Can type 2 Diabetics live without medication?

Monday, 05 December 2011

Living a medication-free life as a Type 2 diabetic is something that many people are sceptical about, and it’s a debate that divides the medical world and dominates the headlines. But today’s front page of the Daily Express ‘New Diet Is Wonder Cure for Diabetes’ provides clear evidence that diabetes can be cured through a low fat diet.

And now British guests at a pioneering health retreat are speaking out to confirm they too are beating the odds of a diabetic life and living medication-free on a vegan ‘nutritarian’ diet. They share their experiences with others – particularly the sceptics out there. 

Obsidian Retreat is having remarkable results with guests who suffer from Type 2 diabetes, using a vegan nutritarian diet – so called because it is low fat and nutrition rich – combined with light exercise. Many have halted or reversed their diabetes and are now living medication-free for the first time in years. Cancer and heart disease sufferers, and those struggling with obesity, say the British-run centre based in Spain has also made a significant and lasting impact on their recovery.

Some 99% of guests at the Obsidian Retreat say their lives have been transformed after embarking on its healthy living programme. Most diabetic guests are beating the odds with a staggering 90% of Type 2 Diabetics either greatly reducing or stopping their drugs, including insulin and Metformin (case studies below). 

During their stay, guests stick to a specially prepared vegan diet high in micronutrient content. Foods with the highest micronutrient scores are green vegetables, colourful vegetables, and fresh fruits. The diet, which is tailored to suit each person, as the micronutrient richness must be adjusted to meet individual needs, is proven to have powerful disease-protecting and therapeutic effects.

So with so many people now suffering from Type 2 diabetes (approx. 2.9 million people in the UK, estimated to rise to 4 million by 2025, at a financial cost to the nation of a staggering £9 billion per annum - about three thousand pounds per sufferer per year), and the International Diabetes Federation estimating that by 2030 438 million of us – or nearly 8% of the global population – will suffer from the condition, which is largely attributed to poor diet, sedentary and stressful lifestyles; the question is why isn’t this approach being more widely adopted? 

Obsidian Retreat’s owner Andy West explains: “The link between the poor health and poor diet couldn’t be clearer and with a quarter of the UK population (some 20 million) classed as obese this problem is only set to get worse.” 

During World Diabetes Day this month, some alarming new statistics were launched - none more so than the World Diabetes Foundation’s claim that there had been a 30% rise in children over the last 20 years and both organisations agree that diabetes is one of the major causes of premature illness and death worldwide.

Andy continued: “Our unhealthy eating is costing us all dearly in terms of life quality and expectancy, but we have an approach that addresses this. Applying this approach to diabetes management could save many lives. We give guests the tools to take control of their own health in a direct, immediate way – and the results speak for themselves. We really want people to sit up and take notice of what’s being done. 

“Not only can a nutrition-rich, low fat diet help prevent problems, it can actually reverse even major illnesses and we’ve already had doctors recommending us to patients.”