
Diabetes: can you really eat to beat it? - 8bitpony
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/23/diabetes-can-you-really-eat-to-beat-it
======
ollysb
I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about a year and a half ago, at the time
I had an HBA1C of 8.2 (6.0 is the top end of normal). The first thing I did
when I got home was google "cure for diabetes", the newcastle diet is what
came up. After 6 months of the usual medication (metformin etc.) I decided to
give it a go. You can see my log, which includes medication, supplements,
exercise, total calories per day and BG readings 5 times a day[1]. You can see
that it took me just 12 days to come off the medication and that in the
following 2 months I was able to maintain excellent BG control.

A year later I'm still off the medication, my last HBA1C was 5.7 which is
considered normal. Maintaining that does require daily exercise (and I do mean
_every_ day) and good diet management but I've found it a fairly easy regime
to follow (half an hour of 80% intensity is enough most days).

My quality of life is now excellent (it was terrible on the medication) and
I'm able to eat a little more freely. The only big differences regarding diet
are that I now only drink a couple of times a month and I don't go near
anything with wheat flour in it.

EDIT: google docs doesn't seem to allow me to share the docs publicly (I can
only share with specific email addresses or within my domain) so I've made
them available as csv and excel files.

[1]

CSV -
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/tr1xwd3l6ziiows/newcastle_diet.csv...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/tr1xwd3l6ziiows/newcastle_diet.csv?dl=0)

Excel -
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/12tjf23oz7ihq4d/newcastle_diet.xls...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/12tjf23oz7ihq4d/newcastle_diet.xlsx?dl=0)

~~~
exelius
Given that Type 2 diabetes is generally believed to be caused by diet, it
makes sense that diet could fix it as well.

My personal hypothesis is that some people have intestinal bacteria that are
really, really good at breaking down sugar very quickly. So when you eat high
GI foods, your gut turns them into glucose very quickly releases them into
your blood, and your body has to deal accordingly. IMO that would help explain
why people who are very obese get type 2 with some regularity, but how
otherwise healthy adults who are simply moderately overweight can also develop
it.

A corollary to this hypothesis is that the ability of your (personal)
intestinal bacteria to break down different types of foods at different rates
means that there is no such thing as a "universal diet". Some people will be
healthiest eating large amounts of red meat, some will be healthiest on a
high-carb diet, while others may need something more fiber-rich (assuming
appropriate calorie control, of course). This appears to be borne out
anecdotally, with diet plans having different efficacy on different people.

Intestinal flora is something the medical community is just now beginning to
research and understand. There's something unique that happens in our
intestines, and while there's obviously a genetic component to it, the genes
your intestinal flora carry may be just as important. We don't understand the
system or the feedback loops (maybe eating too much sugar causes these
bacteria to over-populate the intestines in some people and crowd out other
bacteria?) The point is, there's a whole lot we don't know about how our
bodies process the nutrients we take in. There are a lot of studies underway,
but holistic medicine is pretty obviously a real thing -- we just don't
understand the science behind it yet.

~~~
vonmoltke
> There are a lot of studies underway, but holistic medicine is pretty
> obviously a real thing -- we just don't understand the science behind it
> yet.

"[W]e just don't understand the science behind it yet" because there is none.
Holistic medicine is quackery that has failed scientific tests if efficacy
time and time again.

~~~
exelius
I don't mean that the current "practice" of holistic medicine is quackery --
but that the principles behind it (what you eat can cause/treat certain
diseases), when proven with proper scientific methodology, aren't entirely
crazy.

------
js2
Michael Mosley's documentary, ”Eat, Fast and Live Longer” (about the health
benefits of calorie restriction) is also interesting in the context of this
article:

[https://vimeo.com/103656060](https://vimeo.com/103656060)

 _the plank (an exercise to help lose excess fat round the stomach)_

This is incorrect. The plank is an excellent exercise for building core
strength (much better than situps), but it does not help lose excess fat
around the stomach more or less so than any other exercise does.

