Is it really possible to cure type 2 diabetes with diet and

celidar

Hi all,

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about a year and a half ago, and I am currently taking metaformin 4x500mg per day. Before becomming diabetic my weight peaked around 17stone (height 6.2ft), currently I am around 14 stone, and want to try and lose 2 more stone.

When diagnosed I was told that "it was a chronic condition and there is no cure, and sugar was now like poison to me". Over the past 6 months I have heard people mention on forum's that it can be cured with starvation type diets, or diet and exercise, or with.... I have watched episodes of the biggest loser where contestants have stated that they have cured/beaten their diabetes.

Do they mean cured? Or not dependant on medicine, or something else?

Would really love to hear stories from people that have some experience or knowledge of this. Oh and as ever always looking for more friends to share advice, and motivation.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and for any replies in advance.

voginma

yes... you see it all the time. when people start eating the right quantities and right amounts of the proper food, you can go off your medication.

carolann_22

I'm on metformin for PCOS. I'm on a low carb diet (per doc) and hope to be off the metformin in a few more pounds. The doctor is confident by changing my diet and exercising, I will be off

cmriverside

Yes, my mother is a good example of this.

NOT a starvation diet, just healthy foods and regular exercise. As she lost weight and became healthier, her Diabetes went away.

jennifer2977

I'm on metformin for PCOS. I'm on a low carb diet (per doc) and hope to be off the metformin in a few more pounds. The doctor is confident by changing my diet and exercising, I will be off

I also take it for PCOS. My doctor said that the symptoms correct themselves with weight loss, so I would have to assume that it should be (mostly) true for diabetes also. (PCOS can lead to insulin resistance).

mauigyrl

once you are diagnosed "diabetic" there is no cure. However, if you lose the weight and things get to normal it just means you are in "remission". I have diabetes and there is no cure.

desertsky1955

hi...I am at high risk for type 2 diabetes...My doctor told me that starches are as bad as sugar. I'm sorry that I don't know the answer. Hopefully someone knows the answer.

merzback

Friend me- i was on insulin at one time- told I'd never get off. Lost over 100lbs and not even on MEDS. It is possible in some cases, I can't say ALL of course because some of it is genetic!

judyed2

I was diagnosed a few weeks ago with type two diabetes. I have been following a low carb diet and my sugar level has actually dropped and I was told that if my weight keeps coming off, and i ecercise regularly, I will not need to take meds. However, the nurse did say it is incurable but can be well managed with diet and exercise, in some cases that is not enough..my mother is very thin and active and is still on meds for diabetes.

turtle612

You can change your diet and exercise which will result in weightloss, so that you don't need to take medication anymore.
But you will always have it. If you were to go back to eating alot of carbs and sugars than your blood sugar will spike and you'll need insulin to bring it down because your body won't be able to produce it.

chatterbox3110

I don't really know, is my answer.

But having said that, an acquaintance had a gastric bypass last year, and as soon as she came out of surgery they stopped her medication for diabetes type 2, which she had been diagnosed with over a year before. She's now about 8 stones lighter, and still on no diabetic medication, so perhaps it isn't incurable?

ayshamc

I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes about 8 years ago when I was at my highest weight of 97kgs (213lbs) - I am now at 68kgs (149lbs) and I no longer have it. I did refuse to take the tablets because of the horrid side effects and when I moved here to the UK almost 5 years ago, I started a very slow weight loss. I have only been really trying to lose weight over the last year or so, but it has definitely gone, I had another blood test at the Dr's not long ago, just to make sure nothing was wrong and I no longer have Diabetes.

