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Radical diet can reverse type 2 diabetes, new study shows

theguardian.com

71–80 of 271 posts

Re: Radical diet can reverse type 2 diabetes, new study shows

#71
post #26

Kind of related: it's fun as a Type 1 Diabetic when people tell me that I should be able to manage my disease with just diet. Or when they get upset because I eat a bowl of ice cream or something (even though I bolused properly for the carbs). It's really unfortunate that T1 and T2 diabetes have the same name, since they're completely different diseases that just happen to share some symptoms.

I was diagnosed as diabetic in my early 30s with an A1C of 13. I'm vegan and at the time weighed about 135 pounds (down from my normal weight of 165), ran 20-30 miles a week. The doctors I saw immediately diagnosed me as Type 2 and treated with Metformin. Between that, starving myself, and exercising like a maniac I was able to keep my blood sugar roughly under control for another year or so. Then everything really w…

Somewhat similar story, (though I weighed a bit more). Went on a keto diet and got my blood sugar down to non-diabetic levels in three months (also lost a lot of weight).

But the type 2 diagnosis didn't feel right, and I pressed them for more testing, and found out that I was actually type 1. However, it's been four years now and I'm still not on insulin. Apparently the honeymoon period for adult onset type 1 is highly variable, and they don't have much data on it. So who knows when I'll have to go on insulin, but have felt pretty lucky so far.

Re: Radical diet can reverse type 2 diabetes, new study shows

#72
post #26

Kind of related: it's fun as a Type 1 Diabetic when people tell me that I should be able to manage my disease with just diet. Or when they get upset because I eat a bowl of ice cream or something (even though I bolused properly for the carbs). It's really unfortunate that T1 and T2 diabetes have the same name, since they're completely different diseases that just happen to share some symptoms.

I was diagnosed as diabetic in my early 30s with an A1C of 13. I'm vegan and at the time weighed about 135 pounds (down from my normal weight of 165), ran 20-30 miles a week. The doctors I saw immediately diagnosed me as Type 2 and treated with Metformin. Between that, starving myself, and exercising like a maniac I was able to keep my blood sugar roughly under control for another year or so. Then everything really w…

Yeah, I also got misdiagnosed as T2 (at 23). Too many doctors still immediately jump to a T2 diagnosis if you're not a kid anymore. There's a reason we don't call it "child onset diabetes" anymore.

Re: Radical diet can reverse type 2 diabetes, new study shows

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. Pre-diabetic and all kinds of other health issues started creeping up (obesity, GERD, really bad heartburn, sleep apnea, etc). Most doctors would've just had me take medications, wear a mask that would breathe for me while I slept, and put my bed at an angle so I could sleep through the heartburn/reflux. Started calorie restricting and eliminated grains and sugar from my diet almost entirely, and all pre-diabet…

Great Work! that's awesome you could change your diet to a healthy one. These days there's such a huge stigma against eating healthily and responsibly, especially from friends and family.

Yeah, it’s bizarre. The topic of diet has a lot in common with religion. The research is so murky and poorly conducted and everything is a contradiction, so people have a tendency to just pick a “team” and form beliefs around that. Team Vegan, Team Vegetarian, Team Keto, Team Paleo.

If you’re on a different team, you’re an attack on their dietary beliefs. If you’re on any team, you’re a pain in the ass to anyone who hasn’t picked a team yet.

People also have a tendency to form part of their identity around how they eat. “I’m a ______.” So now you’re not just questioning their dietary beliefs, you’re casting judgment on their identity.

So I get why people are so sensitive about it. And like politics and religion, I try to keep it to myself.

Re: Radical diet can reverse type 2 diabetes, new study shows

#75
post #50
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you please share some details? What did you eat? Do you think it is possible to reverse it, even if the person was diabetic for a long time?

https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/

I lost almost 80 lbs (and I'm only 5'5 on a good day) thanks to keto.

I'm not saying it's a miracle diet, in the end if you lose weight it's because you're consuming less calories.

What made keto work for me is that, because of it's very restrictive nature, I became acutely aware of everything I put in my mouth.

I could have only 20g of carbs max per day, so I started reading in detail all the nutritional sheets on every food I bought. Of course, I also stopped buying basically all processed food. Not because they where high on calories or because they were unhealthy, just because they had carbs.

It's been years since I went off keto, but I still read everything about the food I buy.

Re: Radical diet can reverse type 2 diabetes, new study shows

#76
post #12

I went on a medically-supervised, very low calorie and low carb (keto) diet after being diagnosed with diabetes. A few months and about 50lbs in, I had no signs of insulin resistance whatsoever, my A1C was down to completely normal values, and I was able to discontinue my medication entirely. That diagnosis, as hard as it was to hear, was one of the absolute best things to ever happen to me.

Same. Pre-diabetic and all kinds of other health issues started creeping up (obesity, GERD, really bad heartburn, sleep apnea, etc). Most doctors would've just had me take medications, wear a mask that would breathe for me while I slept, and put my bed at an angle so I could sleep through the heartburn/reflux. Started calorie restricting and eliminated grains and sugar from my diet almost entirely, and all pre-diabet…

The part almost no one goes into is, so what's your diet now that you've reached the baseline you'd like to keep? Total calorie intake (estimated)? Any food or food groups you still avoid? meal timing? Is it a sustainable lifestyle change?

Re: Radical diet can reverse type 2 diabetes, new study shows

#77
Confirms what I’ve known anecdotally.

I had a whole host of health problems before caloric restriction and cardio + weightlifting. High blood pressure, arthritis, and asthma all disappeared after an active lifestyle and CR.

I never took the Norvasc that was prescribed by my primary care doctor because my cardiologist told me I was too young to be taking any medications. Had an EKG and blood work and everything came back normal.

Re: Radical diet can reverse type 2 diabetes, new study shows

#78
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too much sugar (check the label). More like Ketochow (protein shake, vitamins, heavy whipping cream). Each of my servings is ~500 calories. Shed three pounds per week eating it 3 meals a day, no exercise. I miss the pancake batter taste of Soylent, don’t miss being fat.

How bad is the taste?

Delicious. I eat the chocolate and peanut butter Ketochow flavors regularly.

Re: Radical diet can reverse type 2 diabetes, new study shows

#79
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's tough not only to cut back the calories, but to pack needed nutrients into the few calories remaining. Over several months you could accidentally end up with a severe deficiency of something.

Spinach can help a huge amount in that because it has soo many nutrients. Here's my fasting plan: 1 Meal/day 100 cals - 1 lb of Spinach 60 cals of tuna (1/2 a small can) 1/2 lb of cauliflower That total comes out to about 200 cals and meets aboout 100% of 1/2 of all the micronutrients and roughly 50 to 100% of all the other micronutrients. The Tuna (Selenium,b3,b12,b6) nicely complements the Spinach (high in A,C,E,K,…

Did I misread or are you eating a pound of spinach in one sitting? How do you fit that in your stomach?

Re: Radical diet can reverse type 2 diabetes, new study shows

#80
post #12

I went on a medically-supervised, very low calorie and low carb (keto) diet after being diagnosed with diabetes. A few months and about 50lbs in, I had no signs of insulin resistance whatsoever, my A1C was down to completely normal values, and I was able to discontinue my medication entirely. That diagnosis, as hard as it was to hear, was one of the absolute best things to ever happen to me.

Imagine that. How much more evidence will it take before Dr. Atkins is given the credit he is due for his work on low carb, low sugar diets and obesity/diabetes?

Seriously.

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