If so, what has your experience been like.
I used to be T2D. I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic in late 2019. I went to the ER because I was feeling off, like I had this heavy heart burn that would not go away. I was admitted and sat in the room for hours, like three or something weird like that. After taking my blood and doing some scans to check my chest, it came back that my blood sugar was in the 500’s.
Before this ER visit, I had experienced a period in my life where I lost weight, going from 215-185lbs, I ate whatever I wanted. Drank about 2 extra-large soft drinks a day, if not more, and my diet consisted of heavy carbs and candy. Despite this I lost weight. I then started to realize that my pee had a sweet smell to it. Shortly after this, that is when I went to the ER.
Not sure how that meant I was pre-diabetic but there it was. I then went to a clinic afterwards and was told how I would have to take metformin for the rest of my life and given a pamphlet on how to eat carbs. I was already doing research on diet and was familiar with paleo diet ala primal blueprint started by Mark Sisson. So, I feel back into that, and also did the Whole 30 for a while.
I still struggled with my weight and controlling my sugars however, because even in moderation, I could not control my need for more sugar. Once it was consumed, in forms even as simple as sweet potato or brown rice, I desired something more, um immediate. So, I continued to essentially lose and gain the same 10-15 pounds. I weighed at my highest 215lbs, with my average being around 195-205lbs.
Then, in 2020, I started a labor-intensive job, where I was very active. I convinced myself that I could eat whatever I wanted because I would burn off the calories, or whatever. I didn’t lose weight, just maintained at 195-205lbs and went from pre-diabetes to diabetes. For some reason I convinced myself that I was actually getting better. But it wasn’t until I continued having doctor appointments telling me that I needed metformin and a dash of statin, for my high blood pressure that I finally decided to work on myself.
2021, I did keto. But it was very much lazy keto, where I would constantly have foods like sweet plantains, and occasional rice etc. I got myself back down to pre-diabetes, but for the most part, I was still consuming too many carbs for my body to heal. I treated this lightly, until around early 2022, where I became serious again. However, I didn’t want to restrict myself calorie wise. So, I maintained at 193lbs and just focused on a lot of protein until I was satisfied. I felt that during that time where I lost a whole bunch of weight, it wasn’t all fat that I was losing and may have come at the expense of protein in my body.
However, there came setback for a few months, namely covid where I went back to eating whatever I wanted for about two months, I just didn’t feel like eating keto foods. But around September 2022, finally, for real this time, I decided to revisit keto, but also added fasting. This was the game changer. Because even though I ate pretty clean keto, anytime I did eat, my numbers would go high around 125mg/dL, and this would be after 4 hours post eating. However, when I added fasting, my numbers finally became stable. By late November or early December 2022, I was no longer diabetic.
I however, know that if I eat the way I used to, I will go right back to where I was. Thankfully, I am fully satisfied eating the way I do. Perhaps just fasting would have been the ticket for me. However, something occurs when I eat heavy carbs, I can’t moderate them over time, a cheat here and there is okay though. So, that is my reality.