Is it possible to reverse diabetes?

[Lemonie]

I have over the last 18 months to 2 years lost a lot of weight and started exercising 5 -6 days a week. 3 months ago I took up running as well as continuing the gym to try and reduce body fat which I have. I have recently been testing myself again on and off as some runs are good and some are awful with me having no energy, especially for evening runs. I thought I needed to raise my bg before a run but I can't seem to raise it up. I usually eat 30 - 50g of carbs a day and yesterday I ate 568g and went to a 7 post prandial. This morning I ate 154g of carbs for breakfast and was 5.5 1 hour pp and 6.5 at 2 hours pp.

Is it possible having been type 2 diabetic for 7 years by changing lifestyle and size to become not diabetic again? I thought I would be able to always control it with lchf but this seems like I don't react to carbs the same anymore. Is there a way of testing at home or would to doctors do this for me. I was under the impression that it could not be reversed, only controlled.

 

[Resurgam]

The lack of any interest in how diet alters the way that glucose is coped with means that at the moment finding any information is hunting for hen's teeth. There is, however information, although scarce, on running without eating carbs beforehand.
You might well have altered your metabolism enough to cope with lots of carbs again - at least for the time being, as if it is possible to correct it, it could be possible to break it again - my own ability to cope with carbs is improving little by little, but for me, increasing carbs beyond the limits I found in my 20s means exactly what it did back then - weight gain.

 

[Lemonie]

I follow a paleo diet which whilst not a strictly low carb diet is naturally lower than most. Am thinking of relaxing my grip a little and seeing what happens. I have been weighing and measuring for 2 years so will be tough to let go.

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[letstalk1]

Talk with your Diabetic team about this , there are some answers in these forums but a person with Diabetes needs a plethera of info to put it all together , really this is true.

 

[Heretic1]

Well done you on the weight loss and exercise .... it feels fab when you can doesn't it???

I always used to have a banana before vigorous exercise (and sometimes still do), however even when I don't now, I don't feel like the 'tank is empty' after a hard session.

Physiologicallly as I understand it, the body stores about 2hrs+ of energy, so theoretically you shouldn't need to 'carb up' before routine exercise. However if you are going to do a long period of exercise then ensuring you 'keeps the tank topped up' it might be an option.

I recently did an enduring period of exercise (8 hrs). I had a carb heavy breakfast (porridge and wm toast) and regularly ate energy bars and jelly babies etc on the way round ..... I was absolutely fine, and it kept me going!

All of my results are now completely in the non diabetes range (and long may they stay there) unaided by any medication. I too seem to be able to easily tolerate the occasional carb heavy meal, keeping bg levels within safe and 'non diabetic' e.g last week fish and chips and a couple of beers ... 6.5 afterwards!

I don't really want to return to eating loads of carb heavy / processed foods ... as I'm enjoying my new life toooo much - but it's nice to do so once in a while, and increasing feel I can do so with a degree of confidence.

I would not dare to suggest I have 'reversed' the condition I had ... but I'm happy with HCP 'label' that it is 'in remission' .... i.e. Not a current threat to my health, but I'm at risk of it being so in the future and need to be cautious.

Good luck with your journey.

 

[ringi]

Read the book "The art and science of low carb proformance", carbs are not needed for running unless you want to win the 100m, people often win 50kw races without having eaten any carbs for months before. But you can't switch from running on carbs to running on fat overnight.

 

[russelleaton]

I have over the last 18 months to 2 years lost a lot of weight and started exercising 5 -6 days a week. 3 months ago I took up running as well as continuing the gym to try and reduce body fat which I have. I have recently been testing myself again on and off as some runs are good and some are awful with me having no energy, especially for evening runs. I thought I needed to raise my bg before a run but I can't seem to raise it up. I usually eat 30 - 50g of carbs a day and yesterday I ate 568g and went to a 7 post prandial. This morning I ate 154g of carbs for breakfast and was 5.5 1 hour pp and 6.5 at 2 hours pp.

Is it possible having been type 2 diabetic for 7 years by changing lifestyle and size to become not diabetic again? I thought I would be able to always control it with lchf but this seems like I don't react to carbs the same anymore. Is there a way of testing at home or would to doctors do this for me. I was under the impression that it could not be reversed, only controlled.

If you have T2D it means you have insulin resistance. It is not possible to become non-diabetic because it is not possible to somehow eradicate the existing insulin resistance. However, you can quite easily stop your T2D getting worse. You may also be able to gtive up your insulin/meds, depending on how far down the road you are with your T2D.

 

[bulkbiker]

If you have T2D it means you have insulin resistance. It is not possible to become non-diabetic because it is not possible to somehow eradicate the existing insulin resistance. However, you can quite easily stop your T2D getting worse. You may also be able to gtive up your insulin/meds, depending on how far down the road you are with your T2D.

Well Russ according to the fasting insulin test I had last week I have become "un-insulin" resistant through a combination of LCHF and fasting... Sorry if that doesn't agree with your book but in my n=1 experiment its looks pretty ok to me.

 

[Notwithstanding]

Yes it is possible to reverse diabetes. There is no debate about it....it is true. Just try Michael Mosley's 800 cal diet. I did: & it delivered. Go on, you've got nothing to lose. Try it. You'll see.

 

[Mbaker]

Hi @Lemonie, congratulations on your dedication to your training and diet. Mentally you might want to have a break but be careful not to undo all of your good work. You do not need to raise your blood sugar before training if you are fat adapted, carb loading was progressed by Professor Tim Noakes, who as an elite athlete himself developed Type 2 (as some do or pre-diabetes).

Professor Noakes has discredited and apologised to the millions who followed his teaching of carb loading. For athletes who perform short sprints there is a elite level benefit to having some pre race carbs but for other particularly endurance performers utilising LCHF prevents "bonking" or in other words hitting the wall. Some of the latest thinking for "fast" performance is to use LCHF and then just before a performance have a few carbs, which behaves like a stimulant.

Anyway, be careful about undoing your recovery, if you got cancer due to smoking and was in remission would you light up again. I am not advocating no direct carbs even daily for you, but clearly you are getting a really good insulin response, so maybe this needs some looking after for the long term.