I mentioned in a previous post that I'm on a very calorie-restricted diet. For those that know me, they may or may not know that I am a Type II diabetic. This means I have to watch my blood sugar and take insulin shots when necessary.
For the past two years, I've been watching a series of studies coming out of the UK that basically show that a sustained calorie-restricted diet for eight weeks can successfully "reset" the pancreas in Type II diabetics so that they are less insulin resistant and their pancreatic beta cells start producing insulin again. This sounds very promising to me. The studies indicate that even after the participants started eating normally again, any symptoms of their diabetes were gone. 90% of the participants were even able to completely stop all diabetic medication!
So, you may be wondering how many calories are allowed on this "diet". 800 per day. Doesn't seem like a lot, I know. But, it's only for eight weeks, not forever. What I'm doing is simple: Every three hours, I'm drinking a nutritional shake. These shakes are low-carb (the 800 calorie per day diet is a low carb one. You can't eat refined sugars, fruits, and some veggies on this diet) and each one is 160 calories, with 20% of the daily recommended values for vitamins. If you do the math, you see that I drink five shakes per day. I drink one shake at 5:00 a.m., 8:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Nothing else after 5:00 p.m. until the next morning when I wake up. I drink water and unsweetened green tea during the day, to stave off cravings.
One thing to keep in mind is that I'm not doing this diet for weight loss (I've already lost 10 pounds since I started) but I want to see if it can help me to get back to "square one", with regards to my pancreas. I've lost almost 100 pounds over the past few years, simply by watching the amount of calories that I eat on a daily basis and allowing myself a "free day". I've lost the weight slowly, which is fine for me. I didn't gain all that weight overnight; I won't lose it overnight. But, the prospect of effectively "curing" (don't know if that's the right word, or not. Once a diabetic, always a diabetic right?) my condition, or at least ameliorating it to some degree, is very appealing to me.
So, it has been interesting so far. When I started on Monday, 1/25, I felt terrible. I was hungry all day, my head was hurting. It was rough. I had a bad migraine that night that I'm sure was brought on by the stress of only drinking liquid shakes all day, and only 800 calorie intake. The next day, I felt a little better. No headaches, still hungry, but bearable. On the third day, I felt awesome! Seriously, I had so much energy and it seemed by brain was firing on all cylinders! I was more focused and clear-headed than I had been in a long time. And, surprisingly, I wasn't hungry. It's like, the cravings went away. Since then, I've noticed an abundance in energy with the side effect of my brain not wanting to shut down when I want to sleep (see prior post).
I'm gong to research what it is that's making me feel so great while running on 800 calories per day. Maybe eliminating a lot of the bad foods that I was eating, including processed foods, has had a hand in my euphoric state of mind? Who knows?
Anyway, so far, so good. I feel better than I have in a long time. I hope that I can maintain this attitude and dietary regimen for another seven weeks. It seems very doable right now. I think I can do this and I'm very excited t see what happens.
EDIT: Here's a link to the Newcastle Study
2 comments:
Have you spoken with your local physician about doing this? 800 kCals per day is super low.
Can you link the study you were reading? I'd like to take a look at it. I am all for getting rid of Diabetes 2, but I have a couple of concerns - first the dramatic change. Did you slowly taper your intake down, or did you go from normal intake one day to 800 the next? Are you supplementing with the vitamins you are missing from whole foods (C, B,D, A, K)? Are you prepared for the end of it, when you feel like hell?
Remember that carbs are your body's energy first and foremost. After that is protein and then finally fats. Your metabolism is still burning energy at the original intake rate, so when it ran out of carbs to burn, it went to the next source, which is really rich in energy: Muscle. That's the energy spike - but that doesn't last for long, unfortunately. At the end, you will be pretty miserable (from a guy who has done this, but not as dramatically) and fatigue will be your ever-present friend.
Hey, Dan! Do a search for the Newcastle diet. There's been quite a few studies since 2011 on this in the UK.
Also, it's not a dramatic change for me. Remember, I drink shakes during the day, anyway. I've lost almost 100 lbs, slowly, over the past couple of years. Gone from a 6X shirt to a 4X, from 65 inches in the waist to 48. I was getting about 1200 calories per day, with the occasional free day.
The biggest energy source in my body is fat. It's a lot harder to get energy from muscle, and the common myth is that when you're starving yourself, it's muscle that that takes the hit first. That is untrue. If you're an obese individual like myself, you have plenty of energy stored up just for the taking. Fat is your body's energy store and your body will always go there first for energy, unless you're emaciated beyond having any body fat. That's what fat is for.
I hope the energy spike lasts, though, because I'm feeling pretty good right now. I actually got out and walked around with my daughter this weekend, something I haven't done in over a year. It felt good to get out! Up until recently, I haven't had this much energy for a long time.
So, anyway, we'll see what happens. But, thanks for your concerns!
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