Intermittent fasting — the best diet for type 2 diabetes?
Type 2 diabetes was once thought to be a chronic disease that could never be cured. You can start medications to control it, but those medications will be with you for life.
Now we know better. As Dr. Jason Fung has said, “People are focused on giving drugs to type 2 diabetes, but it is a dietary disease.”
He and his team at Intensive Dietary Management Program set out to prove that they can do better than drugs. They recently published a case report of three men with type 2 diabetes who were able to completely stop their insulin and most of the oral drugs while still improving their diabetes control.
How did they do it? Intermittent fasting.
The subjects fasted for 24 hours three to four days per week, going from dinner to dinner without food, while eating lunch and dinner on the other days. They lost between 10 and 18% body weight and between 10 and 22% from their waist circumferences.
But here is the amazing part.
Starting from a daily average of 70 units of insulin, they safely stopped their insulin as quickly as five days into the protocol, with the longest taking only 18 days. That is a dramatic result!
Importantly, they were very closely monitored by the team at IDM. Fasting while taking diabetes medications can increase the risk of hypoglycemia, a potentially life-threatening lowering of blood glucose. Thus the warning that people should not try this without being monitored by an experienced healthcare provider.
When done correctly, however, intermittent fasting combined with a low carb diet may be the best treatment of type 2 diabetes that we have ever seen.
Thanks for reading,
Bret Scher, MD FACC
Earlier
More bad news for people with diabetes
Some with diabetes resort to black market for affordable insulin
Intermittent fasting
- MEMBERS ONLY
![The 2 big lies of type 2 diabetes]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![The top 5 myths of fasting]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![The cause of obesity]()
![The 7 benefits of fasting]()
![What to do instead of counting calories]()
![The top 5 tips to make fasting easier]()
![Breakfast! Is it really that important?]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![The most common questions]()
![The perfect treatment for diabetes and weight loss]()
![How to fast - the different options]()
![Therapeutic fasting]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![Q&A about low carb & fasting]()
![The power of a 7-day fast]()
![How to get started with fasting]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![Clinical use of therapeutic fasting]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![Can fasting be problematic for women?]()
![Diet Doctor Podcast #23 – Dr. Jason Fung]()
![What is fasting?]()
Type 2 diabetes
![My low-carb story with Marc Gossange]()
![Living low carb with Chris Hannaway]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
!["I have been following the wrong advice!"]()
![How to help patients reverse type 2 diabetes]()
![Living low carb with Yvonne Lane]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![LCHF and diabetes: science and clinical experience]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![The essential problem with type 2 diabetes]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![How to prevent chronic disease – Dr. Trudi Deakin]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![Why low-fat diets don't work — Dr. Jason Fung's diabetes course]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![80 pounds lighter and no medications]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![Diet & diabetes – how to normalize your blood sugar]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![The science of low carb]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![Everything goes in the right direction]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![Weight loss and type 2 diabetes reversal on low carb – is it sustainable?]()
![What's it like being a low-carb doctor on TV?]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
!["We are not designed to be chronically ill"]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![The problem with sugar]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![Trouble shooting high blood-glucose levels]()
