diabetes, strokes, inflammation and diet

[Ianc2]

Diabetes type 2 can be stopped and reversed in 90% of cases through an 800 calories a day diet, which dramatically drops weight, which in turn reduces blood pressure and radically reduces the risk of stokes.

Throw in between half an hour to one hours exercise a day and you have a magic formula for reducing heart disease, as well as reducing inflammatory responses. The drawback is that about 40% of the people eligible couldn't stay with the diet.

So how do you avoid piling on weight over the feast of Xmas?

[BobD Volunteer]

I saw this in the papers yesterday. and laughed I can't rmember now but think wartime rations were about 1500 cals maybe 2000 for men and ofc course there were very few fat people then. The trials in Australia showed just how succesful weight loss could be in reducing AF burden and BP. I have lost about 13 lbs since last Christmas just be eating less and eating less meat and more veg but while it may have dropped my BP by 10/5 and improved my appearance I can't say with any conviction that it has dome much else.

[Ianc2 in reply to BobD]

Back to the good old days in 1947 1oz bacon, 3 lbs potatoes, 2 ozs butter, 3ozs marge, 1 oz cooking fat, 2ozs cheese & 1 oz meat, 3 1/2 lb of bread - for one week

1lb of Jam/marmalade per month

and the black market, if you were lucky, for everything else apart from lentils and pulses. You could, of course, save up your ration points

[Bagrat]

Firstly, the Christmas Season is 2 weeks maybe out of 52 so not a huge issue if you eat too much only once a year. If like me, overindulging results in the gastronomic equivalent of a hangover, there is an element of self preservation.

Choose wisely if you must, but relax and enjoy.

Oh and the weight gain from the extra salt in restaurant meals and Christmas snacks soon goes again. The slight advantage for me is eating higher salt food means my night trips to the lavatory are reduced to nil!!

[irene75359]

I would agree most people couldn't manage long term on 800 calories a day, no matter what the benefits. How depressing! However 1200 - 1400 calories a day is doable, (slightly more for men) and weight will still come off, albeit at a slower rate. Exercise, absolutely, especially if you have a high energy dog as I have. No option about a very long brisk walk daily, regardless of the weather.

[Ianc2]

The 800 cals a day is a short term measure aimed at people who have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, are well overweight, and starting to demonstrate some of the nasty consequences of this illness. It should be done under medical supervision. I have seen this process work and transform the individual from a very sick man to a man with his life back. The part that interested me was the way that diet is being implicated in heart disease and alzheimers as well as diabetes

[Auriculaire]

Most people could not stay on such a diet for long and as soon as one resumed the old eating habits the weight would come back and then some. It has been shown time and again that dieting so drastically leads to weight regain and indeed this is logical from an evolutionary standpoint. In times when food shortages were common those with the genes to stockpile calories would do better and pass on those genes.

As far as T2 Diabetes is concerned it is probably the overconsumption of rubbishy food - too many carbs , soft drinks etc that has caused the explosion of this disease. Along with magnesium and vit d deficiency in large swathes of the population. There are some doctors now who are advocating with considerable success a high fat , low carb ,adequate protein diet to combat T2 Diabetes. This is of course what was prescribed for diabetics many years ago - before diabetes drugs other than insulin were available and before the "fat is bad for you and causes heart disease" fallacy took hold. The dietary advice for diabetics has been a disgrace for years now and inevitably leads to medication - more money for Pharma.