Hi All,

Thanks for the quick suggestions and updates.

Usually I never take breakfast and so my first meal of the day is Lunch @ 12.30pm and dinner by 7.00pm, except on Saturdays and Sundays, where I tend to eat in between. I try to eat up my desired calories in a 8 hour window and have the fasting window of 16 hours/day, most of the days.

Thanks PJBR for the note on BP. I haven’t checked my blood pressure yet and I guess you’re right to the point. This would have been causing me that little dizziness. This week end I’ll go and have a check. I wasn’t aware at all of this connection between BP & BS though.

Deep inside I believe that, it’s been just 3.5 months that I started this fasting and elimination of sugars/junk food and seeing the difference in my BS levels, and it’s going to take a bit more time for the complete elimination of the liver fat, as mentioned by Dr Fung in his videos. He says that, the more complex the Insulin Resistance was, the more time, its goanna take. For me I was having from past 4.5 years, so I believe, 3.5 months is just too short for the complete elimination of the liver fat and other metabolic disorders that I’ve been with.

Will keep you all posted. Thanks once again for your support.

Hi PVE,

You’re right. It’s goanna take time.

Thanks for sharing Mr P’s results and his experience. This has really added to my knowledge bank and keep me motivated to focus on the goal. In fact, he and me share the same weight loss though (from 100 kgs to 68 kgs). Currently am at 68 and am planning to come over to 60 kgs. I can sense, how he’d be feeling, finally coming to that weight. Ah… its an awesome feeling, getting rid of 32 kgs of fat.

As you said rightly, fasting does reduce the insulin spikes and thus it’s resistance. As always, this site, this forum and all you people, keep me motivated and focused. Thanks a lot 🙂

he..he..he… 😉

Hi PJ
We were in Vancouver, Calgary, Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, Quenell, Whistler, then Vancouver to Anchorage by boat.
We also went to NE USA. Fabulous!

Mr P did not expect to get off, or even reduce, his insulin. We did 5:2 to improve our health. He records everything (a scientist) and within weeks realised he needed to reduce his insulin on fast days. I didn’t come on this forum for a year, the day we both hit goal. Until then I was just using the book as our guide. At that stage I was unaware of Dr Fung’s research. I found out about his work after Mr P had reversed his diabetes. It just confirmed what we knew! 😉

My bp improved too. I reduced my dose and, at one stage stopped completely, but hypertension is incidious. Unlike bs, it can rise suddenly and cause strokes. Mine rose again, so I now take daily meds to be sure.

Remember what Dr Fung says….insulin is not the solution, it is the problem. Sensible, regular fasting is the solution for diabetes. P 😆

Hi All,

Hope you’re all rocking in good health. I was away for a small vacation to my wife’s cousin’s place and so was bit away for our posts.

So, finally I’ve come from 38″ inch jeans to 28″ inch jeans today. Can’t tell you how happy and glad am I for this. After many years (more than 12 years) I see myself fit into this much slim jeans. Now, I plan to go to gym and do some weights.

Hoz things going on at your end?

I read a very very interesting post in facebook last week regarding type 2 diabetes. In fact, I was facing the same situation when I was diagnosed, but couldn’t figure out then. Now, when I see that, it added to my knowledge bank.

It’s called “Acanthosis Nigricans”. This is a dark lines coming on Neck, Face, Forehead, Armpits, between the legs and on other body parts. It’s a mark on the skin which signals High Insulin Levels in the Body. Often being confused as smudge of dirt or grime, but in actual, it indicates that the body is resisting the Insulin. As a result, the pancreas produces more Insulin and finally the person develops Type 2 Diabetes. If you can figure this out early, you can eventually stop it by changing the life style thus avoiding Type 2 diabetes and then eventually these marks will go off once the insulin levels are normal. Google it with this keyword and you can see images/info for this. It’s a bodies early sign to show that one is getting effected for with the Insulin resistance.

I was having the same marks on my neck before I was diagnosed as Type 2 Diabetic. My wife told me about these marks, but we didn’t know this then. Now, I don’t have any such marks. They just vanished, indicating that my Insulin levels are good.

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/conditions/acanthosis-nigricans.html

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/acanthosis-nigricans/basics/causes/con-20025600

Hi All,

Hope you’re doing good. What’s news. Hoz going on?

I’ve been eating normally from the past 5-6 weeks (without counting calories) and no change in the scale. Hope the Insulin is in regulation. Would be going for the Lipid Profiles and HbA1c test this month end.

Hi Krishna

My thoughts exactly. Have you got the results of your test yet?

