War on Diabetes newsletter 18th July 2026
Welcome to the twentieth War on Diabetes newsletter - regular tips and ideas from someone who has had type 2 diabetes for six years and learned how to put it into remission. It's a practical and actionable guide to the kind of details that your doctor probably won't have time to tell you about.
June has been both exciting and difficult. First off - I've been struggling with a bit of wellness burnout in terms of logging everything, weighing food etc. so I've been a bit more lax and given myself a bit of breathing space. It's healthy to take a break and not be too hard on yourself. I'm feeling happy and refreshed, so going to get back on the food-logging wagon. I'm also flagging with getting to the gym three times a week so I'm thinking on how to adjust my routine for the summer months when I'd rather be out walking. The recent heatwave and seemingly never-ending hay fever are making getting outside more arduous than it usually is for this time of year. The one thing I'm not struggling with is my diet - I'm gradually progressing to an even more ketogenic (very low carbohydrate) diet. I've cut out root vegetables and pasta now, in addition to the bread and cereals that I've been generally avoiding for nearly a year. Simplifying my diet has not felt in any way restrictive. It's actually incredibly liberating to just have a piece of meat to cook. Sometimes I add an egg or liver as a regular accompaniment, and only add broccoli, sprouts, mushrooms or sauce if I can be bothered. The food shop has become easier as I only briefly hit the veg section and then gather the same 4-5 meat options before whizzing round any other areas. Following a mostly meat-based diet removes decision fatigue around food - a bit like Einstein wearing the same suit every day - it frees the mind.
Interview with Emma Voysey
The exciting news from June is my interview with Emma Voysey who is a Health Coach specialising in mineral balance and metabolic health. She has a popular YouTube channel where she presents a lot of health tips while walking through the mountainous backdrop of Andorra. In just under an hour, I go through what I think would be good advice for people newly diagnosed with pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes and how I've overcome the gaslighting battle against outdated and, in my opinion, very harmful advice. If you've recently been diagnosed, then I think it's well worth booking an hour in your diary to give yourself the tools to start asking the right questions.
I can't believe how angry I look in this thumbnail 😅 All good for the algorithm.
Ultra-processed food (UPF)
After watching my interview with Emma, I asked myself if there was anything I didn't cover particularly well and I think my answer to the question about Ultra-processed food was a bit weak. This is because I have habitualised avoiding it most of the time for about four years now so it's not something I actively have to think about anymore. I spent a bit of time revising the definition of UPF and have put together a guide on what it is, why it's bad for your health and how to avoid it.
For the TLDR version, watch my Instagram video on how to spot UPF.
Progress update
Lazy sunny days lead to more wine in the garden, so my weight has crept up a few pounds - not a disaster but does need attention. I'm not too worried about losing weight as I'm gaining muscle at the gym but weight shouldn't be going up! I'm still loving the Syai Ultra CGM from Glucose Evolution. The fortnightly reports make it easy to spot problems and find successful strategies without obsessively checking readings throughout the day. My 7-day average glucose had crept up from 5.4 to 6.0 and then to 6.9 mmol/L which is much higher than I like it to be. This is why I continue using a CGM, even though I am now in remission. Without this information, it is so easy to keep telling yourself that you're doing okay. Getting my step count back up to a regular 13,000 per day has brought this average back down to 6.3 mmol/L in just a few days (10,000 steps per day seems to be the sweet spot for bringing my glucose down).
Lands' End to John o' Groats Challenge
This summer, I'm raising funds for the Public Health Collaboration who are helping people reverse type 2 diabetes and other health problems with a real food, low-carbohydrate approach. I'm walking the equivalent distance of the length of the UK over five months which is roughly 1.8 million steps.
I'm halfway through time-wise, so I'm a little behind at just under 800,000 steps. I need to catch up by around 100,000 steps which I'm hoping will get a bit easier once hay fever season is over.
Food devils
Chinese chicken curry takeaway
For the England vs DR Congo World Cup match, I decided to try out the new Chinese takeaway that has recently opened nearby. I haven't had a Chinese takeaway for several months and wouldn't normally have anything like this. It's a carb-bomb which took my blood glucose from 5.9 to 12.7 mmol/L and I stayed high throughout the next day. It tasted much better than the last one I had so I need to make sure I don't give in to any more of these for a while.
Sad kebab
I sometimes have a kebab but usually avoid eating the bread. The problems arise when alcohol is involved and my common sense goes out of the window. I'd started off very low at 3.8, so hitting 8.6 mmol/L was a hefty glucose spike that wasn't worth the very sad and distinctively UPF bread.
Food heroes
I've started having simpler meals that involve less preparation and find the break from cooking, and less complicated food shop, helpful in making low-carb easily sustainable. These meals are extremely filling.
Gammon steak and egg
My local butcher has large gammon steaks that are easy to cook in the oven for 35 minutes. Adding salt, pepper and a fried egg enhances the flavour and texture.
Burgers, cheese and cherry tomatoes
My local butcher also has plain steak burgers with no UPF nasties... I can pretty much do my weekly food shop there now. Yes, you can make your own with beef mince, but these are easy to throw in the oven.
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The first thing I suggest for anyone recently diagnosed with pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes is to get a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). It completely removes the guesswork of trying to figure out what your glucose response is to different foods. There is so much conflicting opinion on nutrition that it can be difficult to identify the dietary changes that are right for your own situation. CGMs give you the feedback you need without the pain and inconvenience of frequent finger prick tests. You can get 10% off your Syai Ultra sensors by applying my War on Diabetes discount code, WOD10 at checkout. If you want to order two or more sensors, make sure to select the two-sensor product option as this works out cheaper.
Get 14 days of MyNetDiary premium for free
Food-logging can help with weight loss and improve health by increasing awareness of the amount and quality of the food and drink you're consuming. I use MyNetDiary for food-logging and love how you can customise the dashboard to monitor the macronutrients and other health data that you want to focus on. For example, I have added a customised target of how many grams of protein, fat and carbohydrates I want to aim for each day and this helps me plan meals to keep within these ranges. It has an AI image analysis option to help log meals which is great when you're out and about. It also has a barcode scanner which makes logging ingredients much easier when preparing meals. If you'd like to give it a try - use my code HHIYQE when you sign up to get 14 days of Premium free (the usual trial is 7 days).
