Diabetes: My Journey

My History with Diabetes

I had Diabetes and did not face it

In 1992, I was diagnosed with diabetes. I had probably been diabetic for several years or more before that. Diabetes is a disease that is often undiagnosed. There are millions of people walking the earth today who are diabetic and don’t even know it.

When I was diagnosed with diabetes, my wife and I went for one week, as I recall, to some training at the hospital of how to address diabetes and keep it under control. After going to those training sessions I tried doing those things, but it really did not seem to be helping my diabetes at all, so I just went back to the way that I was eating before.

Sometimes I tried

Over the years, I would try eating the way that the American Diabetes Association recommended, but it never seemed to help me. I would always go back to eating whatever I wanted. I would take my oral medications for diabetes but just continued to eat whatever I wanted to eat. Off and on I would try different things to try to help my diabetes get under control, but it just never worked. At the time I was diagnosed, I was at my peak weight, and I never really gained any weight, but I also did not lose weight for about another decade.

The Medical Community was Wrong

As it turned out, the things that they were advising about diabetes in those days were completely wrong. Later in my life, over just the last couple of years, I have basically been eating the exact opposite of what they advised me, now, I no longer use any medications, no insulin, and I actually no longer have diabetes. 25 years a diabetic, damage done to my body because of it and changing to eating a high-fat diet, and a little or no carbs made my diabetes go away.

Gee, I wish I had known that 20 or 25 years ago. It would’ve saved me a lot of agonies. It would have made me much healthier, and some damage that I have Artie done in my body that I had diabetes would not have happened. For example, my vision is very bad, and I am lucky that I’m not blind. If I had gotten my diabetes in good shape years ago, that would’ve never happened. But, by following that old advice, I would have never gotten my diabetes under control.

Ketogenic Diet

So, as I said previously, a couple of years back I started eating a ketogenic diet. High-fat, moderate protein, and almost no carbs at all. Then, last year, I augmented that by doing a lot of fasting. Although I did not keep track of the days and wish I would have, I would say that I fasted around 200 days in 2017. That is when I cured my diabetes. I say I cured my diabetes, because my doctors had nothing to do with it, and I was actually doing the opposite of what my doctors recommended. But, when they saw the results of what I was doing, they were very impressed, and actually seemed to take credit for it. Well, I know the truth though.

Not taking control of my diabetes was the wrong thing to do, and it was very stupid. But, 25 years ago there really was nobody saying that eating a high-fat diet would cure diabetes. Nobody said that fasting would eliminate the disease. In fact, probably the majority of doctors today are still not believing or saying that. Well, I know that this type of eating will eliminate diabetes because I’ve seen it happen before my very eyes. I have also seen others who have taken the same path that I have taken, and their diabetes is gone as well.

What about you?

Do you have diabetes? If so, let me tell you from my own experience, 10 years down the road, perhaps more, or perhaps less, you can look forward to a lot of ailments. Heart attack. Starting to go blind. I know many diabetics who have had limbs amputated. Thankfully, I did not follow the path until that happened. It is not very hard to change, maybe it will be uncomfortable for a week or two, but once you become adapted, it is a very easy lifestyle to maintain.

Want to join me? Want to get rid of your diabetes? You don’t need medicine, you just need the right type of food. And, most people will think when I say the right type of food that you will have to starve yourself. That is just not true. You can have very good meals, large meals, you just have to eat the right things.

Give it a shot! I wish I had if only I had known about this 20 or 25 years ago. You do know it if you are reading this. And believe me, it will save your life and save your health.

Nora did it

Over the, I became better acquainted with my wife’s cousin. Her name was Nora. I knew her for many years but did not know her well. She lived in a small town that was a bit far from anywhere we have lived. I did see her from time to time, though, and knew who she was, I just did not know her very well.

Kidney Problems

Maybe 5 or 6 years ago, Nora started needing kidney dialysis. I never really knew that she had diabetes, like I had until the time came when her kidneys were in such bad shape that she needed dialysis. She would travel about 2 hours to the City where we live, Davao City, to have her dialysis treatments. She would have to come here at least once per week for the treatment, sometimes more often.

