Diet reverses type 2 diabetes

It's a very small study but all of the participants had their insulin levels return to normal.

article

small excerpt - if you're interested, you need to read the article.

The results of the diet

Under close supervision of a medical team, 11 people who had developed diabetes later in life were put on an extreme diet of just 600 calories a day consisting of liquid diet drinks and non-starchy vegetables. They were matched to a control group of people without diabetes and then monitored over eight weeks. Insulin production from their pancreas and fat content in the liver and pancreas were studied.

After just one week, the Newcastle University team found that their pre-breakfast blood sugar levels had returned to normal.

A special MRI scan of their pancreas revealed that the fat levels in the pancreas had returned from an elevated level to normal (from around 8% to 6%). In step with this, the pancreas regained the normal ability to make insulin and as a result, blood sugar after meals steadily improved.

[FordGT90Concept]

600 calories a day? That's...dangerous.

[LAN_deRf_HA]

That's not bad for a week or two, especially if it's got all the crap you need in it. It's basically a survivor mode diet, you'll live, and apparently be cured of diabetes. It's funny I kinda always figured if diet causes this state that diet could reverse it. Why is it just now that we're trying this?

[Jetster]

I ate 600 calories while reading the article

[The_Ish]

Originally Posted by Jetster

I ate 600 calories while reading the article

Which is the problem.. The average male burns about 2-2500 calories by simply existing each day, so I'm not sure how they were thinking. And even IF it would work, i'd rather have diabetes than be restricted to eating a couple of sandwiches or something.

[tuyen]

Originally Posted by The_Ish

Which is the problem.. The average male burns about 2-2500 calories by simply existing each day, so I'm not sure how they were thinking. And even IF it would work, i'd rather have diabetes than be restricted to eating a couple of sandwiches or something.

If you had diabetes, you'd be restricted to a hell of a lot more than just sandwiches. To say "I'd rather have diabetes" shows true ignorance.

[crazyeyesreaper]

agreed watching what my grand mother goes through id never want diabetes im thankful i dont have it and can enjoy what i like.

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by FordGT90Concept

600 calories a day? That's...dangerous.

For long periods of time, yes. However, for a week or two or four, not really. It just forces the body to consume its fat reserves in an expedited manner, which is exactly the point here.

The key afterwards is to continue to to maintain a diet that keeps loosing fat or keeps the fat levels in the body at a health level.

Originally Posted by LAN_deRf_HA

That's not bad for a week or two, especially if it's got all the crap you need in it. It's basically a survivor mode diet, you'll live, and apparently be cured of diabetes. It's funny I kinda always figured if diet causes this state that diet could reverse it. Why is it just now that we're trying this?

Actually, I believe that is how this study first came about, people that had been standed with little to no food, came back cured of diabetes.

[erocker]

Originally Posted by FordGT90Concept

600 calories a day? That's...dangerous.

For two months. I'd say it's worth it for someone with diabetes to do it. You can stuff yourself with low calorie stuff no problem. So it's that, or medications that work half assed, other health issues, etc. I bet if moderate exercise was thrown in the mix, you could go a little higher with the calorie level.

[sneekypeet]

Originally Posted by erocker

you could go a little higher with the calorie level.

says the fat man with a bucket of chicken

[cadaveca]

Somehow I read the title as "Dirt 2 Cures Diabetes", and was like WTF!?!

[The_Ish]

Originally Posted by tuyen

If you had diabetes, you'd be restricted to a hell of a lot more than just sandwiches. To say "I'd rather have diabetes" shows true ignorance.

Oh, but I do have diabetes. Type 1 though. So i don't have to be as restrictive as a type 2.

Now, i can't speak for type 2 diabetes, since they can't inject themselves, thus making it impossible to live an unhealthy lifestyle. Or they could face a premature death, but that's their prerogative i guess.. The point is, i can chug a cola if i wanted to, but i don't. Just because i know how much insulin it really takes to get all that sugar out of the blood, it's frightening. Apart from the hassle of injecting myself "just for the sake" of having a chilled cola, people automatically assume that just because they don't have diabetes and have to go through the hassle of injecting insulin for every piece of food or candy they shove in their mouths, it's somehow "ok" to them.

Now that my friend.. Is true ignorance.

And let me make it clear right here and now. IF I choose to, i could pig out at candy and cola all day long, but having type 1 diabetes i have seen this "sugar is bad for you" etc in a different light than most ever will.

