2 years later and I’ve still reversed my type 2 diabetes eating only Beans for protein + fruit & veg

[Dr. Zaus]

2 years later and I’ve still reversed my type 2 diabetes by eating whole plants.
I never count calories.
I am never hungry.
I walk for about 45min a day.

(And still down 80 pounds)

A1C 4.9!

 

[BarneyBunch]

Congrats! It sounds like a healthy diet, but one that would be very difficult to start and stick with. Keep up the good work!

 

[balloonshark]

Good for you! I wish more people would take the leap. You can either suffer from the diseases that are the leading causes of death and medicine side effects or fix the root of the problem.

I took the leap in January and enjoy what I'm eating. I've lost about 15 pounds but I started at 150. There is a bit of a learning curve but that's completely normal when you're breaking life long bad habits.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Congrats! It sounds like a healthy diet, but one that would be very difficult to start and stick with. Keep up the good work!

It’s not hard at all - I just made myself disgusted with things that aren’t whole plants.

Not all at once - one thing at a time. Red meat, then chicken, then fish, then milk, then eggs, then cheese, then table sugar, then table salt, then olive oil, then avocados- then the best available balance of evidence on avocados changed, so then I fell back in love with avacados.

Next thing you know I’m eating all the nutrients I need and none that I don’t.

https://cronometer.com/

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

What's the B12 for? Do you have an Intrinsic Factor issue?

 

[SlitheryDee]

So we're talking about a vegetarian diet? Yeah I can see how that could be good or bad for diabetes depending on how you do it. Do you have to limit your consumption of fruits and starchy vegetables?

 

[Ackmed]

Good for you. I don't know if I could change my entire diet, I guess for a serious medically problem I could but damn I wouldn't want to. Keep at it.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

What's the B12 for? Do you have an Intrinsic Factor issue?

Vitamin B12 Necessary for Arterial Health
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/vitamin-b12-necessary-for-arterial-health/

Humans don't produce it until after the part of their digestive track that absorbs it. So you can drink feces filled water (not a problem for almost all of humanity for almost all of our existence) or you can take a b 12 supplement. (or you can eat animals who have been fed b12 supplements)

So we're talking about a vegetarian diet? Yeah I can see how that could be good or bad for diabetes depending on how you do it. Do you have to limit your consumption of fruits and starchy vegetables?

Not at all, The week I started eating high fruit instead of high fat my fasting blood sugar fell 5 points.

I did avoided starches at the beginning - now I just make sure they are high fiber (i.e. bread that's a 5:1 carb to fiber ratio).

 

[Ventanni]

So we're talking about a vegetarian diet? Yeah I can see how that could be good or bad for diabetes depending on how you do it. Do you have to limit your consumption of fruits and starchy vegetables?

There have been a lot reports of people who have either improved or eliminated their diabetes by switching to a plant based diet. My wife and I have a friend who also greatly improved his diabetic situation by switching from more of a keto based diet to plant based. I think a lot of it has to do with plant based diets and how they affect inter-cellular fat levels, which when too high, blocks insulin absorption. Only plant based diets seem to reduce this, which is why diabetes rate among populations that eat mostly plants is so low.

Honestly, I bet Americans could cut their healthcare costs by half (or more) within 1 year by switching to a diet that is 90% plant based.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

My wife and I have a friend who also greatly improved his diabetic situation by switching from more of a keto based diet to plant based. I think a lot of it has to do with plant based diets and how they affect inter-cellular fat levels, which when too high, blocks insulin absorption.

This exactly, here's a video showing how!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw8hufhIDu0&t=65s

 

[mike8675309]

There have been a lot reports of people who have either improved or eliminated their diabetes by switching to a plant based diet. My wife and I have a friend who also greatly improved his diabetic situation by switching from more of a keto based diet to plant based. I think a lot of it has to do with plant based diets and how they affect inter-cellular fat levels, which when too high, blocks insulin absorption. Only plant based diets seem to reduce this, which is why diabetes rate among populations that eat mostly plants is so low.

Honestly, I bet Americans could cut their healthcare costs by half (or more) within 1 year by switching to a diet that is 90% plant based.

