Bye Bye Diabetes!

Is it time to do something about your type 2 diabetes?

 

The perspective from a Moatfield Patient

Four months ago at my diabetic review it was a shock to hear that my medication was no longer effective at reducing my sugar levels!  It looked like the best alternative available was a move to insulin!

The reality hit very hard, diabetes had been through most past generations of my family and I really didn’t want to be reliant on insulin for the rest of my life and I certainly didn’t want to consider the other realities if I couldn’t keep my sugar under control.

Exploring options I discussed the meal replacement low calorie diet that I had seen on the news and asked if this was something I could look at.  However, as it is only being trialled currently, this was not available.

My diabetic Nurse Laura suggested I look at a book written by Dr Michael Mosley – The 8 week blood sugar diet, and a quick look on the internet where people were talking about how effective the diet is in reducing weight and controlling blood sugar persuaded me to buy both the book and the 8 week blood sugar recipe book.  The best £12 I have ever spent.  Whilst the book gives everything you need to know about the diet and recipes and ideas to make it work the recipe book gives an abundance of quick and easy meals with ingredients and cooking instructions.

At this point I have to say you “need to be fully committed to doing something about your diabetes”.

I started the diet within three days of my review with Laura, and she offered full support and encouragement.  I’m calling it a diet but in reality it is a complete lifestyle change.

Week 1 was the toughest, the book does warn you and gives good tips on how to get through it, but watching the weight drop is enough to get you through and make the hungry feeling worthwhile.

Week 2 gets easier but you need to watch your blood sugar levels, with Laura’s approval I halved my medication and by week 3 stopped it completely.

A side effect of the diet and cutting out all alcohol was my blood pressure reduced to normal levels and I was also able to stop my blood pressure medication as well.

The weight was shedding at a miraculous rate and by the middle of week 3 I had dropped from 85kg to 78kg and by the middle of week 5 it had dropped to 75kg.  This was a waist size drop from 38 to 34 inches.

Interestingly by now I wasn’t feeling the need for more than 800 calories a day and the meals from the recipe book were both very tasty and fulfilling.

By week 8 I had hit my target of 72kg and a blood test at the surgery showed that after over 15 years of being overweight and having type two diabetes my bloods were almost at a normal level and my diabetes being controlled by diet without medication.

The ultimate aim is to reverse my diabetes totally so diet will remain an important part of my life going forward.  OK, so I swayed a bit over Christmas and the New Year with seasonal food and a few beers but always with the long game in my mind. 

I’m now being careful what I eat and using two or three 800 calorie days a week to maintain my weight at the 70/72kg.  I have a review scheduled for March and plan to be non-diabetic by then.

 

Thank you from the Moatfield Clinicians for this patient perspective. We hope other people will find this helpful

Published: Feb 14, 2019