低热量饮食可以治愈2型糖尿病的案例

Type 2 diabetes and the diet that cured me

　

 研究表明，低热量饮食可以逆转2型糖尿病。照片:Microzoa /盖蒂图片社

在接受2型糖尿病的休克诊断后，我采取了极低热量的饮食计划，血糖迅速恢复正常

研究表明，低热量饮食可以逆转2型糖尿病。

为什么是我? 我59岁，体重10英石7磅，身高5英尺7英寸，从未超重过。我经常跑步和打板球，不酗酒。然而在一次例行检查中，我被告知我患有2型糖尿病。10年后，我可能会依赖胰岛素，它会影响我的视力，脚，耳朵，心脏，我有36%的机会提前死亡。

在1型糖尿病中，人体不会产生任何调节血糖水平的胰岛素。非常高的葡萄糖水平会损害身体的器官。然而，2型糖尿病患者确实会产生胰岛素——只是不足以维持正常的血糖水平。

因为我身体健康，没有超重(肥胖是2型糖尿病的主要危险因素;然而，一些非肥胖者，尤其是南亚社区的人，也容易患肥胖症)，我的医生告诉我，我可以只靠饮食来控制病情。

出于对信息的渴望，我去了网上，在那里我发现了一份由Roy Taylor罗伊·泰勒教授领导的纽卡斯尔大学研究试验的报告。他的研究表明，每天摄入800卡路里的食物8周可以逆转2型糖尿病。

当我们的身体被剥夺了正常数量的食物时，他们会消耗自己的脂肪储备，器官中的脂肪最先被消耗殆尽。泰勒饮食的想法是消耗堵塞胰腺，阻止它产生胰岛素的脂肪，直到正常的血糖水平恢复。在我的家庭医生的祝福和一个家庭血糖检测工具包，我开始了我的实验。

饮食很严格:每天三升水，三种200卡路里的食物补充(汤和奶昔)和200卡路里的绿色蔬菜。多亏了医生的饮食指导，每周跑步三次，我已经减掉了1英石（约为14磅）的体重。然而，我的血糖水平仍然高于6mmol/L(每升几毫升)，这是一个没有糖尿病的健康人的上限。根据泰勒的说法，我必须减掉诊断前体重的六分之一。

图示 理查德·道蒂被诊断出患有2型糖尿病，但严格的饮食改变了一切。 

 

第一天，我重9英石7磅，身体健康指数为21。在达到8英石12磅的目标后，我就可以通过锻炼来增强自己，因为更多的肌肉会消耗更多的能量，，在葡萄糖转化成脂肪储存起来之前，吸收多余的葡萄糖。

它不是一件容易的事。然而，水避免了难受的饥饿感。泰勒说:“如果你觉得饿了，那就喝杯水庆祝吧，哪怕是汽水。”第三天，我重9英石5磅。

第4天，我的血糖水平在禁食10个小时后下降到4.6。这是我第一次得到4开头的数值。但是在第六天，我觉得很冷。那是七月中旬，但早上我的指尖是白色的，我不得不穿T恤、衬衫、套头衫和夹克去上班。我很饿，在办公室里走来走去很累。但我瘦到了9英石3磅。

到了第八天，我被称为“消失的人”，开始觉得和同事们有点疏远。虽然我的能量水平很好，葡萄糖水平为4.3mmol/L，但由于没有喝足够的水，便秘开始出现。值得庆幸的是,泻药治愈。泰勒给我发了一封邮件，说我的进步非常好，我可以不再吃流质食物，回到正常的饮食。

到第11天，我的血糖值为4.1，是最低的，我的体重降到了8英石 13磅。第二天，我吃了第一顿丰盛的晚餐——米饭和鱼，外加一份巧克力奶昔来庆祝。

我等了两个月才检测血糖，但在去年9月24日，它得到了确认。在外科医生哪里进行了一次空腹血糖测试后，我的医生宣布:“糖尿病已经自行痊愈。”我的血糖水平是5.1mmol/L，远低于6的糖尿病水平。

 

