How changing my diet put my type 2 diabetes into remission
Someone is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes every three minutes in England and Wales. What’s it like to be on the end of a type 2 diagnosis and what do the professionals suggest you do?
Mohammed from High Wycombe was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes nine years ago at the age of 56. After coming to terms with his diagnosis and the speed at which the condition progressed, he completely changed his diet - putting the condition into remission and keeping it that way.
Currently 2.4 million people in England are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. There are many risk factors for type 2 diabetes and the reasons why it develops are complex. But without proper management, it can cause serious and debilitating health issues.
According to Diabetes UK, research has consistently shown that, for some people, making adjustments to their daily habits – including diet, physical activity and sustained weight loss – can be effective in reducing their risk by about 50 percent.
There are different diets linked to not only reducing symptoms of diabetes but putting the condition into remission, from low-carb to low-calorie. In fact, with the latter, recently updated results from Diabetes UK’s DiRECT study highlighted that for participants taking part in a low-calorie programme (a soup and shake diet there were encouraging signs it could lead to patients going into remission over a sustained period.
Mohammed's story illustrates how the condition can near enough be beaten with lifestyle changes and good support.
Mohammed’s experience
In 2013, Mohammed, a retired solicitor, was having a regular medical check-up when he was told he was on the verge of developing type 2 diabetes. He had no symptoms and knew little about the condition, unaware even of the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. “I think it was just simple ignorance,” he starts. “I probably wasn't aware of things about myself or about my body and I didn't really give any thought to it. I just carried on living in the same way.”
Mohammed went on to receive a confirmed diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and was put on medication. Every year, appointments showed his blood sugar levels were increasing. “I didn’t do anything differently than I did before. But then in 2018-2019, they said ‘Your sugar levels have shot up'. They start you on medication when your blood sugar levels reach 48 (hba1c), and within a year, they had gone from 49 to 59.”
“They wanted to add some further medication. At this point I said, hold on. It was the first time I started to think about what was happening. Instead of just accepting more medication I said I wanted to go away and think about it.”
For the first time Mohammed started reading up on the condition and recognised how important his diet was. “I decided to make some changes overnight. I dropped a lot of food that I was eating and completely changed. People in the house thought I was mad because it was so drastic.”
“I'm of South Asian origin and of course we have a lot of rice, generally speaking, so I was eating rice without thinking about it. And of course, naan bread and then on top of that; bread, bread and more bread. And then cereals. It was basically a very high-carb diet, but I didn't even know what carbs were.
“I started to make changes and joined the gym at the same time. A week later I weighed myself and I had lost a kilo of weight. I just tried another week and another week. In four weeks, I lost 4 kilos of weight. And then my date came up to visit the doctor again, when she put me on the scale, she couldn't believe it. She said, 'whatever you're doing just carry on doing it', which is what I did.”
As well as reducing carbs, Mohammed also cut back on fatty foods and sugar, and introduced more vegetables into his diet.
“I had another blood test, three months later, and I had gone down from 59 to 40.” Not only did Mohammed not need to increase his medication, but he no longer required any. “I carried on, just didn't look back at the scale, but remained in this new mode.
Mohammed recognised he needed to make permanent changes that were sustainable, so isn't completely rigid in his diet, “Occasionally I may have a half a naan… Yesterday I had I had some guests, so I had curry with some naan and rice,” he explains.
“I've realised now that when I relax [my diet], the numbers go up again. It's gone up to the mid 40's but it's been down to 37 as well. So, I'm in control.” He has been following his new diet, keeping his diabetes in remission, for three years. While Mohammed isn't suggesting his new diet is one that all people with type 2 diabetes should follow, it is what has worked for him.
“I was reading a blog and a patient like me said to the doctors, ‘I'm really pleased the diet seems to have worked, I've lost weight and everything's improved. So, when do I go back to my normal self?’ And the doctor says: ‘This is your new normal!’ That’s how I consider myself – this is the new normal now. Normal way of eating, drinking and living.”
Mohammed’s previous diet
Breakfast: Bowl of cereal with lots of milk and tea or coffee
Mid-morning snack: Toast and tea
Lunch: Sandwich
Mid-afternoon snack: Slice of cake
Dinner: Curry with rice, naan bread or a chapati
Mohammed’s new diet
Breakfast: Black coffee or green tea, natural yogurt with berries, nuts and seeds
Snack: Green tea with a handful of nuts
Lunch: Mohammed doesn’t really get hungry for lunch anymore but if he is, he might have a green smoothie or jacket potato or salad and fish.
Dinner: Fish cooked in an air fryer, or chicken or lamb with steamed vegetables and lots of salad or lentils.
The dietitian's view
Emma Elvin is a Senior Clinical Advisor at Diabetes UK and explains; “There’s evidence that certain dietary patterns and specific foods are associated with either an increase or decrease risk of type 2 diabetes.
“In terms of an increased risk, we know things like a high glycaemic index diet where you’re having more refined carbohydrates – things like white bread, white pasta and sugary cereal, have an impact, as do high-fat diets with less fibre.
“There’s also evidence that specific foods are associated with type 2 diabetes. We know that diets which are high in things like sugary drinks and refined carbohydrates, also red and processed meats and fried food, such as chips, are associated with an increased risk.
“The Mediterranean diet, vegetarian and vegan diets and lower carbohydrate diets can be associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes,” says Emma. These diets tend to include more healthy whole foods, though plant-based and low-carb diets can include a great many processed foods.
“We're talking about things like whole grains, fruit and vegetables, lean protein, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds. Nutritious and healthy foods that we know are beneficial to diabetes management, but also overall health.”
There are complex factors that impact your risk of developing diabetes – from your ethnicity to family history. And for some, it's unpreventable. However, there are online tools where you can check your risk score.
Related articles
The best diet if you have type 2 diabetes
“The most important thing when it comes to diet is finding foods and drinks that you like, so you can maintain the pattern of eating them in the long term,” says Emma, who warns against extreme diets. “Some types of diet can be really restrictive, and they also aren’t necessarily nutritionally balanced.
“If someone is thinking about going on a specific diet, it’s important to get support from a healthcare professional. People with diabetes are entitled to see a dietitian who can really help to give tailored advice to a person's circumstances and their preferences. The most important thing is the diet remains nutritionally balanced.”
“There's evidence emerging around remission,” says the dietitian. “We have some funded research – the DiRECT trial – which looked at low calorie diets and how when people followed them and were able to lose an amount of weight, they then put their condition into remission… We also have some evidence that low or lower carbohydrate diets can be helpful for some people with type 2 diabetes in the short to medium term to help with managing their diabetes and with weight loss. They’re not an option for everybody, but they certainly do help some help some people.”
Can you ever be “cured”?
While people like Mohammed can use their diet to keep diabetes in remission for long periods, they still aren’t technically “cured”.
“We need more research to tell us how long that remission can be maintained for, and we also need to understand what it means in terms of people's future risk of complications. At the moment, even if someone is in remission of their diabetes, it's still very important for them to have all of their diabetes checks.”
However, with trials ongoing Emma’s confident that there will be a time when people will be said to be cured. “Once we understand how type 2 diabetes develops, we can come up with other methods of helping people to put it into remission or to, hopefully, potentially cure it… It’s very exciting and it's hopeful for the future.”
*If you are concerned about your risk of diabetes or your diet, speak with your GP and if you have type-2 diabetes, seek professional advice before going on a diet. There is also help and support available at these organisations. *
This article was published in June 2022.