I have been doing a lot of reading about two products both natural, one called psyllium husk and one called Glucomannan these are both natural sources of fibre. There are many clinical trials into these products. I have reccomeded the glucommanan powder to my friend who is a diabetic, her daughter is overweight and she is taking it in a small dose initially. She has taken it for a week and appears to have lost weight although she is doing 5:2 but also she has problems with constipation that she had before 5:2 and they are helping this.

This works bowel wise in making the stools softer and bulkier and so they are easier to pass. It is very good also for diabetes, lowering cholesterol and can help weight loss slowly but surely.

I have a problem with constipation and I would like to lower my cholesterol. Obviously if I lose weight as well that is a bonus.

I have had trouble losing weight lately and only lost 1lb in the last months that is despite doing 4:3. I have cut down vegetables as they were making me constipated, my health trainer said that I had to drink a lot more water with them to help them pass through the system. This had me running to the loo all the time and urgently. Not a good thing if you are out, as I didn’t want an accident I cut vegetables and water down.

I know that some people find that veg makes them less constipated but not me.

Now due to no weight loss I have started having more vegetables and water again but taking glucomman to make sure I don’t get too constipated. I shall see how I go. This is the first week and I weigh at the weekend.

PJBR

I notice has been on another thread. Not enough people on this one, maybe we ought to do a recruitment drive.

I hope you are well and the results are good.

Ginette

Hi PJBR:

Your cholesterol goes up a lot when you lose that much weight. The condition is temporary. If you go to around 1:17 on this video there is a full explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFD2q5iqevY

Good Luck!

Hi All,

Good to see you’re posting again 🙂

Well, yesterday I’ve done my lab tests and here are the results.

1) HbA1c – 5.5 🙂 🙂 It’s in damn normal range
2) Total Cholestrol – 202 (Slightly higher)
3) Triglycerides (TGL) – 90 🙂 Seems pretty good ah
4) HDL – 38.1 🙁
5) LDL – 130 🙁

One thing I can’t figure out is what to be done to decrease LDL and increase HDL. I really need to increase the HDL and/or decrease the LDL.

Hi Ginette,

Thanks for the update. Yes, fiber is the main content which helps in reducing the LDL and increasing the HDL. Have been doing some study and found that foods rich in fiber would be the solution. Am not sure if I’d be able to get those medicines that you’ve mentioned, here in India, but, I’ve started taking apples regularly and hope to see the improvement after few weeks.

I had a terrible week, last week, suffering from viral fever, which disturbed me physically and mentally a lot, and now am slowly coming out of it. Started losing weight again. Came to 68kgs now and have another 8kgs to lose.

Ginette – Thank you for the info. Do be careful of eating a lot of soy though as it is high in an estrogen-like compound.

Krishna – Good for you! Your determined work has paid off! Exercise like walking increases the HDL cholesterol. Megan, the guide in Dr. Fung’s program says eggs increases the HDL too.

I have just spent a few days at the 50th reunion of my Nursing class and visited with my roommate who I first met 55 years ago. Needless to say I will be fasting more diligently for a while.

Thanks PJBR

I will only have it once in a while then. I don’t eat any other soy products, so hopefully that will be ok. I love the interest that nutrition has become and I am thinking of doing a course on it.

It would be nice to be in the position to help others.

It is nice that you have met an old friend.

Just to feedback on the psyllium that I purchased. I added a teaspoon and a half to a small tin of soup, this also had another tin of water added to it. It went to a jelly like liquid. I had another tin in the cupboard so I just heated this. I left the soup in the dish to see how it reacts in time as I couldn’t even get it on the spoon earlier. I will let you know.

Some people were taking a dessert spoon of it a day and others 2 tablespoons, so I thought this was a very prudent amount!!

Ginette

Hi Krishna

Let me know how you find it.

Of course with cholesterol it is not something than we can monitor regularly. But hopefully time will tell.

Don’t forget to drink lots of water with it.

Ginette

galexinda,
Thank you for that u-tube address. I have seen it before but probably was not as interested in the increased cholesterol talk as I am now as I am one of the ones who have had an astronomical increase in my LDL levels. The explanation gives me a measure of relief for sure.
Thanks again.

Hi Rari:

Have you reviewed the posts to this thread? You might focus on those from PVE and those concerning Dr. Fung. Type 2 is being reversed all of the time if it is done right.

Hi Rari:

I’m not aware that 5:2 will do it by itself. The diet needs to be changed, too. And, it depends on how long the patient has had diabetes and what medications they are on.

