Insulin Resistance is created due to their being too much insulin in our body (due to high BG). If you can take metformin without the **** side effects, then do so, as it helps break Insulin Resistance but it is not enough on its own. SGLT2 Inhibitors will also help, but have risks, however they are a good option if BG need to be reduced quickly.
To reverse Insulin Resistance we must have
long lengths of time when there is
a low level of insulin and a low level glucose in our blood. This enables our body to burn fat, and then assuming that you are not eating more fat then your body needs for energy, your body will start to burn some of its own fat.
The first fat to be burned comes from the Liver, removing fat form the Pancreas takes longer, the fat we can see on ourselves has very little effect but losing it can make us feel better. As removing the fat form the Pancreas takes a long time, you can't do it without losing visible fat. The quick benefit comes form emptying the liver of fat and solid glucose hence enabling the liver to respond a lot better to insulin.
A “normal” person will get a low level of insulin and glucose just be eating a little less, but we are not normal, as we have Insulin Resistance. Hence balanced diets don’t work for us. We need to reduce our calories to a very low level for a long term, or reduce our carbs (and maybe proteins) for a long time. The Newcastle Diet reduces calorie to a very low level for 8 weeks.
Some of us can get our BG and insulin low enough just by avoiding most curbs, others need to reduce protein as well. Fasting for at least 18hr works for nearly everyone but longer fasts works better.
It seems to the length of time that our BG and insulin low enough that is key, the required level is lower than is needed to control BG.
Given that the Newcastle Diet most often fails due to what people eat after it, my views are.
- We should start with using a meter before and after meals to learn what each meal does to us. (say 1 week)
- Then start eating meals that we love that don’t increase our BG by more than 2 without caring about the size of the meal or losing weight. (say next 4 weeks)
- Start to think about size of meals etc if you need to lose weight and are not doing so.
- Then start increasing the number of hours each day between meals, by not having snacks and for example having dinner earlier and maybe skipping breakfast.
- Make breakfast as low carb as possible if having it, hence bullet proof coffee etc.
- Then and only then start eating very low calorie for at least 5 days at a time, or fast (just water and bone broth) for at least 3 days at a time. (This could be the Newcastle Diet)
At each stage track process and what your BG is doing, by doing it in stages if we “fail” on the very low calorie diet, we fail back to something that is acceptable. We have also trained ourselves how to eat after the diet, before we start it. Long term if we are to remain eating low carb food we must eat more good fat, as our body will have used up the stores – I am looking forward to having this problem.
If you have the commitment you can start with fasting for a few days at a time (just bone broth) eating normal food between the fasts, trying to avoid most carbs. This can get BG down very quickly but needs more commitment and a wife that does not expect me to cook all of her meals.
Exercise (resistance training is best but takes effort) speeds up the process, but is not needed and will not work without diet change. I now go for a 30 minute walk after dinner most days etc.