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Radical diet can reverse type 2 diabetes, new study shows

theguardian.com

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

#91

Post by bluGill »

francisofascii wrote: post #60
dsr_ wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You aren't making sense. Take a moment to say something substantive, please.

I think the post is making the point that over the course of human history, low calorie, low sugar diets were the norm. Periods of fasting were the norm.

Many people make that claim, but it isn't backed by science.

Well fasting at times was normal. Everything enough though is questionable. We know that humans have been eating some high carb foods for ages. We also have every reason to believe that humans used to be more active than our "couch potato" current life. There were no office jobs, if you wanted to eat somebody had to chase down the food (sometimes a literal chase, sometimes just find it). Low sugar - there was plenty of fruit available at times. Of course this fruit did have a lot of complex carbs as well.

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

#92

Post by martin1975 »

Well I know what most assuredly can reverse type 2 diabetes at least in overweight people - metabolic surgery. I was 30+ BMI, in the category 1 obese - nothing serious like rolling downhill kind of obese, however for a 5'9" at nearly 210 lbs (and not really going down), I was big..it's just that I'm one of those people who hides his weight really well (or carries it, if you prefer).

I had a VSG procedure 6+ months ago.. prior to it my (bad) cholesterol was high, I felt like lethargic s__t most of the time physically/mentally, and I'm pretty sure I had metabolic syndrome.. was also borderline hypertensive.

As age increases, none of this gets better, and quite frankly, no amount of exercise is truly going to reverse weight. What's needed is resetting the metabolic set point we all have, and unless you dedicate a significant chunk of your time/life by paying attention to everything you eat (e.g. probably low carbs/high protein for most like me), coupled with keeping in shape (e.g. 30 mins/daily exercise, nothing strenuous but enough to break sweat)... 90% of the time you're going to go back up to your metabolic set point weight, or worse, rebound above it if you lost the weight too fast.

This was shown to be the case with more or less 80-90% of Biggest Loser winners, whom were monitored 5 years down the road and determined to have regained all the weight and worse, more in some cases.. The ones who kept it off do so at a great expenditure of time as I pointed out above.

Top this w/the fact if you have a FT job or a business to run and a family to take care of... you will see the impossibility of losing weight to stave off all the potential diseases (type 2 diab included).

I've got your answer - but you won't like it because you have to give up your food addiction - bariatric surgery.

I've lost nearly 40 pounds since my VSG and am at a weight at 40+ years of age that I was in my late teens. Blood pressure, cholesterol, all normalized... energy through the roof. Moderate exercise, and I only do it because I feel like it now whereas before I felt like I was forcing it when I was obese/heavy.

Please look into this (ASMBS.org), and make a life altering choice that will possibly extend and -definitely- improve your quality of life as well as reverse type 2 diabetes and many other diseases related to being over weight.

If insurance won't cover it because you are not TOO FAT (like 35+ BMI), bariatricpal.com has doctors from all over the world, Mexico included that have performed successful surgeries with glowing reviews from Americans and Canadians for less money than what you'd pay in the USA (e.g. obesitycontrolcenter.com being a prime example, where I had mine).

Life's short... don't let being overweight ruin it.

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

#93

Post by pc2g4d »

gergnz wrote: post #64
throwaway0255 wrote: post #57

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…

While I wasn't overweight or obese I had definitely gained 10+KG a few years back, and was bordering on overweight (according to BMI, which is just one indicator, not the only one, and again, take it with a grain of salt and in moderation). For a while I completely stopped drinking alcohol, soft drink, wheat and refined sugar. Basically meat, vegies, fish, whole fruit (not juice). Lost all the extra weight within a f…

I started putting on some weight after beginning full time work after college (no longer walking around campus, always having a decent lunch--it made a difference!) Two years ago I decided to limit my consumption of refined sugar to two desserts a year. I cut out pop, fruit juice, don't drink alcohol or coffee, avoid white flours and aim for foods made of whole ingredients---fruits, vegetables, meats, nuts, etc. I'm at roughly 10lbs below where I was when that started, which is nice, but also it's transformed my feelings about sugar.

