HELP ! Dr Michael !!
Recently diagnosed as type 2 D, I have reached my target weight of 63 kg in under 6 weeks, from a starting weight of 74-75 kg.My FBS is good, about 88 , even down to 60 one time [ normal quoted range by local lab was 60 -100] but as I am measuring at home with an Accuchek activ, the manual quotes an error of 15% plus or minus i.e huge error possible.
Anyway – now I am ready to go forward .What to do ? Stay on the 800 Calorie diet for another 2 weeks ? Go to the 5:2 diet now ?
A PROBLEM I see is the Carbs. I have been doing the 800 with fairly low carbs – No bread, rice, potato, sweet potato. cake, spaghetti, pasta, pizza , sandwiches. None . Became quite easy actually.
BUT now : I see in the 5:2 diet there are LOTS of carbs, including rice ; then chick peas , carrots -both of which are banned by some low carb diet gurus.
My understanding may be poor, but I am afraid that eating carbs will damage my sugar levels.
It would be nice to eat chocolate and fried spring rolls and some bread occasionally but when I have those thoughts my mental alarms go off and I start to think of declining health. What to do ?

You could do as many here have when they get to maintenance, keeping eating the same low carb foods but more of them. Increase calories until your weight stabilises (you stop losing) by adding more yummy fat, maybe some more protein and veges. If carbs hurt your body, don’t eat them!

Denis carbs

Congratulations on how well you have done.

Natalie is absolutely right – if carbs hurt your body don’t eat them – just keep increasing your calories until your weight stabilises.

I am now off all insulin, diabetes in remission, diabetic macular oedema and retinopathy reversed and am feeling (at 68) so much better than I have done for years and now my future is free of this horrible disease.

My Consultant – at my annual review – told me that I can never ever go back on the carbs because my pancreas will not be able to cope with them and the diabetes will come back.

But as you say – this way of eating is easy. I added more nuts and seeds (watch the carbs in some nuts – walnuts are low carb – cashews are much higher). I eat more non starchy vegetables, more cheese more fat. I was so happy to be able to eat more of my favourite stilton and a bit more cream in my coffee.

There’s a good chance that you will regain the water weight you lost in the first week as you rebuild your glycogen stores and take back all the water you lost. That weight is not fat, but just your body getting back into normal function. You might want to keep your 800 going for the extra weeks to account for this rebound.
I am no expert, but Dr. M says that losing that weight might not be just a way to control your diabetes, but an actual cure, as long as you continue with a Mediterranean style diet. Keeping the visceral fat off is important for the pancreas and liver to function properly.

This is a follow up to my first cry for help. I have no dietician or helpful GP to ask for support.
Now I am down to 62 kg from 75KG . BMI 22.56 , Type 2 diabetes is now in remission.
Done in 6 weeks to 7 weeks.
Waist now 33 5/8 inch from a start of perhaps 39 inch.
[ I did not think of measuring my waist until about 8 days into the 800 diet my trousers started to fall down.]
The website Patient information self analyser suggests I lose 2 more kg although I am in normal BMI already.
Lose more ?
I look in the mirror and though I feel great and my type 2 has ‘ gone away ‘ I see an emaciated stranger.
I note Professor Taylor’s remarks that SOME of his patients failed to complete the diet because their partners / wives did not like the look of them being so thin.

I sympathise.

I LOOK somewhat skeletal, ribs standing out , arms and legs looking a bit puny. Am doing exercise , brisk walking 30 minutes daily interspersed with sprints to copy Dr Mosley’s high intensity exercise.
My inclination is to ignore the Patient info web site analysis
[ they are still promoting low fat diet as excellent ]
and to start building up my muscles and INCREASING my weight.. but not too much.

How to do this ? My own guess is to reintroduce normal diet slowly, to 2/3 of pre diet levels… continue with exercise with some added weight training in the gym , and to monitor my FBS [ perhaps weekly ? ] for signs of returning type 2 diabetes.

