AskNadia: Why Your Diabetes Will Not Be Cured or Reversed
Dear Nadia,
I have had Type 2 diabetes for five years. My doctor says if I lose 22 pounds, my diabetes may disappear. What do you think?
Roland
Dear Roland:
Once you are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, it will not disappear if you lose weight.
Some marketing people use the term reverse and cure diabetes while advocating juicing, eating a raw food diet or taking supplements. Reading the word “disappear” is a new term that I can add to the list of confusing terms for people living with type 2 diabetes.
Let’s back up a bit and review the bio-chemical breakdown of how food is converted to energy.
This theory is being explained to you in the broadest sense and you must check in with your healthcare professional who is familiar with your medications and other medical issues that may interfere with this general description.
When we eat food it gives us energy. In order for our bodies to use the energy generated from the nutrients, it needs insulin to convert it into energy.
The Hormone Insulin
Insulin is a growth hormone. When we eat foods that require a lot of insulin, meaning more insulin than our body needs for energy, to balance our blood sugars, the overage in energy gets stored. Our body either uses or stores the energy. If you store the energy generated from the food you eat, you put on weight. If your body uses all the energy generated from the food you eat, you do not put on weight.
Losing weight as your physician recommends means using the energy your body has already stored in reserves. Going on a low carbohydrate diet means eating a diet that requires less insulin. Remember that insulin is a growth hormone. So if you eat less carbs and and require more energy through out the day, your body will dip into your reserves. This is how you will start losing weight. The Keto diet is popular for this reason/
People living with diabetes that adopt a low carb diet will tell you that their insulin requirements go down and some people go off their medication completely. When you stop taking medication, marketers refer to this as curing or reversing type 2 diabetes. In your case, I believe this is what your physician is referring to when he says your “diabetes will disappear”. The definition of these terms do not accurately describe what happens to your diabetes when you lose weight. Let’s look at how they are defined:
Diabetes Disappearing– This means your diabetes vanishes or goes away.
Curing Diabetes– Your diabetes is no longer an issue. It implies the condition goes away completely.
Reversing Diabetes– This implies your condition will go back to pre-diabetes diagnosis. If you reverse diabetes, it means you go back to not having diabetes.
Conflict by Definition
Why Diabetes does not disappear, get cured or reverses itself? it all boils down to your diet. Eating foods high in sugar will give you high blood sugar. By definition if you cure, reverse or have your diabetes disappear, eating foods high in sugar should not shoot up your blood sugar like it does for people living with diabetes. Your body should have relatively normal blood sugars regardless of what you eat. Similar to people that do not have to live with diabetes.
Once you are diagnosed with diabetes and take medication for your type 2 diabetes, you can go off your medication if you get your blood sugar is in a normal range requiring less insulin. Normal blood sugars without medications is how marketers define curing or reversing or having your diabetes disappear.
You might also be interested in these related stores from diabeteshealth.com:
Atkins Chief Nutritionist: Pioneering Low-Carb Diet MakeoverLow Protein diet may not maintain muscles for those with type2Understanding Ketones and Low-Carbohydrate Diets
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Disclaimer:
Nadia’s feedback on your question is in no way intended to initiate or replace your healthcare professional’s therapy or advice. Please check in with your medical team to discuss your diabetes management concerns.
About Nadia:
AskNadia (ranked #1 by Google), named “Best Diabetes Blog for 2019 by Healthline and with 24 nominations, Nadia Al-Samarrie’s efforts have made her stand out as a pioneer and leading patient advocate in the diabetes community.
Nadia was not only born into a family with diabetes but also married into one. She was propelled at a young age into “caretaker mode,” and with her knowledge of the scarcity of resources, support, and understanding for people with diabetes, co-founded Diabetes Interview, now Diabetes Health magazine.
Under her reign- Diabetes Health magazine was named one of the top 10 magazines to follow in the world for 2019 by Feedspot Blog Reader.
Nadia has been featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, and other major cable networks. Her publications, medical supply business, and website have been cited, recognized and published in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, Ann Landers advice column, former Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca, Entrepreneur magazine, Houston News, Phili.com, Brand Week, Drug Topics, and many other media outlets.
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