我坚持了11天的节食计划，把血糖降到了非糖尿病的水平。过去7个月里，这种情况一直没有改变。

其他人也通过饮食改变了他们的生活。53岁的美国人卡洛斯·塞万提斯在尝试自杀的时候已经到了死亡的边缘。他体重120公斤，在2011年春天心脏病发作，视力和肾脏衰竭，脚趾被感染。他的耳朵甚至长出了真菌，以他超高的血糖水平为食。但在看了纽卡斯尔研究的电视报道后，他开始每天只吃600卡路里的食物，用水果、瘦肉鸡肉、火鸡、偶尔的面包和每天一杯奶昔来代替这些补品。两个月后，他减掉了40公斤，18个月后，他在也没有2型糖尿病。

来自美国新泽西州67岁的亨利·科尔(Henry Cole)也是如此。他在电视上看到一个20秒的新闻短片，几天后开始节食。他坚持每天只摄入600卡的热量，包括蛋白质(牛排、鸡肉、火鸡或鱼)和绿色蔬菜，大部分时间他在下午6点吃一顿饭，早餐喝咖啡、含卡路里的奶油和1.5升水。他的体重从81公斤下降到70公斤，每天摄入1500大卡热量，糖化血红蛋白从6.9%下降到5.6%。

史蒂夫·文森特，58岁，来自英格兰南安普顿，2010年12月被诊断出患有2型糖尿病。他被告知没有已知的治疗方法，他患心脏病、中风、失明和肢体丧失的风险增加。他的体重指数为29，体重为93公斤，糖化血红蛋白为10.7%。2011年夏天，他读了《逆转的故事》，连续两个月每天摄入600卡路里的绿色蔬菜和3升水。最后，他不再患糖尿病了。2012年12月，他告诉我:“我所有的血液检测水平都在正常范围内，我的胆固醇和血压现在都正常了。”当他不再节食的时候，他的体重只有72公斤，尽管他承认自己并没有像以前那样吃得健康，但他的体重指数仍然保持在24，糖化血红蛋白水平为5.5%。

科学家们持谨慎态度，研究仍在继续，但越来越多的证据表明，这种饮食确实可以消除2型糖尿病的症状。研究人员目前正在研究如何在逆转后控制糖尿病的饮食类型，他们面临的问题是，一旦我们战胜了这种疾病，我们如何改善我们的生活方式，使其不再复发?

Type 2 diabetes and the diet that cured me

After receiving a shock diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, I followed an extremely low-calorie eating plan and saw my blood sugar levels rapidly return to normal

Richard Doughty

Sun 12 May 2013 19.00 BST First published on Sun 12 May 2013 19.00 BST

Shares

2116

Comments

218

Shopping basket

Research suggests that eating a low calorie diet can reverse type 2 diabetes. Photograph: Microzoa/Getty Images

Why me? At 59 I was 10st 7lb, 5ft 7in, and had never been overweight. I ran and played cricket regularly and didn't drink alcohol excessively. Yet at a routine check-up I was told that I had type 2 diabetes. In 10 years I could be dependent on insulin, it could affect my sight, feet, ears, heart and I had a 36% greater chance of dying early.

In type 1 diabetes, the body produces none of the insulin that regulates our blood sugar levels. Very high glucose levels can damage the body's organs. Patients with type 2 diabetes, however, do produce insulin - just not enough to keep their glucose levels normal. Because I was fit and not overweight (obesity is a major risk factor in type 2 diabetes; however, a number of non-obese people, particularly members of south Asian communities, are also prone to it), my doctor told me I could control my condition with diet alone.

Desperate for information, I headed to the web, where I found a report about a research trial at Newcastle University led by Professor Roy Taylor. His research suggested type 2 diabetes could be reversed by following a daily 800-calorie diet for eight weeks.

When our bodies are deprived of normal amounts of food they consume their own fat reserves, with the fat inside organs used up first. The idea of Taylor's diet is to use up the fat that is clogging up the pancreas and preventing it from creating insulin, until normal glucose levels return. With my GP's blessing and a home glucose-testing kit, I began my experiment.

The diet was strict: three litres of water a day, three 200-calorie food supplements (soups and shakes) and 200 calories of green vegetables. Thanks to my doctor's dietary guidance, and running three times a week, I had already lost a stone. Yet my glucose levels were still above 6mmol/L (millimols per litre), the upper limit for a healthy person without diabetes. According to Taylor, I had to lose a sixth of my pre-diagnosis bodyweight.

