Will this Cure Me?

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This week I decided to cure my diabetes.  This disease has disrupted my life over and over and I have suffered lots of pain, frustration and even fear over the years.  Plus treating it has been pretty expensive both money wise and time wise.  I discovered a book by Dr. Jason Fung titled “The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended“.  Dr. Fung claims that intermittent fasting (IF) has healed many of his patients.  I read this book and the testimonials of many of the patients who lost weight and got off all their diabetic meds and normalized their blood sugars.  It was very encouraging and I decided that I wanted to try this approach myself.  The one statement in Dr. Fung’s book that made up my mind is that

 

“…fasting is just like bariatric surgery without the surgery”

 

I remember my last doc before we moved told me when we talked about bariatric surgery for me, that I would be off my diabetic meds when I left the hospital.  So I’m going to see if this will help me like bariatric surgery would to lose weight.

Why do I want to do this?

You might ask, why would I want to do this – is it worth it?  For me it definitely is.  The fact that I’ve been overweight, to the point of obesity since I was 35 has been a big part (pun not intended) of my life for the past 28 years.  I’m almost 63 and I really don’t want to finish the rest of my life like this.  I long to be able to wear clothing like I could in my 20’s and mostly I long to be able to get out of this wheelchair I have been in for the past two years.  I’m so hoping that if I lose this extra weight (about 120 pounds) bringing me down to what I weighed when I got pregnant, that I will be able to walk again.  My being in this chair is partly from the 8 months I battled with diabetic feet and leg ulcers and partly because of the degenerative discs in my low back.  I sure hope weighing a lot less, will allow me to walk some and strengthen my back and leg muscles.  I’m tired of envying those who easily get up and walk across a room or out the door.  In addition, I’m hoping this will help with the chronic pain I deal with daily.  My life will be improved by a lot if I can move around more, take fewer meds (saving $$ too)

 

Beginning My Fast

I began my first fast at 6:00pm on Sunday evening.  I ended it at Noon on the following Tuesday. It was a 36 hour fast and it was much easier than I had imagined it would be.  On Monday late afternoon I felt like my blood sugar was dropping so I tested and sure enough it was at 65, so I drank a small glass of apple juice and felt fine.  Other than that, I drank water and tea and I had no problem lasting longer.  I took none of my meds or insulins on Monday but did have some coffee with a small amount of almond milk.  I felt pretty good too and decided to break the fast at noon on Tuesday with bacon and eggs. I decided that during my eating periods I would eat whole food, clean veggies and non-processed food  if possible, paleo style – low carb, higher fat which was recommended.

After that I decided to continue on, fasting from dinner to noon or a little later each day.  After reading and asking some questions on some fasting communities, I decided to begin using just small amounts of my meds.  I took 10 units of short acting Novalog at break/lunch/dinner ( instead of 30/46/40) and 20 units of long acting Lantus in the evening (instead of 70).  I dropped my metformin from 3 tablets a day to just 2.  My BG readings were fairly high until Thursday when they began to come down.

To begin with I’m fasting for about 18-20 hours and having my eating window from 4-6 hours.  For me that is two meals a day – a late lunch and then dinner.   This is not too hard for me since I miss breakfast plenty because of my problem sleeping at night due to discomfort.  I tend to nap in my chair in the morning and get up late, often between 9-10am.  I’m not usually that hungry in the morning.  I have tended to be hungry in the evenings and eat too much which is not a good time to overeat.  This is definitely cutting that out.  I just need to very carefully watch the small amounts of insulins I do inject so I don’t force by BG down too much and then have to eat to bring it back up.  So I’m testing my BG frequently during the day (4-5 times at least).

My Tools/Research

I have created an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my fasts, the length of fast/eating times, my nutrition and my meds and then my BG readings. From Sunday to mid-day Thursday this week I lost 1.4 pounds and totaled 2880 calories for those days.  Of course this is much less than what I usually consume – more like a true bariatric patient but I’m not just on liquids.  I must say again, I am not hungry and right now I don’t feel deprived.  I managed to avoid eating cookies and candy Wednesday night at our Church Awana Club where I volunteer – I instead brought mine home to my husband and put it in his room where I don’t have to look at them. (We have to sleep separately because I toss and turn and moan all night and he can’t sleep with me in the same room).

My Best resource is Dr. Fung’s book “The Complete Guide to Fasting, Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate day and Exxtended”.  You can get it  by clicking below:

I found some online support on Facebook and in a annline fasting community. The Facebook Group is called “WeFast – Intermittent Fasting Community” and it is turning out to be very helpful. Its a closed group so I had to ask for permission to join which came quickly.

I am using myfitnesspal.com to log my food and keep up with my nutrition and weight loss. (I’ve used it before and really like it).

I’ve also been searching online for more information on IF and fasting in general.  Here are some articles I’ve read.

 

• 7 Surprising Wins of Intermittent Fasting
• 6 Strategies that made Intermittent Fasting Work for Me
• Intermittent Fasting – The Ultimate Beginners Guide
• Fasting – a history (On Dr. Fung’s site)
• Video of Dr. Fung answering questions about IF
• YouTube videos by Dr. Jason Fung
• Ebook on Amazon – Intermittent Fasting: Yes To Cravings! Lose Weight, Gain Muscles & Get Lean the Easy and Enjoyable Way (Diet Books, Fitness Books, Weight Loss, Health Book 1) available as a free download if you have Kindle Unlimited.

My Goals

I have set a goal of doing this for 4-6 weeks and then determining how effective it is.  I see my doc about my diabetes again in January, so I hope to discuss this with him and have some great numbers to show him.  Other than reducing my diabetic meds like I indicated above, I’m taking all my other meds except my statin pill.  I want to see what my bloodwork shows in January and if my results will mirror some of those I’ve been reading about.

I read where one man did this for 4 months, lost over 100 pounds and normalized his blood sugars.  That would be absolutely amazing! However because I do not workout, I’m sure this will not happen for me.

So far, I’m excited, hyped up and not too hungry.  I’ll keep blogging my journey on this site, so come back again to read about my progress.

Comments

Thanks for looking at my site and coming to this page. I would love for you to leave any questions or comments below.  In addition, I’m open to new topics to research and comment on as they pertain to my own health and experience living with diabetes.  Please share your interests and questions in your comments.  I also love to hear others’ stories about how they handle their own diabetic issues.

– Shirley