• Guest, the forum is undergoing some enhancemenst and so the usual themes will be unavailable for a few days. In the meantime, you can use the forum like normal. We'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Reversing T2 With Diet - Who Has Done It And Who Wants To Give It A Go?

Have you reversed your diabetes through diet?

  • Yes

    Votes: 25 34.2%

  • No

    Votes: 11 15.1%

  • I manage diabetes through diet

    Votes: 37 50.7%
  • Total voters
    73
  • Poll closed .
bulkbiker said:
I have been following an ultra low carb diet for the past 10 months and am pretty well fat adapted. I try to be in a ketogenic state for as long as possible although I have only just started to measure this. After reading and listening to lot of Dr Jason Fung's work (which seems to me to make the most sense of all) I started fasting for extended periods.
From my diagnosis I gave up breakfast so immediately was fasting for 16-17 hours a day I then extended this to 40 hours then 3 days then 5 days and tonight will break my first 7 day fast.
Because my body is running on fat most of the time then I don't get any carb withdrawal symptoms so don't get the extremes of hunger. I have also started to have a pseudo bullet proof coffee everyday around lunchtime 11-1 pm 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a latte made with cream and water with 3 coffee shots. This keeps you feeling satiated for a long time.
Who told you that we are not supposed to go without food except when sleeping? They were obviously incorrect in my case.
Click to expand...

Wow - good luck! Let us know how you get on.
 
:)

Thanks for that Twin Cycles study - i just skim read it, and need to revisit it for a detailed reading.

I like Fung. His work bears out all my experiences, and I think he talks a great deal of sense - with just one niggle. So far, everything of his that i have seen/read implies that all T2s will benefit from Fasting. I just can't accept absolutes like that.

Anyway, i digress :)

You asked about how i think the vlc fit with fasting.
Fung says that you can probably get away with up to 500 cals a day, and count them as a fasting day.
More than that is not fasting, and counts as severe calorie restriction.

Well, as I said, I don't find absolutes very helpful.
I think that a petite framed woman may be very low calorieing on 500 cals, and a rugby player might be fasting on 800.
See what i mean?

My personal experience (i have severely dysfunctional hormones) is that a 330 cal per day Cambridge diet plan slowed my metabolism and it took years to get my basal metabolic rate back up. It still reduces as the drop of a hat.
So I am wary (understatement) of any generalised concepts.

Plus, of course, the importance of the macro nutrients in the food used to make up the 500 or 800 calories.

Fung uses fasting to reduce insulin resistence. So eating carbs will sabotage that effect even if those carbs stay under the 500 cal ceiling, while eating fats will encourage ketosis...

So, after all that waffling prevarication, all i can really state is that, at the moment, i combine intermittent fasting with VERY low carbing, in an attempt to lower insulin resistance. Weight loss is a nice side effect, reversal not even a dream, but my blood glucose and insulin resistance are very pleasing. :D (On a fasting cycle, i will probably only have 10g carbs in a 48 hr period)
 
Last edited:
Brunneria said:
:)

Thanks for that Twin Cycles study - i just skim read it, and need to revisit it for a detailed reading.

I like Fung. His work bears out all my experiences, and I think he talks a great deal of sense - with just one niggle. So far, everything of his that i have seen/read implies that all T2s will benefit from Fasting. I just can't accept absolutes like that.

Anyway, i digress :)

You asked about how i think the vlc fit with fasting.
Fung says that you can probably get away with up to 500 cals a day, and count them as a fasting day.
More than that is not fasting, and counts as severe calorie restriction.

Well, as I said, I don't find absolutes very helpful.
I think that a petite framed woman may be very low calorieing on 500 cals, and a rugby player might be fasting on 800.
See what i mean?

My personal experience (i have severely dysfunctional hormones) is that a 330 cal per day Cambridge diet plan slowed my metabolism and it took years to get my basal metabolic rate back up. It still reduces as the drop of a hat.
So I am wary (understatement) of any generalised concepts.

Plus, of course, the importance of the macro nutrients in the food used to make up the 500 or 800 calories.

Fung uses fasting to reduce insulin resistence. So eating carbs will sabotage that effect even if those carbs stay under the 500 cal ceiling, while eating fats will encourage ketosis...