I have been studying online like crazy for weeks, understand now more about low carb principles , and the caloric restriction ideas which do not necessarily restrict carbs except for the ‘ fast starches’ like bread and potatoes etc. as compared to the ultimate low carb enthusiasts who try to remain in dietary ketosis .

Have read up on the twin cycle hypothesis.

Incidentally , in science once a hypothesis is proved by experiment it is accepted as true.
Unfortunately the NHS and the Medical Establishment, which are ‘ treacle slow ‘ to move , [ ha ha ]
demand further proof with rigorous blind trials.
Prof Taylor’s hypotheses were proved by experiment. Enough of that .Politics raises its ugly head.

BUT I am still puzzled by the BIG QUESTIONS.
WHY does Prof Roy Taylor’s 800 diet contain sugars ?
WHY does Dr Michael Mosley allow foods like carrots and chick peas which are ‘forbidden’ by some other diet websites?
HOW to proceed to bulk up body to ‘normal’ without gaining too much weight ?
I need answers and I am prepared to pay for private consultations and help.

signing off ,
denis carbs

Firstly, congratulations for taking control of your body and reaching a stage where your diabetes is no longer a problem. And so quickly too!
For what it’s worth, I feel you could increase your calorific intake to a level that sustains your weight, or puts some back on if you feel too thin, but just don’t increase your carbs. The 800 5:2 diet is/was aimed at the general population who can cope with a higher carb level. And carrots and chick peas DO have a higher carb count, but ones that are more slowly broken down into blood glucose and are fine in moderation for the vaste majority of people.
Try not to stress about it all. Just up your fat intake a bit, monitor your blood sugars as you go and see where you get to that is a happy weight for you and a safe blood glucose level.
Keep posting and let us know how you go. Good luck!

Hello ! My question is about the beta cells in the pancreas. Having ”cleaned out ” the fat from liver and pancreas, lost weight ,stabilised blood sugar with diet, exercise etc and feeling ok physically and mentally – what is the situation regarding the insulin resistance problem ?
Do the beta cells regenerate or are they gone for ever ?
[ I have read that at time of diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, approximately 50% of the beta cells are ‘ inactive ‘ ie sleeping or dead .]
Is it a case of having to be careful about over eating and drinking for the foreseeable future or is it a case of soon having full beta cell recovery, no insulin resistance etc .
I have read that the development of the fat and the diabetes took years [ the long drawn out silent cry of the liver] so presumably FULL recovery might take years – on the other hand the remarkably fast response to the diet , where blood sugars seem to be normal in a week or two , might suggest a few months of careful eating might lead to full normal liver and pancreas quite soon.
Would welcome info on this , including any websites to explore.
Of course I have also read that the phenomenon of insulin resistance is itself a mystery.

Denis – I am absolutely not an expert on this but my thoughts are from reading around this subject are that no one actually really knows and it depends on a number of factors.

One thing is for sure – if you go back to the diet that caused the diabetes and put back the visceral fat the diabetes will definitely come back.

If you haven’t had T2D very long the outlook is better because you haven’t killed off or exhausted so many of your beta cells.

If you are someone like me – who probably had pre-diabetes and diabetes for 20 years before being diagnosed – you have probably killed off more of your beta cells with the high blood sugars and will have to stay low carb for longer or maybe forever. It seems that no-one really knows.

So – because there don’t seem to be long term scientific studies of people reversing their diabetes – or I just couldn’t find them we have to look closely at how our own bodies react to adding more carbs (if anyone knows of any long term studies please do post the links as I would really like to read them).

My own beta cells started making insulin again in September. My blood sugars have stayed excellent since then – but only because I have kept carbs below 50g. If I increase carbs blood sugar levels do rise a bit and my pancreas is quite slow at bringing it down.

As higher blood sugars do kill of beta cells it makes sense to me that I need to keep the carbs lowish. I also don’t want to exhaust the remaining ones that are still working.