Dr. Fung usually starts a patient (depending on severity) on a one week or longer water fast. Thereafter, he often uses ADF, with the patient eating a high fat, very, very low carb diet on non diet days. He might use 5:2 with a HFLC diet in cases where the diabetes is ‘new’ and the patient has not been on mild medications for very long. Another Dr. that has reversed diabetes in his patients for over 30 years uses longer term fasting (up to 30 days or so for serious cases) combined with a plant based diet thereafter.

Each patient is different, but the key is to make sure the body water fasts periodically to get blood sugar and insulin levels down, followed by food that does not spike blood sugar levels.

Dr. Atkins reported reversing type 2 in over 5000 patients using his Atkins diet. However, this takes quite a bit of time compared to the speed at which it can be reversed using fasting and diet modification. PVE’s husband took about a year to get full results using 5:2 and a diet modification. Fung’s approach can work in less than a month to five or six months in more serious cases (and depending on how diligent the patient is in following instructions).

After it is reversed, the diet must be continued to maintain appropriate blood sugar levels. The diabetes is not ‘cured’, just controlled, and a reversion to the old diet can lead to the return of the type 2.

Rari,
I believe that Diabetes2 can be cured – to the extent that one is not in danger of the complications from the disease and from the depression and feeling sick and tired all the time.
What cannot be cured is one’s intolerance of carbohydrates, though the insulin resistance will be improved.
It can be done, albeit slowly, with Dr. Mosley’s 5:2, or with LCHF, but it will be faster with very low carbohydrate coupled with longer fasts. Basically it depends on the individual – how severe the diabetes is, how long he has had it and how willingly he adheres to the program.
If he is on medications, fasting should be done under doctor’s supervision, unless he really understands how and when to reduce medications.
I have not cured my diabetes yet, but no longer need insulin injections nor blood pressure pills. I have lost 30 pounds since Mar 1 this year though, because I have not adhered to longer fasts have not lost any since June 1, even though I have been having short fasts (only 1 or 2 meals/day) coupled with very low carbohydrate diet. Everyone is different.
I started the year with Dr. Mosley’s plan with some success (weight wise) but became aware of Dr. Fung and joined his program at the end of February. I would definitely recommend it. He has a distance program which gives all the information needed plus ongoing support. Just Google “intensive dietary management” When you get to his blog, search “distant program” or “join”. Yes, there is a cost, but believe me it is minimal in relation to all the weight loss programs I have tried and failed at.
Where are you? He has trained a doctor in India who is doing the same thing there, though I do not know if he is doing a distance program.
In no way am I suggesting that Dr. Mosley and his plan is not good. I commend him highly to have raised the consciousness of multitudes of people worldwide right at the time we need it most. We are definitely in an epidemic of obesity and Diabetes Type 2. Following his program will help fix and prevent this problem.

Kind words PJBR
Remember, ultimately we are all responsible for our own health and happiness. Dr M has given us the ideas. We each have to develop the skills.
All the best folks. PVE
PS Purple is the colour of Diabetes awareness ☺

Hi Rari
You sound like you are on the right track!
We didn’t know about Dr Fung until well after Mr P had reversed his diabetes. We only came on the forum after we had reached goal, so I had simply followed the Fast Diet book and did 5:2 101, with mindfulness. ? PVE

@rari,
One does not need to exercise to lose weight. It IS needed for overall health but it is NOT needed to lose weight (one would have to walk 35 miles to lose one pound)
Good for your husband that he has already lost weight with the 5:2 program You will see even greater loss as you learn more.
Blood sugar sometimes goes up even while fasting. Clearly it is the body’s own doing, not the kind of food eaten. We do not need any carbohydrate, as the body makes its own when it is needed.
Try not to overeat after a fast. Eat only until full. But do eat until full – after all you are going into another fast right away.
Dr. Fung advises NO sugar and very few carbohydrate. (zero to 5-10%) Most carbohydrate would be those found in vegetables which grow above the ground. Fruits are to be treated like candy – just a little at a time and only occasionally.
See Dr. Fung’s blog on all of the above.
I, myself, have found the simpler, the better. My interpretation is: when I eat, I eat vegetables, and fat (olive oil, coconut oil, butter) and some meat. I eat no sugar of any kind, and eat fruit only occasionally (I have eaten part of an apple, and a few raspberries and strawberries about 4 times in 6 months) and I eat NO starch (No bread, rice, pasta, or root vegetables, or anything made of flour)
But when fasting, it is drink only water, tea, coffee, (with a little cream if needed) and bone broth. i.e. NO or very few calories.
I too had to wait to get onto the distance program of Dr. Fung. I too did the 5:2 program and lost some weight before getting on the program.
No the distance program is unable to help with the medications, legally. You must have your own doctor to advise you about medications. ( But I warn you, most are not in favour of Dr. Fung’s method -mine especially so and I have had to find my own way) If your husband is only on Metformin this should be easier than if he were on multiple medications.
Yes, they give you ongoing support. Weekly at first for sure. I still meet weekly or every 2 weeks.
The insulin resistance and the blood sugar readings do improve throughout the program until eventually, the diabetes is CURED.
Yesterday, I read in Dr. Taylor’s information on reversing Diabetes that one needs a great deal of DETERMINATION to reverse the disease. I personally have found this to be true. If you have a fire in your belly and use fasting this disease can be beat.

