Diabetics are often told to eat steadily throughout the day, but one program that helps reverse type 2 diabetes encourages the opposite — fasting.
Two years ago, Carol Anne Bell-Smith’s A1C level was 8.7, higher than the 6.5 benchmark for diabetes, and she was prescribed medicine. This blood test reflects the average blood sugar over a three-month period.
Then she read, “The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss” by Dr. Jason Fung, a Canadian nephrologist who specializes in providing education, guidance, and support for successful weight loss and type 2 diabetes reversal.
Bell-Smith, who has a disability and uses a wheelchair, tried “time restricted eating,” known as intermittent fasting. For years she struggled to lose weight and control her diabetes, eating six small meals daily emphasizing low-fat foods.
Nowadays, she doesn’t eat breakfast and is “very comfortable” fasting for 48 hours at a time. When she does eat, it’s low in carbohydrates.
Fasting lifestyle
Bell-Smith is Dr. Fung’s patient in the Intensive Dietary Management program, an online program to naturally treat weight and type 2 diabetes, without medications, supplements, or surgery. She’s lost 61 pounds and her A1C level is 5.8. By definition, that classifies her as not diabetic.
“We treated Carol’s type 2 diabetes focusing on fasting and her diet” says Dr. Fung. “Now, her diabetes has reversed 100 percent naturally.” He says fasting has been used for thousands of years and explains it gives the body time off between eating to regulate itself.
“My guess is that about 90 percent of people can improve or reverse their type 2 diabetes using fasting,” he says, noting patients can safely go without food for 16 hours or more. Many people eat one meal a day.
Bell-Smith, who’s a registered nurse, says fasting is a permanent lifestyle. “I can’t imagine living any other way.”
Kristen Castillo, [email protected]