We changed our lives ... here’s how you can too
I’VELOST 3ST—AND COLLEAGUES OLD DON’TREALISE IT’SME...
Jill newshaM, 62, is a university lecturer and lives in southport with her husband Mike, 64. Jill was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2012. she says: Diabetes crept up on me really. i was due to have an operation, but when i went for my pre- op assessment, the medics were shocked by how high my blood sugar was. i knew i was carrying too much weight — i was 5ft 2in and 15st — but i had never thought about type 2 diabetes. they had to cancel the operation. i was referred back to my GP, Dr David Unwin, who prescribed quite a high dose of metformin. this was before he’d started his lowcarb programme. i lost a bit of weight cutting back on obvious sugar such as biscuits, but it was only when i started to get control over the starchy stuff that things really changed for me. it dawned on me that if i was cutting out sugar, should i also be cutting back on starchy carbohydrates as well, as they break down into sugar? i’d been following a low-carb diet for about a year when the diabetes nurse mentioned that Dr Unwin had started doing this with some of his patients at the practice — and i joined the support group he runs. i’m just over 11 st now and no longer take metformin. i’ve bumped into old colleagues and they’ve not recognised me. also, eating this way lifts my mood — i feel more optimistic.
IFELT DREADFUL THETIME.NOW ALL I’VETURNED LIFEAROUND
Chris hannaway, 58, is a retired civil servant and lives in southport, Merseyside, with his wife. Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2001, he says: BEFORE I started the low-carb approach, I was on metformin for my diabetes, as well as a daily aspirin, a blood pressure drug and a statin. I felt dreadful all the time. I was the wrong end of 19st (I’m 5ft 10in). Now, six years after starting the low-carb diet, I’m just over 13st. I was in my mid-40s when I was diagnosed with type 2. In 2013, I went for a long overdue medication review, saw Dr David Unwin and he hit me with his low-carb diet sheet. It meant a massive change: I could easily get through half a loaf of bread a day and I was also a great drinker of beer — which, as Dr Unwin puts it, is really just ‘liquid toast’. Now I can eat olive oil, cream and cheese. I get to have things such as omelettes with spinach, or steak and salad. Dr Unwin has turned my life around.
MUMWENT BLINDFROM DIABETES. I WANTEDTO AVOIDTHAT
Debra sCott, 56, is a mother-of-two who lives in blackpool with husband eric, 56. Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2017, she says: i DiDn’t even know what a carbohydrate was before i was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and learned that a low- carb diet could help. i went home and cried my eyes out. i knew how serious it can be, because my mum had type 2 diabetes before she passed away 12 years ago. she’d lost her sight and had sores on her legs that wouldn’t heal. i didn’t want that to happen to me. i was so happy to be offered a solution when i found Dr Unwin and the support group diabetes.co.uk.
i was 14st 7lb and a dress size 18/20, but i thought my diet was quite healthy. breakfast was cereal, brown toast with butter and apple juice. i’d have a sandwich for lunch, maybe tea and a biscuit in the afternoon and dinner would be something like curry and rice, perhaps with a wine or two.
Using Dr Unwin’s diet sheet, i lost a stone in a month and was down two stone by the time i went back to see the nurse in February. i’m 10st 7lb now and don’t want to lose any more. i am keeping up the diet, though — it’s really easy to eat this way. i feel fantastic.
ITHOUGHT THEREHAD TO BEABETTER WAYTHAN TAKINGPILLS
Peter Palmer, 66, is a retired sales manager and lives in lincolnshire with his wife Vera. Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2015, he says: I’D THOUGHT I was doing all the ‘right’ things, eating muesli for breakfast and wholegrain sandwiches for lunch. I’d cut right back on sugar, chose low-fat food and went to the gym regularly. But despite this, I kept putting on weight and my blood sugar level was going up. Over several years, I went from a 36in waist to a 42in and was 17st. At that point, my GP wanted to start me on metformin, which reduces the amount of sugar released into the blood by the liver, but I felt there had to be a better way than drugs. I found diabetes.co.uk, which had information about a low-carb diet developed with GP Dr David Unwin. Within ten days, I noticed I was losing weight, and I felt fitter. What I eat now is real food: meat, cheese, dairy, lots of veg. I’m down to 13st 7lb and back in my 36in waist trousers.