“Within days I stopped taking Metformin and Januvia as my levels were so good”

Before and after

Lonnie’s health wasn’t too great. She suffered from high cholesterol, hypothyroidism and constant infections. In 2008 she also received a type 2 diabetes diagnosis, and her weight was increasing.

When she had grandchildren, she realized that she wanted to get more healthy, so that she could see them grow up. She then stumbled upon Diet Doctor, and the rest is history:

The E-mail

Hi all,

I am 50-year old mother of three. I live in regional Australia. When I hit 40 (2005) I was a heavy smoker and got a really bad flu. I had started working in aged care and was looking after a couple of old smokers. I woke up one night and couldn’t breathe and it scared me enough to give up smoking. I thought things would be looking up from there. I was probably about 80-85 kg (177–188 lbs) back then.

I was quite proud of myself for giving up smoking so I thought I’d clean my act up, get some medical advice, blood tests etc. I was told my cholesterol was high and I needed to cut out saturated fats and was prescribed statins (which I never took). Although I had been aware that this was the current health trend I had always resisted as my husband is a farmer/butcher and we had always killed our own meat and I had always loved butter and was not fond of margarine. So with the advice of my doctor/quack I gave up butter and started eating only the leaner cuts of meat. Unfortunately I inflicted this type of eating onto my family as well.

One year on (2006) and I had developed hypothyroidism and was placed on a very large dose (200 µg/day) of Thyroxine. My weight started to steadily climb up but I put this down to my underactive thyroid and giving up smoking. I was also told that I would need to take vitamin D supplements as these levels were very low.

I had always been prone to thrush infections and in 2007 was told I was pre-diabetic. I went into denial and although I tried to eat as healthy as I could I found I was always hungry. In 2008 I was told that I had type 2 diabetes and put on 2000 mg Metformin twice daily. Initially I was good, lost weight and exercised but the recommended diet in Australia for diabetics was low GI +300 g carbs daily. I was so hungry all the time. It was a constant battle of hunger and failure, binge eating and yo-yo dieting. Nothing lasted very long.

At my worst I hit around 100 kg (221 lbs) (I was around 92 kg (202 lbs) in the before photo). Fast forward to 2015 and my daughter had a baby. This was really the moment when I realised that I wanted to live long enough and be active enough to enjoy my grandchild(ren) (thanks Sammy).

I started watching what I ate and I’m not even sure why but not eating as much bread and pasta and got down to around 92 kg (202 lbs) – see the before photo. I started searching online for information on reversing diabetes and found www.dietdoctor.com which led me to Jason Fung’s www.intensivedietarymanagement.com. Within days I stopped taking Metformin and Januvia as my levels were so good. That was in November 2015 and this morning I weighed myself and I’ve been sitting at around 69-70 kg (152-155 lbs) now for about three months. See after photo.

My daughter tells me I’m too skinny. My husband tells me I was always perfect to him at any size (very smart man). My youngest son (19) has lost around 50 kg (110 lbs) without even trying and just because of the changes to the food available in our home. My husband has suffered from acid reflux for years and has found little need for antacids for a while.

And me: my skin is lovely with no need for moisturisers of any kind – before I was dry and flaky all the time. My hair and scalp are healthy as I use to suffer from chronic dandruff/psoriasis symptoms. No IBS and my joint pain has improved. I’m waiting for blood tests but I have had to cease my thyroid medication as it was giving me heart palpitations and I have been symptom free without it. My vitamin D levels are also perfect as is my cholesterol.

I can’t thank you all enough for your support and passion for this WOE – you guys are seriously changing the world.

Keep up the great life changing work!
Lonnie

Comments

Congratulations, Lonnie!

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