Diabetes Type II
Health Benefits

Dietary Changes for Diabetes Type IITreatment

| Modified on Mar 15, 2024

10 User Reviews


Posted by Gracie (UK) on 08/16/2022
★★★★★

Hi I am diabetic, not on any medication, and have managed to keep my blood glucose readings at reasonable levels by eating low carb. However, very recently I've been reading and watching on YouTube about Anthony William, Medical Medium, and am really impressed with what this guy teaches, and currently I'm trying out the celery juice diet. But what he advises though does go against what Diabetes.UK says, e.g. keep carbs below 100 grams a day. Anthony advises to eat potatoes, fruit, high carb vegetables, no wheat but carbs in other forms such as barley, oats, etc. but when I do this my blood glucose levels shoot up.

I think he is right that we must eat more healthily, and perhaps this is the answer to a lot of our ills. But by adding fruits, high carb vegetables, am I doing myself harm?


Dietary Changes
Posted by Wanda (Spring Texas) on 04/16/2022 27 posts
★★★★★

I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes and then diabetes II. I didn't want to be put on medication, especially Metformin because it's so bad for you. So I started taking Berberine and that helped but didn't bring my sugar numbers down that much.

I tried every diet to no avail. Then I started eating fruit (I never would because it raised my sugars so high! ) To my surprise, I started monitoring my blood sugar. The insulin indeed did spike (which is normal when you eat), but the difference was, it came right back down quickly! When I ate meat or fats, it would stay elevated longer (which is NOT what you want)!

Then started listening to Dr John McDougall who believes you should eat potatoes, rice, corn, and barley (to which I thought he had to be crazy). Well, I wasn't consistent with the eating at first because it's so hard to change, but after three weeks of eating a lot of fruit in the mornings, and potatoes (who doesn't love potatoes???) my fasting blood sugar is down to 105 in the mornings! It was 157-179 before. I'm so excited!

Replied by Dee
(Florida)
04/26/2022

I too was diagnosed with Pre-diabetes. I find everyone is different with different reactions. My Pre-diabetes is high during the night and early morning hours, which is called Dawn Phenomenon. During the daytime and evening, I am fine. I eat a Healthy Mediterranean Diet, lessened my sugar intake, do walking exercise, and a 5 minute meditation to relieve stress. I tried many remedies for my night-early morn high blood sugar numbers, the only thing that worked was drinking evening organic Red Rooibos Tea. It lowered my blood sugar numbers.

Replied by Becky
(Washington)
04/26/2022

Just to let you know I take ashwagandha off and on. It works great.


Dietary Changes
Posted by Pacific Coast Lady (USA) on 03/13/2021
★★★★★

I've brought my "recently diagnosed" Type 2 numbers down by changing my diet, and leaving all but 30 grams per day of healthy carbs. I started with a 7.0 so I guess that isn't that high, but it scared me into action. I've also lost 9 lbs with little exercise. I record my meals so I can see what my numbers are, keep track of all. Then when my numbers went high or low, I could see what I ate and make adjustments. Testing with my little monitor has been crucial for me, as well as the dietary changes.

I got my lowest reading yesterday after Fast, which my fasting is from after dinner at no later than 6pm, until 9 or 10 a.m. next morning. I also have dropped a real meal for lunch, and instead, eat some snacks like a little cottage cheese, black olives, almond flour bread I make myself (with cream cheese), walnuts, or macadamia, Two Good Yogurt w/only 2 g of carbs (with blueberries or strawberries).

For foods, I eat lean meats, healthy fats, and veggies (almost 100% "above" ground types). As much Salmon and Shrimp I can afford to. Oh, my best reading was 98 yesterday on the Fasting bg.

My numbers got as high as 168 mg/dl until I got off the doctor-recommended (and dieticians) amount of carbs, figured it out for myself. In all fairness, everybody is different and unique so I believe we have to find our own way that works for us. I also live alone which I know makes things much easier.