Like gergnz, pop is really sweet! Unbearably sweet. Actually most sweets are just overwhelming concentrations of sugar, and they feel weird to eat.

Sweetness is something that your body adjusts to. Once you're used to eating a brownie a day, brownies no longer seem so sweet to you. But go without sweets for six months and suddenly you'll realize just how pointlessly sweet they are.

The thing that really drives me crazy is how _so much_ food is sweetened, even things where it makes no sense. It's like everybody's palette is so accustomed to sugar that now restaurants have to add sugar to their savory foods just to make them taste normal. It's a disturbing trend.

Reminder: the US government spends $2 billion a year on sugar subsidies.

Because there's just not enough sugar!!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bitter-battle-over-sugar-subsid...

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

#94

Post by hinkley »

dmix wrote: post #20
daeken wrote: 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.

What does a "medically supervised" diet entail? You visit the doctor on a frequent basis and do it under their guidance? Does this exist for non-diabetic patients? I recently had weight gain for the first time of my life after reaching 30yrs of age and always being underweight. I've been meaning to look into some diet-based approaches that would be supported by science, but Googling it has always been a deluge of pse…

Not a doctor, but know some people with weight issues.

My understanding is that you are using a diet plan that the literature warns as being dangerous, (for example losing more that three pounds a week in cases of morbid obeisity) and a doctor is monitoring your vitals and blood work to make sure you aren’t damaging your organs in the process. Essentially they are red-lining your weight loss.

In the most drastic case I’ve ever heard of (second hand) you can actually check into a hospital and they will literally meter your food. If you have a proper metabolic dysfunction they will know because your calories in doesn’t match your weight loss and they can prove it.

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

#95

Post by rsync »

throwaway0255 wrote: post #57
daeken wrote: 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…

"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."

...

"Started calorie restricting and eliminated grains and sugar from my diet almost entirely, and all pre-diabetic symptoms disappeared within a month or two. Zero GERD, zero heartburn, no longer obese, no more disturbed sleep, lots of energy."

A serious, well-intentioned[1] question for you and your parent:

How has this changed (or not changed) your views towards classifying obesity/diabetes/metabolic treatments (as opposed to your cure) as unnecessary medical interventions ?

How does this change, if at all, your perception of the responsibility of others to fund those treatments ?

[1] Congratulations on this achievement and your good health.

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

#96

Post by daxorid »

logfromblammo wrote: post #82
daxorid wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is moral hazard. If we did the right thing and cut Type 2 diabetics off from health insurance benefits (or at least dramatically increased premiums), the incentive structures would align quickly. Edit: Mildly confused about the downvotes. I am not suggesting doing this to Type 1 diabetics, or any medical condition that is not the result of lifestyle choices. Having type 2 diabetes is very much a choice.

Okay, for the sake of argument, let's also refuse to pay for treatment for BASE jumpers and cave divers. Now let's refuse coverage to people who get STDs. Now people who smoke. Now people who don't fasten their seat belts. Do you see where that goes?

Yes, I see where it goes. Either premiums would rise on the basis of lifestyle, or supplementary health insurance companies would pick up the slack. Your choice to smoke, have unprotected sex, or BASE jump would come with additional costs, which would be in addition to the cost of the cigarettes, wingsuits, etc - rather than being an externality which society pays.

Note that we already do this for life insurance, and fully accept doing so. You cannot even get a short term policy without a blood test. Why should health insurance be any different?

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

#98

Post by elhudy »

daeken wrote: 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.

I was under the impression that being in ketosis could be harmful to the organs of those with diabetes. Is this just a myth or were there medications that aided you?

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

#100

Post by lazerpants »

paulcole wrote: post #55
_2dsr wrote: 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…

Same thing happened to my mom at 45. Only she was overweight, worked really hard to get to a healthy weight and get off insulin. And then had to go right back on it. She was devastated.
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