Type-2 Diabetes Reversal

My journey with type-2 diabetes and how I was able to reverse it. How I got down from 211 pounds to 170

I am not a doctor or I am not in a capacity to recommend anything. What worked for me may not work for others. Always talk to your doctor what the options are. This is my journey.

Back in 2019, after almost a decade I went for my first physicals expecting nothing out of ordinary. A week passed any results for my blood profile came in.

• Fasting glucose level was 139
• A1C was 6.4
• Liver enzymes are out of the chart

My doctor was so worried about the liver, he asked me to get an ultrasound done and not to my surprise, it revealed a very huge fatty liver that’s kind of about to explode.

I went to see my doctor after the ultrasound results came in and he discussed what that means and how dangerously close I am to all sorts of health issues and gave me options.

• You better change your lifestyle and let body recover and repair itself Or
• I am going to put you on medication for life and you end up taking over dozen every day.

I was really depressed. It’s self infliction and nothing else. I love food and especially sugary/ carbohydrate rich foods (that is how it is and I am from Southern India). The only thing that’s going on in my mind at that time was thinking of my 1 year old princess. All I want is to see her grow. Do I have enough time?

I went back home, sat with my wife and talked through things. Started monitoring what I am eating, how much and how often and then I was shocked

• Atleast two grande mochas from starbucks a day with extra pumps of chocolate (grande mocha is around 400 calories with about 45 grams of sugar 45*4 is the calories that come from it).
• Eating whole lot of white rice every day (more than what I wanted to by just watching TV)
• Sweets and chocolates (atleast 2–3 pounds a week)

By now readers know why my body is about to give up.

All the online resources that I looked up always suggest having carbohydrates as the primary source. But, what we eat every day, those carbs comes from heavily refined grains which means as we eat them, they release glucose instantaneously. This means extra strain on our pancreas to release more insulin to push that energy to cells. With my work, its mostly sedentary. So, most of the energy went as fat reserves. I was weighing 211 pounds at 5 foot 7 which is obese.

I went to my doctor and told my daily rituals. The very first thing he mentioned was to cut on sugars (explicitly mentioned not only the sweet stuff but any of the refined carbs). Told me to eat more greens, quality meat and exercise regularly (not even sweating but a nice 60 minute walk in the nature). He mentioned that he will check my blood profile again in 3–4 weeks to make sure body has gotten into repairing itself.

Now here is the journey after that

Day1

• Cravings about mocha. Almost went to starbucks and I was determined not to buy.
• No rice. Again cravings. Lot of hunger but I was taking lot of fluids (water, minerals etc)
• Ate steamed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, spinach) and baked salmon with cheese. Its energy dense food but, healthy.

Day5 — Day10

Now I have withdrawl symptoms from sugars. I wasn’t able to concentrate felt like fainting, severe headache, stomach bloat etc… Again, I was determined not to let go off my health. I started getting used to daily new routines. By this time, the byproduct was I already lost 4 pounds. This started motivating me. I made it a habit to walk atleast 2 miles a day.

Day15-Day45

I kept losing weight after started eating real food and I also started experimenting different foods where my body was happy/ unhappy. I constantly checked my glucose levels after eating food to see what works for me. And finally, this is what has worked for me

• No refined foods (bread/ cereals etc..)
• Good protein (pasture chicken, wild caught salmon, ocasssional pasture raised lamb)
• Vegetables/ greens (Broccoli, Cauliflower, spinach, Kale, green beans, egg plant)
• Cheese, heavy cream, whole milk
• Nuts (almonds, pecans, peanuts, macademia, cashews, pistachios)

I lost around 20 pounds by now. Went for my blood profile and to my surprise, my fasting glucose has come down to 92, A 1C to 5.4 and the liver started to recover (greens are so good for liver especially broccoli and kale)

From Day45

I was not on a strict keto diet as such. But, I limited my carbohydrate intake. However, ocassionally I ate what I wanted to without disrupting my health. With in 4 months I lost close to 40 pounds. I wasn’t starving. Everything I ate, was made at home with the ingredients we picked from grocery store so we know what we were eating.

After an year, I went for my physicals and with blood profile, my fasting glucose started staying between 80 and 90, A 1C got down to <5. My doctor was so happy. We had another ultrasond for my liver and it got back to normal.

Medically, I reversed my diabetes without taking a single medication but rather changing my lifestyle for good (no dieting or restricting calories. I ate all I want but, I made the food myself)

Some meals that I make

• Omelette made with grass fed butter, cheese, spinach, baked broccoli
• Baked salmon with cheese and peri peri sauce and steamed vegetables and either avocado/ olive oil
• Chicken fajita made with extra butter, mayo (made with avocado oil)
• Dosa made with almond flour, coconut cream, cheese and peanut chutney
• chocolate moose (made with 100% coca, heavy cream, erythritol)
• cookies (almond flour, chocolate chips made with erythritol, butter)
• Paneer (either with spinach/ tikka masala)
• Ocassionally coconut rice with chicken curry
• Stuffed bell peppers (with ground lamb, cheese baked in the oven)

Now what?

Its been over 3 years now and I am healthier than I was ever before. No more hungers, no more what’s going on with my health. I started listening to my body to understand how it feels when I eat certain foods and how it reacts in different situations (stressedout, happy etc…)

I also started intermittent fasting and I fast atleast for 36 hours every week which wasn’t even thinkable earlier. What I learnt is when glucose levels are down, body will start utilizing fat resources. Not only that, it will also enter a state called autophagy.

Autophagy is the way body self cleans itself (removing weaker cells etc…) by expediting new cell growth there by keeping itself healthy.

Spend time to understand your body. If time cannot be spent to keep the body healthy, we pay a very hefty price through out our life.