Reversing Insulin Resistance Blog - Why Keto by Roxana Soetebeer

How I reversed my Type 2 Diabetes by Roxana Soetebeer

How I reversed my Type 2 Diabetes

A look back

What happened? How did I get so sick that I developed Type 2 Diabetes?

Many reasons. I have been a lifelong yoyo-dieter. As a kid and into my early 20s, I was healthy. Never obese or even overweight, but that suddenly changed when I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Weight gain

In a matter of months, I packed on the pounds. It happened so fast that I bumped into things because I misjudged the shape of my body. Followed by three pregnancies, I ended up morbidly obese. Oh, how I hate that phrase.

Health

For RA, I was aggressively treated with Imuran. Imuran is an immune suppressant. The initial dose is high and should be lowered to a maintenance dose. But that didn't happen, so for the next 15 years, my amount was equivalent to that used for kidney transplant recipients.

This sent me into a tailspin of worsening metabolic health. My liver took a hit (no prescription available to treat NASH), and my lipids went high. Unfortunately, there is a prescription for that: Statins.

While statins successfully lower LDL, they have minimal benefits and many side effects. One of the side effects is Type 2 Diabetes.

Following the typical nutritional advice of eating most of my energy from carbs, my A1c kept climbing. I was first treated with Metformin, then long-acting insulin, until I was scheduled to go on meal-time insulin. With an A1c of 8.5, I was a full-blown diabetic. Despite insulin shots and Metformin, I was poorly controlled.

A hopeless situation

Most people are being told to eat less and move more.

This is horrible advice. Not only is it not helpful, but it also lays the entire blame on the patient, who is trying their best. It's impossible to succeed on poor advice.

I failed too. Following the dietary guidelines, I ended up at over 300 pounds. I tried every diet. All of them were some type of calorie restriction. But hunger always won. That is why the obesity epidemic is getting worse every year. Not because people don't follow the advice but because the advice is shitty.

They said carbs were essential. They are not. Not even "healthy whole grains." They said fat makes me fat. Another lie. They said fruit was healthy. Well, some fruit is OK, but not five servings per day. Fruits have benefits, but they are also full of sugar. They said multiple small meals were necessary to ramp up metabolism and stabilize blood sugars. More lies. Lies, lies, lies—perpetuated by ill-educated doctors and dieticians.

How I reversed T2D

Cue in the good news. Like many others, I successfully reversed T2D. A good friend told me to look up Dr. Stephen Phinney. I did and stumbled upon this 2-part lecture.

What followed was nothing short of a miracle. My glucose levels dropped. My A1c dropped too, first to 5.6, then to 5.2. Initially, I could reduce insulin to almost zero but needed to increase it back to 50 units. Imagine my disappointment.

I learned I was still at significant risk of developing T2D complications despite healthy glucose levels because I was still on insulin. This meant I was still very insulin resistant. So, I actively looked for a way to get off insulin.

That's how I found Dr. Jason Fung, MD, and his fasting advice. The concept was easy. How ridiculous that this is not taught to every T2 diabetic. After seven months of keto, I added daily intermittent fasting. All I did was skip breakfast and stop snacking.

The result? I was off insulin in just two weeks. Yes, you read this right. It took only 14 days to get off insulin. Again, why is this not standard treatment? Shortly after, I was also off metformin. My A1c has been stable at 5.2 since (three years and counting).

So, there you have it. I reversed my T2 diabetes by adopting a clean ketogenic diet and daily intermittent fasting. In the process, I also reversed NASH and dropped over 100 pounds.