I keep hearing about drugs being sold to address problems that lifestyle can fix, and since I'm in the middle of one of those problems myself, I want to share about a more healthy and less expensive solution that worked for my body.
Ok. Technically, I've not cured my diabetes. I have, however, accomplished the first step; getting off the meds and proving the symptoms can be managed via diet and exercise.
I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the Spring of 2017 while living in Acapulco, Mexico.
It ravaged my system in various ways, including:
I had felt the approach of these symptoms for about a year prior to the diagnosis and suspected something was up but was afraid to face it.
My diet leading up to the diagnosis was vegetarian plus occasional fish, chicken, turkey, and eggs. I often went a week or more without consuming animal products. I didn't have much of a taste for meat and ate it rarely. I had not eaten beef, pork, lamb, or drank milk in over 26 years. I ate an unrestricted amount of bread and pasta, usually gluten free. I ate an unrestricted amount of rice, too. I didn't know how the body converts carbs into sugars and the load they put on the liver and eventually, the rest of the body. I rarely consumed cheese. Pizza is my demon! Yay cauliflour crusts! Yay the flavor of the sauce at Alamo Drafthouse!
There is an important "garbage removal and repair" process our bodies do naturally, if given the chance, called autophagy.
Autophagy is the major eukaryotic degradative process for cytosolic organelles, long–lived proteins as well as misfolded protein aggregates, playing an important role in development, adaptation, starvation, tumor suppression, and aging as well as innate and adaptive immunity. Although mostly referred to strictly as a degradative process, autophagy is also often described as a renewal process; a pathway by which metabolites generated through autophagic degradation are reused either as sources of energy or building blocks for synthesis of new macromolecules.
A few days into my intermittent fasting (removed breakfast from diet) with high fat, medium/low protein, and very low carbs and I put my body into a state of autophagy. I'm on day 91 now and at least 2-4 times a week I cycle from two meals a day to one. The high fat intake means I have no cravings. Apparently, I've converted my body into a "hybrid" system (it's natural state) that can easily utilize fat and ketones as well as the carbs it has been trained to use for energy.
I remember my conversation with the first doctor: "But doc, what if I just change my diet and exercise more?"
His reply: "Your blood sugar is far above the norm. This is very bad. You will die if you don't take these drugs (glyburide & metformin)."
The second doctor, over a year later, when asked the same question, gave a similar answer but did concede that he had seen patients cure themselves. "But, that is off the record."
Oh yeah, that diet - really more of a lifestyle - is called Keto, short for ketogenesis. Please be sure to read the caveat at the bottom of this article! Please also study up some on keto in case you bring to the table a belief of the anti-keto grain-n-pharma-industry-perpetuated-myths about things like "eating meats and fat is bad," "LDL causes heart attacks," "coconut oil is bad," "long term effects are damaging," "salt is bad," etc. Follow the money trail.
Here's an article I wrote specifically about those myths:
https://steemit.com/health/@scottermonkey/practical-keto-basics-and-myths
The article also lays out a simple "how to" and links to many products I recommend. Nothing I make money from, if you care.
Please question all information from big pharma-influenced American Cancer Society, American Medical Association (AMA), USDA, and FDA! Big pharma wants doctors prescribing their drugs and they bribe and lobby heavily to keep these agencies under their boots. If you don't know what regulatory capture is, look it up. It's insidious and it's a big part of why regulation doesn't work.
Many! I can't stress enough that by day 4 ALL my joint pain was gone and I was able to sleep without drugging myself every night! That pain stayed gone - with the exception of twice during this 91 days where I ate too many carbs and the knee pain came back. Both times it took 24-36 hours of getting back on the super low carb train to remove the pain again. Other changes I've noticed include higher and more consistent energy, obvious loss of body fat, and more clarity of thought. Oh and I'm not wasting money or time eating so often, which means I'm getting more done.
I'm not a doctor or astronaut or oceanographer or physicist or minority or dolphin therapist, so don't go believing anything I say. Don't even follow my advice, which this isn't.
