Type 2 diabetes is almost always reversible and this is almost ridiculously easy to prove. Once we understand type 2 diabetes, then the solution becomes pretty simple.
Latest scientific researchers have revealed that Type 2 diabetes develops under the following condition:
- Excess calories leads to excess fat in the liver
- As a result, the liver responds poorly to insulin and produces too much glucose
- Excess fat in the liver is passed on to the pancreas, causing the insulin producing cells to fail
- Losing less than 1 gram of fat from the pancreas by eating less can re-start the normal production of insulin, reversing Type 2 diabetes. To do this it is necessary to lose around 10-15kg of body weight.
- This reversal of diabetes remains possible for at least 10 years after the onset of the condition.
The most important thing, of course, is to lose weight (visceral fat). But people with type 2 diabetes find very hard to lose weight.
Here are some good reasons why the standard advice of “eat less, exercise more” doesn’t deliver results for people living with type 2 diabetes.
Reason 1: With type 2 diabetes, insulin is high, and insulin is a fat-storage hormone
If you don’t believe please go and check your fasting insulin level. A normal fasting blood insulin level is below 5, but ideally you’ll want it below 3 µIU/mL.
Reason 2: Typically recommended eating frequent meals keeps your blood sugar and insulin levels consistently high.
If you keep giving your body food, it has no incentive to burn fat.
Sadly, these guidelines seem to serve the medical practitioners more than the patients. When patients are on diabetes medications, blood sugar levels are chronically suppressed by medications! This approach does little to combat the underlying cause of the disease.
Reason 3: Type 2 diabetes medications can drive weight gain
Insulin, for example is notorious for causing weight gain. Medications make diabetes looks better, since you can only see the blood sugars. We’ve been pretending that the symptom is the disease. That’s the main reason most doctors think type 2 diabetes a chronic and progressive disease. We’ve been using the wrong treatment. We’ve been prescribing drugs for a dietary disease. No wonder it doesn’t work.
If we have too much sugar in the body, then get rid of it or don’t put more. Anything you eat can be converted to sugar in the liver. So, don’t simply hide it away with medications by moving the sugar from the blood (where we can see) into the body (where we cannot see).
Reason 4: A 2021 study in Life Sciences found that gut dysbiosis (a lack of beneficial bacteria in the gut) could be responsible for as much as 90 percent of type 2 diabetes cases.
Regulation of metabolism, insulin sensitivity, and blood glucose levels begins in the gut. Fruits and vegetables are the best sources of nutrients for a healthy microbiome. By the way, beyond nutritional aspects, human milk contains a complex and personalized combination of specific components, including immunoglobulins, immunological-related substances, hormones, oligosaccharides and microorganisms, among others. Breast milk is not sterile, but contains as many as 600 different species of various bacteria, including beneficial Bifidobacterium breve, B. adolescentis, B. longum, B. bifidum, and B. dentium, which contribute to colonization of the infant gut. Approximately 25–30% of the infant gut microbiota is derived from breast milk.
Reversing type 2 diabetes is pretty simple but it requires dedication, discipline and continued effort and a positive attitude towards health and life. At least five approaches have claimed to reverse Type 2 diabetes in many people. The main steps are:
Step 1 – Let thy food be thy medicine….when possible (change your diet)
There are several eating habits, which have been demonstrated to reverse Type 2 Diabetes.
- Very low calorie diets (also called semi-starvation diets) can lead to rapid weight loss and diabetes reversal, but can only be followed for a few months, after which weight maintenance and continued diabetes control are difficult.
- A new study, published in The BMJ (13 January 2021), found that adhering to a low carb diet for six months was associated with higher rates of remission among people with type 2 diabetes. The diet sets up a state of nutritional ketosis in the body in which fat becomes the primary fuel instead of carbohydrates. However, the benefits flattened after about a year likely due to the restrictive diet. On the other hand, a well-formulated ketogenic nutritionally complete diet can be followed for years.
While low-carbohydrate diets help people achieve remission, there’s concern that blood sugar levels could potentially rise again as soon as more carbohydrates are eaten. Maybe, it should perhaps be called “mitigation of diabetes” rather than remission, as type 2 diabetes is still present – but the negative effects are being well managed.
- There is a saying “When the solution is simple, God is answering.” When it comes to choosing a diet, the most important thing is to pick one that suits you – one that you’re likely to stick to long term.
We, at Zen Healthcare formulated a simple sustainable eating habits for restoring and maintaining health which are as follows:
We, at Zen Healthcare formulated a simple sustainable eating habits for restoring and maintaining health which are as follows:- Eat all your meals within an 8-hour time period and fast for the remaining 16 hours.
- Start your first meal of the day with Water-Rich Raw foods (fruits and vegetables).
- Eat a Diet consisting of 50% Fresh Water-Rich Raw foods (fruits and vegetables) and enjoy the remaining 50% diet with your favorite foods without any guilt.
- Mostly eat food which your Great Grandmother will recognize as food.
