Has anyone reversed type 2 diabetes with lc?

[BABSY]

Originally Posted by Blood Sugar 101

Emslight,

If your dad can drink dry red wine instead of beer, a glass each evening will help with his blood sugar control. Just stay away from the sugary wines like white zinfandel.

and yes beer is the WORST thing you can drink besides the sweet wines etc. with sugar

[melehundele]

I am diabetic and do OK with low-carb beers and liquor. I prefer sweeter wines (well, not dry ones) so try not to go there.

The trick is that the alcohol tends to lower blood sugar while the carbs in the drink (if there are any) tend to raise the blood sugar. How that balances out depends in part on how competent your liver is to handle the alcohol....I suspect if your liver is challenged, for example from some period of extended drinking, you would be in a different position than people who have not been heavy alcohol users.

[BABSY]

Originally Posted by melehundele

I am diabetic and do OK with low-carb beers and liquor. I prefer sweeter wines (well, not dry ones) so try not to go there.

The trick is that the alcohol tends to lower blood sugar while the carbs in the drink (if there are any) tend to raise the blood sugar. How that balances out depends in part on how competent your liver is to handle the alcohol....I suspect if your liver is challenged, for example from some period of extended drinking, you would be in a different position than people who have not been heavy alcohol users.

when you are taking meds, the combination of the alcohol and the meds lower it at the time but you pay later. Thats what happened to me. I see now that I can control it much better without doing that and dont need my insulin for the last couple of days since I have been sober. I only drank in the evenings

[melehundele]

Originally Posted by BABSY

when you are taking meds, the combination of the alcohol and the meds lower it at the time but you pay later. Thats what happened to me. I see now that I can control it much better without doing that and dont need my insulin for the last couple of days since I have been sober. I only drank in the evenings

I think it still probably comes down to your liver function and the health of your liver. I have been on a battery of meds (from insulin sensitizers to incretin mimetics, things that target the pancreas to the liver...my old doc pretty well had me try them all) and now pretty much just take insulin, and the basic pattern is the same....alcohol lowers the blood sugar. If I drink something non-carby (like diet pop and rum), my sugar will go lower.

The explanation I have read for this (in Bernstein's book and others) is that, basically, alcohol occupies your liver and prevents it from messing around with your blood sugar. Much of the diabetic issue (at least for many) is the liver's dumping of glucose when "it" senses the blood sugar level is too low. When your liver is occupied with processing the alcohol, it doesn't do that, so your blood sugar does not get that inappropriate raise.

[StephanieK]

Originally Posted by Prozak

I am guessing it is the weight loss, not the surgery that 'cures' it.... most means of weight loss should have an impact on your insulin output, in a good way

There is a study being done to see if the small intestine is the problem area for type 2 diabetes. So if diet doesn't work there may be hope down the road for those who are suffering.

Diabetes May Be Disorder Of Upper Intestine: Surgery May Correct It
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ScienceDaily (Mar. 6, 2008) — Growing evidence shows that surgery may effectively cure Type 2 diabetes — an approach that not only may change the way the disease is treated, but that introduces a new way of thinking about diabetes.

A new article — published in a special supplement to the February issue of Diabetes Care by a leading expert in the emerging field of diabetes surgery — points to the small bowel as the possible site of critical mechanisms for the development of diabetes.

The study's author, Dr. Francesco Rubino of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, presents scientific evidence on the mechanisms of diabetes control after surgery. Clinical studies have shown that procedures that simply restrict the stomach's size (i.e., gastric banding) improve diabetes only by inducing massive weight loss. By studying diabetes in animals, Dr. Rubino was the first to provide scientific evidence that gastrointestinal bypass operations involving rerouting the gastrointestinal tract (i.e., gastric bypass) can cause diabetes remission independently of any weight loss, and even in subjects that are not obese.

[emslight]

Update on my Pa: he has now lost 19 pounds, several inches and reduced his bodyfat from 42 to 26%. He is low carbing, has reduced portion sizes and working out 3 x a week. He has also practically reduced his drinking to nil. I am chuffed to bits for him and incredibly proud. Thanks everyone for your amazing advice and support.

[Margot 65]

O.M.G. I am so happy for him and everyone that loves him!

What a gift, really.... he must feel fantastic

Thanks for the amazing and fantabulous update, be sure to tell him that there are many of us who are very jealous of his speedy success!

[melehundele]

That is OUTSTANDING! Congrats to him!

And thanks for the cheesecake recipe in this thread, Prozak...finally made one yesterday and there isn't much left today!

[Margot 65]

Aw you are more than welcome!

I make a large one (6 eggs, 32oz cream cheese) at least once a week for hubby to take for his brunch. (7 days a week)

he said his day just doesn't go as well without, as it does on the days he has it

i can't really eat it anymore, as it has become much to sweet for my tastes.. but the kids eat it 2-3 times a week for breakfast!

at Thanksgiving/Xmas, try adding some pureed pumpkin and lots of pumpkin spice, OMG you have to be sure to make 2 because it WILL get eaten up. You can even make a 'crust' using fine ground almonds, splenda and melted butter.

I have also played around with adding lemon zest and other flavors too.

[Blood Sugar 101]

Your dad is a star!

Now the challenge will be to support him in sticking with it after the initial thrill of success is gone. That is the toughest part of diabetes. There's no "goal" unlike weight loss. You just have to keep slogging away at control day in and day out. The reward is a bunch of things that DON'T happen, which are sometimes hard to appreciate.

[melehundele]

Originally Posted by Blood Sugar 101

Your dad is a star!

Now the challenge will be to support him in sticking with it after the initial thrill of success is gone. That is the toughest part of diabetes. There's no "goal" unlike weight loss. You just have to keep slogging away at control day in and day out. The reward is a bunch of things that DON'T happen, which are sometimes hard to appreciate.

VERY good point! That IS the toughest part, although getting some kind of control certainly is empowering.

[SUZYQ]

Hooray!! What great news!! And, you have every right to be proud of him!! I would be too!!

[emslight]

Hey guys

Hope you don't mind me reviving this thread but I wanted to let you know some great news. My Dad has had the results back from his bloodwork (6 months since the diabetes diagnosis) and he has been told that he HAS REVERSED THE DIABETES. I am completely over the moon. This is 100% down to him totally changing his diet to a LC woe and I feel very proud that I have held his hand the entire way through this! Thank goodness he put his faith in me rather than the high carb, low fat diet sheet his doc gave him.

But... I have a question.

My Dad's cholest. has not reduced at all. He said that he thinks it's because he's doing a high fat diet. What I don't understand is how the readings work. I feel sure that I read an article on Jimmy Moore's blog about good cholest and bad cholest but docs not really differentiating between the two? Anyway, I'd quite like to find out a bit more so my Pa doesn't now worry about the fat in his diet and make moves to reduce it and then find himself returning to the bad habits of before... I'd love to give him some feedback here so if anyone knows the answer, it would very much be appreciated.

TIA
Ems
x

[wifezilla]

When he has a cholesterol test, he needs to have the particle size tested otherwise he isn't getting the real picture. You can have a high LDL # and be perfectly fine because your LDL particles are big and fluffy. If they are small and dense, then you have problems. The number alone tells you nothing.

More important indicators of possible problems are triglyceride levels and c-reactive protein.