Knowledge is Power

How understanding diabetes helped me reverse it

Author

Jagrit Minocha
October 10, 2024

I was diagnosed with diabetes on 17th March 2024 with HBA1C of 10.5 and fasting sugar of 243. I didn’t believe the report. Just a year earlier, I had embarked on my health transformation and was half way done - having reduced my weight from 93 Kg to 82 Kg in 1 year. I felt fitter and healthier than ever before, so how could I be diabetic?

The report hit hard and I felt everything I was doing was in vain. It seemed genetics and mistakes of past will now be part of my life forever. The spent next few days in a fog, going to doctors and getting advise.

Getting to terms with new reality was hard. I was helpfully informed - by all doctors, peers, friends, fellow diabetics, online articles and websites - that diabetes is a progressive and incurable disease which is there for life - nothing you can do will change it. Your can at max only “Control” it and delay the inevitable loss of sight, limbs, health and overall life. I believed it mostly. If you have ever felt confused or defeated by diabetes, I understand. I have been there too.

I was given metformin to control sugar for first 1 week, when that didn’t work, I was given 2 much stronger, different medicines - morning and evening. It was coupled with ask from doctors to do dietary changes. I felt like I had become a rabbit who was supposed to graze small quantities of food every 2 hours on the dot.

But something kept gnawing at me throughout this. How am I diagnosed with diabetes now when I have reduced my weight by so much, when my body feels healthier. How can my body have so much glucose when it has been 2 weeks since I last had anything sweet with natural or refined sugar. During this by chance, I was sent one video by a relative that there is some new research that diabetes can be reversed.

I have always been good in learning. So I learned. (I was desperate to not be on meds my entire life)

I started watching videos on diabetes - what it is, how it can be cured / reversed. I started learning from the people who had reversed their diabetes. I learned from people with diametrically opposite views. I ensured to check and match anything I learned against scientific research papers. I was surprised by what I learning. Reversing diabetes - while hard - did not require me to become a rabbit who eats only tasteless stuff, nor did it require me to do herculean feats of gym and exercise.

I was skeptical but decided to try some of the things experimentally - I got results in 3-4 days which were against anything the doctor was telling me. At this point I decided to go all-in on what the learned people who had reversed diabetes were telling rather than doctors and nutritionists who were biased to keep me on meds. I was lucky enough to find one sympathetic general physician who was willing to support me and guide on the journey so I wasn’t doing this completely blind without medical supervision. Diabetes control and reversal basically has 4 things

  1. Diet - Eliminating simple carbohydrates (Wheat, Sugar, Rice, Potato, Corn, Oats, Grains), adding protein and drinking only water (~70% impact)

  2. Intermittent Fasting - 14 hours between meals by skipping either breakfast or dinner (~15% impact)

  3. Exercise - Short but effective weight lifting / HIIT resistance training for 1 to 15 minutes daily as per your ability (10% impact)

  4. Sleep / Stress management - preferably 8 hours (5% Impact)

The final result - in 2 months - my HBA1C went to 5.3 and fasting sugar went to 93

My aim here is to not to boast about my success or give false hope. Reversing diabetes is extremely hard, especially mentally. It requires anywhere between 3 to 8 months depending upon how much medications you are on and how long you have been on medications. It also requires an iron will with consistent, constant efforts going against peer pressure and social norms. I am also saying this should not be done without medical supervision.

I am only saying and hoping that by sharing my journey, I can inform you and tell you, exactly what is Diabetes, how it can be controlled easily for someone who really likes to eat food and for busy professionals who have limited time to work on health.

I am also hoping that if you become motivated enough to do the mentally taxing journey which is atleast 10 times harder than just maintaining good control and 100 times harder than popping a pill. But I am here to tell you that it can be done and it is doable, if you know how it can be done.

Over next few weeks and months - I will be documenting each and every facet. I will be documenting my daily routine on socials. Adding all the references and gurus who have helped me reach this stage. I will ensure you are armed well with the knowledge to take right decisions at the moment of truth - when you eat, when you sleep and when you decide to exercise. After all, knowledge is power.

My Statistics - Before and After

Fasting Sugar as on 20th March 2024

Fasting Sugar as on 8th October 2024

HBA1C movement from diagnosis till control

Some gurus who I refer and recommend for you to watch / read

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