Type 2 Diabetes is Reversible

For over 10 years clinics and doctors have been reversing Type 2 Diabetes. Why is this now being done?

The cause of Type 2 Diabetes is insulin resistance. The medical approach focuses on blood sugar. Blood sugar is a symptom, not the cause, which is why the disease gets worse over time. Type 2 Diabetes is a dietary disease of too many carbohydrates. Since this is a dietary disease, diet is the best way to treat this condition.

Why Type 2 Diabetes is Reversible!

Here is a video where Dr. Fung clearly explains why Type 2 Diabetes is reversible and that he is doing it with his patients.   

Video Timeline:
0:00 – Introduction of video and Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt and Dr. Jason Fung.
0:56 – Diabetes does not have to progress
1:38 – Why our treatment causes the disease to progress.
5:40 – Why our current approach does not work
8:10 – How to reverse diabetes, a couple of methods at a high level.

What you should know to reverse Type 2 Diabetes.

Dr. Sarah Hallberg explains this and more and what we must understand, and how to reverse it.

Video Timeline:

00:00 – Introduction
01:05 – The cause of Type 2 Diabetes
02:19 – The widespread nature of the disease and most people do not know they have it.
03:12 – Why current medical treatments don’t work.
04:27 – The ramification of not treating the cause of the disease
07:22 – What we need to do to reverse Type 2 Diabetes
09:28 – Story of a patient who reversed diabetes after 20 years in 4 months.
11:06 – How to eat to reverse diabetes and insight into the food we eat.
12:28 – What is the research saying about low carb intervention, including reduced risk of heart disease, obesity, and cancer.
16:44 – Why isn’t this information everywhere?

The Science of Reversing Type 2 Diabetes with low carbohydrates

Dr. Zoe Harcombe addresses the UK House of Commons February 2019.  This presentation focuses on the issues with the current dietary guidelines. 

Video Timeline:

00:00 Introduction – Why we eat and essential Macro nutrients and Minerals
03:00 Evidence from randomized control trials did not support the reducing dietary fat introduced with the dietary fat guidelines in 1977.
05:15 Current evidence based on latest available science on dietary guidelines.
07:36 Dietary guidelines are slow to change.
9:20 Recommended diet is nutritionally deficient.
9:46 Cause of diabetes & conflict of interest making up the dietary guidelines.
10:47 Recommendations.

How your choice makes a difference.

Dr. Mark Hyman explains the impact of what happens when you take control of your health.  Dr. Hyman is a practicing family physician, an 11-time New York Times bestselling author, and an internationally recognized leader, speaker, educator, and advocate in the field of Functional Medicine. He is the Pritzker Foundation Chair in Functional Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and Director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine.  

Video: 13:06 minutes

Be inspired!

Here is an article that was written by Dr. Mark regarding the Ketogenic Diet written on October 18, 2018.  What is the Ketogenic Diet (and should you try it)? 

Based on our research the best diet to accomplish weight loss and reversing diabetes is a Low Carb – Ketogenic Diet. 

To understand the diet and the science behind it please see our Ketogenic Diet Page.

The long-term complications of Diabetes occur over time. The risk increases having other health issues which can be disabling or even life-threatening. These conditions as stated by the Mayo Clinic include:

• Cardiovascular disease. Diabetes dramatically increases the risk of various cardiovascular problems, including coronary artery disease with chest pain (angina), heart attack, stroke and narrowing of arteries (atherosclerosis). If you have diabetes, you’re more likely to have heart disease or stroke.
• Nerve damage (neuropathy). Excess sugar can injure the walls of the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) that nourish your nerves, especially in your legs. This can cause tingling, numbness, burning or pain that usually begins at the tips of the toes or fingers and gradually spreads upward.Left untreated, you could lose all sense of feeling in the affected limbs. Damage to the nerves related to digestion can cause problems with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation. For men, it may lead to erectile dysfunction.
• Kidney damage (nephropathy). The kidneys contain millions of tiny blood vessel clusters (glomeruli) that filter waste from your blood. Diabetes can damage this delicate filtering system. Severe damage can lead to kidney failure or irreversible end-stage kidney disease, which may require dialysis or a kidney transplant.
• Eye damage (retinopathy). Diabetes can damage the blood vessels of the retina (diabetic retinopathy), potentially leading to blindness. Diabetes also increases the risk of other serious vision conditions, such as cataracts and glaucoma.
• Foot damage. Nerve damage in the feet or poor blood flow to the feet increases the risk of various foot complications. Left untreated, cuts and blisters can develop serious infections, which often heal poorly. These infections may ultimately require toe, foot or leg amputation.
• Skin conditions. Diabetes may leave you more susceptible to skin problems, including bacterial and fungal infections.
• Hearing impairment. Hearing problems are more common in people with diabetes.
• Alzheimer’s disease. Type 2 diabetes may increase the risk of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease. The poorer your blood sugar control, the greater the risk appears to be. Although there are theories as to how these disorders might be connected, none has yet been proved.
• Depression. Depression symptoms are common in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Depression can affect diabetes management.

As you know, there is a wide disparity and confusion associated with what causes weight gain and how we can lose weight. Regardless, the fact is that obesity is a significant health issue in the US and worldwide. What now is emerging, gaining weight is not just a matter of calories in versus calories out — it’s not just an issue with a person’s discipline on managing what they eat and the amount of exercise that they do.  

