Revamp My Life

As per previous post on wellness, we need to find new ways of healing ourselves, and we need to do research and then try something that seems safe and also logical and from peer reviewed studies. That said, I have been researching various doctors opinions on healing Type 2 Diabetes. Yes, you read that right, these experts are claiming you can reverse or cure your T2 diabetes, prediabetes or insulin resistance.

Here are some of the things they are saying and I have decided to try my own combination of the techniques and suggestions given and see what the results are. I will give you my plan at the end, and also post my stats here to actually track the impact of this daily and weekly. I really hope that by combining all this information I can come up with a plan that not only works, but leave me healthier and with more energy so I can tackle the next goal on my list. Please note that I am not a medical professional and that you should not follow this plan blindly without consulting your own Dr first.

The first expert I investigated is Jessie from the Glucose Goddess. If you have the time, you can view her YouTube video on Type 2 Diabetes here: https://youtu.be/nOdtoF8m-o0

Her teachings are mostly around hacks that you can apply to minimise your glucose spikes. This is when you eat or drink something high in starch or sugar which causes the glucose of these foods to get into your blood stream. The issue with any insulin type issues is that it falls on a spectrum of insulin resistance getting worse. The final stage of this insulin resistance is Type 2 Diabetes. She provided a list of foods and her 10 hacks that will enable you to eat some starch but will reduce their effect if you apply the 10 hacks. From her YouTube site you can open her website and download the 10 hacks as well as the food list.

The second expert I am researching is Dr Jason Fung who is known for curing diabetes at his clinic. He cures diabetes using both good eating habits (following Keto diet) and intermittent fasting to reduce the sugar in your body so you can burn the stored glucose and create space for new glucose to be stored safely. He looks at intermittent fasting: 13 to 15 hrs of fasting everyday to create a window for your body to have to use stored. Here is a link to one of his YouTube posts. https://youtu.be/mAwgdX5VxGc?si=1-qfskVA_eKC6lOJ

The next expert is Dr Mark Hyman. He is a functional medicine doctor and makes it really simple. An overload of sugar and starch got you into this serious metabolic situation. So you need to fix it by reversing the issue – too much glucose which made you insulin resistant. So if you want to reverse it increase your good fats and cut out carbs (starch and sugar). Once you resolved this metabolic issue you can expand your diet again to include some starch but not overdo it. https://youtube.com/shorts/01RqgbSvb-g?si=kA0F4i4CR7t2kNKz

The last expert I researched is Dr Mindy Pelz. She is a fasting and women’s health expert. Her approach contains more things to avoid: bad fats, processed foods and toxins and also involves different length fasting to drive different healing mechanisms. So intermittent fasting to start with is great but then moving into autophagy fasting (around 17+hrs) and then the 24 hr fast to help repair gut health and then extending into 36 hr fast that unlocks weight loss and releases more stored glucose. Also 48 hr fast will reset dopamine and help you not crave chocolates or sweets to get a dopamine rush, and 72 hours fast gives you optimal autophagy as well as releases stem cells which can help heal your body in a deeper level to reverse the damage caused by the disease and. All of these will provide additional insulin sensitivity and will release stored glucose which will assist in reversing the effects of diabetes and will make you more insulin sensitive over time. The more often and longer you fast the quicker you will see the benefits. She also promotes a ketogenic or ketobiotic diet, which exclude starch and sugars and include prebiotics, probiotics and polefenfals. https://youtu.be/jTWq-5lFt6E?si=uuiii9ZRgyCd47SV

So what did I learn from all of the above and what will I be applying?

