Has anyone reversed type 2 diabetes with lc?

[PurTliLady]

Happy to answer any questions I could... I want you guys to know the important things about blood sugar. Our LC diets are great for people with generally normal BS (blood sugar)... it can be dangerous for people taking diabetes meds to restrict their carbs( can drop them too quick or dangerously low)... I want that to be well understood!!! And hell... I see the effects of sugar ups and downs daily... I work in an ER...

[CTIgrad]

My father has/had type 2.

When he was on the doctor prescribed diet/meds he could barely maintain sugars. Since going on atkins, he has come off meds, and has been normal now for several months.

One other interesting note, this months Mens Health has an article in it about this exact thing. Its a few pages long and is about how a low carb & exercise regiment is actually the best cure/treatment for type 2. Go pick it up, the read is worth the 4 bucks.

[Sleepy]

yes i have

[brandy998]

Originally Posted by Sleepy

yes i have

Sleepy - You tease! Give us the deets!!!

[Gr82bthin]

Yep, I am a T2 diabetic who no longer takes meds for diabetes, high cholestral or depression. I went to a new doctor when my insurance changed and she told me to get the Atkins book, read it, and do it. I did, lost 50 pounds and have never looked back. I switched from Atkins to Protein Power in March and have continued to lose. All my blood work is perfect, I've never felt better or been healthier. I might add that I tried a lot of other diet programs that did not work for my body. I will always have to stick to a lc woe, but I have no problems with doing that.

[melehundele]

Originally Posted by PurTliLady

type 2 diabetes is due to inactivity and weight gain.

Good information. But this is a little oversimplified. Type 2 is due to more than inactivity and weight gain (or overweight)--there are plenty of sedentary overweight people who don't develop it, active overweight people who do, and not particularly-overweight people who also do. There is a strong genetic component and maybe other physiological factors that influence whether someone develops type 2. This also disregards the

I was surprised when I got a copy of Atkins '72 book and he talked about how some people--those most likely, he thought, to benefit from his diet--as having overactive pancreases, to the extent that they produced too much insulin throughout their lifetimes. This leads to hypogyclemia (low blood sugar) early on and then to eventual desensitization of the cells to insulin (which is insulin resistance). Eventually, the cells become too resistant to even the extraordinary amount of insulin produced OR the pancreas "burns out" from overproduction, and then you have hyperglycemia (which is high blood sugar, which is diabetes).

If your pancreas burns out (as mine may have, though I am still type 2), you have to inject insulin. In other words, some type 2's are not able to produce insulin.

The reason this was surprising to me is it correlated somewhat with what modern authorities (such as Richard Bernstein, MD) have been writing, and was out there way back when I was only 2 years old. Before I grew to become hypoglycemic, then insulin resistant, and finally diabetic.

[Blood Sugar 101]

Here's a page I put together that explains why Type 2 diabetes is NOT caused by diet or lack of exercise. It goes over what the academic research has found about the genetic and chemical exposures that cause Type 2 diabetes.

You Did Not Eat Your Way To Diabetes

[melehundele]

Thanks BS101! So you are the infamous "phlaunt" lady!

[Blood Sugar 101]

Yup, I'm the phlaunt lady.

--Jenny

[SUZYQ]

Don't forget Dr. Bernstein??

Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. A Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars. Official Web Site

[emslight]

Have just looked at Dr Bernstein's website and ordered the book for my Dad. Thanks for suggesting it and for all your help and advice everyone. Ems x

[emslight]

Originally Posted by Blood Sugar 101

Here's a page I put together that explains why Type 2 diabetes is NOT caused by diet or lack of exercise. It goes over what the academic research has found about the genetic and chemical exposures that cause Type 2 diabetes.

You Did Not Eat Your Way To Diabetes

This is brilliant and has come at exactly the right time as I know my Dad blames himself and I know that at times, his children have pointed the finger at his lifestyle and blamed that for his current situation. I am glad to know that, in fact, his lifestyle is more symptomatic of his condition. It is also a wake up call for me. Whilst I am not severly overweight (153 pounds) and am only 31, I have been a binge eater for a lot of my 20s and only since doing lc this last month have I finally been able to curb the cravings and sugar addiction. If I also have a genetic disposition for diabetes then it is good to know about it now, whilst I am young and can do something about it.

One thing I wanted to mention also is, my Dad has had ME for the last 15 years (partly why he has become so inactive and overweight as he feels run down all the time and excercise is so much harder for hm than your average person - this for a man who was an amazing athlete in his youth!) I'm wondering if you have come across a link between this and diabetes/ metabolic syndrome. I have always thought that he could control it better with diet but he never explored this. Because the ME made him feel sluggish then the sugar/alcohol fixes were a 'pick-me-up' for him and so the cycle continued...

