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reitze

Joined: 07/15/2011

My Story:

Thanksgiving 2007 a family member tested my blood sugar. It was 417. I started reading and bout a test-meter. By the time I got to see a Dr about 3 months later I had already begun making progress (my graph) - and found him less knowledgeable about the basics than myself so I rejected his drugs and his certainty that I would die if I didn't do what he said (he was annoyingly deadly IMHO).

After reading over a dozen books I started with Bernstein's approach while keeping fruit (Atkins-like with more vegies). Later I found one that resonated with my "engineering approach" based on testing. That was DeWayne McCully's Death To Diabetes (DTD). I had already purchased a large bulk supply of test strips and was testing unknown foods every 20 minutes after eating them. Within that first few months the "hysteresis effect" of "glucose blasting" had become obvious. DTD came with a video that had a good chart of live/dead foods which I photographed and taped inside the kitchen cabinet. I also liked the Medeteranian Diet Pyramid - and taped that into another cabinet door.

After about 3 months of an "Atkins like" diet while still having a huge 5K/day calories content - my blood sugar was below 150. At that point I started paying more attention to calories. My new smart-phone was a huge help to look up how many calories in anything I considered eating. By mid-summer of 2008 my weight was down and so was my blood pressure.

Since mid-summer 2008 I've kept the weight off, blood sugar at about 100, and BP low to normal. My profile picture is about 6 months old. Here's a pic from when I was fat.

Its been over 3 years now enjoying perfect health and thus I've joined this and a few other on-line communities and shared my story in an effort to help others. In particular my impression is the drugs-first mentality of my Dr was dangerous - of course many probably consider my ideas dangerous too.

Using a test meeter to monitor yourself is where to verify for yourself the things you try. The bulk-purchase on eBay helped accomplish that at a reasonable cost. Playing guitar and pricking fingers isn't fun - and I tested a lot - THIS is the location I found best for testing.

Update: I've said the story to my video camera here.

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Reply: Fasting BGs "anytime" to Owning the BG

People that have T2 don't get worse over time and become T1. Two completely different...

Posted by reitze

32 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Fasting BGs "anytime" to Owning the BG People that have T2 don't get worse over time and become T1. Two completely different...

Reply: Fasting BGs "anytime" to Owning the BG

right and that sugar that the liver produces comes from somewhere (body-fat or food).

Posted by reitze

32 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Fasting BGs "anytime" to Owning the BG right and that sugar that the liver produces comes from somewhere (body-fat or food).

Reply: Fasting BGs "anytime" to Owning the BG

I don't comprehend where there's any need for any apologizing "non-diabetics sugar". I...

Posted by reitze

32 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Fasting BGs "anytime" to Owning the BG I don't comprehend where there's any need for any apologizing "non-diabetics sugar". I...

Reply: First time low blood sugars

Congrats on your progress! Have you read the leading books like McCulley's and Bersteins?...

Posted by reitze

Congrats on your progress!

Have you read the leading books like McCulley's and Bersteins? It does sound like your diet approach is recovering your heath to the point where you're over-drugging yourself to feel the low BG sensations. Even diet alone can get that sensation without the BG being low other than relatively low to your average.

I remember my 1st 6 months reducing my BG from 350 to 100 average via diet only. There were times I felt nauseous and yuck sensations --- tested my BG and well it wasn't "low" as in below 80 but it was "low for me". And further...

After getting to average 90's for my BG, and taking my weight from 180 down to 165... while having always been a meal-skipper and gorging type of person... I would feel the same effect with BG readings in the high 70s to low 80s, and that was when I took my weight back up... and easy meal skipping again. Ideal for me seems to be about 175, or if I reduce toward 165 again maybe doing it slower I'll get used to it better. And THAT was the same while using diet to reverse for me.

Some go for the 100% shock treatments with juicers, etc... Well when I first was T2 at an average of 350, and fasted for 2 or 3 days, my BG could get as low as 300 or so - but I did feel that same sensation and ate then. Pushing myself hard enough to reduce BG and going further loosing weight I was burning more fat than food for a long time (6 months or more). Without medical supervision I think that pace of change is about right too.

