2t9nty wrote: »

What exactly does it mean to "reverse" diabetes? For a T2, does that mean to get off meds and have an A1C in the normal range? This has long been a question of mine, and it sometimes seems to mean going off insulin.

Exactly. Removal from insulin chains is part of the reward. I’ve heard that reversal is all about living for BGs/A1cs that are consistently (not just once, but forever) as good or better than those of a child (well, a child who isn’t born with T1D, which would bring its own reasons to avoid food and drink). (Am I correct, @ anyone who perhaps literally knows this disgusting disease like the back of their hands?)
As for fasting, is timing the only abnormal restriction in the article, or do the patients excuse certain foods from their lifestyles (and, during fasting, do they excuse everything except air/oxygen or are healthy drinks allowed?). I ask, with exceptional curiosity about that last question, because, at the only time my morning blood sugar was at an acceptable 2-digit level and stayed there, I was NPO no TPN (absolutely nothing by mouth or bloodstream*, not even water), air only*. Of course, this was supervised by a doctor-heck, my doctor ordered it for some gut troubles I was getting-and only lasted a week (and led to some miraculous weight loss when I was stuck in that respect of my life), so I’m sure something to drink and some rice were on standby if I were at risk of going hypoglycemic (spoiler alert: I’m not, because I have more than enough extra blubber attached for that time when I will no doubt make and keep a New Year’s Resolution/follow a doctors’ order to abstain from anything by mouth or bloodstream for the whole year. Now all I have to do, unless The Powers That Be do it for me, is decide which year is going to be my “cleanup year” to do it).
*Yes, we oxygenate/nourish our, ta-dah, bloodstream during breathing. Let me explain the contradiction...nothing else/nothing from the outside world was allowed into my personal bloodflow, just O2.

nvmomketo wrote: »

2t9nty wrote: »

What exactly does it mean to "reverse" diabetes? For a T2, does that mean to get off meds and have an A1C in the normal range? This has long been a question of mine, and it sometimes seems to mean going off insulin.

That would be my guess. To achieve labs like that of a normal, healthy person without meds.

I don't think it's a permanent reversal though. At least for most. The IR reversal probably only lasts as long as the behaviour and food change.

It is one of those things where people manage a chronic disease with diet, exercise, weight loss, whatever instead of meds. I am doing that, but I totally understand that I am still diabetic. If I were to start eating the SAD at a calorie level to maintain current weight, my numbers would not be good, and I would have to go back on meds.

"Reverse" just seems to be a term that gets used a lot with diabetes, and it is poorly defined. I think it implies to some people a "cure."

I'm no expert on this matter... having said that, 2of my doctors have said once diagnosed with type 2 diabetes you will always be a type 2 but you can manage it but not be cured.