~~~
srb-
_the plank (an exercise to help lose excess fat round the stomach)_

Cringe. Hard to take the writer seriously after this statement. The rest of
the article seemed fine so I googled around to see if there was some stunning
new research showing the plank (or any specific movement) spot-reducing fat.
Nope.

~~~
leonroy
To be honest spot reduction is one of those stubborn myths that persists much
like people believing that fat is the boogey man.

Nutrition and fitness seem to be areas which really lack good, hard science
behind the many assumptions we make about them.

------
brudgers
The article is about Type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetics are unable to
manufacture insulin. No amount of green tea and yoga change that.

~~~
chetman
Came here to ensure that was discussed. It's really kind of a shame that
there's as much confusion about the types of diabetes as there is. I've taken
to referring to them, in an EXCEEDINGLY reductive manner, as "autoimmune
diabetes" and "cheeseburger diabetes."

My brother has autoimmune diabetes (aka Type 1). We give to and volunteer with
the JDRF as a result, because its mission is laser focussed on type 1 related
research. I do not give to or support the ADA, because their efforts are
really diffuse and seem to focus more on the cheeseburger type.

~~~
auggierose
You could also just say that one type of diabetes is about people who love
cheeseburgers by nature, and the other one about people whose genes are broken
in a different way (also by nature). Now, if you want to discuss which one is
more important: maybe the one which occurs more commonly and is easier to
cure?

~~~
davnicwil
Just to dispel a common misconception, the cause of type 1 diabetes remains
unknown. There is no conclusive proof that the condition is genetic.

AFAIK there are certain correlations with the condition and the presence of
certain gene combinations, and hypotheses abound that it is indeed a genetic
condition, but they are still just hypotheses - research is ongoing.

------
simik
There are a quite a few "no more diabetes" stories in /r/keto, ketogenic diet
subreddit:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/comments/437lyj/nsv_take_that_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/comments/437lyj/nsv_take_that_diabetes/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/comments/1dws7z/nsv_defeated_d...](https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/comments/1dws7z/nsv_defeated_diabetes/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/comments/3v1nq3/nsv_im_officia...](https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/comments/3v1nq3/nsv_im_officially_diabetes_free_thanks_to_keto/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/comments/41cu92/sv_nsv_pics_lo...](https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/comments/41cu92/sv_nsv_pics_lost_51lbs_and_a_diabetes_diagnosis/)

------
known
For eight weeks, the patients drank a diet milkshake three times daily and ate
some 200 grams of non-starchy vegetables, totaling about 700 calories a day.

The average weight loss among participants was about 14 kg (33 pounds). And in
many of them, the diabetes disappeared. Nearly half the participants had no
symptoms of diabetes for nearly six months after they went back to eating
normally.

[http://qz.com/669254/its-possible-to-reverse-
type-2-diabetes...](http://qz.com/669254/its-possible-to-reverse-
type-2-diabetes-in-some-people-and-its-not-even-that-difficult/)

------
Snowalker
actually this worked for me, I had high blood sugar and high blood pressure
and I solved both with low carbs diet and eating healthy. It's like the
article say, eating healthy will help no matter what but yeah it's hard to
stop eating junk.

~~~
pitchka
high carb diet works too.

there's no junk food.

there's nothing junky in a hamburger. on the other hand, it is unhealthy if
you eat hamburger every day or so.

[http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-
basics/myths/](http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/myths/)

here's american diabetes association recommending a normal healthy high-carb
diet with low GI foods.

it is also advised, funnily, that fruit consumption shouldn't be restricted.

