In general, I just feel better.
Conditions Reversed
Guest
Debra ScottFind Debra Online
http://twitter.com/Debandezscotthttps://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/members/debandez.460354/
t2debrascott@gmail.com
Episode Notes:
[1:45] Many of Debra’s family members have suffered from Type 2 Diabetes, including her late mother.
[2:45] Debra describes many of the negative side effects of diabetes that her family members have dealt with.
[4:15] A couple years ago, Debra was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes herself.
[5:25] Debra’s HbA1c reading was 62 (7.8%).
[6:30] Once she was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, she was not given any way to do blood glucose testing. She compares the situation to crossing the road blindfolded.
[7:45] Debra was prescribed Metformin. Debra was concerned about taking any kind of medications due to potential side effects so she decided to do some research on her own.
[8:40] Debra did some research at home; at the time, she didn’t even know what a carbohydrate was.
[9:30] Debra learned about low-carbohydrate diets and healthy fats.
[10:30] Debra went to the forums at diabetes.co.uk. She transitioned to a low carb diet (approximately 30 grams of carbohydrate per day).
[11:30] Debra’s official advice, provided to her in booklets, had been to eat 50% of her foods as starchy carbohydrates. But she was learning from the diabetes.co.uk forums, she was learning that people were having a great deal of success by cutting these starchy foods out of their diets.
[13:15] Debra found in her research that prior to 1980, guidelines had promoted low carbohydrate diets, but that changed due in large part to flawed research of Ancel Keys which promoted low-fat diets.
[16:45] Debra describes the starchy foods she avoids on her low-carbohydrate diet and she describes some of the foods she replaces them with.
[23:30] From December 2017 to February 2018, after adopting a low-carbohydrate diet, Debra shocked her diabetic nurse: her HbA1c dropped from 62 to 47 (7.8% to 6.5%). The nurse had never seen such a dramatic improvement before, so quickly. Debra’s latest test, in November 2019, came back with an even further improvement to 36 (5.4%).
[29:15] Debra hadn’t been given a low-carbohydrate option by her medical care providers; she had to Google it.
[30:15] She wants to get the message out there that Type 2 Diabetes doesn’t have to be a chronic, progressive disease. She wants people to know that “you can do this”
[32:45] Debra recommends searching the web for videos about low carb and “reversing diabetes”.
[34:15] The low-carb diet keeps Debra full for longer.
[38:00] Debra was 55 at the time of her diagnosis (she is 57 as of recording).
[40:45] Debra knows someone who had an HbA1c of 125 (13.6%) and was able to bring it down to 33 (5.2%) using a low-carbohydrate approach.
[43:30] Debra describes the improvements she felt beyond just her blood sugar numbers dropping.
[46:15] Now that she has improved her health, what is one thing Debra enjoys doing that she couldn’t do before?
[47:30] Debra’s husband has also adopted a low-carb diet. He lost 28 pounds and improved his blood pressure in doing so.
[49:40] Debra is passionate about getting the word out about how much low-carbohydrate diets can help improve people’s lives even though she doesn’t get paid a penny for anything about diabetes or low-carb diets.
[52:10] Debra has lost 56 pounds as a part of this process.
[53:15] Does Debra consider herself cured of Type 2 Diabetes?
[1:02:25] Debra’s sugar cravings went away with her low-carbohydrate way of eating.
Debra's Recommended Resources
The Diabetes Code by Dr. Jason Fung
The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung
Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution by Dr. Richard Bernstein
The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz
Tracey Brown, CEO of American Diabetes Association, is mindful of carbohydrate intake
That’s wonderful Debra! I learned about Ancel Keys on an Open University module about sport and nutrition. I was on the low carb, high fat diet (or ketogenic) for around 5 months but although I loved the food the diet didn’t love me. My body doesn’t digest fats well because I have type 3c diabetes, which means my pancreas is damaged and I can’t digest fats properly so a high fat diet gives me diarrhoea and doesn’t satisfy me. I’m thin and couldn’t afford to lose more weight.
But I’m commenting because I think it’s great that you don’t take your prescribed meds, I don’t either. I was prescribed metformin and creon capsules but I treat myself with herbs and a mostly organic, plant based diet and only certain meat and fish. Like you, I want people to know that they don’t have to follow the doctor’s advice so bravo to you!