[Blood Sugar 101]

Originally Posted by emslight

I know my Dad blames himself and I know that at times, his children have pointed the finger at his lifestyle and blamed that for his current situation.
..

The self hatred caused by the media's continual repetition of the non-truth that people with Type 2 cause their condition is the single biggest obstacle to healing. I have heard more feedback about this page than any other on the site from people in all walks of life. Some tell me that they were in tears after reading it and that this knowledge freed them to do what they'd been unable to do before.

I was very fortunate that my diabetes is an unusual non-insulin resistant form so I had no weight problem at all until my blood sugar went over a certain threshhold and then I was overwhelmed by obsessive hunger. I was old enough by then to know that this was not ME, but something chemical going on, and because I didn't take it personally, I could do the research needed to understand what was going on.

People with innate IR have weight problems all their lives but assume that their eating behavior is due to their personality, not having the experience of normal hunger.

If I had to reduce my message to a few words it would be: HUNGER IS A SYMPTOM NOT A PERSONALITY FLAW.

If you are hungry, your blood sugar is fluctuating too much. I don't think it is insulin levels that make us hungry, as I don't produce much insulin at all due to the nature of my own diabetes, but if my blood sugar goes up and drops swiftly I'll get ravenous.

High insulin levels will pack glucose into fat cells, so lowering insulin makes weight loss easier, but hunger is almost entirely about your brain responding to a drop in blood sugar that it erroneously thinks means you are about to go unconscious and die. It responds to that by ordering you to eat carbs in a way that is VERY hard to ignore.

[Prozak]

I agree with BS101....

"The self hatred caused by the media's continual repetition of the non-truth that people with Type 2 cause their condition is the single biggest obstacle to healing"


There is so much emotion involved with disease and health.. and what we need to realize is that as children and young adults, we did what we were told to do, ate what we were fed, with no implications that it was damaging to our health. It is not our parents fault either, and I know my Mom places a lot of blame on herself when it comes to her children and their health as adults, but it is also not her fault.

Does your Dad consume aspartame? if he does, I highly recommend the thread on Sweet Misery.. there is some light being shed on the correlation between MS and aspartame, so it might be worth taking a look at.

Good luck, I can only hope my children have as much interest in my health and well being as you do for your Dad

[Prozak]

Oops my apologies, it is too early for me and I read ME as being MS.

What is ME?? :embarassed:

[melehundele]

Originally Posted by Prozak

What is ME??

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which is on the same spectrum I think as fibromyalgia and other conditions implicated in the anti-aspartame movement.

Jenny, I have to add my thanks for that page as well. As a result of always being a hefty kid (though not as hefty as I was constantly told at the time) and not having a taste for protein foods (always prefering starch and sweet), I was conditioned to believe that this was something I did to myself. I actually wept during my meetings with the nurse at diabetes education, overcome by the guilt of having caused myself to develop this horrible condition. The nurse, on looking at my family history (T2 on both sides in grandparents and aunts and uncles, a mother with hypoglycemia and dad with IR before he died at 56) that I was "pretty well doomed" to have to face this condition sooner or later and that I did not CAUSE this. Her advice and your page steeled me to deal with the accusations that came even after this from family members.

I believe the cards are stacked against us, those of us who are on the T2 path. I am not saying any of us are without perhaps some level of "responsibility" for developing T2, to the extent that we can all take action to control it through diet and exercise...and had we all had active lifestyles with sensible (not high carb) diets for our lives (or lived like cavemen, with as much famine as feast)...we may have forestalled the development of the condition even as long as our lifetimes. But through conditioning, modern culture, and lack of information, that wasn't how the hand played out. It IS our responsibility to use the information we have to manage the condition.

[Prozak]

ooooooooooooh my goodness thanks!!!

[I am also on the train of thought that fibro and gluten intolerance are related... my sister suffers from gluten intolerance, (not celiac's).. and her symptoms absolutely mirror those of fibro, when she eliminates gluten she feels fab]

[Sleepy]

Originally Posted by brandy998

Sleepy - You tease! Give us the deets!!!

i was taking avandia for years
since following a lo carb diet and exercising
i was taken off all my medication 2 years ago
and my blood work is phenominal per my doctors words
she says I show no signs of type II diabetes at all anymore

[emslight]

Originally Posted by Prozak

Ems, if he likes cheesecake, I have one he will LOVE.

I have fooled the biggest critics and been told it was better than The Cheesecake Cafe's low carb cheesecake.

