Michael Mosley blood sugar webchat Thurs 10 March 1-2pm

As I posted above I am trying to lower my blood sugar as I may be?pre-diabetic. My husband would like to join me and we thought to do the Mediterranean diet. However he has slight IBS with tomatoes and onions. How can we get around this? I can eat most anything.

Hi Michael

i was very interested to watch your brave programmes: do you think though that the doom and gloom you encountered in terms of finding out about your 'heredity' is more to do with the pessimistic culture of 'scarce resource' we are living in rather than any objective 'truth'?

Just wondering.

Kind regards

Paula

I would like to ask Michael if following 8-week blood sugar diet will be detrimental to kidney function. I am pre diabetic and keen to get blood sugar under control but after blood test was told that kidneys are not functioning very efficiently, which is apparently normal as one ages?

I went to the doctor last week for my annual medication review. My blood sugar reading was up. Never happened before, no symptoms and no family incidence of diabeties. I was a bit shocked . Logged on to Gransnet after tea and the first thing I saw was the message about the Dr. Moseley web- chat. Read that and immediately ordered the book. It came on Saturday and I have started thr regime. Very timely for me as I refuse to become diabetic.

Good idea Anya. Maybe we should move over to the low-carb thread to leave this one for MM questions?

And do you eat meat substitutes such as quorn mince, and 'roasts' and sausages?

It is much harder for vegetarians. I try to have a couple of low carb vegetarian meals each week, but my reporoire is limited to about six (?) recipes which I rotate over the weeks. I'd be hard pressed to find enough to provide a really exciting menu.

Perhaps we could all delve into our veggie recipes and see if we can get enough together. Are the vegetarians willing and able (time wise) to cook from scratch?

Sorry, didn't mean to sound dismissive of lack of vegetarian recipes, I was just thinking about how the existing ones could be adapted. Quite right to ask the question Wilma and others.

I agree with Pamish and nightowl, so that's three vegetarians just on this thread. There's also some evidence eating a vegetarian diet can result in slightly lower blood sugar levels.

Come on Dr M, what about all the vegetarians out there?

Waving back Wilma! My thought on reading the recipes was how easily they could be adapted for vegetarians. The addition of pulses, legumes etc make it a lot more flexible imo.
Just had delicious spicy mackerel, kale and spinach from the garden and chickpea flour fritters for dinner. How can people say this way of eating is unhealthy?
Should probably head back to the LCHF thread now, so MM has some questions to answer.

I have to echo what Pamish asked - what about those of us who are vegetarian? If it's true that nearly all the recipes in the book contain meat or fish, and all the supper recipes are meat based, then it's a non-starter for me. It makes me very sad that an increased consumption of meat and fish should be promoted as part of a healthy lifestyle. It is my belief that we generally eat more than enough protein in the western world, and that we would do well by our fellow animals if we stopped consuming so many of them and accepting the awful practices involved.

jane I did start out eating no fruit at all (as per dietdoctors.com), but found it too hard and introduced mixed berries daily - usually frozen summerfruits. We do buy fresh berries when we like the look of them and last year I grew some raspberries, so they'll come again this year (will grow more too). I'll also have an apple or a pear if I feel like it, so I'm less strict than I was. I've had lots of support on the LCHF thread on here too (waves to Mamie). One day at a time.

There's a whole sub forum for lower carbers on Diabetes UK and I find it very handy. That's where I found out about Lidl's high protein low carb rolls, so I can even have a delicious bread roll now!

If anyone saw the 3 part series on the BBC recently called Doctor in the House, they'll remember GP Dr Rangan Chatterjee advised the two families with a diabetic parent on eliminating sugar from their diets. One ended up free of diabetes and the other's diabetes was back under control and he was even doing the two day fast by the end. Both families were living virtually sugar free and enjoying their food.

The powerful food industry will be fighting against this change in dietary advice, especially as 85% of sugar consumption now comes from sugar in food and drink, not table sugar.

I always like to see someone acknowledge his work as I know him from when we lived in Southport.

Also very interested by this quote from Dr David Unwin, about the book. I remember reading an article about the work done in this GP practice and thinking how impressive it sounded.
"As a GP I have been recommending a dietary approach similar to one described in this book for some time. As a result many of my patients have lost weight, become healthier, and we now spend £27,000 less per year on drugs for diabetes than the average GP practice in our area." -- Dr David Unwin, GP and winner of the NHS 'Innovator of the year' Award for the North West.

Yes, I agree some good recipes Mamie

The Diabetes UK forum is an interesting read though - plenty of low-carbers there!
Have just downloaded the 8 week sugar diet book. Love the recipes, lots of ideas and pretty straightforward.

Diabetes UK are sadly out-of-date with their recommendations. I suppose it's hard for them to accept new evidence which means they've probably been giving out wrong advice for decades

I would add that I intend following the 8-week blood sugar diet because it does concentrate your mind when you are diagnosed with pre diabetes and it's worth giving it a go. Apparently there were estimated to be 7 million pre diabetics in UK (2009) many apparently undiagnosed. (Diabetes UK). Risk rises with age.

My question to Michael is that on Diabetes UK website they have "Evidence based Nutrition Guidelines. May 2011". Here it is recommended amongst other things that eating red meat is associated with an increased risk of developing T2 diabetes. Whole grain foods, dietary fibre and low fat diet are protective, and the most important protective factor is weight loss. "There is no evidence for most effective dietary approach over another to achieve weight loss and prevent T2 diabetes". They do not seem to emphasise restricting carbs, but eating in moderation as part of overall weight reduction plan. Is this at odds with your recommendations and if so why?

wilma I'm sure you will find over time that your craving does reduce, and that things that you used to think weren't particularly sweet, now seem perhaps even too sweet.
It does take time though. I wonder if you are being a bit too hard on yourself cutting out all fruit?
I've reduced my (non-milk extrinsic) sugar intake drastically since retiring 4 years ago & aim for not more than 30g a day. Like you I've found that the joint pain and stiffness I was getting has reduced significantly.

Jings Anya is right about why I was asking you about your weight. I agree about celebrity type advice, but I make an exception for Michael Mosely because I follow the Trust Me I'm a Doctor series which is science based research. The latest series covered the effect of sugar and a range of sweeteners - something in which I was already interested.

Personally I think the NHS is slow to update health advice and too often reacts to a crisis, but it can adapt to suit personal cases which is good news (although that can be a slow process too). On the subject of sugar I think the advice is ridiculous. The current FSA recommendations are up to 70g per day for men and 50g for women. This is far too high and will undoubtedly be revised downward in due course.

jane tbh I am struggling to reduce the amount of sugar in my diet because I haven't broken the craving yet or found a satisfactory substitute. I'm veggie too which doesn't help in the overall approach of LCHF. It's a complete lifestyle change for us though and we accept it will take time. I have noticed the arthritis in my hands is much worse when I have been eating/drinking sugar laden stuff. I didn't expect to notice such a difference.

I try to keep my DH just a tinsy bit hungry. It's good for him.

Yes I have heard that being a bit overweight for us older ladies, can be a protective factor for oesteoporosis.

So Dr Mosley, what do we do?

anya I have heard that too, but there is also evidence that a restricted calorie diet prolongs life. Perhaps Michael could address that too.
Wilma I hope you don't mind my asking, but have you found that cutting out sugar helps your MS symptoms? I would certainly do as you are doing if I had a similar diagnosis. I hope it's helping you.