Carlos Cervantes used to suffer from severe diabetes. His low point was 2011, when he had a heart attack, his kidneys started failing him and he was facing a foot amputation because of a toe-to-ankle ulcer. ‘I had pretty much figured that my time was up,’ he says.
Then he stumbled on a news clip about a study at Newcastle University. In it all 11 subjects had their type-2 diabetes reversed after following a very low-calorie diet — that is, just 600 calories a day for eight weeks. So Cervantes gave the diet a try. His blood sugar dropped to a normal level, his symptoms vanished and he was returned to good health.
The mechanism is simple. Type-2 diabetes is caused by a build-up of fat stopping the pancreas from producing the insulin we need. Restricting calories to a very low level means we can burn off this fat, allowing the pancreas to start working normally again.*
Cervantes’s success story is one of many. Professor Roy Taylor, who led the Newcastle trial, says ‘over 100’ people around the world have contacted him to say they have tried the diet and got rid of their own type-2 diabetes.
THIS DIET TERMINATES AFTER 8 WEEKS. IT IS NOT A SUSTAINABLE LONG TERM DIET. IT IS MORE LIKE A MEDICAL INTERVENTION, TARGETED TO T2 DIABETES.
My own story is different. I lost 125 pounds, and I am still diabetic. Now I know the reason: fat in the pancreas and liver creates insulin resistance and high glucose. So, in the next 56 days, I will go on what is called the Newcastle diet.
I have a good track record. I lost 125 pounds in a year, at 1200 calories, low fat, and balanced protein and carb. Now I want to do the same with a 800 calorie diet. Note, the new limits after the initial study are 800 calories. The 600 calorie diet was too strenuous for some people, so the research team raised the calories to 800, and got results that were the same.
What I learned on the previous diet is that if you have adequate protein, you are not hungry on reduced calories. As you can see from the menu plans I will post daily, I am using real food in a balanced 800 calorie diet.
Each day I will post my menu for the day, broken down into calories, fat, protein and carbs, including fiber, which is important. I will also post my fasting blood glucose for the day, the post-prandial high for the day, my weight and fat percent. You (and I) will be able to see first hand on a daily basis how all these numbers are improving.
Not everyone will put their diabetes into remission. If you are still making insulin (get a C-peptide test) it should work for you if you are making insulin in the normal range. Another way to judge if you are still making insulin is to watch your fasting blood glucose on the diet day-to-day. It will be falling if you are making insulin. Needless to say, reduce your diabetic medications with your doctor.
Stay tuned on a daily basis, as I will be presenting the meal plans each day. This is with ordinary American Food, with the addition of Slim-Fast protein drinks as needed to bring up daily protein to 40 - 50 grams, which will mean you won't get hungry. Talk with your doctor and use my meal plans to achieve diabetes T2 remission, and again, this is if you are still making insulin.
DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS DIET IF YOU ARE MORBIDLY OBESE. PLEASE TALK WITH YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT LOSING WEIGHT.
*Very low calorie diet and 6 months of weight stability in Type 2 diabetes: Pathophysiologic changes in responders and non-responders. Sarah Steven, Keiren G Hollingsworth, Ahmad Al-Mrabeh, Leah Avery, Benjamin Aribisala, Muriel Caslake, Roy Taylor.
Diabetes Care. Doi: 10.2337/dc15-9422
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