Skinny people get type 2 diabetes
too: 10st 7lb man who exercised regularly is stunned to learn HE has the
condition - which he then REVERSED in 11 days with new diet. When I was
diagnosed with type 2 diabetes four years ago I was stunned. I’d gone for
a check-up, and a routine blood test said it all: diabetes. But it made no
sense. As a healthy 59-year-old, who went running, played regular cricket,
drank moderately (2 units a week) and only weighed 10st 7lb, I was hardly
overweight.
In fact, at 5ft 7in, my Body Mass Index (BMI) was a healthy
21.Yes, I did overeat sometimes – I was thin and thought I could eat what I
liked within reason – but it was mainly healthy food, few ready meals,
semi-skimmed milk, grilled rather than fried food, chicken rather than red meat
and lots of fresh veg.
But over the past two years I had been under a lot of
stress: my dad had recently died from prostate cancer, my job had changed
radically, and I’d been on high blood pressure pills for a year. Note (Stress
can raise your blood sugar levels).But I still thought my diabetes diagnosis
was ridiculous – how could someone with my weight and healthy lifestyle be
facing the prospect of all the serious complications of type 2 diabetes in ten
years’ time, including sight loss and a much greater risk of early death?
My GP told me I could control my condition with diet, and
gave me a long list of healthy foods and their glycaemic load (the effect each
food has on your blood sugar level). After six months on this, my blood
sugar level had dropped from 9mmol to 7, although this was still well above 6,
the level at which type 2 diabetes is diagnosed.
I
e i wanted to be free of diabetes, not just control it. So
I researched online and discovered the work of Professor Roy Taylor at
Newcastle University. Type 2 is linked to fat clogging up the liver and
pancreas, and Professor Taylor had shown that a very low calorie diet could
reverse this. I had to try it.I chose mid-July as there were few social events
to tempt me off the diet. The Newcastle study was based on participants
losing a sixth of their pre-diagnosis weight.
e i wanted to be free of diabetes, not just control it. So
I researched online and discovered the work of Professor Roy Taylor at
Newcastle University. Type 2 is linked to fat clogging up the liver and
pancreas, and Professor Taylor had shown that a very low calorie diet could
reverse this. I had to try it.I chose mid-July as there were few social events
to tempt me off the diet. The Newcastle study was based on participants
losing a sixth of their pre-diagnosis weight. 
I was surprised to find I’d already unintentionally lost a
stone while following a healthy diet since my diagnosis, so I only had to lose
a further 9lb to reach my target of 8st 12lb.With my doctor’s support and
advice from Professor Taylor, I started on the diet. My 800 calories a day came
from three 200-calorie soups or shakes, and 200 calories of green vegetables
(just as in the Newcastle study).
I became inventive with the 200 calories of green veg,
experimenting with new herbs. Soups – particularly mushroom – became my
passion and I would really look forward to them in the evening.
In the first
three days I lost 4lbs and by the fourth, my blood sugar reading was down to
4.6. I went through periods of feeling cold, despite wearing four layers
of clothing under a bright sun, and sometimes my fingers went white. I got
very tired on occasion and remember once walking up the steep steps at a tube
station after work and feeling like I’d been up all night.
Very occasionally, when hunger got to me, I felt a bit
detached at work. However, I managed to work perfectly normally. My colleagues
nicknamed me the 'disappearing man' as my weight loss was so visible and
rapid. My one failure was not drinking sufficient water – at least 2-3
litres a day are advised to avoid dehydration and constipation, but I often
drank considerably less.
This led to a severe bout of constipation, cured with a
laxativeI monitored my blood sugar levels constantly and by Day 11 my reading
was just 4.1 mmol, well under the diabetic level of 6; the next day I reached
my target weight. Professor Taylor suggested I came off the liquid diet.
I
was ecstatic. I went back to the diabetic-friendly diet I’d been on
earlier, sticking to wholegrain foods, having no more than 50g portions of rice
and pasta, generally avoiding cheese, and eating lots of fruit and veg. I have
since continued to run regularly and go to a gym. Until January my blood sugar
results had been normal – but recently my stress levels have risen again for
various reasons, including having an elderly parent with vascular dementia,
which might be behind a slight rise to just below the ‘diabetes’ level. So I
plan to return briefly to the low calorie diet: I want my pancreas back in
shape and I know it can be done.
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