Here's a rather inspiring story. But before reading it should be emphasised that this person was diagnosed as a T1 diabetic, where there is NO insulin present with a non functioning pancreas. If anything his story should inspire you as a T2, as in all likelihood your pancreas can be returned to functionality by reversing your insulin resistance though the same dietary regime.
PS Getting this from the PDF meant that the chart mentioned didn't carry over, so apologies for that. I've added the link to Ivor Cummings' interview in the same vein.
So...
My name is Neil, I am 49 years old and I live in England. In February of 2013 I was rather pleased with myself, I was losing weight. I had been trying through calorific reduction.. eating a "healthy low fat diet". It wasn't even hard, people commented on how much weight I had lost. In just a few weeks I had dropped from 12.5 stones (80kg) to 11 stones (70kg). At 5ft 6" (168cm) tall this took me from a BMI of 28.3 (almost obese) to 24.8 (just in normal range). I am a Cub Scout Leader and my pack name is Baloo - (the large, round, friendly bear) - I started to think I might need to change my name to Kaa the snake. All was not quite as it seemed though, I had been drinking more and more liquid and urinating 3 times during each night. I distinctly remember drinking a pint of water and thinking it was the best drink ever, and that I would love to drink another straight away. That’s not right is it? after no exercise.... desperate to drink over a litre of water... and I was still thirsty an hour later. My father had late onset Type 1 diabetes, so I knew the symptoms. As a bloke, it still took my wife to force me to go to the Doctors though (men are just rubbish at going to the Docs). I remember the nurse at the surgery talking to me as she took my blood glucose with a simple finger prick. 13.3.....she went quiet, I just looked at the nurse. "Does that mean I am diabetic?" She said further tests were needed. That’s not what her face said though... she clearly knew I had diabetes. I felt fine, I was even losing weight. How could I have diabetes? I refused to believe it. However, with high blood sugars, and high urine ketones I struggled to deny it for long. The ancient Greeks called it the "melting disease" because you literally urinate your body tissues away. There was a reason I had been losing weight so easily. I was hoping it was type 2 diabetes, I felt I could somehow turn that around. Instead, upon testing I was found to have two of the antibodies used for diagnosing Type 1. It was official, and I was to carry on taking medications to try to keep my blood sugar down. I looked up the disease, I was likely to die younger than most people, probably from a coronary episode. I was told by the diabetic clinic that my pancreas was still producing some insulin, but that would stop as the antibodies killed off the beta cells. I would soon be sticking needles full of insulin into my belly. This would, apparently, be within 6 months to a year. I was not happy. Furthermore I was told I absolutely must drastically reduce eating saturated fat, cheese, dairy, and red meats; I should only eat low fat foods. I was given a sheet telling me to base my meals around low GI carbohydrates, including complex grains, heart healthy porridge oats, starchy foods, plenty of fruit etc. I knuckled under and decided I would be the best patient ever. I got my blood glucose down from a HBA1C of 10.1% to 6.8%. Not bad.. not great, but the NHS thought that was good. I felt ok, but I asked if I could go on insulin to try to rest my insulin producing Beta cells in my pancreas. The National Health Service were helpful and provided me with the syringes and insulin. My weight was going back on, but that didn't seem to matter, I was keeping lowish blood sugars. I had been put on statins to lower my cholesterol ; that’s good too isn't it? I thought so. My legs were aching, but hey 3.6 total cholesterol.. wow amazing ! ( I hadn't heard of Dr Malcolm Kendrick at this point). Here comes the light : Fast forward to October 2014, one and a half years since diagnosis. I was injecting 40 units of insulin a day. HBA1C 7%. Total cholesterol 3.6 still. Weight: a thundering 13 stone 2 pounds (83.5kg). That’s a BMI of 29.6. Baloo the fat Bear was back with a vengeance. I was trying to lose weight... but it just wouldn't happen. Oh! the hunger on a healthy low fat "balanced" NHS “base your meals around starchy carbohydrates” diet. Still at least my sugars weren't too bad and my cholesterol was nice and low. My leg muscles still ached though. The hypoglycemic lows weren't great either. Lots of things happened to me that November. I had a critical meeting with my diabetic nurse. She praised my numbers, but just in passing mentioned I should maybe consider a slightly lower carbohydrate intake in my diet. She mentioned an American Doctor called Bernstein. She just looked at me for a few seconds to make sure I had heard her ; I really felt she was trying to get something important across to me. She then showed me a new Continuous Blood Glucose meter that you wear on your arm for two weeks at a time (I had been asking about meters). It wasn't available on the health service, and it cost £50 every 2 weeks... ouch. I thought about what she had said and the device she showed me. Why talk about my diet if my blood glucose was not too bad? I ordered the Freestyle Libre glucose meter and set about trying to lower my blood sugar to a normal persons level. This chart shows my blood sugars on a typical day during November 2014... I was still pretty much following the NHS diet... I was eating between 120 to 200 carbs per day and injecting up to 40 units of insulin in total per day. To control the peaks I was injecting quite a lot of insulin, and from the chart you can see my peaks were still in the 12's's (210) but I was having quite a few hypoglycemic events.. not fun - see the red dips after the peaks. With my new meter I set to sorting it out... surely I could eat my morning porridge (with 3 prunes) and work out a way to keep my blood sugar from peaking above 7.8 (140). I tried injecting slightly more, then less, then I timed it.. inject 