I'll give you a good example. 1,5 liters of cola. That's about 60 units of insulin to get the sugars out of the blood (personally tested once). A full healthy meal for me on any given day varry between 6-10 units of insulin. But non-diabetics don't have to worry. They don't realize this.

Additionally, i got diabetes at the age of 20, so i do know the difference between healthy and diabetic.

Summary is that if i choose to, i could live that average lifestyle most people share. You know, nice starchy food and some candy once in a while. But in the end, it's just to much hassle for comfort.

[Steevo]

Originally Posted by The_Ish

Which is the problem.. The average male burns about 2-2500 calories by simply existing each day, so I'm not sure how they were thinking. And even IF it would work, i'd rather have diabetes than be restricted to eating a couple of sandwiches or something.

Wow, you are so wrong. The average sedentary male in this day and age burns 1200-1700 calories.


Eating nothing but fiberous veggies and drinking water and taking vitamins will allow a overweight person to live and force their fat ass to burn the fat for the store energy that it has. A pound of fat has 4,000 calories. 20 Pounds overweight means you have enough fat to live on for forty days. As long as you maintain a very marginal carbohydrate intake and some protein you can live, well.

[Thatguy]

Originally Posted by The_Ish

Oh, but I do have diabetes. Type 1 though. So i don't have to be as restrictive as a type 2.

Now, i can't speak for type 2 diabetes, since they can't inject themselves, thus making it impossible to live an unhealthy lifestyle. Or they could face a premature death, but that's their prerogative i guess.. The point is, i can chug a cola if i wanted to, but i don't. Just because i know how much insulin it really takes to get all that sugar out of the blood, it's frightening. Apart from the hassle of injecting myself "just for the sake" of having a chilled cola, people automatically assume that just because they don't have diabetes and have to go through the hassle of injecting insulin for every piece of food or candy they shove in their mouths, it's somehow "ok" to them.

Now that my friend.. Is true ignorance.

And let me make it clear right here and now. IF I choose to, i could pig out at candy and cola all day long, but having type 1 diabetes i have seen this "sugar is bad for you" etc in a different light than most ever will.

I'll give you a good example. 1,5 liters of cola. That's about 60 units of insulin to get the sugars out of the blood (personally tested once). A full healthy meal for me on any given day varry between 6-10 units of insulin. But non-diabetics don't have to worry. They don't realize this.

Additionally, i got diabetes at the age of 20, so i do know the difference between healthy and diabetic.

Summary is that if i choose to, i could live that average lifestyle most people share. You know, nice starchy food and some candy once in a while. But in the end, it's just to much hassle for comfort.

Let me clue you into something, you body become resistant to the synthetic insulines overtime, they become less effective. They also have some serious side effects like kideny damage, lack of blood pressure control etc. So you best bet is to minimize your insuline use as much as possiable. BTW get your iron levels check, High iron levels and iron loading can cuase type1 like diabetes symptoms in people who should not be diabetic.

My wife has been living with this disease for 25years, I know way more about, its cuases and its research then I would have ever cared to.

[The_Ish]

Originally Posted by Steevo

Wow, you are so wrong. The average sedentary male in this day and age burns 1200-1700 calories.


Eating nothing but fiberous veggies and drinking water and taking vitamins will allow a overweight person to live and force their fat ass to burn the fat for the store energy that it has. A pound of fat has 4,000 calories. 20 Pounds overweight means you have enough fat to live on for forty days. As long as you maintain a very marginal carbohydrate intake and some protein you can live, well.

I think we have a different view of what average as well as sedentary means.
Also, carbs are not needed to survive, so right back at ya
edit/ No you did not say it was "needed to survive" but it's my interpretation of what you wrote. If you meant basal metabolic rate, i stand corrected. I meant the average person's day as a whole. I didn't want to complicate things.
I couldn't count on that people on this kind of forum would know much on the subject, but you clearly proved me wrong.

Originally Posted by Thatguy

Let me clue you into something, you body become resistant to the synthetic insulines overtime, they become less effective. They also have some serious side effects like kideny damage, lack of blood pressure control etc. So you best bet is to minimize your insuline use as much as possiable. BTW get your iron levels check, High iron levels and iron loading can cuase type1 like diabetes symptoms in people who should not be diabetic.

My wife has been living with this disease for 25years, I know way more about, its cuases and its research then I would have ever cared to.