I did try those keytone sticks and things like that. When I fasted and perfect-fooded too much, I could feel the starvation-sense and see minimal (still safe) keytones...

So I also have the impression that those juicer diets and biggest looser sort of crash programs are only wise when watching closely for dangerous lows, dizziness, and on and on... and at some intensity IDK medical supervision would seem wise.

IDK the mix of extreme regiments a-la-cold-turkey vs the gradualists of which I'm surely extreme...but surly, improvement in BG via diet too fast will get you some low BG sensations even if your BG is never "dangerously low". Then again if you feel it who knows, that could be dangerous - and thus not knowing your meds can only speculate caution on things like insulin (too much?).View Thread

Posted byreitze

2 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:First time low blood sugars Congrats on your progress! Have you read the leading books like McCulley's and Bersteins?...

Reply: Fasting BGs "anytime" to Owning the BG

"We are not all alike. Can you tell me why my sugars averaged 393, while heating healthy,...

Posted by reitze

32 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Fasting BGs "anytime" to Owning the BG "We are not all alike. Can you tell me why my sugars averaged 393, while heating healthy,...

Reply: Fasting BGs "anytime" to Owning the BG

Hi auriga1, Sorry to hear your challenges are more severe than mine. I do believe its...

Posted by reitze

Hi auriga1,

Sorry to hear your challenges are more severe than mine. I do believe its curable for some - and believe I'm living that, while I also recognize that some are stuck with more severe restrictions. I look forward to your posts in response to mine also - don't hold back - my skin is quite think and I don't have to be right. All I have to offer is my own experience and POV. So do you.

It appears that in my case I had been T2 for about 15 years while peeing off excess sugar and still producing insulin. I think that because that's when I started getting mild rashes and it aligns with my then-vegetarian diet shifting to pizza when (GF moved out).

Thankfully in my case, it appears so-far-so-good for a full recovery. As far as a "cure", I like the analogy of recovering from obeasity. After a few years the INDIVIDUAL can be the one to claim victory/cure. I waiting 3 years post reversal before blogging about it and claiming "cure". Like you say - I can't eat those 5K calories/day again but I don't want to either.

On weight I'm less cured. At 5'8", my weight has gone from 245 to 180 and stayed at 180 for 3 years. Last summer I reduced further to 165 and OUCH! I notice hunger pangs and light-headedness of low blood-pressure. I had to consume salt on purpose (I still eat lots and lots of it) and skip[ed meals nauseated me.

So I went for some intentional gain aiming at 180 but overshot to 205 before the end of August. Right now in the 190s and except for the holiday have been inching it downward for a while, confidently (and THANK GOD FOR THAT).

Hope that helps our perspectives, I value the others here greatly - and sometimes learn things here myself too (though mostly intent here is to "give back" to the alternative sources of success such as Bernstein, McCulley, and especially here, Dansinger). Cool that recent adjacent health alturnatives are pointing the same directions too (eg: Fat, Sick & NearDead).

So for me I've "reversed" Type 2 and am "winning" against obesity - where more of my struggles are staying fit.

Of course there are risks that T2 could return, and there are risks that too many BG blasters could get ahead of me as I'm aging. However, I have noticed the "drift" of BG numbers above 100 is driectly related to my weight and recent behavior. Like yesterday I tested 115(am), (111 noon still no food), and 99 (evening couple hours after food). I personally attribute those 11 to 15 points above 100 as results from thanksgiving indulgences.

In your case, I do still believe that the BG blasters are important to your health - and that you have way less tolerance for them than I have. Still you have some - like a Dr might have you take a BG tolerance test which involves consuming sugar.

As you report a 393 average while alreayd "eathing healthy", and exceed the things I know to try/do... my best recomendation is the Death To Diabetes (DTD) book and resources of DeWayne McCulley.

