Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
[h=1]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[/h]
PUBLISHED: 15:10 GMT, 21 January 2016 |
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.
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 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.
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- Richard Doughty, 59, exercised regularly and followed a healthy diet
- At 5ft 7in and 10st 7lb, his Body Mass Index (BMI) was a healthy 21
- But he had endured a very stressful time - and stress can trigger condition
- Remarkably, he managed to reverse his diabetes in under two weeks
- Achieved this by eating just 800 calories a day - from vegetables and soup
PUBLISHED: 15:10 GMT, 21 January 2016 |
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.
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 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.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]READ MORE[/FONT]