Diabetes – What If…?
What if Diabetes could be reversed? Would one be willing to do whatever it takes to stop having to take tablets and insulin injections? At what stage would the cost outweigh the benefit? Is there even a “cure” or way to reverse it, or is one doomed to live with it for the rest of your life with it once you have it? What even causes diabetes?
As a diabetic for 12 years these thoughts often have went thru my mind. Here I was at the age of 36 with a disease that was slowly “rusting” me from inside. Weighing in at 155kg and wearing a 3XL T-Shirt, I was comfortable with myself but knew that I had to do something.
I belong to the CDE, and during my biannual visit with my doctor to measure the progress, she said that it was not good. My HbA1c readings had gone up from the last time and even though she had moved me from Lantus to NovaMix (twice a day) it seemed that I would have to start increasing my dosage. That was the last thing that I wanted to hear. Yes I had “cheated” a few times eating a slice or two of cake, but man I was shattered to hear that I would have to start injecting before each meal now… I was shell shocked. When leaving the doctor I asked her to hold off on the increase of meds and to just give me 3 months to see if I could get back on track – she agreed and we made a follow up appointment in Feb 2014.
I kept thinking to myself – how are you going to get back on track (especially over the festive season) and show the doctor you can get your disease under control. A few days later I was paging thru the weekly magazine that my wife buys (Huisgenoot) and in it was an article about a guy by the name of Billy Tosh. It read that he was 159kg and a diabetic. He went on diet and 7 months later he lost 84kg and heres the best part… NO LONGER TAKING DIABETES MEDICATION. That made me stop and think “How is this possible?”
It seems that Billy heard about a Professor Tim Noakes and his “HIGH FAT, LOW CARB” diet. High Fat? How the hell is this possible? We are told from when we are young that fat is bad – always trim the skin of the chicken, always cut the fat off the meat – how can he be promoting HIGH FAT? Low carbs – well that sort of makes sense as it is a known that if you cut out things like bread and potatoes from your diet then you actually start losing weight.
I started doing some research, and when I say research I really mean using up a few gigs of data reading up about this LCHF (Low Carb, High Fat) diet. I can across a website called the dietdoctor.com where the author has an explaination for beginners on LCHF. What I was reading there actually made sense! I discussed it with my wife, who was VERY supportive. I had 3 months to get into shape and somehow lower my HbA1c, if there was one method that would give me a fighting chance it would this diet. But I would have to be strict.
And so the HFLC adventure began at the end of November 2013…stay tuned to find out about my progress.
*Disclaimer – Please note that I am merely sharing my experience and story, and I do not condone anyone stopping whatever medication that they may be on. Please see the About section for full disclaimer.