During her visits to Davao City, we made our home open to her. We always offered her and her husband (and any other family who came along) food, a place to rest or whatever they needed. Nora did not really show much in the way of symptoms of diabetes when she first started coming to Davao. She appeared to be in good health, although the need for dialysis was certainly a sign that not all was good for her.

As the years passed, her need for dialysis increased and we saw more and more of her.

Visit to the Hospital

I particularly remember one time when I found out that she was in the hospital here in Davao. It so happened that another close friend of ours was also hospitalized in the same hospital, and by chance, his room was right next door to Nora’s. So, we went to visit both of them at the hospital. That is when panic set in for me.

When we saw Nora she was in her hospital bed, but she sat up to talk with us, and her legs were hanging off the side of the bed. I happened to notice her feet and I was shocked! Her feet, and even up the legs, were BLACK. Like it was rotten. Really, I never knew that Nora was like this, and it sent shock waves through my body.

My diabetes came to mind

I had been diabetic for more than 20 years at the time that I saw Nora’s feet and legs. Thankfully, I had not suffered anything like what I had seen with Nora, although I had really let my diabetes go way out of control and I was not very concerned about it. But, in the past couple of years, before Nora came into the picture for me, I had started trying to take care of my diabetes. Seeing those black rotting feet and legs flipped a switch in me, though. I knew that I did not want that, and I had to do something about it to make sure it did not happen to me.

Shortly after we saw the feet and found out how bad Nora’s diabetes was, Nora had one of her feet amputated. Not long after that, the other foot, and part of her leg was amputated. Frankly, not very long later, Nora died. She died from diabetes. This really reinforced my drive to control diabetes.

I did not control diabetes myself

Fact is, though, I did not “control” diabetes. I went further. As I studied and learned more and more about diabetes, I found out that the disease is not chronic, in fact, it can be reversed. I started following Dr. Jason Fung. In my opinion, Dr. Fung (from Canada) is probably one of the world’s leading experts in the area of reversal of Type 2 Diabetes. When I started following his recommendations, my diabetes did not come under control.. no, even better, it WENT AWAY! Yep, after 25 years of being diabetic, the disease was reversed. The vast majority of doctors will tell you that it is impossible to reverse diabetes, but it is not.

Dr. Jason Fung

Finding Doctor Fung and following his recommendations was literally a LIFESAVER for me!

One of the things I wish most is that I could have learned about Dr. Fung and his ways before Nora died, not after.

RIP Nora. All I can say is thank you for the push that you (unknowingly) gave me to fix my own health. I only wish you had a chance to do the same. Nora did not know it, but she was a big push toward saving my own life.

A Saturday Doctor Appointment

So, after I did my first 10-day extended fast (proceeded by a month of Intermittent Fasting), I had an appointment with my endocrinologist. Here is how it went.

I had a regularly scheduled appointment with my Endocrinologist. I see him every 2 months, and it was time for a visit. His name is Dr. Ho.

It just so happened that I was on my last day of the 10 Day Fast when I saw him, and I was a bit unsure how that was going to go over.

Dr. Ho said it was impossible

I told Dr. Ho in December 2016 that it was my intention to be completely off of Insulin and all Diabetes medication by the end of 2017, one year to do it. He told me it was impossible. He felt that we could do things to minimize the need for insulin and medication, but there would never be a day when I did not need anything anymore. When he said that I told him that I am stubborn about reaching my goals, and if I set a goal I usually achieved it.

Dr. Ho had seen in the past year that my blood sugar levels were quite low for a diabetic, and he always warned me that he expected that I would be experiencing hypoglycemic episodes and that he would prefer if my blood sugar was a little higher.

I had made a lot of changes since seeing Dr. Ho

So, I last saw him in January 2017. Since then there have been a lot of changes in my health. I went back to being very strict on my LCHF diet, and then in mid-February, I started doing Intermittent Fasting. In mid-March, I started a 10-day long term fast. I also stopped using all insulin and other diabetes medication on February 16. What would he think about all of this?

When I entered Dr. Ho’s office on Saturday he asked me how I was doing. I told him that I was doing great, and I expected that we were going to have a very interesting discussion. He looked at me in a puzzled way and asked me what I meant. I explained to him everything that has been going on in my life and the health-related accomplishments that I have done since seeing him last. I was not sure what would come next, it could be very bad or very good.