I'm sorry to hear that. About your wife i mean. Yes, but you can counteract the resistance with exercise. And i love exercise. Also, I've only had it for let's see.. 4 years in November. I see a lot of "diabetes cure" related papers, but when you read them it usually is in rats, or very experimental. But I'm a young guy, so I'm holding my thumbs for a cure. But I'm also a realist, i mean, they've been saying a cure is "five years away" since the 70's. But i think when it does come, i believe type 1 will be treated very quickly here. If I'm not mistaken, Sweden are among the worst places statistically. And since insulin and everything that goes with it is "free" (paid by tax payers) here, it would be a great economic relif for everyone, that is to say, use that tax money for other things.

I think it's worth noting that type I and II don't have much in common. Type I is due to an inability to produce insulin. Beta cells (???) that make it are killed off by the immune system iirc.

Type II is more properly called metabolic syndrome. T2's usually still make at least some insulin but their cells are resistant to it and therefore they require more in order to pull glucose out of the blood.

Also, Type 2's often don't require anything more than oral medication and maybe some sort of basal insulin (basically, a slow-release form of the drug).

This study was only relevant to Type 2.

[f22a4bandit]

Staying with a whole foods diet will solve a lot more health related problems than just Type II Diabetes. Think of all of the processed food you eat a day, and all of the related problems that come with that type of food: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, heart related issues, etc. A lot of the diseases we're seeing today are definitely self-inflicted, and easily solved by simply fixing your diet and staying even moderately active. It's definitely not easy (I'm slowly transitioning, and slip every now and again) but the reward is worth the cost in my opinion.

[Steevo]

Originally Posted by The_Ish

I think we have a different view of what average as well as sedentary means.
Also, carbs are not needed to survive, so right back at ya
edit/ No you did not say it was "needed to survive" but it's my interpretation of what you wrote. If you meant basal metabolic rate, i stand corrected. I meant the average person's day as a whole. I didn't want to complicate things.
I couldn't count on that people on this kind of forum would know much on the subject, but you clearly proved me wrong.

Carbs are not NEEDED, but as a man who has gotten ripped a few times I can definitely say a few complex carbs will go a long way to feeling good.

Basal metabolic rate for people is a horrible measure of anything. We are living in a lazy age, our ancestors used to run/walk miles a day. It has been proven that people live longer and healthier with a lower caloric intake, and the 2000 a day was set years ago, for the population as a average. So does a office worker need the intake that a construction worker does? I used to consume 4-16 thousand calories per day when working construction and working out. Now I eat 1500-2500 and I need to lose weight. I could eat only 1000 per day for weeks on end and work out and be healthy. Protein has a significantly different effect than a bowl of ice cream also. So the type of calories, and the work being done with those calories is also significant.

[The_Ish]

Originally Posted by Steevo

I used to consume 4-16 thousand calories per day when working construction and working out. Now I eat 1500-2500 and I need to lose weight.

Yeah.. I wonder why you need to loose weight..
Dude seriously, WSM competitors eat that much.. If you cut those 16k in half.. Maybe.
And what's this talk about BMR not being accurate? Did our organs all of a sudden stop using as much energy as they used to?

Originally Posted by Steevo

Protein has a significantly different effect than a bowl of ice cream also

This is the first factual statement I've seen so far. And it's not really beyond the realm of common sense

[va4leo]

You know what is hillarious? watching people in a tech forum argue biology, especially when there is a clear lack of expertise! xD

[copenhagen69]

so did this cure the diabetes from them forever? or just while they were on the crazy diet?

[The_Ish]

For it to be cured, the dead beta cells would have to somehow magically grow back, which isn't gonna happen by simply eating less. Eating less requires less insulin, which is good if you've got a deficiency. Not sure why they would specify calories though. I haven't read the article, but 600 calories of sugar sure wouldn't help with anything.

[RejZoR]

I think the main purpose of this 600 calories diet is just to "clean" the body and not consume this little calories through longer periods.

Originally Posted by RejZoR

I think the main purpose of this 600 calories diet is just to "clean" the body and not consume this little calories through longer periods.

Right. I think the key to the article is the part where they talk about the fat content of the pancreas dropping from 8% to 6% iirc.

[The_Ish]

Originally Posted by RejZoR

I think the main purpose of this 600 calories diet is just to "clean" the body and not consume this little calories through longer periods.

"Clean"? Sounds like "toning" your muscles.
If you want to "clean" your system you can just shove a water tube up your bum and flush it all out.. Hey look i just cured..