It can be done

CyberEd312

I am a type 2 diabetic (diagnosed in 2009) There is no cure and I hate when the biggest loser throws that term around so loosely on the show. Once you have full blown Type 1 or 2 Diabetes you have it for life, period!! It is not a case of lose weight and poof you don't have it anymore. When you get diabetes you lose about half of your receptor in the pancreas and the goal at that point once your diagnosed is to stabalize the effect that diabetes is doing to your body and slow down the progression of the disease. Metaformin is one of the oldest diabetes meds and it's core function is to control the amount of glucose (sugar) in your blood. It decreases the amount of glucose you absorb from your food and the amount of glucose made by your liver. Metformin also increases your body's response to insulin, and protects the remaining receptors you have left. The longer you can keep them the longer you can for go going on insulin. It is very possible (mainly type 2) to reverse the damage with diet and exercise and get your diabetes under control especially if your diabetes is directly weight related. Mine was and when I was diagnosed my A1c was 9.9 (a blood sugar level of around 250 avg. a day which was very bad) as the weight started coming off and my exercise increased my numbers started improving and now after losing 291 lbs. I have been at prediabetic levels (A1c of 5.4) for well over a year. My endo dr, is old school and has kept me on metaformin mainly because it controls insulin ( I was on glipizide for lowering B.S. but was taken off that when my A1c came down under 7.0)and it protects my remaining receptors. So yes some can have success with reversing their diabetes but no one is completely cured of the disease. Once you have it you have it for life.........

LisaRN9

Most type 2 diabetics who have insulin resistance at the cellular level can reverse this with diet and exercise. You may be able to go off your med after you lose as little as 10% of your present weight. Consult with your endocrinologist as you lose weight. It is very individual. Just know that gaining weight back and stopping your exercise program can put you back into insulin resistance. Good Luck!

JustKat2020

Something I didn't see in any of the posts but definitely worth considering is the addition of omega 3-6-9 fatty acids to your diet. It's good for your heart and joints and will greatly help reduce your triglycerides. I eat almost no fish (can't stand the stuff!) so I use a supplement. My favorite is a liquid product called Barlean's. I would also encourage you to get to familiar with the glycemic index and find food you enjoy that is low on the scale.

StJamesPT

Type 2 diabetes develops when the body can still make some insulin, but not enough, or when the insulin that is produced
does not work properly (known as insulin resistance).

Insulin acts as a key unlocking the cells, so if there is not enough insulin, or it is not working properly, the cells are only partially
unlocked (or not at all) and glucose builds up in the blood. Type 2 diabetes usually appears in people over the age of 40, though in South Asian and black people, who are at greater risk, it often appears from the age of 25. It is also becoming more common in children, adolescents and young people of all ethnicities.

Type 2 diabetes accounts for approximately 90 per cent of all people with diabetes and is treated with a healthy diet and increased physical activity. In addition to this, medication and/or insulin is often required.

Although diabetes cannot yet be cured it can be managed very successfully. This is likely to involve lifestyle changes that will have enormous health benefits and allow you to continue your normal day-to-day life.

The aim of managing your diabetes is to keep your blood glucose, blood pressure and blood fat levels as close to target as possible. This will also help reduce the risk of long-term complications.

Type 2 diabetes is a progressive condition and over time it may be that following a healthy eating plan and being physically active is not enough to control blood glucose levels. If this happens, your diabetes healthcare team may advise you to start or change medication. Some people with Type 2 diabetes will also need to take insulin to help control their blood glucose levels.

That said, I know from personal experience that clients of mine have reduced or even eliminated their need for medication by losing weight and/or through following a sensible eating and physical activity plan.

I hope that you find this information useful. Feel free to add me as a friend if you wish.

Mark Green
Personal Trainer, Exercise Referral Instructor and
Specialist Exercise Instructor (Diabetes and Obesity Management) REPs Level 4
Based in Bristol, UK

celidar

Many thanks to everyone for your responses, they are very informative and much appreciated.

susanswan

Hi,
I just stumbled across your post. I am a retired hospital nurse on a medical floor. I am NOT a doctor and I am NOT telling you what to do. I am offering to you another very controversial option that you MAY consider: Extreme dietary control. I HIGHLY recommend you research Dr. Joel Fuhrman, MD. Visit his website, read, read, read throughout, listen to his recorded radio shows through his website. website: http://www.drfuhrman.com/default.aspx Link to recorded radio shows: http://www.drfuhrman.com/voiceamerica/nutritional_wisdom.htm On this last link there is a show called "Don't control your diabetes get rid of it: http://www.drfuhrman.com/voiceamerica/mp3s/fuhrman121306.mp3