It was GREAT

Dr. Ho was shocked at all of the changes, and he was very happy. He also noted that I had lost about 24 pounds since last seeing him, even before I had a chance to mention that to him.

He started about fasting and told me he was a big supporter of fasting. I asked him that if he was a big supporter of fasting, why he had not suggested it to me previously. He replied that “Probably only 1% of people can do it, so I don’t promote it that much.” Makes sense. I feel, though, that fasting is very easy if done correctly. Getting your body into ketosis before fasting takes the hunger almost completely away.

It was a very long visit

Anyway, our conversation went on and on for a long time. I mentioned to him that one of my other doctors was lecturing me about ketoacidosis and did not seem to understand that ketosis and ketoacidosis were completely different things (almost opposite of each other). Dr. Ho confirmed that my understanding of the two was completely correct and that I had a very good understanding of the concept.

Dr. Ho even advised me that I was free to fast for as long as I wish, as long as I felt OK. He suggested that I could safely fast for even much longer than the 10 days that I recently completed. He said that fasting and LCHF in combination were certainly having dramatic positive effects on my body.

I was so happy!

Unless anything comes up out of the usual, I will be seeing Dr. Ho again around the end of May. Should be another interesting visit, I believe!

Diabetes: The Good News & The Bad

As I have been telling you, I have gone for a little over 6 weeks now without doing any Extended Fasting. I have various reasons for that, the chief among them being that due to some business and personal reasons, I did not want to lose any more weight until after Christmas. I am Santa Claus at a number of malls and other businesses and have contractual commitments to be at a proper weight where I make a plausible Santa Claus. So, I stopped fasting for the time being.

Overall, things have been going well.

I told you all earlier this year that I had beaten diabetes and had blood sugar under very good control. I was able to keep my blood sugar really good through a combination of eating foods that do not present a glycemic load on my body and through fasting.

A week or two ago, we had some company in town. A close friend who was a co-worker of Feyma‘s in Alaska earlier this year, and she brought a couple of friends with her.

The fruit

Davao City, where I live, is known for its abundance of great tropical fruits.

When our friends came to visit, I decided to not go wild, but also not be overly worried about the food that I was going to eat. Our friends, of course, wanted to go out and eat a lot of fruits. I have avoided most fruit over the past year, but I decided to give it a try and see what happened.

I did not go wild, but I did eat 3 or 4 different types of fruits:

• Durian
• Marang
• Pomelo
• Mangosteen

I ate only a very small amount of each of these.

The dinner

After our “fruit trip” we went out for dinner. We had plans to eat at a Vietnamese Restaurant where I knew I could get some really healthy food. Unfortunately, when we got there we found they were closed for a company Christmas Party. When we got to our alternate restaurant, I found the choices for “healthy” food were pretty limited. I had fish, but it was lightly breaded. I did not eat much, but I knew that the breading, especially in combination with the fruit I had eaten earlier, would raise my blood sugar.

When I got home, I checked my blood sugar.

195.

My recent blood sugar

In the past year, the highest blood sugar I had seen was 119, prior to that 195 reading. My blood sugar, while fasting, is usually in the 50s to the 70s. While eating, and even shortly after meals, my sugar level is in the 100 to 115 range on average. I almost fell out of my chair when I was 195.

That is bad, but for post-meal, it is not too far outside the “normal” level.

The good news was that the next morning, my blood sugar was back in the normal range… 115.

So, while the previous night I was pretty bummed out, when I saw 115 the next morning (with no use of diabetes medications or insulin)  was reassuring to me.

So, as I say, there is good and bad. I feel it is mostly good, though. And, really no appreciable weight gain, so that is really good news!

You know what… I was just thinking. I am really looking forward to the next time I hit 195. But, not a blood sugar of 195… 195 lb! Coming up next year! 🙂

Diabetes Can be Cured! I did it.

I have told people, posted on my blog and such that diabetes can be cured. So many people have told me that I am wrong. But, my doctor says that I no longer have diabetes, and he is baffled but agrees that I am cured of diabetes! Other doctors agree with me on this too.

So, if my diabetes is gone after 25 years, how could I be wrong? And, there are thousands, tens of thousands, who have also cured diabetes!

