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The Secret to Reversing Type 2 Diabetes is Easier Than You Think

Article written and reviewed by Cyrus Khambatta, PhD
Published October 22, 2017

Whether you were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes a week ago or 8 years ago like Jacquie, this life-altering day is almost impossible to forget. Your diagnosis day often marks the beginning of a daily routine of prescription medications or injections, and now there is growing evidence that the burden of diabetes may take a huge toll on your mental health over time as well.

If you’ve been told that type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease you’ll have for the rest of your life, and that your medication needs will only grow over time, you are not alone. Jacquie and many others surely have had this experience. 

Living with diabetes can leave you feeling frustrated and hopeless, believing there is nothing you can do to improve your overall health. However, scientific research is showing that type 2 diabetes is a reversible condition when lifestyle change is the primary intervention.  

Jacquie's Results

After 8 years, Jacquie has finally been liberated from the frustration living with diabetes.

How did this happen?

It’s simple. 

After just a few days of eating a low fat, plant-based, whole-food diet, Jacquie experienced greater improvements in her health than she had from years of taking insulin injections and statin medication. 

By eating more carbohydrate-rich foods in substitution for high-fat foods including meat and dairy, Jacquie’s fasting blood glucose dropped from 170 mg/dL to 121 mg/dL. Her insulin needs reduced, her blood pressure normalized, and she was able to discontinue her cholesterol medication entirely.

Watch the video above to learn more about how she made this possible in her life.

What About Low Carbohydrate Diets?

Eating a low-carbohydrate diet, restricting portions, and taking oral medications results in the progression of type 2 diabetes, which in turn leads to increasing medication needs and an increasing risk for diabetes complications.

If you’re ready to try a different approach, the world is your (plant-based) oyster. By adopting a low-fat, plant-based, whole-food diet, type 2 diabetes can be reversed entirely, leading to less medication, less stress, significantly more energy, improved blood glucose control, and a significantly increased quality of life.

Jacquie is a shining example of just how much power you have over your physical and mental health living with diabetes. She warns others, “Don’t give up. Don’t let anybody tell you that it is not going to work!”

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About the author 

Cyrus Khambatta, PhD

Cyrus Khambatta, PhD is a New York Times bestselling co-author of Mastering Diabetes: The Revolutionary Method to Reverse Insulin Resistance Permanently in Type 1, Type 1.5, Type 2, Prediabetes, and Gestational Diabetes.

He is the co-founder of Mastering Diabetes and Amla Green, and is an internationally recognized nutrition and fitness coach who has been living with type 1 diabetes since 2002. He co-created the Mastering Diabetes Method to reverse insulin resistance in all forms of diabetes, and has helped more than 10,000 people improve their metabolic health using low-fat, plant-based, whole-food nutrition, intermittent fasting, and exercise.

Cyrus earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 2003, then earned a PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 2012. He is the co-author of many peer-reviewed scientific publications.

He is the co-host of the annual Mastering Diabetes Online Summit, a featured speaker at the Plant-Based Nutrition and Healthcare Conference (PBNHC), the American College of Lifestyle Medicine Conference (ACLM), Plant Stock, the Torrance Memorial Medical Center, and has been featured on The Doctors, NPR, KQED, Forks Over Knives, Healthline, Fast Company, Diet Fiction, and the wildly popular podcasts the Rich Roll Podcast, Plant Proof, MindBodyGreen, and Nutrition Rounds.

Scientific Publications:

Sarver, Jordan, Cyrus Khambatta, Robby Barbaro, Bhakti Chavan, and David Drozek. “Retrospective Evaluation of an Online Diabetes Health Coaching Program: A Pilot Study.” American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, October 15, 2019, 1559827619879106. https://doi.org/10.1177/1559827619879106

Shrivastav, Maneesh, William Gibson, Rajendra Shrivastav, Katie Elzea, Cyrus Khambatta, Rohan Sonawane, Joseph A. Sierra, and Robert Vigersky. “Type 2 Diabetes Management in Primary Care: The Role of Retrospective, Professional Continuous Glucose Monitoring.” Diabetes Spectrum: A Publication of the American Diabetes Association 31, no. 3 (August 2018): 279–87. https://doi.org/10.2337/ds17-0024

Thompson, Airlia C. S., Matthew D. Bruss, John C. Price, Cyrus F. Khambatta, William E. Holmes, Marc Colangelo, Marcy Dalidd, et al. “Reduced in Vivo Hepatic Proteome Replacement Rates but Not Cell Proliferation Rates Predict Maximum Lifespan Extension in Mice.” Aging Cell 15, no. 1 (February 2016): 118–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.12414

Roohk, Donald J., Smita Mascharak, Cyrus Khambatta, Ho Leung, Marc Hellerstein, and Charles Harris. “Dexamethasone-Mediated Changes in Adipose Triacylglycerol Metabolism Are Exaggerated, Not Diminished, in the Absence of a Functional GR Dimerization Domain.” Endocrinology 154, no. 4 (April 2013): 1528–39. https://doi.org/10.1210/en.2011-1047



Price, John C., Cyrus F. Khambatta, Kelvin W. Li, Matthew D. Bruss, Mahalakshmi Shankaran, Marcy Dalidd, Nicholas A. Floreani, et al. “The Effect of Long Term Calorie Restriction on in Vivo Hepatic Proteostatis: A Novel Combination of Dynamic and Quantitative Proteomics.” Molecular & Cellular Proteomics: MCP 11, no. 12 (December 2012): 1801–14.
https://doi.org/10.1074/mcp.M112.021204





Bruss, Matthew D., Airlia C. S. Thompson, Ishita Aggarwal, Cyrus F. Khambatta, and Marc K. Hellerstein. “The Effects of Physiological Adaptations to Calorie Restriction on Global Cell Proliferation Rates.” American Journal of Physiology. Endocrinology and Metabolism 300, no. 4 (April 2011): E735-745. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.00661.2010




Bruss, Matthew D., Cyrus F. Khambatta, Maxwell A. Ruby, Ishita Aggarwal, and Marc K. Hellerstein. “Calorie Restriction Increases Fatty Acid Synthesis and Whole Body Fat Oxidation Rates.” American Journal of Physiology. Endocrinology and Metabolism 298, no. 1 (January 2010): E108-116.
https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.00524.2009