17 minutes before eating, 22 minutes before, 30 minutes .. for two weeks I tried to work it out. One day I would almost manage it, the next it would fail... I was despondent.. how could I eat my porridge? I could stop the peak by really upping my insulin, but at the expense of a low afterwards. I started to read on line about controlling my blood sugar. I found the DietDoctor.com, I found Zoe Harcombe and Ivor Cummins (Fat Emperor) and Trudi Deakin and Tim Noakes. And I read Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution... what an epiphany! I couldn't, and shouldn't eat porridge at all!! I had finally realised carbohydrate was the problem. It’s strange how easy it was then. Even Christmas dinner was a breeze. With proper biofeedback I could see my blood sugar would rise directly in line with the number of carbohydrates I ate. The rise might be after I was expecting it. I had not realised how high my blood sugar was going, because I was only testing my blood once after eating. Now my Continuous Blood Glucose meter was exposing everything. I saw that eating mashed potato gave the same blood sugar response as eating candy floss. So I didn't eat spuds, I stopped bread, rice and pasta. I went back to the diabetic nurse and showed her my improved blood glucose control and discussed low carbing with her. She quietly admitted to eating a low carb diet herself. I was slightly surprised at this because I knew she was not diabetic herself... Then I asked her "Why are you not telling every diabetic that this is the way? Why are you not shouting it out!" I got that look again... and the silence. I am a bit slow sometimes, so it took me a few seconds "you can't can you? you're not allowed" I gaped as she pointedly changed the subject. Later I thought that at absolutely no point had the nurse told me, or advised me to low carb. And now, having read about the Australian Dietitian losing her job (Jennifer Elliott) for giving just such life saving advice, and Tim Noakes in South Africa (on trial) I realise why I had not been given low carb advice. I am very grateful to that nurse. Since Christmas 2014 I obsessively researched statins & cholesterol. I now eat a healthy high fats, low carb diet just as described by the excellent Diet Doctor website, Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution and Trudi Deakin's Eat Fat book. I aim for 65% to 75% of my diet being healthy fat, I have stopped my statins. My leg muscles no longer ache. My cholesterol total has gone up, but the crucial HDL is increasing nicely with a dramatic lowering of triglycerides, LDL's are not tested only inferred - so type of LDL and small particle count is unknown. Having read up on cholesterol I am quite happy for it to be in the mid 5 range. Four months after starting Low Carb High Fat I saw my Diabetic Consultant. She was not happy with me. She said my HBA1c was too low. It was 5.6% and so I must be having horrendous hypoglycemic lows. I smiled at this and said that after reducing my insulin because of low carbing I was no longer having lows, in-fact I hadn't had one for three months in contrast to my having 2 or 3 a day when I was on the NHS diet. To be fair to my consultant she was quite supportive and has asked me to test my blood ketone's to make sure I have no risk of Ketoacidosis (I don't); Is it even possible to have ketoacidosis with normal blood sugars? I asked her why I wasn't told about Low Carb in the first place at diagnosis, and why they still don't tell other diabetics. She said it is "too hard to do" and we can't expect patients to change their diet so much. I did reply that it was easy but got no response. UPDATE - November 2015 My weight is now down to 10 stone 5 pounds (66kg) giving a BMI of 23.4 I lost this weight easily and generally without hunger. I have more energy, I don't have "Dad sleeps" after food. I sleep better at night. I really enjoy my food. My legs still don't ache. My insulin needs dropped dramatically and for the last 12 weeks I have been injecting nothing at all! How is that even possible? I presume I must have some beta cell function left, because this is a recent Blood Glucose chart. Note how I have tightened my target range to 3.9 to 6.0 (the grey band). Page 3 of 4
Page 4 of 4I now hardly ever get blood sugars above 6 (106) and obviously without injecting I don't have to worry about hypoglycemia. I take no meds whatsoever. UPDATE August 2016 Still not injecting at all... that’s a year now. I have loads of energy so I have upped my exercise. Its strange I often feel the need to cycle or break out into a run.. its like a fire inside. I remember this from when I was 20 years old. Last month Baloo outran all the cubs when doing the athletes badge! No change to weight – still a BMI of about 23.5. I am now guiding all my friends and family (and anyone who will listen) into LCHF. These non diabetics are getting great results with regard to weight loss. They just struggle a bit with the eat healthy fats, including saturated, at first - its hard to overcome all those years of programming. My Mum is 75 years old and has been a type 2 diabetic for 15 years and has dramatically improved her blood sugars too (HBA1C 5.4% from approx. 9%), and is slowly losing weight... she is back to her weight she was 20 years ago. Reflecting on my experiences I find I am upset that I was not immediately told about Low Carb High Fat by the NHS. The guidelines are at fault and should be changed to include LCHF advice. I think though, there is a glimmer of hope; the staff in the NHS are clearly in the know (or at least some are) and are doing what little they can. If things were to change it could happen very quickly and then hopefully spread to more general dietary advice for the population as a whole. In the meantime, I firmly believe the best changes to my wife and children's health has come from me getting Type 1 diabetes, since they have now reduced their sugar and carb intake dramatically. Thanks for reading,
Baloo the thin bear.
Sprouted Fenugreek (Methi) Seeds Salad - Healthy addition to a Meal
Case study: A fatty liver and a fatty pancreas
Diabetes diet for Indians
The Times: Low Carb Helps to Control Diabetes
