Hi All

My name is Tony, a Yorkshire guy living with my gorgeous girl in Glasgow Scotland. I have been T2 DB for too many years now and have been stupid enough to think I can deal with it. The docs keep trying to push me onto metformin but I have always been against pills yet even with my best efforts I still cant get my sugar under control. Before  anybody states the obvious I know I am a fool thinking I can beat this alone and without medical help. I have had 2 foot ulcers that both took months to clear and the last one poisend my system to such a level that I had to have surgery to clear the wound and fortunately I got away with it. Now I am getting secondary problems with the DB which I belive are periferal nueropahy that is affecting my legs to the point where my mobility is getting worse and I need a stick when outside of the house.

A couple of years ago I went cold turkey low carb and the results were amazing but I only stuck with it for just over a month and have found it impossible to get back on track. I need to get this all back under control and I know I need to get my focus on it as the DB is dragging me down bit by bit, I am 52 and feel 82.

It is my own fault and I accept that but now is the time with the new year upon me to draw a line in the sand on what has gone before and change my life for the better. I dont know if I can reverse some of the problems like the nueropathy but I am determined to give it all I have from now.

I need some advice to get me going about how to start with a caveman diet, should I maybe restrict my eating for a day or two to give my body a bit of detox time or should I just change to the new diet right away.

Can anybody suggest a menu for say a couple of weeks to include breakfast, lunch and dinner plus any snacks. I work in a call centre and am there 11 hours a day so my food during work days has been from the staff canteen which only sells crap so if I can break that cycle too it would help.

I have my girlfriends support but I guess this is a bit like an alcoholic needing a group  for support of people who have been there and done it.

What kinds of problems should I look for side effect wise if I go cold turkey, I recall mega leg pains with the low carb for a couple of days.

This is a plea from the heart of a very silly person who has seen the light and wants his life back

Can you help

Cheers

Tony

As a native Glaswegian, I appreciate that it's not the healthiest place.  However, you should be able to get very nice local grassfed beef and lamb, and venison

You need to accept that you cannot eat food from the canteen.  You are going to have to take in all the dinner/lunch/snacks that you need.  DO NOT BUY NON PALEO FOOD.  I have to do this - I find it quite hard not to cheat with non-paleo food items, so I just don't buy any or keep any in my home.

Until you're settled on paleo, don't try and restrict how much you're eating.  It's hard enough to restrict what your're eating, and doing both requires more willpower.  If you're hungry you're more likely to cheat so keep yourself full of paleo food

Motivators.  Pictures of leg ulcers, pictures of blindness, pictures of healthy people....whatever, stick them on your fridge, in your cubicle etc. etc.

Rewards - NEVER make food a reward.  Set yourself on 30 days strict paleo and have a non-food reward that you can have when you do it.  This could be a thing (like new shoes) or an experience (like racing, or paintballing, or a holiday).  Make it something that you wouldn't normally have....if you can, try and get some friends and family to 'sponsor' your 30 days (not financially though).

Low carb - never heard of cramp issues, but low carb flu can be a problem.  Eat coconut/coconut oil/coconut milk

Once you start getting results that should provide you with additional motivation

Welcome Tony, and good luck!

I personally use grass-fed butter but if you want to assess the full benefit of strict paleo for you the only way is to try it. If you're doing a 30-day challenge it would probably be better to minimise all cheats, at least for that 30 days. However, it can be difficult to get enough fat in, and eating butter would be preferable to cracking because you haven't had enough fat or grazing on loads of fruit because you're hungry. I guess whether you need it depends on what the rest of your diet is like. If you are good at eating slabs of fatty meat you wouldn't need it.

I keep a shaker full of olive oil dressing in the fridge for quick salads. I make it from about 200ml lemon juice, 100ml white wine vinegar, 300ml cold-pressed olive oil, with salt and whole-grain mustard to taste. The oil hardens in the fridge. I take the shaker out and stand it in warm water to melt while I'm making the salad. By the time the salad is made, the oil has melted and I give it a shake and pour some over. I make lots of other acid/oil type dressings but that one is pretty versatile and everybody in the family likes it so I keep some made up all the time.

All fruits are paleo, but it's best if you're going after weight loss not to go crazy on them. Berries are good as they are lower in sugar than many other fruits. I think the main thing with fruit is to eat it in moderation, and as dessert rather than for snacking. Snack foods should preferably be high in fat so they don't spike your blood sugar. Even better if your meals are fatty and sustaining enough that you don't need/want snacks at all. I really enjoy a piece of fruit at the end of a fatty meal.

Thanks for all the help. I have been on this now for 2 days and all is ok so far except I keep feeling really tired after food and wanting to sleep.

My sugar has started the downward journey but is still far too high but I wondered if the tiredness thing was the sugar going up and down from a high starting point.

It has come down by some 3 points UK style since I started.

Can I ask is cus cus ok to eat on the diet

Thanks for all the support, I will beat this thing

Cheers

Tony

Please take pics of your food.  Post them.
Let's see how much fat, and how much protein and how much carbs you get.
You need some carbs, just not the insane SAD portions.

In my experience, cooked animal meats make me sleepy.  Raw animal meats do not make me sleepy.

I eat my food sequentially, mono eating, do not mix.  That digests better.

So you could eat:

1. animal foods
wait 15 minutes.
2. vegetables

Please check your bowel movement.  You must move every single day.

It takes time to learn new habits. 

If you can find a successful paleo diet practitioner in your area you can be friends with, it will help you transition faster.

Don't worry about cheating at times, don't feel guilty.  Changing habits takes time.  Just get back on the horse again if you fall off. 

With paleo diet sometimes people get hungry because they don't eat enough meat.  Because without the voluminous carbs, you need to eat much much more animal food and animal fat, in the quantities you aren't used to, or expected.  Think chowing down 1-2 pounds or more of fatty animal foods a day on a regular basis.