Here we will focus on new research that provides a more intricate understanding of weight gain and obesity as a hormonal reaction to the food we eat and the drive of our bodies to maintain homeostasis through our weight set point. When fully understood, it explains why our current recommendations are only partial. Also, weight gain/obesity must be understood as a time-based condition, which occurs over long periods.  For those interested in learning more there are two books we are recommending on the subject:

• Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It by Gary Taubes
• The Obesity Code: Unlocking The Secret of Weight Loss by Dr. Jason Fung

The new studies are showing that weight gain is a hormonal condition governed by Insulin and Cortisol.

Insulin

Insulin has multiple functions.  One of the main purposes is moving glucose from the bloodstream into cells, which includes liver, muscle, fat, and brain cells. The body maintains a balance between the food consumed and the energy needed in the short term and energy required when we are not eating.  Extra glucose at times of eating is converted to fat for later consumption.  In a balance state, insulin is used during short intervals balanced with times of non eating.

Weight gain occurs when higher levels of insulin are needed over longer periods of time.  This occurs based on diets with high amounts of refined sugar, high quanities of carbohydrates, snacks, and surgary drinks causing storage of fat.

Eating in this manner drives further insulin resistance. Insulin resistance means more insulin is needed to perform the same function while also increasing fat storage and therefore weight gain. 

There are severe health problems associated with hyperglycemia if there is too much glucose in the blood. When insulin is elevated, and you exert yourself (exercise or work), rather than burning fat (stored energy) as designed, the presence of insulin assumes there is enough readily available glucose to meet the demand. When there is not, you get hungry even though there is fat available to meet the demand.  The net effect is you gain weight.

Since the late 1950s we were told that fat was bad for us.  Over the last 60 – 70 years our food products have removed fat.  When they removed fat, they put in carbohydrates and chemicals, mostly refined sugar. It turns out there was no clinical evidence for eliminating fat from our diet.

Here are the behavior changes that have occurred since the 1970s that have resulted in the rise in the obesity epidemic:

• Adoption of low-fat, high carbohydrate diet
• Increased number of eating opportunities per day
• More meals eating out
• More fast food restaurants
• More time spent in cars and vehicles
• Increase use of computers and video games
• Increase in dietary sugar
• Increase use of high-fructose corn syrup
• Increase portion sizes

Some of the common beliefs that are not accurate.

1. Calories in and calories out are independent of each other.  Not all calories are the same. One hundred grams of broccoli is not treated by the body in the same way as the same amount of sugar or bread.  Also, the level of insulin resistance affects how these calories are processed.
2. The metabolic rate is stable. When the body tries to maintain a homeostatic state, it slows or speeds up metabolism causing different energy to be burned which we can not directly control.
3. We control what we eat.  As explained above, the body will create hunger based on the need for nutrition from eating empty food or due to high levels of insulin resistance

We all respond a little differently, and some individuals are more tolerant of carbohydrates than others.  The best way to understand is to do personal testing to know how you relate to food.  See the Tools Section.

Cortisol

Cortisol is our stress hormone. This hormone manages our fight or flight response to perceived threats. It provides the energy, glucose, to support our ability to respond.  This mechanism was expected to be a short response, either escaping or dying. In our modern times we have conditions that cause stress over extended times, whether that be work situations or home situations, without the physical energy-consuming activities.  The net result is elevated glucose from fat conversion increasing insulin and insulin resistance.

What we can do

Fundamentally we need to lower our insulin levels.  If you are insulin resistant (prediabetic or diabetic), it is essential to reduce insulin resistance.

• Reduce those carbohydrates that increase your insulin levels.  You can find this out by testing your blood sugar after eating specific foods.  
• Eliminate sugars, especially sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup – considered by many as the worst foods that we eat.
• Reduce or eliminate processed foods.  Replace with whole foods.
• Eat more good fats that do not raise insulin levels
• Moderate protein. Too much protein increases insulin.
• Consider a Ketogenic diet, at least for a while to reduce insulin resistance.
• Consider reducing the number of times that you eat each day, reducing insulin and allowing for fat burning.
• Consider fasting, both intermittent fasting and other types of fasting.
• Lower stress (Meditation, Yoga, Excercise, More time in nature, Quality relationships)

We recommend starting simply.  Start with eliminating foods with sugar, especially those with sucrose and high-fructose corn syrups.  Try eating food that has a low glycemic index. Then begin eating more good fats and fewer carbohydrates. As you start, you will begin to notice being more satiated and reduction in unconscious eating. The diet we are recommending to lose weight and reduce insulin and insulin resistance is the Ketogenic Diet.  See the Resource section, “Ketogenic Diet” and “Getting Started”.

Support Program Information

During the week of January 14th, we will begin our 3-month support program for people that want to change their diet to lose weight and/or reduce their insulin resistance.  As everyone is unique, we understand that people will make changes at his or her own pace and will respond differently to different foods. There will be tools that you can use to check your results and adjust accordingly. Here are some of the topics that we will cover:

• Education
• Clarifying personal goals and objectives
• How to measure results in multiple ways
• Support people in transitioning to a healthier diet and lifestyle
• Provide recipes that are nutritious and empower participants to be successful
• Confidentially
• Provide support and Q&A

Introduction Webinar:  Next one being schedule (TBD)

If you any question please contact us by clicking here.