Can Intermittent Fasting Reverse Type 2 Diabetes?Here's what you need to know

A recent report showed promising results on the effects of intermittent fasting on type 2 diabetes. Here's what you need to know.

- Intermittent fasting is a diet where you focus on when you eat, not what you eat

- Recent studiesThis found that intermittent fasting helped some people with type 2 diabetes stop taking their medications.

- Exercise can help with weight management, help increase human growth hormone, and strengthen the immune system.

- Fasting is not recommended for everyone, you should consult a doctor before starting.

I have been promoting intermittent fasting for the past few years because I have personally benefited greatly from it and many of the people I have counseled have also shown incredibly positive effects.

In this column, I would like to focus on what intermittent fasting is and what effect it can have on type 2 diabetes.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

First, you should know that intermittent fasting is not a diet.Diets dictate "what" you eat and "how much".In contrast, intermittent fasting emphasizes "when" you eat each day.It's all about adjusting your diet.For example, research shows that an 18-hour fasting and 6-hour eating schedule (18:6 ratio) produces excellent results.But you can build up to it gradually, starting with a 14:10 ratio.Try this for a few weeks, adjust to the discipline of not eating during the fasting period, and then gradually increase the duration of the fast.

Fasting has been proven to be the most effective tool for weight loss.In addition, it increases the production of human growth hormone throughout the body which promotes muscle mass while losing body fat.There are also positive effects to strengthen the immune system and increase autopgy.Autophy means finding and removing cells that have a deficiency in their functionality and replacing them with new cells.

I must emphasize emphatically that the key to success is true fasting, meaning that you only consume water, black coffee, or unsweetened tea during the fast.Anything else breaks the fast, canceling all its benefits.

Is type 2 diabetes reversible?

A recent research report published in the journal Encyocrine Society of Clinical Endocinology and Metabolism found results associated with misleading fasting in patients with type 2 diabetes.He maintained this condition for at least a year.In other words, these articles showed that type 2 diabetes can be reversed, and that intermittent fasting can be an effective intervention.

Another important finding of this study is that it supports the belief that only people who have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes recently (up to six years) experience a relapse.Of the subjects who experienced remission, 65% had the disease for more than six years.

And, finally, from an economic point of view, the researchers found that all the costs of drug studies were reduced by 77 percent.This alone, even if there is no complete remission, can be a big player in the game since diabetes is an expensive disease to treat.

It is true that this research is of limited scope and it is necessary to draw conclusions.However, there are many animal studies with mice and rats that show the positive effect of positive intermittent fasting to improve the sensitivity of the eye and regulate blood sugar levels.In some animals, beneficial changes occurred without significant losses.

Adding all the currently available information, the results are promising, and maybe intermittent fasting can be at least part of the solution to our epidemic of type 2 diabetes.

There is more to consider here.

Is intermittent fasting safe?

The irony is that although intermittent fasting is relatively new to Americans, it is actually a state that is natural to the human body. In other words, our distant ancestors lived in a lack of food and were forced to constantly forage and hunt. Food was unpredictable and in severe cases I could not eat for a long time. It is no surprise that those who survived the worst conditions inherited this ability and it became an important element of ourgene pool.

This means that we are much better adapted to intermittent fasting than to three meals a day and light snacks.Our modern lifestyle forces us to eat because we think it is "time" to eat, and very often we are not hungry.I've often written that if we only ate when we were hungry, we wouldn't be an overweight society.Moreover, our common chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes, etc. will be rare.

An important reason why intermittent fasting is effective is because when you fast, your body does not take any energy and has to rely on what it has stored.In addition, the longer the fast, the greater the amount of energy removed, resulting in a reduction in body fat.When you reduce stored fat, you reduce chronic inflammation in the body, which is a major contributor to the epidemic of chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes. 2. In addition, your body functions as a more efficient metabolic machine that helps you control your weight more effectively in the long run.

The most important thing about fast fasting is that you can still eat yourself at any time, in any kind and quantity.All you need to do is eat a typical meal in a short amount of time.Even if you don't change your diet, your body will go into a different and healthier state.

Although eating less isn't your goal, a fast-paced lifestyle can make you eat less, but you can't.It's very different from a regular diet, where you starve yourself hard and don't think about anything but food.If you take steps to improve the way you eat and add some activity, the effects of intermittent fasting are greatly enhanced.

Finally, always proceed with caution.There may be reasons why intermittent fasting is not right for you.For example, intermittent fasting is not recommended for pregnant or lactating women, children, type 1 diabetes, people with a history of eating disorders, etc. With this in mind, it is always a good idea to discuss lifestyle changes such as intermittent fasting with your doctor.

Reach Bryant Stamford, professor emeritus of kinesiology and integrative physiology at Hanover College, at [email protected].