Magdalena reversed her diabetes

Magdalena struggled with binge eating and a stressful job which caused her to put on a lot of weight. After a blood test, her doctor told her she had type 2 diabetes.

I have yo-yo’ed my whole life. I last about a month before I cheat. Sometimes I can pick myself up and go back at it. More often, I binge.  

My fasting blood sugar was 155. My ac1 was 6.7. The list of uh-ohs was long, and my mind blurred. I had begun a journey with diabetes. My heart was pounding, and all I could hear was, “Avoid bread.” 

Armed with nothing more than a bunch of bad news, I went to work.
Researching everything I could find. I started, of course, with the ADA (American Diabetes Association). Everything on there seemed wrong. Fruit flavored yogurt? Huh? So, I went back to the 4-hour body book I yo-yo’ed with once. Slow carbs. That might be the ticket. 

Then, in January of this year I stumbled on the Reversing Diabetes group on Facebook. I read, and read, and read. I asked a dumb question about why beans aren’t ok. I started following the advice to the letter. 

This last 6 months have been amazingly easy and satisfying. I don’t fantasize about food. I don’t crave those awful donuts in the lounge. I eat freely and on plan every single day. 

I have now lost 48 lbs (22 kg) and reduced my a1c to 5.4 with the help of just LCHF [low carb, high fat]. My doctor reduced my metformin [diabetes medication] three months ago, and as of yesterday told me to go off it. My blood pressure is normal. My headaches and sluggishness are gone. My body is healing. 

And I have reversed diabetes.

Read Magdalena's whole story here.

Inspiration: Type 2 Diabetes - Reversed!

Is Diabetes Type 2 irreversible? That’s what Bernard Bollen’s doctor told him, and that’s what conventional wisdom says.

Then Bernard tried the Paleo diet, a way of eating that emphasizes healthy fats and proteins, vegetables (and lots of them!), and limits or excludes processed foods, especially grains. Here’s his story:

I am 59 years old and have eaten a nutrition-sparse diet most of my life, high in sugars and refined carbohydrates. When I was first diagnosed with diabetes 6 years ago, my doctor told me that diabetes was a progressive disease that would require management, but that it was ultimately incurable. My feet were beginning to go numb, a sure sign of nerve damage in the extremities.... I was resigned to what I saw as the inevitable, a limb amputation, blindness, a stroke or a heart attack. 

Then, one year ago... I became aware of the Paleo diet. Its underlying nutritional philosophy just made sense to me. I... threw myself into the Paleo program. Over the next few months I certainly began to lose weight, but more, my whole relation to food... changed.... 

One month ago I saw my doctor.... who one year ago appeared to be skeptical of the benefits of the Paleo diet (so was I for that matter). Today he calls me his ‘poster boy patient’. Nearly all of the medications that I took a year ago have been dispatched to the [trash] bin. My life has been transformed in many ways. 

After six months on the Paleo diet I had already lost 15 kg (33 lbs) and felt that I had made a health breakthrough.... So I enrolled in a gym and regularly engaged in aerobic and resistance exercises. Now, 12 months later I have lost 30 kg (66 lbs) and I look and feel so much better.... 

Today I am cured of diabetes.

Was it the Paleo diet specifically that reversed his condition, or merely getting the processed foods out of his diet and/or reducing carbs? I suspect either would have made a radical difference.

Even if you're not ready to go full-on Paleo or Whole30, I believe -- from my own experience and from what I've seen in others -- that just eliminating sugar and processed foods can make a huge difference in your health -- not just your weight; your overall health!

Diabetes Type 2 increases your risk for multiple, serious health issues:

• Heart and blood vessel disease. Diabetes doubles your chance of heart attack or stroke, and dramatically increases your risk of other cardiovascular problems, including CAD, atherosclerosis, and high blood pressure.
• Nerve damage (neuropathy). Poorly controlled blood sugar can eventually cause you to lose all sense of feeling in the affected limbs. 
• Digestion problems. Damage to the nerves that control digestion can cause problems with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation. 
• Kidney damage. Diabetes can damage the delicate filtering system of your kidneys. Severe damage can lead to effects which require dialysis or a kidney transplant.
• Eye damage. Diabetes can damage the blood vessels of the retina, potentially leading to cataracts, glaucoma, and even blindness.
• Foot damage. Nerve damage in the feet or poor blood flow to the feet increases the risk of various foot complications. 
• Skin conditions. Diabetes may leave you more susceptible to skin problems, including bacterial and fungal infections.
• Alzheimer's disease. Type 2 diabetes may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease. The poorer your blood sugar control, the greater the risk appears to be.

Learn more about diabetes' effect on your health:

• About the Diabetes-Alzheimer's link; Alzheimer's Association
• The connection between diabetes, heart disease, and stroke; U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
• Type 2 Diabetes complications; The Mayo Clinic

Read some Whole30 success stories. (Whole30 is a 30-day elimination diet based on Paleo principles.)

Bernard's story is edited from an original article, here.
More success stories from the same site, here.

Things you need to unlearn about diet

Researchers are learning new things about diet and nutrition that are turning the tables on some of the advice we've been hearing so long, we believe them as hard cold facts. Are you believing one or more of them?

Unlearn this: What I eat influences my body chemistry.

Learn this: This one is not really new news, but I think it's a core truth that we don't really comprehend: What you eat doesn't just affect your body: it literally becomes your body chemistry! And your body tissue, bone, blood, muscles, brain, hormones, etc. And the fuel you run on. The food you eat is disassembled in your digestive system, then reassembled to make you. This is why what you eat is so important!

Learn more: Want it all spelled out scientifically? Here's an 11-minute video from Kahn Academy, explaining the basics of metabolism:

Unlearn these: Eating fat is what makes you fat. Low fat = healthy. Eliminate as much fat as possible from your diet. Saturated fat is especially bad.

Learn this: Your body needs fat! It uses fat from your diet for energy, for making cells and other important parts of your body, and yes, some of it is stored as fat. (However, carbs are also stored as fat!)
     Also, most grocery store products labeled "Low Fat!" have amped up sugar and other unhealthy carbs to compensate for the lost fat; definitely not a healthy move!
   
Learn more: A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which concludes that "there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease."

Unlearn this: Eating high cholesterol foods is bad for your health. 

Learn this: New news, as of Feb. 2015 -- "The nation’s top nutrition advisory panel -- The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee -- has decided to drop its caution about eating cholesterol-laden food." While about one quarter of people may be cholesterol-sensitive, for most of us, medicine is now saying it's not the problem we once believed.
     So how did we get convinced that cholesterol was so bad? Some misunderstandings about how body cholesterol gets made, and its exact role in our circulatory system. Oh, and the fact that in one early, influential study, the researchers used rabbits. Turns out, rabbits are unusually vulnerable to a high cholesterol diet!

To learn more: The U.S. government is poised to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol,Washington Post

Unlearn this: It's all about calories in, calories out.

Learn this: How nutrition affects our health is incredibly complex, so it's too simplistic to say it's all about one thing. But if it were, it wouldn't be about calories in/calories out! And it would be definitely be more about the content of your diet. Over the long term, you will lose more weight, keep it off, and be healthier eating 1700 calories a day of whole, nutrient-dense foods than you will on 1200 factory-manufactured, "low fat" calories a day. And it will be easier, because you'll be more satisfied!

To learn more: Four Biggest Myths About Calories, CBS