Richard Doughty

Richard Doughty was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, but a strict diet changed everything. Photograph: Felix Clay

On the first full day, I weighed 9st 7lb with a healthy body mass index of 21. After reaching my target of 8st 12lb, I would be able to build myself up through exercise, as larger muscles use more energy, soaking up excess glucose before it is converted and stored as fat.

It wasn't easy. Yet water staved off the worst hunger pangs. "If you feel hunger, celebrate the fact with a glass of water, even fizzy water," Taylor said. By the third day, I weighed 9st 5lb.

On day four, my glucose levels had dropped to 4.6 after fasting for 10 hours overnight. It was the first time I'd ever scored a 4. But on day six, I felt really cold. It was mid-July but in the morning my fingertips were white and I had to wear a T-shirt, shirt, jumper and jacket to work. I was hungry, and just walking around the office was tiring. But I was down to 9st 3lb.

By day eight, I was being called the "disappearing man", and began to feel a bit detached from my colleagues. While my energy levels were fine and glucose levels were 4.3mmol/L, constipation had set in, as a result of not drinking enough water. Thankfully, laxatives cured this. Taylor emailed to say my progress was so good, I  could come off the liquid diet and go back to normal foods.

By day 11, my glucose was 4.1, the lowest yet, and I was down to just 8st 13lb. The next day I treated myself to my first full evening meal of rice and fish, plus a chocolate shake to celebrate.

I waited two months to be sure, but on 24 September last year it was confirmed. Following a fasting glucose test at my surgery, my doctor declared: "The diabetes has resolved itself." My glucose level was 5.1mmol/L, well below the diabetes mark of 6.

I had stuck to the diet for just 11 days and reduced my blood sugar to a healthy non-diabetic level. It has remained that way for the past seven months.

Reading on mobile? Watch Carlos Cervantes's account of how he beat severe diabetes type 2

Facebook Twitter Pinterest

Others have also changed their lives through the diet. Carlos Cervantes, 53 and from the US, was at death's door when he tried it. He weighed 120kg, suffered a heart attack in spring 2011, his eyesight and kidneys were failing and he faced having an infected toe amputated. He even had fungus growing out of his ears, feeding on his ultra-high blood sugar levels. But after seeing a TV report on the Newcastle research, he started eating only 600 calories a day, replacing the supplements with not just vegetables but fruit, lean chicken, turkey, occasional bread and a daily milkshake. Two months later he had lost 40kg and 18 months later he is still free of his type  2 diabetes.

Henry Cole, 67, from New Jersey, USA, did likewise. He saw a 20-second news clip on TV and took up the diet days later. He stuck rigidly to 600 calories daily from just protein (steak, chicken, turkey or fish) plus green veg, eating his one meal at 6pm most days, with coffee and calorie-counted cream for breakfast and 1.5 litres of water. His weight went down from 81kg to a stable 70kg on a now daily 1,500 cal diet, with his HbA1c level down to 5.6% from 6.9%.

Steve Vincent, 58, from Southampton, England, was diagnosed with type 2 in December 2010. He was told there was no known cure and he had an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, blindness and limb loss. He had a BMI of 29, weighed 93kg and showed an HbA1c of 10.7%. In summer 2011 he read the reversal story and went on a daily 600 calories green vegetable diet and three litres of water, for two months. At the end he was and remains diabetes-free. In December 2012 he told me: "All my blood test levels are within the normal range, and my cholesterol and blood pressure levels are now normal." When he came off the diet he weighed just 72kg, although he has put on weight since then as he admits he has not been eating as healthily as he might, but his BMI remains at a healthy 24, and his HbA1c level is 5.5%.

Scientists are cautious, and research is continuing, but evidence is growing that the diet can indeed remove the symptoms of type 2 diabetes. The question for researchers, who are now working on identifying the type of diet that can keep diabetes at bay after reversal, is once we've beaten the condition, how do we improve our lifestyle so it doesn't return? Watch this space.

Type 2 diabetes and the diet that cured me | Life and style | The Guardian  https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/may/12/type-2-diabetes-diet-cure