Hi pjbr , it’s so kind of u to guide me through it . One question . Once u r cured do u still have to stay so strict with the dietary habits or they can be relaxed abit
U r so write about the medical fraternity. My doctors are not ready to listen to me on it . They still stress the low fat diet . I was wondering if I could make him loose weight and then get some results . Then they might listen .

@rari
Apparently, yes, you can re-add carbohydrates back into your diet but (as we have said so frequently) we are all different, so we must be diligent in watching how we are effected. Some must continue to only eat few carbohydrates. We should also eat the more nutritious ones.

I suggested to my doctor that he do just that – see me as an example.
My husband has lost a lot of weight and he no longer has any symptoms of diabetes. Our doctor says the diabetes is only in very good control. (Is this semantics? Is his definition of Diabetes different from mine? Perhaps his definition of diabetes is carbohydrate intolerance. And I agree, my tendency to carbohydrate intolerance will never go away completely, but the definition of diabetes as set by blood sugar readings and the resultant complications possible, will.)
Anyway, at his last visit with the doctor, the doctor actually complimented him on his efforts to lose weight and improve all his tests and said to carry on as he has been. Surprise, surprise!!!!!!!

Yes, I started about two years ago and loved it and lost weight on it and felt great – but I put the weight back on and I start again intermittently – but I don’t think that’s what is meant by IF!
I can’t seem to find the right state of mind to stare and keep going.
I was having a conversation with a good/nice dietitian I started to go to for inspiration and a stick actually. I told her about 5:2 and she said ‘Oh a crash diet’ but she is OK so I said if I had a gastric band operation, how many calories a day would I be eating? And we had a laugh together!
But I haven’t given up.
Quite why I don’t Just Do It I don’t understand because, I know what to do, that I really need to and I have done in the past, yet still can’t do it at the moment. Bit crazy we humans sometimes.

Have been doing a lot of fasting these last two weeks (see challenge forum for Nov/Dec) as the first 2 weeks of Nov. were a disaster for me with days of eating wrong in both type of food and quantity of food due to celebration. Up 5 pounds and down 5 pounds then up 2 pounds by eating (well) for 1 day and then down 1 pound by fasting 1 day. talk about a roller coaster . But yesterday my blood sugar readings were under 7 all day – first time ever! Thus the post to celebrate a bit of victory. That was a fast day.

I have lost 30 pounds altogether but find that the abdominal fat still just hangs in there. I read recently that the abdominal readings are the slowest to decrease. Though I have also read that with severe decrease in calories, the visceral fat, around the abdominal organs is the first to go and it is this depletion of visceral fat which improves the diabetes.

I still have a long way to go before the disease is completely reversed, or cured. I am determined to see this through to the end. I am curious to know how many carbohydrates my body can tolerate once that happens. I would like to have 1 fruit, 1 milk, and 1 starch per day (45 grams) Perhaps a carbohydrate treat once per week. Of course continued weekly or 2x/week fasting will never stop.

I can dream, can’t I !?!?

Hi All

Hi PJBR

I have lost nearly 5 stone now, hopefully I will make tge three stone mark by Christmas. I can agree with what you say about visceral fat, my stomach is shrinking but very slowly. My neck seems slightly smaller, this is an area with visceral fat as well (strange eh!).

I have eased up on the calorie counting apart from fast days, this has resulted in a 2lb loss over a couple of months. I fasted 3 days a week but ate things which weren’t good for me on other days. I have just put my name on the health trainers waiting list (free on the NHS) so I shall soon be back on that treadmill of weight loss.

I had been fasting for about 10 months when I had my break on non fast days. I feel very lucky to be able to get away with this. Probably because I am not diabetic just striving not to be. Your struggles on this thread are a real lesson to all of us who can avoid this by lifestyle choice to do it. I do commend you for having the resilience to stick to this way of life indefinetly. I am sure that I will still have to fast at target which is still a long time away yet.

It is nice to see an active thread again.

Ginette