When I was diagnosed in 2012 my blood sugars were so high that the doctors in the Acute Medical ward that I was admitted to said that I was hours away from a fatal coma. So that is relatively unusual for someone with T2D and it is highly likely that I may be one of the people who might have gone past the point of no return with their beta cells.

If I have – I am really happy to carry on with a low carb diet that keeps me off insulin and has reversed the diabetic retinopathy (although I believe that this is only in remission in the same way as the diabetes is).

Maybe in the future my pancreas will fully regenerate and be firing on all cylinders. That won’t actually make any difference to me as I will still stay low carb to keep it working for the rest of my life.

I am just so happy that I have found a way to stop this horrible disease progressing and shortening my life or severely limiting it by all the dreadful side effects.

Hi Denis

Backing up Krysia’s point there does seem to be some research that reducing the amount of glucose does allow beta cells to “rest” (their term not mine) and may lead to some regeneration of beta cell function. However, I too have not found any long-term research that defines the profile of patients where this can occur or shows the steps necessary for long-term remission.

You’re absolutely correct, there does appear evidence for insulin resistance/sensitivity, but everything I’ve read says it exists but no-one really knows the mechanism for understanding or controlling it.

Before the “usual suspects” leap in, all I am saying is that I cannot find any long-term trials. I am willing to stand corrected if it is out there.

J-M can I jump in. I think you are right that there are no long term studies. I don’t think anyone has ever thought about reversing T2 before, always told it was chronic and progressive but that was because the treatment was wrong. Prof T disputed this and is doing his study into what we are doing on this plan until people like us have ‘reversed’ for several years, or Prof T’s group of people, then we will not know for sure. It applies to most things medical that are new. When I asked my doctor about Byetta he said he would only give it to patients who were morbidly obese as the risks from the morbidity were greater than the foreseen risks from Byetta. I asked him what the long term risks were and he said, that is the point, we don’t know yet because there have been no long term patients.

With the eating, denis carb, I would complete the 8 weeks. Prove it works rather than stopping now and allowing a possible fail, it is only another 2 weeks. I am with Krysia and J-M, why would you risk becoming T2 again for the sake of guessing you can have starchy carbs again. We know they are the main culprit in causing our condition so why take a drug that can slowly creep up into illness or even kill you. All these questions about beta cells, regeneration, inactive cells, insulin resistance are all irrelevant because they are still being studied (see Prof T comments above), I just accept that this way of life works for me so I will stay with it.

As ever, put far more eloquently than I could.

As I said on another thread and very much a personal viewpoint, I’m cautious of using the word “reverse” for my current diabetic status, because I see BSD and this way of eating as a means of fending off my diabetes. I know if I go back to my old lifestyle and diet, I will end up where I was with my blood sugars. That just seems logical to me.

High carbs just aren’t worth the risk to me.

Hi Denis, take a look at Marks Daily Apple – it is a Primal living website which is also pretty much the same as the BSD in terms of low-carb, high fat/protein. There is also some excellent advice on gaining an ideal (for you) body composition through exercise and training. I became a Primal convert quite a while back and was delighted when MM’s research backed up what some people, up until then, thought was crazy!
Mark Sisson (the Mark in the Daily Apple), also has some really good, detailed advice on the carbs you should or should not be eating, depending on where you are with body-weight, fat levels, exercise etc,

Well done on your achievement – you should be really proud of yourself.
SSB X

I have the same questions. It is my understanding that this 8 week process in theory does reverse the insulin dependence so that our bodies are able to once again process fats and carbs normally, thus making the Mediterranean diet possible. (For those who haven’t been type 2 for a long time). I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do it though. I read about someone (in the book I think) who continued to take blood sugar readings while reintroducing some of the carbs and ultimately decided to just avoid them because of the resulting spike in blood sugar. It probably varies depending on how long you’ve been in imbalance? I’m planning to mostly continue with a low glycemic load, Mediterranean diet blend with the 5-2 plan.