I didn't have a huge withdrawal thing, but it wasn't easy. I am feeling more energetic, less depressed and really, even with Covid surrounding us, I am very hopeful for my quality of life-improving at age 68 :)


Dietary Changes
Posted by Cjuan (S-e Asia) on 05/13/2016
★★★★★

The quickest way to heal type II diabetes is fasting but this is rather inconvenient and demanding if you have a full- time job. Do this instead: eat only one full meal a day, during lunchtime. For breakfast and evening, eat just half a grapefruit. If you're taking prescribed medicines, check that they do not interact with grapefruit. Gliptins can and do cross-react. If, in the evening, you experience hunger pangs and are not able to withstand them, eat a boiled egg. Within a few days, your blood glucose will drop.

I dropped a full 54 mg/dl within two days and about 105 mg/dl a week later. Aim to go on this restrictive diet for a minimum of 8 weeks, but 12 weeks is better. This will help the body break the vicious hyperglycemia cycle/circle.

For lunch I cooked cracked emmer wheat - boiled. Add a range of vegs - carrot, kale, cabbage, beet, jicama, radish (your choice of veg) + half a chicken burger, halfway during the simmering stage - roughly 15 min after initial boiling. When done, drizzle extra virgin olive oil + 1 tbsp of good- quality sesame oil and/or walnut oil over the boiled wheat. You can additionally top the cooked wheat with sauerkraut, kimchi or some other fermented foods like natto.

Do not use ordinary, plain wheat. Spelt, einkorn, khorasan (kamut) or einkorn can also be used in place of emmer wheat. These 4 wheat types have not been genetically modified unlike the GMO franken wheat. You can add a cube of veg or chicken stock and/or 2 tbsp of soy sauce during the simmering stage. If tartary buckwheat is available, try half tartary buckwheat and half ancient wheat. Tartary buckwheat is a very good diabetic food - it's capable of controlling / eradicating the 3Ds or demons: high blood pressure, high blood glucose, high triglycerides. Tartary BW isn't the same as the ordinary buckwheat. It is also more pricey. After doing the diet for a few days, I was surprised to find that the bathroom began to smell terribly chemical. Apparently, the body started to flush out the spent metformin and clamide that had been accumulating in the system. I believe this was partly due to the grapefruit, which by the way, can lower blood glucose as well.


Dietary Changes
Posted by Sandy (Usa) on 04/27/2016
★★★★☆

Hello EC,

My husband recently realised that he has type two diabetes. When he checked first time it was 300. He blamed it on to the jet lag because he was in plane for nearly 16 hours/20 hours because he was travelling abroad.

He immediately stopped rice, sweets and anything made out of white flour. He does not take any medication. Then in one month his sugar came down to 160. My question is what kind of fruits and naturals sweetners he can consume. Can he eat coconut sugar? He has a sweet tooth. Can I make bars using dates and figs as sweetners? What kind of fruits he can consume? I have seen diabetic people take their medicines and eat regular food including desserts made using regular sugar. He too wants to eat desserts. Please let me know whether he can eat dates, figs, or desserts made out of black strap mollasses

Replied by Cjuan
(Malaysia)
05/20/2016

Hi Sandy, for sweeteners - I'd suggest stevia, lokanto, erythritol, xylitol, palm sugar, sea coconut sugar, yacon syrup, lucuma. These can be ordered online, eg www.iherb.com. Stevia is 300x sweeter than sugar but the body can't absorb stevia's non-sucrose sweetener, so it is safe. The same too with Lokanto, aka lohanguo, lo han sweet. Erythritol and xylitol are ok in small quantities as too much can cause loose motions. Try sweetening with molasses or molasses sugar but there are a few reports that it can mess up one's BG control / management. Test it out and see as not everyone shares similar biochemistry.

As for dates and figs, their GI are sky high, so avoid as much as possible - replace with berries as these are low carb. Guava is relatively safe - it's been found to lower BG. Honey too has been found to lower BG but you'll need to make sure that it is raw, unprocessed wild honey. Heat-sensitive enzymes in the honey are easily killed thru' heat processing. Malaysia's famous "Tualang honey" has been found to lower BG. You can get info aplenty from this article on honey:

http://www.ijbs.com/v08p0913.htm


Dietary Changes
Posted by Sandietoes (Jekyll Island) on 03/27/2016

Diabetes can be cured by proper nutrition..I take care of a veteran that was on 17 different medications and after two years of a steady change of diet..presently he only consumes organic non gmo food and alkaline water, also he has lost about 60 lbs. And no longer on any medications.