~~~
ollysb
I'd warn people not to pay too much attention to the advice that the american
diabetes association provides. The targets it recommends are well known to
cause damage to the body (you should be avoiding anything above a BG of 140 at
any time) and it's dietary recommendations are contrary to the advice I've
ever received from anyone that has had good results maintaining diabetes. Just
to pick up on the two points you mention, I would never consume fruit unless
accompanied by exercise and a low-carb diet is recommended by any consultant
or nutrionist that I've ever spoken to.

~~~
crusso
The mainstream medical community's slowness in coming to grips with the role
of simple carbs in the diet has been shameful.

------
pramalin
There is an Indian Facebook group about Paleo diet, where dozens if not
hundreds of people followed simple LCHF diet and reversed their type 2
diabetics and got type 1 under control among other improvements. Few
physicians also got cured and they started advocating the diet. These doctors
are working towards getting Indian Diabetes Association to recognize LCHF diet
as a viable remedy.

You can see many medical reports posted by the members for your reference.
[https://www.facebook.com/groups/tamilhealth/](https://www.facebook.com/groups/tamilhealth/)

------
Smaug123
I'm a bit surprised the article didn't come with a "don't try this diet
without first consulting a medical professional" warning, since starving
yourself for a month is a pretty drastic lifestyle change.

------
facepalm
Sounds great, although it seems to me it is not so much curing Diabetes as
keeping it in check?

~~~
dpark
Is there a difference? Type II diabetes is largely a lifestyle disease. It
develops because of the way we eat and (don't) exercise. If you have chronic
wrist problems from typing all day, I'd say that eliminating the typing is a
legitimate cure. If you have diabetes because you eat too much and exercise
too little, I'd say eating less and exercising more is a legitimate cure as
well.

------
kelukelugames
Worked for my step dad. Though my mom used to be a doctor and she managed his
diet.

------
mchmch
Type 2 Diabetes can 100% be "cured" by a low fat vegan diet. Sorry you don't
need a pill, you need to wake up and face the fact that you are poising
yourself with your high fat diet.

 __ _FAT causes diabetes (and high blood pressure and heart disease) NOT
Sugar. Dietary fat clogs up your bloodstream preventing insulin from
effectively doing it 's job. ___

[http://www.amazon.com/Neal-Barnards-Program-Reversing-
Diabet...](http://www.amazon.com/Neal-Barnards-Program-Reversing-
Diabetes/dp/1594868107)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N636ftTJ10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N636ftTJ10)

~~~
wdewind
The current science does not support this position. The current science
basically says there is an interplay between fats and carbs, and that fat
tends to clog your arteries when consumed in the presence of a caloric
surplus, usually brought on via carbs. Low fat diets seem to work provided
they are high in fiber, and high fat diets seem to work provided they are low
in carbs. High fat, high carb seems to be where we see the biggest issues.

So while you actually might be right, that in many cases a low fat vegan diet
helps T2 diabetes, it's only one of many strategies to arrive at a suitable
diet.

~~~
mchmch
I am not saying it is the only way... but it is the best way to prevent/cure
T2 diabetes without causing other issues. If you have T2 diabetes and don't
want to adopt a diet that will expose you to high blood pressure, stroke,
heart disease, kidney issues, gallbladder removal, etc.. a very low fat diet
is the solution. Just do it you will be happy you did.

The fact is: fat tastes good. Nobody want's to give up bacon and cheese so we
keep looking for ways to say it is "OK". Big Pharma really wants you to keep
eating your fats too. They make billions of dollars a year selling people
drugs to offset their lack of will power.

~~~
wdewind
> but [a vegan diet] is the best way to prevent/cure T2 diabetes without
> causing other issues.

There is basically no science that allows you to state this confidently.

> The fact is: fat tastes good. Nobody want's to give up bacon and cheese so
> we keep looking for ways to say it is "OK". Big Pharma really wants you to
> keep eating your fats too. They make billions of dollars a year selling
> people drugs to offset their lack of will power.

It's been repeatedly shown that basically all fats, even the once thought of
as "bad" like saturated fats, do not clog arteries (or raise cholesterol,
while we are here) when not in the presence of caloric surplus. I don't follow
it, but the success many have had with the keto diet is one great example of
this. It's just not as simple as you are saying.

