Reversing Type 2 Diabetes with Diet

Do you have diabetes or someone you love and you were told that it cannot be cured? Are you of the impression that once you have diabetes then you are diabetic for the rest of your life? Do you feel that because you have diabetes, then you should brace yourself for the worst which is yet to come? Do you think that reversing type 2 diabetes with diet is a lot of hype and no substance?

Is Diabetes a Death Sentence?

What if I were to share with you some contradictory information? Would you be willing to read with an open mind? Are you willing to challenge what others have said about diabetes for years? Or, are you happy accepting that you have diabetes and you have it for life, it will get worst in time and you will suffer from multiple complications and in time you will die?

I have never been afraid of stepping outside of the box and the day I made the decision to embrace the possibility of reversing diabetes in my life, marked one of the smartest things I have done for some time now. My aim is to see if I am one of those persons who can have diabetes reversed in my life and to live a fulfilled life free of diabetes and her complications.

I do not share the view that diabetes is a death sentence. I know the journey we have to walk to eliminate diabetes is not an easy one, but, I am of the view that we can control and even eliminate diabetes if we pay attention to the foods we eat and the quantities we consume.

Diabetes and Weight Loss

It is not uncommon for us to hear that once you have diabetes and you lose weight, then your blood glucose could be lower than what you have gotten accustomed to in the past. A study was done and the results were made known this year (Rabin, 2016).

Persons with diabetes were placed on a very low-calorie diet for eight (8) weeks and the discovery was made that they lost weight and as the weight decreased their blood sugar level did as well. What was even more amazing is that they were diabetic free for as long as six (6) months following the study.

The study showed that when we make a drastic change in what we eat and drink, then there is a very strong possibility that we could reverse type 2 diabetes. Can you imagine having diabetes for 23 years and find out that a drastic change in your diet could reverse said diabetes? Be not alarmed, but this was done in the study I mentioned.

Milkshake or the Low-Calorie Diet?

This study was done in England (Newcastle University) using a total of 30 persons. Some did not have diabetes for a long time, but others had it for up to a time of 23 years. Here is what they had for the eight weeks in the study: Low-calorie-milkshake. Yes, you read perfectly well, a low-calorie-milkshake diet was used to reverse diabetes in at least 15 persons.

The participants did not take their medication for diabetes and instead consumed 600 to 700 calories per day. They drank three (3) milkshakes along with 1/2 pound of a nonstarchy vegetable per day. The milkshakes were drunk at the three meal times, but I can’t be certain at what time of the day they had the vegetables.

Returning to Normalcy

It gets more interesting. After the 8 weeks, the participants returned to their normal eating habits. I can’t say what “normal” was for these participants, but they kept the weight off and also diabetes did not return for as long as six months after the study. According to Rabin (2016), “although Mr. Tutty completed the study nearly three years ago, his fasting blood sugars continue to range from 5.2 to 5.6.”

The Obesity-Diabetes Link

It is believed that too much fat in our liver can escape into our pancreas and that it will prevent insulin secretion and it could also change the way our liver respond to insulin. It then creates the environment for insulin resistance and diabetes (Rabin, 2016). This explains a possible connection between obesity and diabetes.

When we go on a very-low-calorie diet, our body uses up the fat stored in our liver and so we end up with less fat in our pancreas. The result is that our pancreas will then produce insulin and our blood glucose levels will, over time become more normal.

According to Dr. Robert Lash, “decreasing caloric intake for any reason brings with it a rapid improvement in glucose control…What’s exciting here is that the improvements in glucose control persisted when the participants went back to eating a diet with a normal number of calories” (Rabin, 2016).

Heart to Heart

It is at this point I would like to have a heart to heart talk with my readers. This appears to be a simple fix in my view. I know it can be difficult to lose weight. I know the challenges of a low-calorie diet. But, if that is all I need to do, in order to lose weight and then I could be diabetic-free, I see no reasons to keep avoiding the issue.

I believe in being practical, and so I will spend a little time looking at what it means to go low calorie in my next post. Please stay tuned for more updates on using a very low-calorie diet to reverse diabetes.

Conclusion

It is highly possible that we can reverse diabetes, thanks to a very low-calorie diet. The study found that as the participants lost weight, their blood glucose levels also dropped. The point of interest was that even six months after they were found to be diabetic-free, their blood glucose remained in the normal range. Speaking of normal, the participants, after the 8 weeks research, also returned to their normal eating patterns and choice of foods, and, still had lower blood glucose readings.

The conclusion is that there is definitely a link between weight loss and reversing diabetes.

Continue reading here: The Truth About Fat and Controlling Diabetes with Diet

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