Reversing Type 2 Diabetes

Traditionally, a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes doomed you to the disease forever. Many doctors class type 2 diabetes as a chronic and progressive disease that must be managed with medication.

Contrarily, there is sound evidence to suggest that you can reverse type 2 diabetes, and progressive health professionals are helping patients manage the disease with diet and lifestyle changes. Dr Jason Fung, author of The Diabetes Code (and The Obesity Code – another excellent read), is one such practitioner. Dr Fung hosts the Diet Doctor podcast, which is a favourite of mine and a great source of facts on diet-related disease.

How is it possible to reverse type 2 diabetes?

Type 2 diabetes is caused by a high-sugar diet. This refers to sugar in all its forms: glucose, fructose, sucrose, refined carbohydrates and refined grains. As the disease is rooted in diet, it follows that we can reverse type 2 diabetes through improved diet, eliminating the sugar overload.

Medication can be useful but, essentially, medication purely masks symptoms. Without diet and lifestyle changes, the disease can still progress. Many elderly people who are put on blood sugar meds in their fifties, for prediabetes, later endure amputations, thanks to peripheral artery disease, a complication of diabetes.

Reverse type 2 diabetes, naturally

Diabetes results from too much sugar, or glucose, in the blood. When we eat carbohydrates and protein, our blood glucose rises. The pancreas makes insulin, which pushes glucose into the body’s cells to be used as energy. Some leftover glucose is sent to the liver, where it is turned into fat and transported to fat stores around the body.

When the cells are full of glucose, insulin can’t do its job. Imagine trying to stuff more and more clothes into a jampacked suitcase – the clothes burst out or the suitcase breaks. Excess glucose can’t fit into your cells; it stays in the blood, or moves to the liver, ‘breaking’ your body’s normal metabolic functions.  

When you add insulin medication to a body with too much blood glucose, the extra insulin forces glucose into the cells, despite them being at capacity. Your blood tests may then reflect normal blood sugar, but they do not show that your cells are now exploding with glucose, and your liver is producing excess fat to be stored throughout the body.

Medication simply masks excess glucose, shifting it from one area of the body (the blood) to another (the cells), which is no less harmful; it does not actually lower the amount of glucose in your body, or reverse type 2 diabetes – only diet can do that.

When type 2 diabetes in medicated with insulin, unaccompanied by efforts to lower carbohydrate consumption, the disease can appear progressive and chronic. No amount of insulin can help the fact that there is too much glucose entering the body, every day, through poor diet.

Reversing type 2 diabetes with diet

Dr Fung’s book, the Diabetes Code, prescribes two key changes to reduce the amount of glucose in the body’s cells. Firstly, lower your intake of new glucose, by following a low-carbohydrate diet. Remove refined grains and refined sugar as a priority. Secondly, burn off the sugar and fat in the cells, with intermittent fasting.

Begin with a 12–14 hour fast – this sounds like a long time, but if you have an early dinner at 5pm­­­­–6pm and don’t eat again until 7am the next day, you can easily achieve this most days of the week.

More intensive fasting involves 16–20 hours without food and can benefit those with serious diabetes. Eat a late lunch at 2pm, skip dinner and don’t eat again until 7am the following morning. This kind of fast can be done three times a week. Serious fasters have been known to go without food for 30–36 hours!

If you are taking diabetes medication, please tell your healthcare provider if you are planning to fast. It is important that you are closely monitored, as your medication dose may need tapering.

If you suffer from underlying adrenal fatigue and stress, you may not cope with intense fasting. It is important to work with a healthcare provider who considers your holistic health and can develop a strategy for reversing type 2 diabetes that is tailored to you.

One alternative to fasting is a very low-carb diet, eating low-GI carbohydrates and large amounts of quality fats. There is a common misconception, bred from outdated, poorly produced research, that dietary fat begets heart disease. But science is beginning to catch up – see this article in the Lancet. Visceral fat, which infiltrates your organs and muscles, is a factor in cancer and heart disease, but it is the result of chronic high blood sugar and insulin resistance, not fat intake.

When you have chronically high blood sugar, your cells stop responding to insulin. Imagine that full suitcase again – your body can no longer hold the lid down to close the zipper and your body produces more and more insulin, attempting to stabilise your blood sugar. The cells become so full of glucose they’re overflowing. The overflow is converted to fat, and stored in the pancreas, liver and muscles. This fat causes many of the symptoms and diseases associated with type 2 diabetes.

If you’re fasting to reverse type 2 diabetes, you’ll unlock stored energy as your visceral fat burns. It won’t be fun eating less, and you’ll need willpower to change your diet, but you’ll reduce your risk of several deadly diseases and your organs will heave a sigh of relief.

Aerobic exercise will help to release fat from your cells, for use as fuel. I have found the MAF method to be especially effective. Developed by Dr Phillip Maffetone, MAF stands for maximum aerobic function, and helps you create a personalised diet and exercise strategy, suited to your needs and abilities. You can download the app here.

While Dr Fung has seen better results with fasting than with exercise, aerobic exercise supports adrenal and stress function and can make fasting more effective. I don’t advise strenuous exercise during a long fast, but you can benefit from a light 20 to 30-minute workout, during a 12–14 hour fast.

I advise seeking professional support on your journey to reverse type 2 diabetes, especially if you suffer from stress or adrenal fatigue. You have a greater chance of success with an individualised strategy. Together, we can formulate a nutrition plan to ensure you receive adequate nutrients, manage your symptoms and monitor your blood sugar, to determine when adjustments in diet, medication or supplements are needed. It’s a big commitment to overhaul your lifestyle and you needn’t go it alone. You can book online via my homepage for personalised care.