Dietary Changes
Posted by Merrykaylady (Az, Usa) on 08/05/2015
★★★★★

Here's my testimony.

My sisters diabetes is in remission. But of course she will always have diabetes but she lives a great life now because she changed her diet and she began exercising and also she meditates and prays to eliminate stress.

I realized along the way that the reason we have too much sugar in our blood, is because of what we eat. So that now it is called Diabetes. The way to cure it is to eliminate those things our body cannot deal with.

I quit taking medication so I could monitor, by test strips, my food response.

I take my glucose test 2 hours after eating to see what I ate that caused a rise in glucose.

I also take it before I eat so I'll know how much to eat. If it's already high, I know to be careful.

I also take it in the morning to see how my day should go.

I kept asking her what she ate and what she didn't eat and she said, "Know one thing, our bodies are different. What causes my blood sugar to rise may not affect you that way."

So I realized I had to just do it all myself by watching my body

Re meds, why take meds to eliminate glucose and all the time adding to the glucose in our blood by what we eat. Its a vicious cycle. See the point?

I only eat QUINOA and low carb grains like BUCKWHEAT...I buy the grain and cook it at Whole Foods

I don't injest anything from grocery store that has been prepared. I make everything from scratch. I don't trust any of those products.

I DONT eat a lot of meat

I eat 50% less than normal at a sitting-- but I eat 6 times a day with lots of raw veggies.

I plan some type of exercise daily

I eat a lot of anti fungal spices like turmeric, cinnamon, garlic and kefir, sauerkraut and I buy Kombucha.

There is a lot of fungus present in our gut and diabetes is caused by overgrowth of fungus in the first place. So as we work on our sugar in the blood, we also have to work on our gut flora.

Then I can't say enough about greens. We need a lot of these.

Eat off a low glycemic banquet of foods. If its on your list, then eat it. If not then don't eat it or eat it very rarely.

I know you can do it. Eat right, exercise and pray.


Dietary Changes
Posted by Larry (Fairfax, Va) on 03/12/2015

Has anybody cured or better managed diabetes via a diet that minimizes ERK7 in the body? ERK7 is purported to interfere with production of insulin by the pancreas. Larry

Replied by Richard
(Windsor, Ontario)
04/06/2015

Larry, I am also looking for the list of foods that minimize the effect of ERK7 in ther body.

Replied by Larry
(Fairax, Va)
04/11/2015

To Richard/Windsor, Ontario: In a report, the following nutrients were listed to minimize ERK7 in the body: buckwheat, blueberries, walnuts & almonds, dark chocolate, broccoli (steamed), spinach & collards, fresh green veggies, sweet potatoes, eggs, and garlic.


Dietary Changes
Posted by G S Sengar (Nagpur, Maharashta, India) on 09/16/2011
★★★★★

Diabetes seems to be caused due to taking more food than required by our body. As per Indian Vedic System of diet, one needs to consume as much food as much one can take in BRAHMCHARY ASHRAM( 0-25 YEARS), 32 kore in GRAHASTHA ASHRAM(25-50 YEARS), 16 Kore in VANPRASHA ASHRAM ( 50-75 YEARS) and 8 Kore in SANYAS ASHRAM( 75-100 YEARS) But since every body's life style is different so this theory cannot be blindly followed but one has to do some experiments to find out the correct quantity of food to be taken at his age and for his body. This theory of Vedic diet seems to be universally valid in all time and all region since all over the world, more than 90 percent people gain weight from the age 25-50 years and with this extra fat on their bodies, all kinds of diseases come to one's body.
I was suffering from type-2 diabetes since 2003 and I could maintain my blood sugar level by completely stopping sugar and taking herbs till 2008 without taking any medicine but from Jan, 2009, it became impossible to keep my blood sugar in normal level , no matter what effort I made, Then I came across the VEDIC STYLE OF DIET. I started reducing my diet slowly over a period of 10 -12 months till I felt little dizziness weakness once in a week or so and I presumed that quantity of food to be the right diet for my age and for my body.

