New Treatment Stops Type II Diabetes

multicsfan writes Researchers have found that an injection of protein FGF1 stops weight induced diabetes in mice, with no apparent side effects. However, the cure only lasts 2 days at a time. Future research and human trials are needed to better understand and create a working drug. From the story: "The team found that sustained treatment with the protein doesn't merely keep blood sugar under control, but also reverses insulin insensitivity, the underlying physiological cause of diabetes. Equally exciting, the newly developed treatment doesn't result in side effects common to most current diabetes treatments."

Comments

Diabetic and Cancer patient - sign me up

[Anonymous Coward]

With the side effects of the cancer meds, I don't need the side-effects from the diabetic medications, as well as the pain meds causing issues with blood sugars.

If they need a human test subject, sign me up.

Re:Diabetic and Cancer patient - sign me up

[davester666]

A bunch of big-pharma executives are plowing their hookers extra hard tonight. A "cure" that you have to keep taking for the rest of your life, for a relatively common disease. If anything, they are slightly worried the tip of their penis will pop off.

Re:Diabetic and Cancer patient - sign me up

[Mashiki]

Yay! It's the crazy person who believes in crazy things. Next up, vaccines don't cure anything. They're a method of mind control, and that's why research takes forevar!

Re:Diabetic and Cancer patient - sign me up

[JMJimmy]

You skipped the obligatory Republican/Democrat argument - democrats wasting billions on useless research! republicans trying to give tax break to big pharma! ;)

Re:Diabetic and Cancer patient - sign me up

[Anonymous Coward]

and if you vote GOP the only way to get this will be in the prison system

Re:Diabetic and Cancer patient - sign me up

[Anonymous Coward]

Big pharma won't go for it as fgf1 is a naturally occurring protein, and therefor cannot be patented.

Re:Diabetic and Cancer patient - sign me up

[alva_edison]

A bunch of big-pharma executives are plowing their hookers extra hard tonight. A "cure" that you have to keep taking for the rest of your life, for a relatively common disease. If anything, they are slightly worried the tip of their penis will pop off.

Yay! It's the crazy person who believes in crazy things. Next up, vaccines don't cure anything. They're a method of mind control, and that's why research takes forevar!

I am hoping that this drug does work. If it does, then because of U.S. drug patents it will be relatively expensive for the foreseeable future. It has the potential to be the next Viagra, a drug that has to be taken frequently and is very common. Which, would be a sincere reason to celebrate for the executives of the company that brought it to market, no conspiracy/craziness required.

Re:Diabetic and Cancer patient - sign me up

[Anonymous Coward]

GOP isn't paying for Bradley Manning's sex change.

Re: Diabetic and Cancer patient - sign me up

[Anonymous Coward]

If the GOP won't pay for it, I'll chop that traitorous faggot's nuts off for free!

There's another treatment that stops most T2

[AbRASiON]

It's called eating well, exercising and losing a significant amount of weight.
I know, I came very very close to having it. Break the sugar addiction, quadruple your vegetable intake, vastly reduce your sugar / heavy foods intake and do a little, tiny bit of basic light exercise.

In a couple of years, guess what,...?

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

...diabetic retinopathy?

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Gaygirlie]

Too bad healthy food tastes and/or feels like shit and excercise is frustrating, wholly unpleasant and time-consuming :/

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[ArmoredDragon]

Sorry but what you say here is a load of crap. Actually no I'm not sorry, it's just a load of crap said by somebody who doesn't know shit about the condition and just wants to find any old reason to attack their eating habits.

Insulin resistance doesn't magically get cured by eating right and exercising. Yes, you can much better manage the symptoms that way, but ultimately they don't go away. At the end of the day you still have to watch your glycemic load, which doesn't necessarily come from sugary foods. In fact several vegetables can cause hyperglycemia in diabetics. Pretty much the only way to avoid that in most cases is to eat so little that you aren't meeting your daily caloric needs, which means you'd need to starve yourself to death in order to avoid taking insulin.

I don't have diabetes, but I've been way overweight (at one point I weighed 290 pounds) and all of the blood tests I took indicated I was nowhere near being diabetic even at THAT time. Yet many other people who have a much lower BMI than I do even right now (I currently weigh 215) and are even younger than I am have type 2 diabetes. The added weight just makes it that much harder for your body to meet its own insulin needs, so losing weight can help manage the symptoms (and in certain cases eliminate them until your later years in life,) but it will never cure it.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck you. I bench 285, run 6:25 mile, have 11% body fat, and have been a Type II diabetic since I was 9. Fuck you for shaming people with metabolic disorder.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it prevents MOST instances of Type II BEFORE you end up with a broken endocrine system. Once you pass a certain threshold, however, you're broken, and diet and exercise can help you not need meds, but you're STILL a Type II Diabetic.

This appears to undo part of the damage done- which is a step in the right direction.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

That's mostly due to high Insulin/Sugar levels in the blood. If you're managing your sugars, you can escape most if not all the ravages of that problem.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Gaygirlie]

I don't have diabetes, but I've been way overweight (at one point I weighed 290 pounds) and all of the blood tests I took indicated I was nowhere near being diabetic even at THAT time. Yet many other people who have a much lower BMI than I do even right now (I currently weigh 215) and are even younger than I am have type 2 diabetes.

I'm at least partially in the same boat. I'm frighteningly obese, but I haven't been even close to having any problems with blood sugar and there's no indication of me developing diabetes in any nearby future. Surprisingly, I also have very low blood cholesterol levels -- many physically fit people with healthy eating habits have several times higher levels. That just goes to show that being overweight doesn't automatically mean diabetic and greasy veins.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Nefarious Wheel]

I'm pretty fit myself, not particularly overweight, an avid motorcyclist (light exercise for many hours at a time) and I'm good with the foods. I'm in my 60's, too. I have Type II. The symptoms can be managed, but I don't particularly enjoy the method. And shaming people for conditions they can't help is not what kind people do.