So, after all that waffling prevarication, all i can really state is that, at the moment, i combine intermittent fasting with VERY low carbing, in an attempt to lower insulin resistance. Weight loss is a nice side effect, reversal not even a dream, but my blood glucose and insulin resistance are very pleasing. :D
Click to expand...

Awesome :)
Thank you for your considered answer and it sounds as though you manage your diabetes beautifully.
I agree wholeheartedly with all of your reservations - there is no one size fits all in any of this. From my perspective I am most curious about the effectiveness of fasting (where an appropriate option), because I can understand the logic - it's eloquently illustrated by Fung.
It's interesting stuff - I find the human body just amazing!
 
@Bebo321 for myself at least option 2 is a reality. I dont consider myself 'cured' or 'reversed'. I am 'diet controlled' and as long as I watch what I eat Im hoping I will stay that way. My HbA1c was 100 on diagnosis and for the last 18 months it has been sitting on 34. I do VLC but I find that it suits me. Ive never been one for breakfast so to me its easier to skip it and by reducing carbs I dont have carb cravings. There are so many studies out there stating the best way to lose weight and 'cure' diabetes but it is so different for each individual. As soon as I see the word 'cure' or 'reversed' ect I automatically switch off and usually dont even bother reading it.
 
gungerdin said:
I have a managed to or did manage to control my T2 by diet .I was diagnosed three years back pre diabetic .
So I did every thing to fix it .And and eventually got my three month reading down too 4.7 .But I ended up walking a round like a skeleton .Now I am back to my normal weight after stopping smoking. My three month readings now are 5.3 for the last two quarters .Diet controlled .Tell me you guys am I wasting my time. I power walk half hour a day don't scoff lollys or sweets .No white breads and eat that many greens I look like a cabbage .WHATS NEXT??????
Click to expand...
how many carbs do you eat every day ?
 
If it helps, I had a McDonalds, a Burger King, and also a Kebab somewhere at a bus station with no great effect.
Not at the same time!
Does that count as reversed?
 
britishpub said:
Why ?

What has that got to do with anything at all, least of all my BG levels ?
Click to expand...

@britishpub please accept my apologies if you are offended by my question. I am just trying to gauge where I should be at myself. I've lost 50lbs and not lost my diabetes. My bmi is currently around 24.7 and the neuropathy is driving me nuts. I've decided to go hard core fasting for a few days have a meal then go again and try get a full week of fasting with just one meal midway through the week. I checked my bg this morning came in a 95mg/dl which is a good number. I can't wait for tomorrow to see if I am lower. I am gently cycling 15-19 miles / day..

I've enjoyed reading about fasting from Dr Jason Fung. He seems the most genuine doctor out there. His analysis seems so sincere. I sense that he really cares about folks who end up on dialysis. Dr Fung is a nephrologist. The most annoying aspect of T2DM is that here in the USA its all about the money. They don't want you healthy, they want you sick. Doctors and big pharma want the income stream. That's why I like the integrity of Dr Fung.


I hope that my response has made sense..
 
@Living-by-the-beach I also have lost a similar amount of weight and my BMI is also probably similar, although as a measurement I don't believe it's particularly relevant.

I consider T2D to be incurable, but you can certainly alleviate the symptoms and make significant improvement to your health by reducing your need for Insulin, and the best ways to do this is by following a Low Carb lifestyle and Fasting occasionally.

I agree the Pharmaceutical and Health Industries appear to want to promote Insulin usage and drugs that do the same, both of which appear nonsensical to me as a way to treat a disease that is usually caused by resistance to Insulin.

I think that I have made improvements to my Insulin sensitivity due to intermittent fasting and continuing Low Carb eating, and I believe that is the way forward.

Good luck with your attempts. We are all different and will get different responses, but it must be the logical path to follow.
 
I thought that I'd mention I've been fasting for 63 hours now. I came in with my morning FBG at 3.7 mmol/L or 67mg/dl. Now I've really not eaten anything to talk of in this 63 hours of fasting. Nada but I am so fed up with neuropathic pain in my feet that I'm going to follow the biblical studies of Matthew Chapter 4 and just fast.Today I weighted in at 201 lbs.

