Reversing my Diabetes

Originally written on 2021-04-03 after a little over 2 years of the lifestyle routine below.

# Contradicting the ignorance and misinformation from doctors, big pharma, and the grain industry

Billions of dollars of drugs are sold to remedy type 2 diabetes. The more I studied nutrition and the human body, as well as much reading of boring studies, the more motivated I became to move away from drugs and towards lifestyle changes and an increase in hope that I can actually cure this problem. It has now been two years since I made that decision.

Edit: Since then, I fell off the wagon in terms of energy output (exercise) vs energy intake (eating), but not all the way back to square one. For one thing, I stuck with a habit of eating healthy for my body. Here is what I learned and am using again to get back to using less drugs to manage my type 2 diabetes.

Warning about Ozempic

A newish dangerous drug growing in popularity, originally designed for diabetes, but now also being prescribed for weight loss. Evidence here.

# Some background

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in late 2016.

It impacted my body in many ways, including:
– Loss of much muscle mass; so fatigue and loss of strength.
– Inflammation – expressing mostly as joint pain. Began around 2008.
– Nerve damage – about half of the area of both feet were numb and/or tingly, random sparks/tingles of various feelings, including pain throughout the body (felt like insect bites), and numbness in other areas. This included impotence! I started noticing these symptoms in early 2016. The only way I could sleep was to use a huge – and increasing – amounts of alternating between ibuprofen and acetaminophen, which barely worked. Eventually I discovered that consuming oil from weed before bed ensured sleep.
– Low energy.
– Foggy brain – I didn’t notice this until it changed. Clarity now!
– Drastically deteriorating vision, including the beginning of cataracts.
– In 2017 my A1C tested as 15.5. A1C is a measurement of blood/glucose level average over a 3-4 month period. 15.5 is considered extremely high.
– Super low testosterone levels. I didn’t know about this until 2018.

I had felt the approach of these symptoms for over a year prior to diagnosis and suspected something was up but was afraid to face it by seeing a health care professional.

My diet leading up to this was vegetarian plus occasional fish, chicken, turkey, and eggs. I often went a week or more without consuming any animal products.

I didn’t have much of a taste for meat – especially fatty meat – so I ate it rarely. Growing up, meat was not something we could often afford. I had not eaten beef, pork, lamb, or drank milk in over 26 years prior to the diagnosis. I ate an unrestricted amount of bread and pasta. I ate an unrestricted amount of rice, too. I also ate quite a bit of salad but used dressings with too many “vegetable” oils (omega 6, yay). I thought honey and agave nectar were too healthy to worry about. I drank a lot of tea sweetened with those “healthy” sweeteners. Filtered water only. I thought I was eating healthy. I didn’t know how the body converts carbs into sugars and the load they put on the liver and eventually, the rest of the body. I combined that manner of eating with an accident that broke some ribs, followed by another not long after healing, which is a lot of inactivity. I certainly didn’t know how that combo can lead to insulin resistance!

# Experimenting on myself

There’s this thing, this “web” of information out there. I used it to research diabetes, human metabolism, nutrition, exercise, and some related topics. Once I scrolled past the big pharma, big grain, and big corn funded “studies” and advice, I found there were thousands of cases where people not only remedied, but reversed the course of their diabetes and many other metabolic diseases with diet and exercise! Yay duck duck go as a search engine! Edit: Duck Duck Go has been compromised. I now use Brave Search.

So on February 1st of 2018 I started an experiment. Keto (high fat, medium protein, low carb), intermittent fasting (one meal a day, hereinafter “OMAD”), and 20 to 30 minutes of walking or weight lifting (alternating) per day. I used a spreadsheet to track every meal, every intake of meds, and every exercise session.

## After four days

– All muscle, joint, and “phantom” pain was gone! Suddenly, I could dance and do Kung Fu for over an hour straight and have zero joint pain, which I had not experienced in years! I remember going out that Friday night with friends to a dance club downtown. I danced for over two hours with two short breaks. As I cavorted around, I remember pointing down at my legs and yelling over the music to my friends, “Do you see this!?”

– I could sleep without drugging myself!

## After a few weeks

– Dry, scaly skin on my face gone. Edit: Turns out that was because of too much oxalate intake and it has come back to a lesser degree, depending on how much coffee, chocolate, and other high-oxalate foods I eat. I’m convinced it was about a year of drinking a pot of coffee with almond milk and snacking on dark chocolate every day that brought it back.

– Higher testosterone – more energy, drive, and confidence.

– Some of my nerve damage has gone away, as in I can feel more parts of my feet now!

– Consistently high energy levels.