I am not diabetic, but I intend not to be. My mom was a type one diabetic dependent on insulin for 41 years from age 26 until her horrible, horrible diabetic death at age 68. Diabetics do not live on insulin for longer than 40 years as the needed insulin destroys their body as it helps them.

I will not lie to you I was a 205 pound nurse who lived on sugar. I watched doctors push pills on their patients and the pills caused more problems than the original problem. All I see on TV in America is commercials for suing the drug companies because you took such and such drug to treat diabetes, heart problems and what have you Drugs are NOT the answer! I fully believe that you can find your answers from Dr. Fuhrman. They are not popular answers because no one wants to stop eating steak, chocolate cake, and potato chips.

I started following Dr. Fuhrman very loosely in October and my last five pounds are just falling off of me. PLEASE do get his Eat to Live book on Amazon. It isn't expensive. You need a very good foundation to understand why in the world you would eat this way and this book gives you the reasons. It sounds impossible, but trust me it is NOT. It is a learning process and if I can do it so can you. You just start. Your doctor will tell you that you may not be able to control your diabetes this way, but my experience in the hospital with the lousy nutrition they served up there, they are not informed AT ALL!

I intend to eat this way forever. Please friend me if you find you need support in this. It is not a very popular notion to eat this way. You do not need to become a vegetarian or a vegan but yes, he does advocate veggies to be about 90 percent of your diet. your taste WILL change in a few weeks. You CAN learn to eat this way.

Please don't take type 2 diabetes lightly! The drugs you need cause other horrible problems and I have seen it time and time again over my 26 year career taking care of these people.

Susan

Akijade

I don't think you "cure" it, but you can get it down to where you don't need to control it with medication anymore. You should still be careful about what you eat, but for all intents and purposes... yes. My mother has type 2, and she got a gastric bypass. She is no longer on her medication to manage it, though I have a feeling she will be soon. She doesn't eat right anymore, and basically fell into the trap that a lot of gastric bypass patients can easily fall into.

Clint

I was diagnosed with diabetes a year ago. My A1C was over 13! I was put on Janumet. I took it faithfully for three months, went for a check-up and was a 6. However, I thought the side effects were going to kill me. I decided I was not going to be controlled by a pill and drastically changed my diet. So far so good! I also suffered gastritis so sometimes the low carb foods I needed to eat made me very ill. A year later, my stomach is much better, I am controlling with diet, and hope to stay this way. For me, it is genetic so I know I will never be cured. Good luck with your journey and just know a good diet and exercise give you the best chance to avoid the meds.

bcampbell54

I don't know about cured. per se, but I am dropping the level of my medications with each doctor's visit.
I hope you can do the same.
Good luck to you.

sweet110

Yes and no. They don't mean cured, they mean something closer to "control with diet." Cured would mean being able to go back to eating crap and have your blood sugar unaffected. Let's say I'm a person without diabetes...I could go two years eating crap and gaining weight and my blood sugar would probably be unaffected. Because I don't have diabetes. Yet. Since you have diabetes, losing weight and eating well might well make it seem as if the diabetes is gone. You'll be able to have some lapses in diet without your blood sugar changing.

However, if you go back to your old habits, it will come back. That's why I wouldn't say "cured."

But that's still a hell of a payoff for losing weight and changing your diet!

mascarablue

There is a really good book by Sandra Cabot called Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Naturally (or something along those lines). It basically calls for a no carb no sugar diet over a certian period whereby your cells become sensitive to insulin again. I dont have diabetes but I was told a year ago that if my fasting glucose was higher by a couple of points i would be considered diabetic. I tried a low carb (basically carb only from vegetables) and no fruit for over 6 months. Last time I did my blood test i was told that its now considered normal. I am not sure how well this would work for someone who has diabetes but I think its good to read the book.

