Can fasting reverse type 2 diabetes?
I am having Type 2 diabetes. Let me know whether fasting can cure type 2 diabetes.
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Answers ( 1 )
Hello, Ronald. I trust you are under the care of a licensed health care provider; diabetes is not a disease to ignore or latch on to pseudo-science ideas to manage.
The unfortunate thing, Ronald, is that, once your body becomes diabetic, it will always be diabetic; the best you can do is "manage" or "control" the disease diabetes, and if that management or control slips, you are likely once again going to exhibit signs and symptoms- and damage- of diabetes. Usually, Diabetes Type II starts with what is called "insulin resistance"; WebMD provides an easy to understand explanation of what insuline resistance is: Insulin resistance is when cells in your muscles, fat, and liver don’t respond well to insulin and can’t use glucose from your blood for energy. To make up for it, your pancreas makes more insulin. Over time, your blood sugar levels go up.
So, starting with the basics: glucose is what the body uses most often for energy- to make pretty much everything run; since that running takes place on an individual cellular level, each cell must receive glucose, or it has no energy and cannot survive. If your body is... miscalculating for whatever reason how much insulin is needed to allow cells to take up glucose, eventually, there will be cellular damage, and that will lead to organ and systems damage.
There are quite a few strategies to assist with insulin resistance- losing weight is one, as is increased exercise, and changing diet is usually recommended. But even following new strategies that work to lower your diabetic-related numbers, you will still always be prone to insulin resistance and diabetes.
But, you can likely come off medication- which works, but has its own problems- and live a life which does minimal damage to cells, organs and systems.
Fasting is one such strategy. WebMD again:
In one study, people with type 1 diabetes who stuck with a fasting plan were able to lower their insulin dose. Some organs that play a role in diabetes may benefit from fasting, too. Your body stores extra glucose in a form called glycogen in your liver. It takes your body about 12 hours to use that glycogen
A more scholarly citation describing fasting benefits and drawbacks on diabetes Types I and II: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6521152/
Another diabetes control strategy is ketogenisis- which is often just called "keto", and means such a low level of easy-to-use carbohydrates in the blood, the body must turn proteins and fats into glucose, which take a great deal of energy (more than is gotten from each gram of fat or protein) so that people lose weight, which is overall beneficial to diabetic conditions. A scholarly article on this idea: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1325029/
I must caution you, though: Both of the above strategies, while demonstrating great assistance in controlling diabetic numbers- are, for many people, extremely difficult to live with day-after-day-after-day. It is no fun being hungry for 12 to 16 hours; it is no fun to never eat real potatoes again; it is no fun to have to monitor each danged mouthful you take so you don't break your fast too early or come out of ketogenisis and miss the benefits of all you had done so far. You can't "cheat" on these diets- not really. Not and have them actually work to control your diabetic numbers.
So, I urge you, if you are considering any such strategy as keto or fasting, that you do so under the care of a licensed health care provider such as a Registered Dietician. Not only are you going to need that person's support to do this and stay healthy, that person has a whole lot of resources for you so that you can be succesful in your chosen new life-style.
Good luck- lots of folks have chosen to do as you are considering to manage their diabetic numbers.