Their facebook community is imho cultish - though for severe challenges, that author claims he's personally reversed T2 from a 1300 BG initial condition. HOWEVER, I fell out of favor over there. My sense that I was the only one talking about being "reversed" and "engineering my own program". That's what the author did - but the followers are there now. No more engineering allowed (hmmm yuck). They've turned it into more of an infomercial for a Biggest Looser style crash-course thing. Those can be good for people but then what? Well in a severe case like you'rs that's fine anyway, but not me. Nice to see this site open across multiple authors discussed and analyzed.

Similarly, its nice Mike and the "experts" here don't enforce a mainstreme medical view while they contribute those views. Go Mike!. BTW, have you seen his thread/article on reversal? I commented there but my impression is you might do so very well too - from yet another perspective than mine.View Thread

Posted byreitze

32 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Fasting BGs "anytime" to Owning the BG Hi auriga1, Sorry to hear your challenges are more severe than mine. I do believe its...

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Reply: Should I eat that Halloween chocolate bar?

Gosh I misread a post... but yea sure labels... not available when 99% of your food is...

Posted by reitze

20 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Should I eat that Halloween chocolate bar? Gosh I misread a post... but yea sure labels... not available when 99% of your food is...

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Reply: Biggest Loser Show

Hi Mike, sorry if this is late - I just saw it here. Here's my input, and good work! The...

Posted by reitze

Hi Mike, sorry if this is late - I just saw it here. Here's my input, and good work! The show makes a health contribution!

I consider it a "cold turkey" style transition method - and while its weight I applies to Type 2, Heart Disease and Cancer too. While that works for many people, there are many others who are more naturally "gradualists", like me.

Also, as a side-note, I would not tolerate a coach screaming at me like I've seen on that show - that would be a coach-ender for me (not others, my wife likes that in the show).

I see diet as more important than all that exercise too. And the way the gave that woman a hard time about chewing and spitting the candy? Why not just say hmmm ok how good was that? So that reflects that it's often annoying to me when it appears the contestents are sometimes treated with disrespect. The idea is to teach not direct and control (imho). If a person is unable to do more exercise that's not necessarily a failure, etc.

So basically its nice to see an approach to getting healthy that works for some people in extreme need. In that deep of a state of need, that drastic of an effort seems appropriate but brings on a completely different challenge - MAINTENANCE. It also begs the question what about the contestants who wont do that exercise or don't have that psychology?

In contrast the moderation/procrastination/gradualist approach that I represent here is another method that works but way slower (some can't wait that long). Its advantage is SUSTAINABILITY. Like gradual changes are sustainable.

All that said I'm wondering if post crash-diet (eg: that 600 calorie T2 reversal study, or Fat Sick and Nearly Dead)... Is there an easy way to start from a 1500 or less wt-loss diet and relax into a 2500 calorie diet without the changes being gradual?

I would think so, like people can cold turkey stopping smoking. Like if they can keep 1500 to 2000 calories "good nutrition" while allowing themselves a couple beers or a snack or whatever for the other 500. That's 80% or better "good nutrition" and with the certainty and blessing of another chance most should be able - I hope (while still 35 lbs above my desired wt, and 3 years after loosing 75, regained 30).View Thread

Posted byreitze

(FromType 2 Diabetes: Michael Dansinger, MD)

104 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Biggest Loser Show Hi Mike, sorry if this is late - I just saw it here. Here's my input, and good work! The...

Reply: What the worst thing for you, personally, dealing ...

That was 4 years ago. I've not been back.

Posted by reitze

257 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:What the worst thing for you, personally, dealing with diabetes? That was 4 years ago. I've not been back.

Reply: What the worst thing for you, personally, dealing ...

For me the worst part was needing to see a Dr, and then having to fend off the Dr's...

Posted by reitze

257 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:What the worst thing for you, personally, dealing with diabetes? For me the worst part was needing to see a Dr, and then having to fend off the Dr's...

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