The video below is a lecture/presentation by Dr. Jason Fung. Dr. Fung is an expert in curing diabetes! He is, in my view, the world’s leading expert on fasting for improved health. Watch the video, I am betting (particularly if you have diabetes) you will find it fascinating.

The things that Dr. Fung talked about have occurred in my life. The good and the bad!

Bad Things

Bad things that I have experienced because of diabetes (insulin resistance) and obesity:

• A lifetime of being belittled and ridiculed by people who don’t even know me.
• The constant struggle with weight even when I was a child.
• Stroke in 2001.
• Heart Attack in 2016.
• Quadruple Heart Bypass Surgery in 2016.
• Dozens of serious infections over the years made worse by diabetes.
• After starting to use Insulin in 2016 I gained 70 pounds while eating only 800 calories per day!

Good Things

Since finding Dr. Fung and learning about the things he is doing to cure diabetes and help people with medical conditions like me, here are some good things that I have experienced:

• Eliminated my need for oral diabetes medication.
• Eliminated my need for using insulin.
• Lowered my blood pressure to the point where I no longer need medication for that.
• Lost significant weight after no longer using insulin.
• Flushed out the glycogen stores in my liver through fasting.
• Lowered my blood sugar levels (FBS and HBA1C) to low levels (non-diabetic levels).
• High levels of energy.
• Mental clarity and more brain power than ever.

I feel great

I honestly can’t remember a time in my life when I felt as good as I do now. Mentally and physically. I tell people that I have not felt this well since I was in High School, but to be honest, I don’t remember if I felt this good even then! As a 55-year-old man who nearly died 6 months ago due to heart disease, this is nothing short of amazing, at least it is to me!

The overall theme of the video above is “The Two Big Lies of Type 2 Diabetes”. These lies are the things that have been taught to us as truths over our lifetimes. I don’t think that doctors have intentionally lied to us, I think that they have told us lies that they believed to be true. These “lies” are:

1. Diabetes is a Chronic, Progressive Disease. It is cannot be cured, it only gets worse with time.
2. Lowering Blood Sugar is the goal of treatment given for Type 2 Diabetes

Here are the lies

These things are indeed lies! Why is each a lie?

1. Diabetes is a Chronic, Progressive Disease – as I have spelled out in this article, and as Dr. Fung makes very clear and presents evidence for in the video, diabetes actually can be cured! My doctor says that I no longer have diabetes after 25 years of being diabetic, so my diabetes has been cured. So, indeed, Diabetes being chronic (can’t be cured, only gets worse) is a big lie!
2. Lowering Blood Sugar is a Goal of the treatment. No, high blood sugar is only a symptom of the disease! It is not the disease itself! If the doctor gives insulin and the blood sugar goes down the disease is not cured, which is proven because insulin is still necessary, and will, in fact, need to be increased over time, showing that the disease is only getting worse, not better!

Over the years since I have been diagnosed with diabetes, my doctors have always told me that my problem is that my pancreas is not producing enough insulin. One of my doctors even told me that my pancreas probably is no longer producing insulin at all. I did not know before, but this is not correct! There is a basis of truth though. My pancreas was not able to produce enough insulin, but that does not mean it was producing no insulin or very little insulin. What was happening was that my body was so resistant to insulin that my needs for insulin were massive, beyond what any pancreas could produce!

Fasting reduces insulin resistance

By implementing fasting into my routine, I was able to reduce the level of insulin resistance in my body! Now, my pancreas is producing plenty of insulin to regulate my blood sugar without the need to injected insulin to supplement what was produced in my body! My blood sugar is in great control without the need for additional hormones or medication!

Knowledge is power

With the amount of research, I have been doing about health (particularly about obesity and diabetes, which are closely related topics) I have gained a lot of knowledge in this area. Before I was powerless about this because I did not know about it. I had very little knowledge in this area. Now, though, that I have gained much more knowledge than I had before, it makes me feel empowered. Knowledge is power!

Thank you, Dr. Fung, for changing my life!

Cornerstone Articles

• Diabetes – My journey (how to reverse diabetes)
• Stroke – My journey
• Heart Disease and how I reversed it
• My diet can save your life
• Fasting – My journey
• Weight Loss – How I did it (coming soon)
• Mental Health – My Journey (coming soon)