There is another way of finding the right diet for oneself. One should keep reducing one's diet till one does not feel hungry before taking his regular food and one does not feel his stomach full even after taking his regular meals I.E. One does not feel any difference in his stomach, before or after taking one's meals. This feeling is really so great that it cannot be described in words, one has to do experiments to find its true worth. It may take six months to one year for achieving this target of finding the right diet for oneself but once one reaches this target, THE FEELING ONE GETS IS SUPERB.

NOW AT THE AGE OF 58 YEARS MY BLOOD SUGAR IS 80/110 AND BLOOD PRESSURE IS 70/110 FOR THE LAST ONE YEAR OR SO WITHOUT TAKING ANY KIND OF MEDICINE OR HERBS EVEN. THIS INFORMATION MAY BE MADE USE OF BY DIABETIC PATIENT BUT DOING EXPERIMENTS WITH ONE'S BODY, ONE HAS TO BE VERY CAREFUL AND ONE SHOULD CONTACT DOCTOR IF ONE FEELS ANY UNDESIRABLE EFFECT ON ONE'S BODY.

Since I reduced my weight from 66 kg to 52 kg in 15 months by following Vedic system of diet so I got myself checked by Apolo Hospital Gurgaon for Annual health check up on 05 04 2011. All the organs were found to be working normally and all the parameters of body were found to be normal so it seems that Vedic diet is the best option available for us to prevent health problems.

Replied by Bess
(Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
09/17/2011

Thank you, G. S. Sengar, for the information about the Vedic Diet. I, for one, have gained quite a few pounds once I hit my mid-30s and now that I'm considerably older, I need to watch the quantity of food I eat. Sometimes I eat out of habit - not because I'm hungry. I'm going to try to reduce the amount of food I eat until I get truly hungry before I eat my next meal. I don't suffer from diabetes - I just want to prevent it (many of my family members have it). Thanks again! Take care, Bess

Replied by J. Park
(Cerritos, Ca)
05/05/2017

You said it!

If there is a one sentence of TRUTH in diabetes, it is exactly what you said.

" taking more food than required by our body. "

Diabetes II is a body's survival mechanism!!! i.e., Insulin resistance is body's way of SURVIVAL. If you understand this, you got it all (on type 2 diabetes).


Dietary Changes
Posted by Tony (Virginia Beach, Va) on 06/30/2011

Stay away from Pita bread.

I'm 40 year old, 5.11ft height and 185Lbs(not overweight at all). I never ate junk food, I don't eat neither sugar or salt (in fact I don't even have any sugar nor salt in my house). I don't eat byt fat free food. I eat a handfull of almond, peanut and walnut (been eating it for the last 10 years), and I'm ver healthy physically. Except I'm addicted to pita bread. I eat almost 700g every day unitl I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic. I immediatly knew the culprit: it's the Pita bread. I stopped it immediatly, preparing my own flax and almond bread, and I don't have the diabete anymore.

Replied by Dove
(South, Usa)
07/01/2011

Pita bread is fine within reason. Any kind of bread or cereal is high in carbs (aka "sugar"). Because you ate no other type of sugar, it's understandable your body craved it, and consequently over did the pita bread. Also, in my experience with blood sugar issues, it helps to always try to balance your carbs/fats/protein. I never eat any carb without protein and a little fat. A turning point for me (also did without sugar and salt for way too many years) was to begin using raw honey (preferably local) and lots of sea salt. I bodies need sea salt (not refined table salt), and good healthy types of unrefined "sugar" (especially our brain), like whole grains and raw honey. In reasonable amounts, of course :-)
Dove


Dietary Changes
Posted by Dezi (San Jose, Ca, Usa) on 07/10/2010

As for dietary recommendations, I've found what seems to be such an easy remedy! My dietician told me I needed to eat 5-6 small meals a day. Wrong. I've been doing this for so many years. All I did was switch to different timing based on the time clock of the hormone leptin. There's lots on the internet about this, and I've read a book called "The Leptin Diet," and it contains such detailed information about how it works. Basically, all you need to do is eat three moderate meals a day, allow 3-5 hours between meals, no snacking, and especially no food before bed. If you must, you can do 4 meals a day, leaving about 3 hours between meals. Leave as long a period before bedtime without eating. E voila! Blood sugar has normalized!