Prozak. I'd love your cheesecake recipe.

Folks - quick update. My Pa has lost 7 pounds in a week! He is so excited and this is exactly the encouragement he needed to continue with this new woe. Made me laugh that he called me from the supermarket and I talked him through his grocery shopping. He's now checking labels for carb counts.

Thanks everyone for all the tips and encouragement.

[Prozak]

O.M.G. that is AWESOME!!!!!

And he will just keep getting better and better and better!

here is my cheesecake recipe, tweaked to be SF from a totally awesome recipe of a friend. it has never let me down, never had ANYONE NOT ASK for seconds LOL and on this WOE it can actually be eaten for BREAKFAST!

it is better than the cheesecake cafe's SF cheesecake, by a long shot:

2pk (8oz size) cream cheese room temp
4 large eggs separated
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup splenda (you can use even less depending on your sweetness tolerance)
1/2 cup whipping cream


Blend the cheese, vanilla, splenda and egg yolks in one bowl.

Whip the egg whites until stiff in a separate bowl.

Fold together and mix well.

Pour into a greased 8x8 cake pan (I don't own a spring form pan) I spray with pam, and then sprinkle a bit of splenda over the pam.

*IMPORTANT instructions: Pour the mixture into the cake pan, and place in preheated 350° oven. Turn the oven down to 300° and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes turn OFF the oven but leave the cheesecake in to finish baking... (if it comes out browned, it still tastes fine, but you might want to lessen the baking time a little next time)

While the cake is cooling, whip up 1/2 cup of whipping cream, and fold it into 1/2 cup of sour cream.... add 1 tsp of vanilla and 2TBP of splenda (or more to taste, i do not need a lot of sweet). Spread the topping over the cake, cover with foil and place in the fridge until completely cooled.

IT IS 3,000% BETTER THE NEXT DAY!



The cake is fine without the topping, but if you can afford the extra carbs, it is a SPECTACULAR TREAT!!! I served it to my inlaws and kids with a tsp of splenda sweetened strawberry jam (smuckers) I like it just alone.


It works out to about 40 (or more if you use more splenda) grams/carbs PER CAKE so you'd have to do the math on serving size.... 8 pieces is a good serving size: for 8 servings that is about 5 carbs per serving, without the topping it is about 4 carbs per serving.

Enjoy! And don't overcook it

[Blood Sugar 101]

The truly tragic part about Type 2 diabetes is that almost EVERYONE who cuts down on carbs sees immediate and dramatic improvements in their blood sugars. Most people can get blood sugars eating around 100 g a day, sometimes a bit more, even. This is all it takes to maintain normal health.

And yet, because the American Diabetes Association continues to put its vast resources into telling people with diabetes to eat a very high carb diet, filled with sugar and flour and counter it with high doses of dangerous drugs, people with Type 2 diabetes in America who follow their doctor's advice have blood sugars so high they lose their eyes, kidneys, and toes at an alarming rate.

It is a totally unnecessary plague. So do reach out to your dear ones with diabetes and explain how helpful it will be to cut carbs. But keep in mind that if they are cutting carbs for blood sugar control they need to use their meter after meals to find out how many grams they can eat. Not follow any printed guidelines. We all tolerate different amounts of carb.

[wifezilla]

If I had to reduce my message to a few words it would be: HUNGER IS A SYMPTOM NOT A PERSONALITY FLAW.

[Off My Duff]

There is some excellent advice in this thread-thank you. Subscribing.

[emslight]

Thanks Prozac for the cheescake recipe. My Dad is coming to stay next week so I will make it for him then and report back. He had a weigh in today with his PT and has now lost 9 pounds, an inch from his chest, an inch from his waist and has reduced his body fat from 44% to 37%! All this in just 10 days. He is chuffed to bits and so am I. He now has the Dr Bernstein book which he is using and my step-Mum (who is a wonderful cook) is cooking him different meals using the recipes in the back (oh how I would love to have someone cook every meal for me as a perfect low carb one!) He's not following it to the letter - he's allowing himself berries rather than cutting out fruit completely, and he is still drinking but trying to limit it to wine with meals ...but... it is progress of a massive kind. He's a tall man (6 ft 3) and now weighs in at 246 pounds. I reckon if he can shed another 14 - 20 he'll look and feel so much better.

[Prozak]

Berries are full of awesome goodness Watch the grapes and melons when it comes to other fruit though!

I am so happy to hear this... 7% body fat DOWN?? That is amazing!

Thanks for the update, i can't wait to hear more

[BABSY]

Originally Posted by Sleepy