– Unintended side effect: I lost quite a bit of my body fat. As of today, I’ve put two new holes in my belt and cut three inches off the tip! And yay, muscle stands out far more! Edit: I actually got to the point where I had a “six pack” belly for the first time in my life. Picture below is not me.

## After one year

My metformin and glyburide/glipizide intake was down to half of what the doctors had originally prescribed, while daily blood sugar was stable below 110, where a year ago if I skipped either of those drugs at prescribed dose, my blood sugar would quickly rise past 300.

New information: Dihydro-Berberine can be a near-substitute (consult your corrupt doctor) for Metformin! The best deal I know of on this powerful blood glucose-reducing supplement: Super Berberine (Sugar MD)
https://amazon.com/Ergins-SugarMD-Berberine-Cinnamon-Capsules/dp/B09ST7X7Z1

An article on Berberine vs Metformin: https://www.buzzrx.com/blog/metformin-vs-berberine-similarities-and-differences

## After two years

Now at approximately 1/3 of prescribed meds:

– A1C down from 15.5 to 6.2! FYI, < ~6.0 is “high normal / pre-diabetic”.

– 85% feeling in feet has returned.

– Eye doctor was amazed. My vision had improved. “I don’t get people your age having their vision improve and cataracts disappear!”

– Penis working much better! Let’s just say that coinciding with the onset of diabetes was reduced function.

I remember a conversation with the doctor who first diagnosed me: “But doc, what if I just improve my diet and exercise more?”

His reply: “You already eat healthy (he was wrong; most doctors are not trained in nutrition). It’s probably genetic. Your blood sugar is far above the norm. This is very bad. You will die if you don’t take these drugs (glyburide and metformin).” In the short term, he was right about me needing to immediately reduce my blood glucose level.

The second doctor, over a year later, when asked the same question (but after seeing my improvements), gave a similar answer but did concede that he had seen patients put their diabetes into remission or even cure themselves with lifestyle changes. “But,” he said, “that is off the record.”

# Pros and cons of Keto

Short for ketogenesis. Please be sure to read the caveat at the bottom of this article! Please also study up some on keto in case you bring to the table a belief of the anti-keto grain-n-pharma-industry-perpetuated-myths about things like “eating eggs, meats, and fat* is bad,” “our bodies need carb input,” “LDL causes heart attacks,” “coconut oil is bad,” “long term effects are damaging,” “salt is bad,” etc. Follow the money trail.

## Basics on fats & oils

Poly-unsatured fats (Omega 3’s) – Anti-inflammatory, anti-Alzheimer’s, mostly in just seafood.

Mono-unsaturated “cis” fatty acids – Olive oil and avocado oil – Great for many purposes, including salad dressing. Best used for salad dressings and other cold applications, but can also be used for cooking at appropriate temperatures. Both olive oil and avocado oil have relatively high smoke points compared to other oils, making them suitable for cooking. Olive oil’s smoke point is around 375-405°F (190-207°C), while avocado oil’s smoke point is even higher, around 520°F (271°C). Be sure you are getting pure virgin. Read the label! Some companies combine it with canola or other cheap processed oils.

Poly-unsaturated fatty acids – Higher smoking point. Watch quantity.

Saturated fatty acids (even chain) – Red meat – Provides all necessary nutrients.

Saturated fatty acids (odd chain) – Dairy – Can bind to other things and be anti-inflammatory. Some, of course, have dairy intolerances. Sometimes that can be a non-issue if you drink raw milk.

Medium chain triglycerides – Coconut oil – Good in most cases. If combined with saturated fat, can overwhelm mitochondria’s ability to oxidize.

Trans fats (Omega 6 fatty acids) – Seed oils like canola, grapeseed oil, “vegetable oil”,  margarine, shortening, fries, pastries, etc. Bacteria can’t digest this. Poison. Pro-inflammatory. 

After numerous issues with loaves of the “seeded” version of this bread proving to be extremely fragile (slices falling apart easily), I recommend the plain version.

## Some Keto myths

“I have to stop eating bread, pasta, pizza, ice cream, and other yummy treats!”
The Truth: Nope! There are an increasing number of products using:

– Monk fruit powder, stevia, erythritol (careful, processed), allulose, and other healthy sweeteners. Warning: I found some of these are gentle on my stomach and some may cause diarrhea.

– Almond flour (careful, high oxalate), coconut flour, and even cauliflower for pie or pizza crusts.

– “Hypothyroidism, reduced bone mineral density, kidney stones and gallstones.”
The Truth: Not enough potassium, calcium, D2/K3, and magnesium. Keto done wrong. Unless you love fatty meat, love liver, and get a lot of Sun, supplements are super important. I fall in that category.