So I am going to combine and follow the following steps, starting on Monday 29 April 2024:

• Remove carbs (starch and sugars) this will start by including fruits and starchy vegetables. Eating a ketobiotic diet to also help improve my microbiome which plays a factor in improving insulin sensitivity
• Do basic intermittent fasting (16 hours fasting and 8 hour eating window as per Dr Fung) on all days, also do extended fasts some days to 17-18 autophagy fasting and hopefully getting to a 24hr fast fairly early in May to reset gut stem cells and help my microbiome become stronger which would help in increasing insulin sensitivity.
• Note my hormones and ensure I still give progesterone shorter fasts the last week of my cycle but then using the hacks from Jessie to reduce the effect on my blood sugar.
• I will test my sugar every morning when I wake up and try to reduce that number by being conscious of when I eat the night before. Also testing before I break my fast the next day and also testing ketones at these two times. I will also test my sugar at night before I go to bed. I will update this blog with my numbers daily. This will serve 2 goals, 1. Keep me accountable to you and 2. Show you in real time whether any of this works or not.
• I will also be supplementing with a multivitamin, omega 3 and Vitamin D.
• Another aim is to do some exercise most days. That might be a stretch but I will try my best.

Let’s see how this goes for the next few weeks.

Month 1

The first week proved to be difficult with many cravings for sweets and starches. I went strong at the beginning of the week with fasting but then that flame died down a bit when I remembered the teaching of Dr Mindy Pelz on female hormones and I realized I was low in progesterone. Going through peri-menopause this is one of the challenges. So toward the end of the week I started hormone feasting and low and behold my cycle started on Sunday (been missing it for the last 2 months). So now I can go back into the longer fast and hopefully do a 24hr fast this week as my gut needs some serious repair.

I felt good this week until Friday when I had the runs the entire day. Another surprise on Friday was that my blood glucuse went down to 7.2. The best it’s been in months! I think my stomach issue may have been caused by my liver and common bile duct getting a bit of a clean. I’ve been drinking liver support all week and this helps to clear the toxins out of your liver and adjasent systems so your liver can function better in burning fat and hormones. But that is just an hypothesis, I have no specific proof. Continuing with the liver support this week again, I gave it a break over the weekend, just incase.

Speaking of Blood glucose, there was a very clear drop in my fasting glucose, I went from 18.4 all the way down to 13.7 for fasting glucose and 16.5 to 7.2 for my last measure before I break my fast for the day. My glucose just before bed also went from 19.1 to 15.1. This is quite a reduction in 7 days. In this week I went also from 50 units fasting insulin down to none for Friday an d Saturday and still my morning sugar kept going down. I will reduce my fasting insulin by half and see what the effect is on my fasting insulin. I have also reduced my short acting insulin, I only took 12 and 13 respectively on 2 days when insulin before my meal did not go down from the fasting insulin, I discovered that this was due to the milk in my morning coffee. So I am switching to unsweetened almond milk, which I am finding, does not increase my glucose, if I remember, I also put a spoon full of MCT oil in my coffee which brings my sugar down quite quickly.

Averages on my sugar look as follows:

• Average over past 90 days – 20.5
• Average over past 30 days – 19.8
• Average over past 14 days – 18.2
• Average over past 7 days – 16.9

Weight and measurements:

I have only lost 4 cm around my waist in the last month and 5kg. Although weight loss is not the aim, I am hoping that getting my body more insulin sensitive and fasting more will have this as a secondary benefit, and it proves to be the case.

On the exercise front I managed to get to gym around once or twice a week and did a 30 min, 2km walk at an incline. At least I am starting to move a bit. But I am giving myself grace and trying for progress over perfection. The coming month I am hoping to get 2 sessions in at least every week. But time may or may not be on my side.

Food wise, I tried to break my fasts with an Avo or an egg where possible. As I also work on sustainable, cheap, easy and healthy meals, I will put together a meal plan that incorporates fasting and eating food as medicine to improve blood sugar, health and insulin sensitivity.

Food principles I tried to stick by:

• Veggies with every meal
• If possible vinegar with every meal (over sweet potato chips, or lemon juice over Broccoli, etc.)
• Cut out sugar and replaced with better alternatives (like coconut sugar)
• Cut out processed foods where at all possible
• Tried to eat only nature’s carbs and paid special attention to getting lots of fibre
• Eating and fasting for my cycle, which at 47 is now more regular and predictable than it has ever been in my life. My moods and hormones are also improving.

I am amazed how much better I feel. Although I have noticed my blood pressure being low a lot. Around 100/66. Next I need to understand low blood pressure.