Diabetes? Isn’t it incurable? BUT you can beat it!!
“I feel alive again! No more pills, no more finger pricking. I never did believe that losing weight can cure my diabetes. It works wonders!” Elaine, 44, is still keeping her weight off till this day and not give the disease a second chance.
Diabetes and Body Weight
Too much fat in the tummy affects the liver and the pancreas, the organ that produces insulin. As a result, the pancreas produces less insulin than normal during a sugary meal. This is where it becomes the starting point of how type 2 diabetes develops. When blood sugar remains high, it causes wide spread inflammation and damage to our blood vessels and organs. This condition is called type 2 diabetes mellitus.
In fact, during the early stage of the disease, damage occurs in insulin-producing cells in the pancreas but they are not destroyed yet. Therefore before further destruction, there is a period of time to reverse the disease and even be on permanent remission. For some people, 3 years from diagnosis may be too late! This is the golden time for taking action, the sooner the better. Talk to your doctor on ways to cut weight and also good lifestyle changes.
Diabetics who successfully lose weight and maintain body weight with a healthy diet reap huge health benefits. You can even put the disease on permanent remission, saving you from health worries, life long medical cost for life or worsening disease complications.
Almost Every Diabetic Can Be Back To Normal
The main cause of high blood sugar is because of excess fat surrounding our pancreas. Hence, getting rid of these fat early in the course of disease almost always returns the pancreas back to functioning state. This would be the very first treatment goal – significant weight loss, crucial to achieve within first 5 years.
In a popular study by Taylor, with strict calorie intake control, almost every diabetic can be free from insulin injection and other antidiabetic medicine. The participants are given instructions on strict 800-calorie liquid diet at first before phasing it out. This liquid diet consists of four portions of vitamin-rich soup or smoothie. As in the case of Maher, he loses 66 lbs and is able to stop taking all his antidiabetic medications as his disease improves.
Photo by Hela Klao from Flickr
Maintaining Weight
Body weight in itself, just like diabetes, can be seen as an end result. What contributes to body weight and disease severity is a multitude of small habits in life that we follow unconsciously. Hence, cutting down weight and preventing diabetes are good goals to achieve. But, any good measurement of efforts would need to go beyond the weighing scale into our daily living and behaviour.
As a goal, many people can be cured with sustained weight loss of around 15kg. Louise McCombie of the University of Glasgow and colleagues urge for greater awareness and education of both the public and healthcare workers on the chances for cure. This disease has long been believed to be incurable and only gets worse with time.
Likewise, in a previous study by Taylor and team, even though a great number of participants are able to reverse their diabetes with significant weight loss, some patients suffer a relapse again. Taylor found that those who lose a critical amount of weight are more likely to break free from the disease cycle of remissions and relapses. There is a need for fundamental adjustment within the person to make such drastic change possible and lasting.
Photo by Health Same from Flickr
Conclusion
Losing weight of about 15 kg and sustaining it can reverse diabetes in its early stage to a permanent remission. More and more evidence emerge to show the trend but poorly recorded.
That is why researchers are strongly recommending international consensus to officially reclassify patients when they become non-diabetic. Recognising and publicising that patients are in remission make it possible to monitor progress and to receive appropriate care.
Currently, today few patients are even attempting to go on a path to reverse the disease. More should be done to change the long held perception that diabetes is incurable. More publicity is needed to create higher awareness of remission success, paving the way for improving long term health outcomes.
References:
1. Kathleen D. Lose weight, reverse type 2 diabetes: why it works [Internet]. WebMD LLC. 2020. (Available from: https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/news/20180917/lose-weight-reverse-type-2-diabetes-why-it-works; last updated on 2018 Sept 17; last accessed on 2020 Nov 8)
2. The BMJ. Losing weight can reverse type 2 diabetes, but is rarely achieved or recorded [Internet]. BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. 2020. (Available from: https://www.bmj.com/company/newsroom/losing-weight-can-reverse-type-2-diabetes-but-is-rarely-achieved-or-recorded/; last accessed on 2020 Nov 8)
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by Chang Xian
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