– “Constipation.”
The Truth: I’ve only had issues with that when I eat too much cheese. I know many low carb bread recipes use a lot of cheese and cheese is known as very “keto,” so I see why some people are getting constipation. Especially with combined with: an unexamined keto diet may not supply enough fiber. I eat some kale about every other day and add a flax-based fiber powder to many dishes. Kale is loaded with powerful antioxidants like quercetin and kaempferol, Omega 3. But also, heh, I drink a lot of coffee and tea, which I believe helps keep the flow going. Disclaimer: I’m not necessarily recommending high caffeine intake.

– “High risk for some cancers.”
The Truth: I bet this is because – if you study only the surface of keto you may avoid various anti-oxidant veggies and fruits, for fear of carbs/sugar. The thing is there are many greens, nuts, and even fruits that are keto-friendly, including kale, berries, pecans, macadamia, and walnuts because of their fat/fiber/carb ratio being good. I love that now I feel liberated to eat as many hamburgers, bacon, turkey, chicken, and SALMON as I want! Some beans but carefully because of oxalates and carbs.

## What is autophagy and why does it matter?

The short answer: Autophagy repairs cellular damage. New studies are even showing it can slow or even reverse some of the effects of aging! Important: For it to work, a person needs to give their digestive system breaks. Nothing drastic is required. OMAD (one meal a day) works great for this!

Some sciencey bits: There is an important “garbage removal and repair” process our bodies do naturally, if given the chance, called autophagy.

Autophagy is the major eukaryotic degradative process for cytosolic organelles, long–lived proteins as well as misfolded protein aggregates, playing an important role in development, adaptation, starvation, tumor suppression, and aging as well as innate and adaptive immunity. Although mostly referred to strictly as a degradative process, autophagy is also often described as a renewal process; a pathway by which metabolites generated through autophagic degradation are reused either as sources of energy or building blocks for synthesis of new macromolecules.

### You can quickly and easily get into a state of autophagy

A few days into my intermittent fasting (put first and only meal off until noonish or even 3-4pm) with high fat, medium/low protein (more protein, depending on factors like activity and age), and very low carbs and I put my body into a state of autophagy. The high fat intake means less or even no cravings. Apparently, I converted my body into a “hybrid” system (it’s natural state) that can easily utilize fat and ketones as well as the carbs it has been trained to use for energy. Along the way I learned that if I consumed too much fat, I’d get diarrhea. A slight reduction in fat intake fixed that.

## Other benefits?

Many! I can’t stress enough that by the end of day 4 all my joint pain was gone and I was able to sleep without drugging myself every night! That pain stayed gone – with the exception of twice during this 91 days where I ate too many carbs and the knee pain came back within a few hours. Both times it took 24-36 hours of getting back on the super low carb train to remove the pain again. Other changes I’ve noticed include higher and more consistent energy, obvious loss of body fat, and more clarity of thought. Oh and I’m not wasting money or time eating so often, which means I’m getting more done.

## Important Caveats

– Exercise: I did “step up” my exercise. Between 30 and 60 minutes of walking or a similar amount of biking, daily. Been getting back into Kung Fu training. A bit of weight lifting every other day. But the point of this caveat is: I believe at least half of this amount of exercise is essential for this lifestyle to work well.

– Water: Drink more! Then drink more! And keep in mind that water can wash many important nutrients out of your system, so…

– Make sure you are getting enough of the essential nutrients! Carbs are not essential nutrients! See https://clearsay.net/food-as-fountain-of-youth for a more detailed list of the vitamins and nutrients you need most. All B vitamins, C, D3, K2, Potassium, magnesium, and zinc are high up on the list. Oh and it is best to get them through consumption of whole foods and only through supplements when absolutely necessary. With the current state of soil-for-growing and animal feed, sadly, this is an issue. So I tend to consume quite a few supplements.

## As of November 2019, my A1C was down to 6.2!

Edit: Since then I’ve gotten it down as low as 5.7 (which it is at right now, and dropping steadily).

Please question all information from big pharma-influenced American Cancer Society, American Medical Association (AMA), USDA, and FDA!

Big pharma wants doctors prescribing their drugs and they bribe and lobby heavily to keep these agencies under their boots. If you don’t know what regulatory capture is, look it up. It’s insidious and it’s a big part of why government regulation doesn’t work.

# Disclaimer

I’m not a nutritionist, doctor, physicist, oceanographer, astronaut, or monkey therapist, so don’t go believing anything I say. Don’t even follow my advice, even if this article were advice, which it isn’t.

# Finally, you are a rebel

Pat yourself on the back! This is not common knowledge. Keep in mind that we are working against the established paradigm. Every time you reshare this information, you may be losing friends or saving lives.