War on Diabetes Newsletter 28th July 2025
Welcome to the seventh War on Diabetes newsletter, your weekly tips and ideas from someone who has had diabetes for five years and learned a lot about it. It's a practical and actionable guide to details your doctor probably won't have time to tell you about.
Having just about beat the blisters, I managed to give myself tendonitis wearing some boots I don't normally use. This was (ironically) caused by visiting the Reebok and Norman Walsh trainer exhibit at Bolton Museum. I've still managed to make it well over a third of the way to my total steps goal for the One Million Step Challenge.
My weight training regime is going well and I didn't realise my gym is right next to the old Reebok factory from the 80s. The building is now the site for Tinhead Brewery and Red Bank Cider. It was also originally a factory that made bomber wings during the second world war.
What I learned this week
This week I've been thinking about boosting BDNF and I've finalised my foraged leaves tea recipe.
Read moreHaving a couple of rest days has bumped my 7-day average glucose level from 5.7 mmol/L back up to 5.9 this week (my target is 5.4).
This week's food heroes
Shirataki noodles
These Japanese noodles only contain fibre so net carbs are 0 and they're actually not terrible. They went down so well I even got a request to serve them with a chicken curry later in the week.
Foraged blackberries
Smaller is better when it comes to berries and flavour. One of the things I've learned from the wine world is that stress on plants creates tastier fruit. These wild blackberries are much smaller than supermarket ones because they haven't been sprayed with pesticide and had a standard fertiliser diet. They have a more astringent flavour which suggests they're going to be higher in polyphenols.
Double Whopper with Cheese
Okay, this isn't the best thing to choose if you're managing diabetes, but I just wanted one evening of not cooking, and as fast food goes, this had a much lower glucose spike than the McDonald's 'Big Arch' burger I had a few weeks ago.
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I struggled to find where to buy non-homogenised milk locally and eventually found The Modern Milkman. Their organic whole milk in my area is non-homogenised so I've been getting milk and eggs from them for two years now. Use this link to get 50% off your first two weeks and they'll give me 50% off my next delivery as well. Cheers!