- Chew your Water (water-rich raw foods), Drink your Food (food must be chewed well).
Step 2 – Burn off what’s already in (fasting and exercise)
Fasting is the simplest and fastest method to force your body to burn sugar for energy. When you eat, your body stores food energy. When you fast, your body burns food energy. If you simply lengthen out your periods of fasting, you can burn off the stored sugar. Both what you eat and when you eat are critical to achieve optimal health.
Step 3 – Stress Less, Sleep More (create an anti-inflammatory internal environment)
For those who cannot reverse diabetes by themselves we invite to participate in our Diabetes Reverse Program, which will provide the Education, Guidance, Support and Tools necessary for successful Weight Loss and Type 2 Diabetes Reversal.
Diabetes Reverse Program is a patient-centered health restoration care model to reverse diabetes, rather than just disease management.
Reversing diabetes is a way of life with sustainable lifestyle habits, diet-wise, physically, and spiritually.
Weight loss can put type 2 diabetes into remission for at least two years
More than a third (36 percent) of people with type 2 diabetes who took part in a weight management programme delivered in NHS primary care are in remission two years later, the latest findings of the Diabetes Remission Clinical Trial (DiRECT) have revealed.
The second year results of the trial, funded by Diabetes UK and led by experts at Newcastle University and the University of Glasgow, were announced today at Diabetes UK’s Professional Conference and published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
Professor Roy Taylor – who co-led the trial with Professor Mike Lean – said the findings ‘pull down the curtain on the era of type 2 diabetes as an inevitably progressive disease’.
These new results build on the globally-reported findings presented at the International Diabetes Federation in December 2017, which showed that 46 percent of participants were in remission after one year. A year later, 70 percent of those participants are still in remission.
The results confirm that – as with the first year results – remission is closely linked to weight loss; 64 percent of participants who lost over 10 kilos were in remission at two years. Participants regained some weight, as expected, between the first and second year. However, those in remission after one year who stayed in remission had a greater average weight loss (15.5 kilos) than those who did not stay in remission (12 kilos).
Type 2 diabetes remission possible with ‘achievable’ weight loss
People who achieve weight loss of 10% or more in the first five years following diagnosis with type 2 diabetes have the greatest chance of seeing their disease go into remission, according to a study led by the University of Cambridge.
This [study] reinforces the importance of managing one’s weight, which can be achieved through changes in diet and increasing physical activity
Simon Griffin
The findings suggest that it is possible to recover from the disease without intensive lifestyle interventions or extreme calorie restrictions.
Type 2 diabetes affects 400 million people worldwide and increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, blindness and amputations. While the disease can be managed through a combination of positive lifestyle changes and medication, it is also possible for the high blood glucose levels that define diabetes to return to normal – through significant calorie restriction and weight loss. An intensive low-calorie diet involving a total daily intake of 700 calories (less than one cheeseburger) for 8 weeks has been associated with remission in almost nine out of ten people with recently diagnosed diabetes and in a half of people with longstanding disease.
However, there is little evidence to show whether the same effect can be achieved by people undergoing less intensive interventions, which are more feasible and potentially scalable to the wider population. To answer this question, a team led by researchers at the University of Cambridge studied data from the ADDITION-Cambridge trial, a prospective cohort study of 867 people with newly diagnosed diabetes aged 40 and 69 years recruited from general practices in the eastern region.
The research was funded by Wellcome, the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research.
The researchers found that 257 participants (30%) participants were in remission at five-year follow-up. People who achieved weight loss of 10% or more within the first five years after diagnosis were more than twice as likely to go into remission compared to people who maintained the same weight.
“We’ve known for some time now that it’s possible to send diabetes into remission using fairly drastic measures such as intensive weight loss programmes and extreme calorie restriction,” says Dr Hajira Dambha-Miller from the Department of Public Health and Primary Care.
“These interventions can be very challenging to individuals and difficult to achieve. But, our results suggest that it may be possible to get rid of diabetes, for at least five years, with a more modest weight loss of 10%. This will be more motivating and hence more achievable for many people.”
Senior author Professor Simon Griffin of the MRC Epidemiology Unit added: “This reinforces the importance of managing one’s weight, which can be achieved through changes in diet and increasing physical activity. Type 2 diabetes, while a chronic disease, can lead to significant complications, but as our study shows, can be controlled and even reversed.”
In order to clarify the best way to help patients with type 2 diabetes achieve sustained weight loss, the team is currently undertaking a study called GLoW (Glucose Lowering through Weight management). The study compares the current education programme offered by the NHS to people after they have been diagnosed, with a programme delivered by WW (formerly Weight Watchers®). The team is looking to recruit individuals who have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes within the last three years, have not attended a structured education programme and are able to visit one of our testing centres in Wisbech, Ely or Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Further details can be found at the GLOW Study website.
Reference
Dambha-Miller, H et al. Behaviour change, weight loss and remission of type 2 diabetes: a community based prospective cohort study. Diabetic Medicine; DOI: 10.1111/dme.14122