Live Life Team
Recently, research has shown that controlled fasting can reduce bodyweight and increase insulin sensitivity in some people. Called the 5:2 diet, this involves eating your usual foods in the usual quantities for five days a week and fasting on two days (not consecutively). On fasting days, dieters eat just a quarter of their usual calorie intake. It has been suggested that this could be a diabetes cure.
Experts agree that fasting could be helpful in controlling the symptoms of diabetes, but are sceptical about the idea that it’s a diabetes cure. What it could do is improve your overall health and decrease your reliance on insulin injections, or mean that you will be able to control your illness with diet alone for longer. It’s important to be careful, however, because dieting can be risky for some diabetic people.
If you choose to fast, you should try to spread out the food that you do eat as much as possible through the day, to keep your blood glucose levels steady. You may need to take medication at different times. Speak to your diabetes nurse or dietician for advice. Every individual is different so even if a particular approach has worked well for a friend with diabetes, it might not work for you.
Fasting creates a risk of hypoglycaemia, where blood glucose levels drop dangerously low. In people with Type 1 diabetes it can also cause glucose levels to rise suddenly, which can be dangerous. Talk to your diabetes nurse about how to reduce these risks and deal with any emergencies.
Although fasting probably isn’t a diabetes cure, it can help you to lose weight, which may also make your diabetes symptoms less severe and more manageable. Long term fasting is likely to be damaging, however, and there are better ways to control calorie intake if you’re trying to lose a lot of weight over time. Sudden weight loss could make your symptoms worse.
Many religions in which fasting is important have special exemptions for people with illnesses like diabetes. If you are concerned about your responsibilities in this regard, ask your religious leader for advice.
