Type 2 diabetes has always been thought of as being a progressive condition. This condition initially requires proper diet to control, along with tablets and/or insulin injections. To understand the wide range of diabetes, note that 9% of the world’s population suffers from this condition. Diabetes initially manifested in older individuals, garnering the name of adult-onset diabetes. However, the past 10 to 15 years have seen diabetes become a part of the lives of children and young adults. Diabetes causes increased levels of glucose in the bloodstream, because the pancreas is not producing enough insulin.

Can Type 2 Diabetes Be Reversed?

Yes, it is possible to reverse and halt type 2 diabetes by returning the body to its normal level of carbohydrate and fat metabolism in some people. Thus, you can take type 2 diabetes as a serious but reversible metabolic state.

However, this reversal is usually temporary and requires extreme measures.

The Proof

Researchers found that the fat deposited in a person’s pancreas plays the most important role in our insulin production, and that is where issues can lead to diabetes.

When looking into this situation, researchers took a group of 18 people who all had type-2 diabetes, in addition to 9 overweight individuals who did not have any diabetes problems. All of these people underwent gastric bypasses for obesity, with the diabetic patients immediately removed from any cycle of medication after their surgery.

The study found that both groups of people lost the same weight, with it coming to an average of 13% of their initial body mass. However, the pool of fat that surrounds the pancreas, which requires an MRI to assess, did not change for the people who were not diabetic. However, the people with diabetes discovered that their pancreas fat levels were now normal.

One of the main researchers in this trial, Professor Taylor, claims that the loss of 0.6 grams of fat (on average) near the pancreas in diabetes patients is very important. This loss of fat shows that even small decreases in pancreas fat can play a huge role in whether someone has type 2 diabetes. When the diabetes patients lost excess fat from their pancreas, their insulin production reached normal levels and they no longer had type 2 diabetes.

How to Reverse Type 2 Diabetes

When considering the question, “can type 2 diabetes be reversed,” it is important to look at the different solutions for diabetes patients. Clinical studies indicate that there are two main options: undergoing gastric bypass surgery or engaging in an extremely low-calorie diet. These processes both have successed in eliminating type-2 diabetes among patients.

Bariatric Surgery

Studies show that around half of the obese individuals who underwent bariatric surgery found themselves in diabetes remission. This happens even before they lose the rest of the weight on their body and often lasts for at least a few years. A very recent study showed that around 19 of the 38 people who underwent bariatric surgery were free of type 2 diabetes five years after the procedure. Among these 38 people, 37% had gastric bypass surgery and the other 63% underwent biliopancreatic diversion, a different type of invasive procedure. Even with this information, it is important to remember that bariatric surgery is only recommended for people who are very obese, because it comes with its own set of risks. It is not a risk-free cure for type 2 diabetes.

Diet

If going through an invasive procedure is not an option for someone with type 2 diabetes, there are other ways to help deal with the condition. Undergoing a severe change in diet is one such method. Studies show that changing your eating habits to the Paleo diet can help deal with the issues that lead to type 2 diabetes. The Paleo diet features a lot of meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and a few starchy plants (sweet potatoes). This diet is designed to mimic the types of food that people ate hundreds of years ago, before everything was processed.

When people spend successive months and years on the Paleo diet, their weight, blood sugar, blood pressure, triglycerides, BMI and waist circumference all improve drastically. Studies showed that people who maintained the Paleo diet consistently found that the fat stored by their liver decreased by around 50 percent.

Foods to Eat and Foods to Avoid

Now you’ve known the answer to the question—can type 2 diabetes be reversed—is yes. Here is an example of a daily meal plan that follows the paleo diet:

• Breakfast: Free-range eggs with olive oil and some parsley. Fresh fruits and herbal tea.
• Snack: Some lean grass-fed beef and seasonal fruits.
• Lunch: A Caesar salad with chicken and herbal tea.
• Snack: Slices of apples, walnuts or other healthy nuts.
• Dinner: Skinless turkey breast, steamed vegetables, fresh berries and a glass of wine.

Keep in mind that there are more to the Paleo diet than just eating healthy including lifestyle change that involves less sitting and lying down, more exercise, sleeping for at least seven hours a night and managing stress levels. If all of these steps are followed, it is possible to emerge free of type 2 diabetes.