Oh and also the Australian biggest loser, there was a guy on it who was diabetic and when they did the "where are they now" episode he was saying that he was off his meds due to the positive effect of diet and exercise, so I think its possible.

Good luck!

becoming_a_new_me

I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic entering into full blown diabetes, and the doctor was getting ready to put me on insulin therapy in 2003. I am now free of any diabetic symptoms, and my blood sugar is not only completely normal, it actually runs a little low sometimes now. I am proof that it can be done.

Mary Ann
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/iddreams/view/overcoming-the-obesity-mindset-194711

reynolds33

Well written and informative. Thank you and congratulations on your successes.

ednatate82

A good diet is important for a person diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I would recommend you to try a type 2 diabetes diet (http://healthymamainfo.com/2013/02/natural-cures-diabetes/). This are planned specially for type 2 diagnosed people. My dad almost lost 17 pounds on it in last 11 months.

Mustang_Susie

Type 2 diabetes develops when the body can still make some insulin, but not enough, or when the insulin that is produced
does not work properly (known as insulin resistance).

Insulin acts as a key unlocking the cells, so if there is not enough insulin, or it is not working properly, the cells are only partially
unlocked (or not at all) and glucose builds up in the blood. Type 2 diabetes usually appears in people over the age of 40, though in South Asian and black people, who are at greater risk, it often appears from the age of 25. It is also becoming more common in children, adolescents and young people of all ethnicities.

Type 2 diabetes accounts for approximately 90 per cent of all people with diabetes and is treated with a healthy diet and increased physical activity. In addition to this, medication and/or insulin is often required.

Although diabetes cannot yet be cured it can be managed very successfully. This is likely to involve lifestyle changes that will have enormous health benefits and allow you to continue your normal day-to-day life.

The aim of managing your diabetes is to keep your blood glucose, blood pressure and blood fat levels as close to target as possible. This will also help reduce the risk of long-term complications.

Type 2 diabetes is a progressive condition and over time it may be that following a healthy eating plan and being physically active is not enough to control blood glucose levels. If this happens, your diabetes healthcare team may advise you to start or change medication. Some people with Type 2 diabetes will also need to take insulin to help control their blood glucose levels.

That said, I know from personal experience that clients of mine have reduced or even eliminated their need for medication by losing weight and/or through following a sensible eating and physical activity plan.

I hope that you find this information useful. Feel free to add me as a friend if you wish.

Mark Green
Personal Trainer, Exercise Referral Instructor and
Specialist Exercise Instructor (Diabetes and Obesity Management) REPs Level 4
Based in Bristol, UK

^^ This
Thank you for medical fact.
I was going to post something similar.

kevinfbarrette

Absolutely it is. I am a medical student and people get rid of their diabetes all the time. As long as your pancreas is still making insulin, you are fine. Excess body fat is correlated with excess circulating insulin. Insulin works to remove glucose from your blood and send it into cells. After a while, your tissues become resistant to this constant high level of insulin. As a result, you cannot pull glucose out of your blood and into your cells. In order to remove the glucose from your blood, your pancreas (beta-cells) secrete more and more insulin. Eventually, the beta-cells secreting insulin sort of burn-out and fail to produce insulin. At this point, you require outside insulin (injections). You can prevent this however, by increasing sensitivity to insulin. Metformin works by increasing insulin sensitivity in peripheral tissues. Another way to do this (or in combination) is to lose weight. Exercise and caloric restriction have been shown to increase insulin sensitivity. If you are dedicated to this site, restrict calories, and importantly, exercise, you will decrease fat, and increase insulin sensitivity (decrease resistance). When this occurs, your pancreas will not have to produce as much insulin and effectively, be saved! Hope this helps and good luck!

girlinahat

I am not diabetic, but I intend not to be. My mom was a type one diabetic dependent on insulin for 41 years from age 26 until her horrible, horrible diabetic death at age 68. Diabetics do not live on insulin for longer than 40 years as the needed insulin destroys their body as it helps them.