Dietary Changes
Posted by Jim (Peoria, IL) on 04/30/2009
★★★★★

I read about a remedy for diabetes. It has been suggested one should use apple cider vinegar. (Usually a teaspoon in an 8 ounce glass of water). Not only is this very nasty to drink, but it doesn't work, and here's why.

Diabetes, like cancer and other "nasty diseases" require an acid environment to survive. Vinegar, in ANY capacity, is an acid.

I had diabetes, and got rid of it in 6 weeks. I could give a long drawn out explaination, but you would probably just skip over it, and look for the meat of the answer, so in a nutshell, here it is.

There are essentially 4 things you need to get rid of diabetes. Try them... you have nothing to lose and it can take as little as 3 weeks.

They are:

Eat foods rich in fiber (beans (not canned), etc...) and low in carbs.

Cut out the soda, cakes, pies and candies! (Especially the DIET stuff.) The diet stuff is worse, as they contain aspertame, a known carcinogenic... remember the first 3 letters in diet...
D I E!

Exercise... even if it's just walking (I walk about 2 miles a day).

Questions? Feel free to write me.

Thanks,

-Jim

EC: Not true about Apple Cider Vinegar. Read an interesting thread on this subject here.


Dietary Changes
Posted by Diana (Colorado) on 01/03/2006
★★★★★

My husband 64 was type 2 and used glucovita to stabilize his blood sugar. After learning about reading about Eating right 4 your blood type he is O- he learnt that corn and potatoes was probably best avoided. We had already given up sugar white flour product and use sprouted wheat and grains. We think his biggest issue was the corn: about 2 week of not eating corn and potatoes he belched up a corn taste and has not had to stabilize his blood sugar since,( by using the glucovita.) His own body is regulating His sugar levels. He has a good appetite and eats quite a lot of natural sugars in fruit, bananas and other fruit, lots of molasses and smaller amount of honey & maple syrup (the real stuff of course) We Eat plenty unsulfured Black strap molasses. I make cakes with molasses Sprouted wheat, eggs, baking soda, soaked walnuts and coco powder or ginger. We used molasses before his blood sugars returned to normal. He didn't seem to be adversely affected by it at all. We started using Iodine will let you know more on that later although we just started about 3 days He reports feeling less cold and thinking more clearly. I have a Question regarding cocoa powder is the bromine in it or do they add it to Chocolate bars?


Dietary Changes
Posted by Newell Usher (Ocala, Florida) on 11/19/2005
★★★★★

When I had to go to the hospital due to shortness of breath after over indulging eating a couple pounds of large purple grapes in one day, and pigging out on some Italian food afterwards with double brandy manhattans and merlot with dinner, (happy hour - 2 for 1 ) they pumped me full of lasix and put me on a fluid restricted diet with continued lasix. My blood sugar surged to 565 and so the pumped me with insulin and shortly thereafter more lasix. Well every time they gave me insulin followed with lasix, my sugar went back up. And I knew I was dehydrated with lasix removing more water with bonded minerals, but leaving most to the sugar. My conclusion was that the higher density of sugar caused by the lasix fluid separation explained why this happened.

The doctors would not believe me. And were quite argumentative. Of course I do not like the pill and cut healthcare as I've been there done that and cured myself time after time, doing the opposite of their says. In three days they could only get my sugar down to around 400, a couple mid 300 readings. So they released me with prescriptions for lasix and insulin.

