Reverse Diabetes? Study Shows It’s Possible

“Your blood sugar levels are too high,” your doctor says after evaluating your most recent blood test. “If we don’t get this under control, the potential for complications related to diabetes will keep going up. I’m going to prescribe you with a new treatment for diabetes to turn this around.”

The doctor leaves the room. And you’re thinking, “Great. I’ll just take the meds as prescribed and in a few weeks or maybe a few months, my blood sugar levels won’t be so high.”

That’s largely the way diabetes has been treated, along with some diet and exercise recommendations. But that’s about to change. In a recent study published in the journal Cell Metabolism lead researcher Dr. Roy Taylor was able to pinpoint the cause, and reverse diabetes without medication.

The cause: In the study, Taylor and his team found that diabetes is triggered by excess fat in the liver. Then this occurs, fat deposits spill over into the pancreas. And it’s the excess fat that makes it increasingly difficult to produce enough insulin to manage blood sugar levels.

The solution: In the not-too-distant future, the prescription to treat diabetes may not be medication, but lifestyle changes to support weight loss. In the study, people living with diabetes who lost an average of 30 pounds and kept it off no longer had markers for diabetes or required medication to help control blood sugar levels.

Ready to clean up your diet and reverse diabetes? There’s two lifestyle changes that will have the biggest impact. 

First, eat more plant-based foods and less refined or processed foods. Check out this selection of Diabetic-Friendly meals to help you eat right.

Second, get more exercise. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise per day. If you’ve got a lot of weight to lose (more than 10 pounds), 60 minutes of exercise a day is better. Go for a walk. Take a fitness class. Workout at the gym. Run.

In fact, it’s so effective the National Health Service in the United Kingdom plans to launch a weight-loss therapy program based on Taylor’s study to help prevent and reverse diabetes.

Eat right. Move more. It’s the recipe to lose weight, prevent diabetes, or reverse it.