And then that money spent on type 2 diabetes research and heart disease research and treatments could instead go towards real health scourges like childhood cancers.

 

[ibex333]

2 years later and I’ve still reversed my type 2 diabetes by eating whole plants.
I never count calories.
I am never hungry.
I walk for about 45min a day.

(And still down 80 pounds)

A1C 4.9!

How do you know you "reversed" your Diabetus? Unless you can eat a chocolate mousse cake and not see your sugar spike above 120-130, you are not Diabetes free. Just the fact that your sugar is under control, means nothing. I am also Type 2, and I went down from two full pills of Janumet to only one per day. Half morning, half evening. I do this with combination of diet and cardio exercise. (I'm still in horrible shape though, but I'm working on it) Regardless, as soon as I allow myself to slack off and stop exercising or eat bad stuff, sugar goes back up again.


Also, you claim you don't count calories, but posted a link to the calorie counter. What gives?


I don't count calories either, but maybe that is why my progress is not as good as it should be.

You claim you only eat beans, fruit and veggies, so give me a breakdown of you average day.... Is it beans+veggies literally breakfast, lunch and dinner?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxowzY9c4nM

 

[Dr. Zaus]

How do you know you "reversed" your Diabetus? Unless you can eat a chocolate mousse cake and not see your sugar spike above 120-130, you are not Diabetes free. Just the fact that your sugar is under control, means nothing. I am also Type 2, and I went down from two full pills of Janumet to only one per day. Half morning, half evening. I do this with combination of diet and cardio exercise. (I'm still in horrible shape though, but I'm working on it) Regardless, as soon as I allow myself to slack off and stop exercising or eat bad stuff, sugar goes back up again.

That A1C is from slacking off. In the last 3 months I’ve only walked about a mile a day, and I’ve had about two craft beers a week, and I’ve eaten at vegan restaurants 3 days a week.

I’ve also hovered at this weight loss level.

Fasting blood sugar 92.

I don't count calories either, but maybe that is why my progress is not as good as it should be.

I counted fiber and sat fat (see my sig)

You claim you only eat beans, fruit and veggies, so give me a breakdown of you average day.... Is it beans+veggies literally breakfast, lunch and dinner?

Beans, lentils, peas, greens, flax-seed, chia-seed, Red cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower,
Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, yellow kiwi, bananas, organic red and green apples, vinegar, nutritional yeast.

I didn't make the change all at once. One item at a time I stopped purchasing unhealthful things (like meat) and replaced them with healthful things (like beans); then milk, cheese, eggs, sugar, salt, and finally oil. The oil did the best for my diabetes.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

What kind of beans do you eat? My brother always tells me that beans aren't a complete protein, can you expound?

My answer is the same as the one below:

Also, you claim you don't count calories, but posted a link to the calorie counter. What gives?

I posted it because it lets you see the micro-nutrients including protein overall, and essential proteins.

Thus you can see beans are all you need to get to all your essential amino acids (why a 'complete' protein is needed).

Here's a food diary from a random day half way through, technically the calories were about 1900 that day.

And this is the essential acids profile from that day

 

[mike8675309]

What kind of beans do you eat? My brother always tells me that beans aren't a complete protein, can you expound?

All plant foods contain complete proteins. Some plants will have such low amino acid amounts that early tests would show them as non-existent. But they are all there.. Think of a Rhino or an Elephant or just a cow. You see how big they get and all they eat is plants. Most of the animals that humans eat got the protein in their body from the plants they ate.

 

[Ventanni]

What kind of beans do you eat? My brother always tells me that beans aren't a complete protein, can you expound?

Partially true, but mostly exaggerated into the realm of bro-science. Plants contain lots of protein. Lots. Interestingly enough though, man famous culinary dishes around the world are actually centered around making a more "complete" protein loadout. Obviously, that wasn't intentional, but a byproduct of the human body craving the more complete protein nature of the dish:

• Rice and beans
• Wheat and peanut butter
• Hummus and pita bread
• Soba noodles (buckwheat)

Notice a pattern?

 

[balloonshark]

Quinoa is a complete protein and it's delicious. https://www.livestrong.com/article/378479-is-quinoa-a-complete-protein-food/

Last night I had a quinoa and black bean burger I made from leftovers.