrascora (May 31, 2022)

Well done on your fantastic achievements so far with this and for pushing on through a difficult week. Fingers crossed next week is an easier one for you. Focus on the massive improvements that you have already made and try to get out and walk as much as possible if you are able.... That is what I am missing at the moment and need to push myself to do it because it does make a massive difference to BG levels, reducing hunger and improving general feelings of wellbeing. 
Good luck with continued success. You are doing great and I am sure documenting it will help others as well as keeping yourself more accountable.


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## bmiller1985 (Jun 15, 2022)

Leadinglights said:


> I hope your new regime kick starts you into a healthier way of eating.
> You mention low fat diet which is where the health system fails many people with diabetes as it is carbohydrates which the body has a problem with not fat, fat is the one thing which does not convert to glucose so many people who have success in reducing blood glucose levels do so by low carb and either high fat or more likely just not low fat. The healthy fats help to stop you feeling hungry and together with protein and lots of veg there are plenty of tasty filling meals without having your plate filled with high carb foods.
> I posted a Youtube link which explains very well where the standard advice falls down. Sadly the doctor in the presentation passed away a couple of months ago.
> 
> ...



Great video.   Very informative.  Her discussion about the American Diabetes Association refusal to admit the harmfulness of their high carb intake recommendations and could be harmful if your on diabetes medication (always medicine) was informative and irritating at the the same time.   It is the reason I signed up on here instead of the goverment forum in the USA.  I just always feel the usa will never give me the truth.   Of course she is american but no matter how many people complain they just are slow as molasses to change guidelines and recognize new, better treatment plans.  We, america, have 100+ million people coming down with the disease and they just wont acknowledge the changes that people need to make to live with and/or possibly reverse Type 2 diabetes.  thanks.


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## travellor (Jun 15, 2022)

bmiller1985 said:


> Great video.   Very informative.  Her discussion about the American Diabetes Association refusal to admit the harmfulness of their high carb intake recommendations and could be harmful if your on diabetes medication (always medicine) was informative and irritating at the the same time.   It is the reason I signed up on here instead of the goverment forum in the USA.  I just always feel the usa will never give me the truth.   Of course she is american but no matter how many people complain they just are slow as molasses to change guidelines and recognize new, better treatment plans.  We, america, have 100+ million people coming down with the disease and they just wont acknowledge the changes that people need to make to live with and/or possibly reverse Type 2 diabetes.  thanks.


No problems for me now.
Low fat diet, lose weight, do the 800 calorie shake diet, reverse diabetes, forget the "treatment plan".
I focused on reversing diabetes, not on diet control, that worked better for me.


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## HBomb (Aug 3, 2022)

Zimt said:


> Hello from an island in the Mediterranean sea..
> so I am not in the UK and a bit unsure if I am allowed to even post here, but I wanted to share my experiences with the Newcastle diet, since reading other peoples threads here has been so motivating for me..
> 
> I have completed week 2 of 12 and I am down 6.3 kg.. after exactly one week on the diet on day 8 my fasting blood sugar readings have been exactly as promised in the non diabetic range..
> ...


That is amazing! Well done. I am doing something very similar to yourself. I've been on pretty much a fast 800 method for the last two months. I was able to transition from protein shakes to intermittent fasting. Now I find it a breeze, whereas old me was hungry 24 7. I eat good fats, protein and non starchy veg. I've lost 2stone 2lbs so far. I feel healthier than I have done in years. My fasting blood sugar is still quite high but as soon as I exercise it drops down.


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