Intermittent fasting — the best diet for type 2 diabetes?

Type 2 diabetes was once thought to be a chronic disease that could never be cured. You can start medications to control it, but those medications will be with you for life.
Now we know better. As Dr. Jason Fung has said, “People are focused on giving drugs to type 2 diabetes, but it is a dietary disease.”
He and his team at Intensive Dietary Management Program set out to prove that they can do better than drugs. They recently published a case report of three men with type 2 diabetes who were able to completely stop their insulin and most of the oral drugs while still improving their diabetes control.
How did they do it? Intermittent fasting.
The subjects fasted for 24 hours three to four days per week, going from dinner to dinner without food, while eating lunch and dinner on the other days. They lost between 10 and 18% body weight and between 10 and 22% from their waist circumferences.
But here is the amazing part.
Starting from a daily average of 70 units of insulin, they safely stopped their insulin as quickly as five days into the protocol, with the longest taking only 18 days. That is a dramatic result!
Importantly, they were very closely monitored by the team at IDM. Fasting while taking diabetes medications can increase the risk of hypoglycemia, a potentially life-threatening lowering of blood glucose. Thus the warning that people should not try this without being monitored by an experienced healthcare provider.
When done correctly, however, intermittent fasting combined with a low carb diet may be the best treatment of type 2 diabetes that we have ever seen.
Thanks for reading,
Bret Scher, MD FACC
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is misleading. If you read the paper, the case for
fasting being the effective component was confounded by the use
of a low carbohydrate diet. They cannot conclude that fasting caused
the changes they observed.
To me, reversed would mean that if you gave these subjects a glucose tolerance test, they'd have non-diabetic blood glucose levels at the end of the test. Is that what is happening?
Either way, this is obviously amazing and should be screamed from the mountain tops.
What's the best diet for me? I wish I didn't have to eat, its a pain. I want to fast simply because of its convenience. Can you help me please.
Thank you Debra
I also told him about doing IF but he said that is not good for people with type 2, as that will increase your insulin levels. (I don't think he gets it and just makes money from the pill people). Anyway next doc appt. is in November so I am hoping to be at the so called 5.6 A1C that is considered not Diabetic. Anyone ever hear of your GP telling you Fasting is bad? Currently I do IF two days out of the week and feel fine.
The only thing that I am still struggling with, is my weight which although initially dropped as risen a little, mainly due to holidays 😎.
I’ve might try this intermittently fasting to see if it reduces waistline.
Will have a look, thanks.
Citing a study of THREE persons to make a case for it is NOT.
What you are referring to would mean cured. Reverse implies that the glucose levels have reverted back to within “normal” levels. Regardless, reversing diabetes stills allow someone with type 2 to reap all the benefits of being ‘cured’ similar to a cancer patient who has gone into remission. Yes, I am shouting from the mountain tops, because unlike my grandmother and all who have suffered needlessly not knowing that there was another way! I feel privileged and fortunate to live in the times that we do. Education is power!
What are macros? I though we only had to cunt carbs?
Sometimes, it's better to have a "don't ask, don't tell" attitude. However, don't fire your doctor yet: surprise him in 6 months with your next blood test and weight loss. This may not make him a convert but, at least, bring him to raise some questions.
John, you may find this video helpful https://www.dietdoctor.com/understanding-and-treating-type-2-diabetes...
It can be tough to say, but here is our top guide to weight loss that may be helpful.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/how-to-lose-weight