Well I discarded the prescriptions, and formulated a better plan. First I thought I had to cleanse my body so that the insulin receptacles could work as there is no evidence that my pancreas is failing. And I reasoned that if my body was cleansed of toxins my blood sugar would come down as it would properly absorb. And so first I hydrated myself with lots of pure spring water, drinking whenever I was thirsty with no other liquids, except fresh vegetable juices, and took chelators CoQ10, 100s twice daily with healthy doses of E and C; and some other vitamins and minerals and veggie juices, adding noni juice and went on a heavy veggie/fruit alkaline diet, almost no carbs, other than what was in the fruit, and veggies mainly broccoli, brussell sprouts, garlic, onion, eating only the outside skin of baked potatoes, and lots of fresh peppers, all kinds, eating subway lunches several times with tuna and all veggies, excluding salt,. (I use a bit of sea salt for minerals on hard boiled eggs. I eat one with my oatmeal for the nutrition) . Lots of salads bathed in Apple Cider Vinegar with mother and Safflower oil on cucumbers, green lettuce, celery, lots of tomatoes, some beets, and a few olives and pickles. I did eat sweet potato, one meal and some half slices of pumpkin pie, but only ate small helpings (2-4 oz)of fish and turkey for protein. Also I had slice of whole wheat bread/day, usually with a sub.. For fruit I ate two bananas a day and 1 whole fresh orange and a whole tomato each day, and a few 2 or 3 grapes, and occasional honey dew melon slices. 2 or 3 1-inch slices.

I added oatmeal or bran flakes for breakfast with 1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon and 1-2 teaspoons of cilantro, and a teaspoon of honey, sometimes, and 1/2-1 teaspoons of cayenne pepper on meat, veggies and in veggie juice, and some chicken noodle soup, a couple times, and snacked in between on 1/2 cup of veggie juice in water in the afternoon and a second snack of 1/2 cup of bran cereal at night. Also I added two teaspoons of flaxseed oil and one of wheat germ on my cereal.

I supplemented this low fat, low carb diet with Dandelion, Quercetin, Green tea and Lysine, BetaSita sterole and HGH. Also I drink noni juice 2 or 3 oz each day. I had been taking vitamins, Flaxseed oil, wheat germ, BetaSita sterole, HGH and noni juice for several years with a multiple and some other vitamins, Alpha Lipoic acid, calcium/magnesium, chromium, etc.

I do take minimum doses of an ace-inhibitor, lisinopril (taking cayenne with it made me cough, so I moved them four hours apart) and maxide and 3 10mg potassium tablets each day. I had been taking 6 pepsid acs per day but after my hospital stay I no longer needed it. No other prescription of drug store meds. I don't even take tylenol. I am very pain okay, but rarely have aches or pains that hydrating with water doesn't't cure.

In just a few days my sugar dropped down to 200 and after 3 weeks it normalized in the 80 to 150 range. I take it morning and night. Also I hydrate myself with 2 glasses of water 30 minutes before I take it. And after using the alcohol swab (pure sugar) I rinse off the needle and my cleansed finger, dabbing the water off on a cleanse uncontaminated cloth to eliminate the contamination of the alcohol swab before taking my sugar. Before doing this I had higher readings.I can't believe the marvelous results. I know that before I went to the hospital, over a year ago it was around 400, but I just rationalized that it was the booze I was drinking. So far I've stayed off the booze but today, for the first time, I did have ? slice of pecan pie, and a slice of pumpkin bread, at Bob Evans with my fish and broccoli. And with my big salad and 3-slices of very sweet melon, I ate a big slice of a veggie pizza with hamburger added, just to see what would happen, and tonight my sugar was 120 four hours later. Just thought I'd share these wonderful results with you. I do walk most every day a mile or two and am a 38 year-old survivor of botched open heart surgery with Hepatitis C from bad transfusions so they say, a heavy drinker for over 30 years before they capture me on blood pressure meds about 8 years ago, and now at 72 I feel like a 4 year old kid. It all failed six years ago and I did IV Chelation Therapy for 6 months, four years ago. I got to where I could play tennis, but have since slowed down a bit and they say I have congestive heart failure with the heart only 1/3 efficient. But I'm careful to not heavy lift or over eat, usually. And miraculously I also grew a collateral artery around the blocked one they found a couple years ago. Anyway that's my story