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The Effects Of Diabetes

by — Last updated: 2021-12-20 in Nutrition & Dieting

Table of Contents

Type 2 diabetes is affecting more and more lives each year. Intermittent fasting may help prevent the disese by controlling known risk factor for it. And new ways of fasting have made it much more appealing - you can even eat on your fast days!

 

Diabetes affects the body's basic functions in countless different ways – and contrary to popular belief, diabetes is not just about sugar. Type 2 diabetes is associated with high levels of cholesterol and other fats in the blood.  These high cholesterol levels clog up our arteries, stopping blood from getting to the heart muscle, leading to a heart attack, or stop blood reaching the brain, causing a stroke.

Excessive sugar in the blood affects the eyes, leading to blindness and destroys the kidneys, leading to the need for dialysis. The blood supply to the legs is reduced, and damage to the feet coupled with infection and poor healing often leads to amputation of feet and legs.

Read More: Fasting: Pros and Cons

How can fasting affect diabetes?

  • Weight reduction

In an effort to find a practical way of incorporating fasting into his life, the British physician Dr Michael Mosley developed the 5:2 Plan which involves fasting for two days of the week and eating normally for the other five.

This strategy has been proven to be effective in reducing weight. We know that reducing weight leads to a reduction in insulin resistance.

  • Reversing insulin resistance

In a two-week study, healthy men fasted for 20 hours on alternate days and were told to eat plenty on the non-fast days to ensure they did not lose weight. After two weeks the insulin sensitivity (cells responding to the effect of insulin) of the men had increased, which lowered blood glucose levels and prevented fats being broken down in their bloodstream. This would be very beneficial for someone on the way to developing insulin resistance and diabetes, but also help those already diagnosed with diabetes to gain better control of blood sugar levels.

  • Heart health

As mentioned, part of the metabolic disturbance that occurs in people with type 2 diabetes is an increase in the levels of cholesterol and other fats circulating in the blood.

Both animal and human studies of intermittent fasting, have shown reductions in ‘bad’ fats, such as low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglycerides as well as increases in the ‘good’ fat - high density lipoprotein (HDL) - which seems to protect against heart disease.

  • Prevention of diabetes

By bringing about weight loss, reducing fats in the blood and preventing insulin resistance, intermittent fasting can help us all avoid the development of diabetes.

What’s involved in intermittent fasting?

The two fasting days are best split up over the week, for example a Monday and Thursday. The fast is a modified one in that you are still allowed some food on the fast days – about a quarter of normal intake, so about 500 calories for a woman and 600 for a man. You should aim to have one or two reasonably long fasting periods within the fast day. So some people breakfast on part of their calorie allowance at say 7.30am, and then do not eat again until 7.30pm.  Others find it easier to not eat at all until the evening, when they can have all their calorie allowance for an evening meal.

Remember that in order not to keep spoiling the fast (which is strictly zero calories) you should avoid milk in drinks but black tea and coffee, water and drinks without calories can be drunk all day.

Can everyone try it?

No. Children, pregnant women and people with type 1 diabetes should never fast.  Anyone with type 2 diabetes should speak first to their doctor before considering any kind of fasting.

  • The Fast Diet by Dr Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer. 2013. Published by Short Books. ISBN 978-1-78072-167-5
  • Varady KA and Hellerstein MK. Alternate-day fasting and chronic disease prevention, a review of human and animal trials. Am J Nutr, 2007. 86(1). 7-13

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