Not true. I have several family members with Type 1 who have been on insulin for more than 40 years with no attempts by the insulin they are taking to destroy their bodies. They have very few health problems except those similar to others of advancing age.

Type 1 is an incurable disease that must be managed with insulin and careful diet. Type 2 can be controlled by diet only, however I'm doubtful it can be cured.

BigAndTallSection

I really want to knock on wood before I write this but I am just going to tell you what I have seen in my own daily readings over the month. At the beginning of December my doctor doubled my does of Metforman. That went the way it went for two months and my daily readings did not respond at all. In fact if anything they got worse. Then at the end of January I was put on a second med called Gluberide. I was to start with a half of a pill in with the first meal of the day and then a second half with the last meal. After 10 days or so I was to go to full pills in place of the half pills.

Now on that very next day I had to see a different doctor who had to put me on prednisone for 10 days. Prednisone raises your blood sugar. So that same day I kicked of this current "what the hell is wrong with me" journey and started a walking regiment. At the same time I really cut back on carbs. I love carbs and for sure they fit my preferred food group. Now even on the prednisone I started seeing my daily readings coming down just a little. Then once the prednisone was done it was like three or maybe four days later and my glucose readings was great. Now I am still taking the Metforman and the half pill of Gluberide in the morning and afternoon but I have had readings as low as 80 and not one that I can remember over 129. That is great for me as I was having readings of like 295 or so. In that same amount of time I lost about 20lbs while doing the walking so I am really encouraged with what I am seeing.

I don't know that it can ever be cured but two different doctors have told me that losing some weight and getting some exercise can maybe get me off the meds.

kevinfbarrette

Type 2 diabetes develops when the body can still make some insulin, but not enough, or when the insulin that is produced
does not work properly (known as insulin resistance).

Insulin acts as a key unlocking the cells, so if there is not enough insulin, or it is not working properly, the cells are only partially
unlocked (or not at all) and glucose builds up in the blood. Type 2 diabetes usually appears in people over the age of 40, though in South Asian and black people, who are at greater risk, it often appears from the age of 25. It is also becoming more common in children, adolescents and young people of all ethnicities.

Type 2 diabetes accounts for approximately 90 per cent of all people with diabetes and is treated with a healthy diet and increased physical activity. In addition to this, medication and/or insulin is often required.

Although diabetes cannot yet be cured it can be managed very successfully. This is likely to involve lifestyle changes that will have enormous health benefits and allow you to continue your normal day-to-day life.

The aim of managing your diabetes is to keep your blood glucose, blood pressure and blood fat levels as close to target as possible. This will also help reduce the risk of long-term complications.

Type 2 diabetes is a progressive condition and over time it may be that following a healthy eating plan and being physically active is not enough to control blood glucose levels. If this happens, your diabetes healthcare team may advise you to start or change medication. Some people with Type 2 diabetes will also need to take insulin to help control their blood glucose levels.

That said, I know from personal experience that clients of mine have reduced or even eliminated their need for medication by losing weight and/or through following a sensible eating and physical activity plan.

I hope that you find this information useful. Feel free to add me as a friend if you wish.

Mark Green
Personal Trainer, Exercise Referral Instructor and
Specialist Exercise Instructor (Diabetes and Obesity Management) REPs Level 4
Based in Bristol, UK

The problem is not that you don't have enough insulin. This is a common misconception. You have too much insulin circulating, conferring resistance in peripheral tissues via receptor downregulation (GLUT4 receptor). Most importantly, exercise can increase GLUT4 receptors, allowing your insulin work effectively. With sufficient time exercising and decrease in fat, you can cause a decrease in insulin secretion, saving your beta-cells from potential burn-out.

Kevin Barrette
Boston University School of Medicine