Unfortunately, in order to manage COPD, Mike is required to take steroids frequently, which is known to cause insulin resistance and cause long-term damage to many tissues.

In Mike’s case, steroid use coupled with a high-fat diet caused weight gain and a resulting diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

Interestingly, the results of Mike’s c-peptide test show that his pancreas is producing very little insulin, and is in fact living with type 1.5 diabetes instead of his original diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

As is a common scenario, Mike initially didn’t realize just how far his health had declined. But when he saw a photo of himself at his son’s Bar Mitzvah and was surprised to see how overweight his frame had become, he decided that it was time to make a change.

Mike began researching nutrition, which led him to see a video of Dr. Anthony Lim (Medical Director of both the McDougall Medical Center and the attending physician at our last Mastering Diabetes retreat), which brought the idea of plant-based nutrition as treatment for diabetes into his perception.

From there, he found Mastering Diabetes, and this is what unfolded for him.

Mike learned that his previous diet, which he had perceived to be relatively healthy as he avoided soda and typical “junk foods,” was not as health-promoting as he had once believed.

Mike refers to himself as being obsessive, which means that he loves to know everything about a topic before making any changes. So this self-proclaimed “cheese addict” took some time to dig into the research.

Over the course of a few months, Mike read books like “How Not to Die” by Dr. Michael Greger, “The Starch Solution” by Dr. John McDougall, “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease” by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, “The Longevity Diet” by Dr. Valter Longo, and “Breaking the Food Seduction” by Dr. Neal Barnard. He also watched the Mastering Diabetes YouTube videos numerous times to really let the information sink in.

After doing extensive research, he became convinced that a low-fat, plant-based, whole-food lifestyle was the answer for him. Most importantly, he knew that he didn’t need to worry about things like how to eat enough protein – he discovered that the science was rock solid and that with a variety of unprocessed plant foods, it is easy to meet all of his nutrition needs.

Once he knew he could go forward with full confidence, Mike jumped in 100% and hasn’t looked back.

Mike experienced results right away.

Within two months of changing his meals, Mike lost 33 pounds (15 kg).

He was able to stop taking 4 daily medications, including statin medication to reduce cholesterol. Using a low-fat, plant-based, whole-food diet, his cholesterol dropped from 276 (with statin) to 177 (no statin).

In 3 months, his A1c went from 6.7% to 6.0%, and despite having a c-peptide value of 1.0, he is able to live insulin-free using a low-fat, plant-based, whole-food lifestyle.

Due to COPD, Mike has approximately 30% lung function. Yet despite this, he cycles approximately 155 miles per week (250 kilometers per week). He believes that his strength and endurance comes largely from eating a low-fat, plant-based, whole-food diet.

In addition, Mike’s COPD would always flare up in the winter months, causing him an incredible amount of discomfort and making it difficult to walk more than about 20 meters at a time.

When it comes to his meals, Mike likes to keep things simple. Some of his typical meals include:

Today, Mike lives life with a new sense of vigor. He loves the food that he eats and he has confidence in his health for the first time in decades.

While he is still living with COPD and type 1.5 diabetes, and is likely to do so for the remainder of his life, Mike knows that he is as healthy as he can be despite these conditions.

He told us, “If I wasn’t on the diet that you guys recommend, I hate to think where I’d be.” But thankfully, he’s here, and he’s doing the Mastering Diabetes Program 100%, so he doesn’t have to.