I've looked over my records (thanks to @andcol and his GM application) & in June 2015 I was a full 14lbs lighter than I am today but my FBG then was 6.4mmols/L yet my FBG today was 3.7 mmol/L. So there is in my opinion more benefits to intermittent fasting (thanks to Dr Jason Fung) than just over all weight loss that Professor Taylor has suggested. At best levels of weight loss I was 13st 4 lbs or 66lbs off. At no point did I get a reading close to 3.7mmol/L.

I think maybe where Professor Taylor may have stumbled with his stellar work, is that gradual weight loss while good, isn't the be all and end all of putting T2DM into remission. This maybe too because of the success rate of his 7 of the 11 reversals in the first study. Yet the more recent knowledge of Dr Fung that hard core intermittent fasting is more important than just pure and simple weight loss. I have only put these thoughts out there to give folks reason to ponder my experience. I don't want to start a flame war but share what I've experienced in my own body. Every body's body is different and may behave differently. I really want to lose minimal weight from here but allow myself a few days of fasting to clear my insulin resistance and become more insulin sensitive and get my life back..

I hope this makes sense..
 
Thanks for sharing @Living-by-the-beach,
Fasting may not suit everyone but it certainly would be great to build up a weight of evidence to determine (anecdotally at least) if it is a particularly effective way to reduce insulin resistance.
Keep us posted:)
 
I gave up fasting after 68 hours when I felt very weird with what seems like a hypo. My bg reading at the time was 4.65 mmol/L or 83mg/dl and I've tested this morning for FBG of 6.3 mmol/L or 114mg/dl . So back to the program. I had read Richard Doughty's account of his Newcastle diet https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/may/12/type-2-diabetes-diet-cure and I'd had beaten his lowest FBG with my 3.7mmol/L . So its start all over with fasting again today..
 
Living-by-the-beach said:
I gave up fasting after 68 hours when I felt very weird with what seems like a hypo. My bg reading at the time was 4.65 mmol/L or 83mg/dl and I've tested this morning for FBG of 6.3 mmol/L or 114mg/dl . So back to the program. I had read Richard Doughty's account of his Newcastle diet https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/may/12/type-2-diabetes-diet-cure and I'd had beaten his lowest FBG with my 3.7mmol/L . So its start all over with fasting again today..
Click to expand...
Are you taking any meds that might impact on how your BGs behave?
 
Bebo321 said:
Are you taking any meds that might impact on how your BGs behave?
Click to expand...

@Bebo321

Nope. I think that cycling 100+ miles / week is way better than drugs + what drugs do is lower sugar levels. What I am suffering from is insulin resistance, not high sugars disease. High sugars are a symptom and not the disease. Its important to remember that. I hope that makes sense.. When drug companies start making a drug to remove insulin resistance then we'll all be fixed. In the mean time we may (or may not) be debt slaves to doctors and big pharma.

One more thing if I am fasting what spikes in sugar levels am I meant to be lowering? I am not eating real food. Just bone broths, tea, coffee, and Bovril drinks..
 
Last edited:
Living-by-the-beach said:
@Bebo321

Nope. I think that cycling 100+ miles / week is way better than drugs + what drugs do is lower sugar levels. What I am suffering from is insulin resistance, not high sugars disease. High sugars are a symptom and not the disease. Its important to remember that. I hope that makes sense.. When drug companies start making a drug to remove insulin resistance then we'll all be fixed. In the mean time we may (or may not) be debt slaves to doctors and big pharma.

One more thing if I am fasting what spikes in sugar levels am I meant to be lowering as I am not eating real food. Just broths and coffee and Bovril drinks..
Click to expand...

Are you still getting spikes on just that?
 
Living-by-the-beach said:
@Bebo321

Nope. I think that cycling 100+ miles / week is way better than drugs + what drugs do is lower sugar levels. What I am suffering from is insulin resistance, not high sugars disease. High sugars are a symptom and not the disease. Its important to remember that. I hope that makes sense.. When drug companies start making a drug to remove insulin resistance then we'll all be fixed. In the mean time we may (or may not) be debt slaves to doctors and big pharma.

One more thing if I am fasting what spikes in sugar levels am I meant to be lowering as I am not eating real food. Just broths and coffee and Bovril drinks..
Click to expand...

I thought it was unlikely, but I thought it best to check you weren't taking any meds after you said you felt a bit Hypo. :depressed:
Apologies, I don't understand your second comment - do you mean that you are still getting blood spikes?
 
Back
Top