If they come up with something better than Metaformin, I'm in.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[AbRASiON]

Bullshit, I've been doing it for 2 years now and healthy food is fine, it tastes like food, not random chemicals and slop.

It's actually not that difficult to cook something healthy and quickly in a short amount of time once you actually put the effort in for a couple of months, a quick and simple food routine is great.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Gaygirlie]

Well, I have a problem with how food feels in my mouth and going down, the texture of it matters a lot. The more consistent, predictable, processed feel the food has the more likely I am able to eat it, but alas, healthy food tends to be rough, tangy, contain all sorts of surprises and all that and I just can't stomach it. I just don't know how to make healthy food that tastes *and* feels good.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Good for you!

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Fresh fruits taste like shit? Boiled chicken, steamed veggies and curry rice taste like shit? Pan-fried seasoned steak and pasta tastes like shit? Multigrain bread, sliced turkey, colby jack cheese, lettuce and tomato tastes like shit? Oats stirred with sliced banana, raisins, greek yogurt and vanilla for breakfast tastes like shit? You might want to take your tongue in to the dealer and have it recalibrated.

After a while you'll find it's the fast food with chemically thickened glop that makes you feel ill, sends you into an afternoon coma, then you wake up not sure whether to lay there or puke for 3 hours (Ugh... never again...) is what really tastes like shit.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

""However, the cure only lasts 2 days at a time. Future research and human trials are needed to better understand and create a working drug.""

""Insulin resistance doesn't magically get cured by eating right and exercising.""

SO you dont find it upsetting that drug companies and "researchers" aren't trying to find a cure, instead the quote from the article ""However, the cure only lasts 2 days at a time. Future research and human trials are needed to better understand and create a working drug."" notice DRUG not CURE in that statement. I seriously doubt they will ever cure anything that isn't an immediate danger to peoples lives. Yes Diabetes is an eminent threat to those that have it, but since drug companies can make billions of dollars off of people with Diabetes they will continue to do just that.

And that's the problem.....

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Gaygirlie]

Fresh fruits taste like shit?

Yes.

steamed veggies.

Yes.

Multigrain bread

Yes.

colby jack cheese, lettuce and tomato tastes like shit? Oats stirred with sliced banana, raisins, greek yogurt and vanilla for breakfast tastes like shit?

Yes to all of those.

You might want to take your tongue in to the dealer and have it recalibrated.

If only I could! If it was possible I'd go and do it immediately :)

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[ArmoredDragon]

Surprisingly, I also have very low blood cholesterol levels -- many physically fit people with healthy eating habits have several times higher levels.

Yeah; your cholesterol levels are controlled by your liver. GGP comes off to me as being a dietary fanatic, the likes of which I've seen all too often, and they're kind of annoying because they play armchair general about what everybody shall and shall not eat, meanwhile their knowledge of biology and chemistry tends to be really bad, just like GGP's appears to be (or at least, a very VERY bad understanding of what diabetes is.) I remember one dietary fanatic telling me how his cholesterol was high, so he decided to become a vegetarian. I don't know whether or not he solved that problem, but if he did the vegetarian diet had very little to do with it, but he's just going on being smug anyways. (In fact the Harvard Study vegetarians frequently cite about read meat being "bad" doesn't actually suggest this, instead it shows a link between people with uncontrolled diets and various diseases...but interestingly it also suggests a link between vegetarian diets and high cholesterol, which they never acknowledge.)

In fact, in recent years we've found that dietary cholesterol has very little impact on blood cholesterol, and may even have no impact at all. What we have found to influence it is saturated fats; less of them will reduce your blood cholesterol. More unsaturated fats will also reduce it (i.e. omega-3.) Exercise also effects it. However dietary changes and exercise have been only found to reduce blood cholesterol by about 30% in the best case scenarios. Beyond that, statin therapy is very effective. People who claim to be "naturalists" (ironically none of them can seem to even agree what the word "natural" means) often tell me how I shouldn't be taking these pills, but I take lovastatin and as a result my cholesterol levels are well within normal range whereas before that and my triglycerides were really high (typically tryglicerides are high when you take in too many calories, which given I am losing weight rather quickly rather quickly, that simply can't be the case; the liver doing something it isn't supposed to be doing however would explain it perfectly.) No side effects either.

GGP types also tend to be those anti-GMO, pro organic extremists, which are even more annoying because at the end of the day there is zero conclusive evidence against GMO, and zero evidence that suggests organic is in any way better than anything else (but it certainly costs more!)

Anywho, being overweight in general isn't a good thing, but if you don't have hypertension and some of the other issues that go along with it, you aren't really in danger of anything bad happening any time soon. The main reason I had to lose weight was due to reduced renal function, which was caused by another unrelated problem related to the immune system (specifically, IGAn, which nobody has ever been able to identify the cause of, and it isn't any more prevalent in overweight people than anybody else.) However reduced weight means reduced body mass, which means reduced need for filtration.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

And why would I take advice from someone as clearly ignorant as you are?

I'd bother to tell you what you're ignorant in, but it's clear you've chosen to be so.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Too bad healthy food tastes and/or feels like shit and excercise is frustrating, wholly unpleasant and time-consuming :/

Yet those of use who exercise and eat healthy seem to lead a happier life. With so much frustration and time wasting, it's a strange thing isn't it?

Maybe you should give it a go some day. You might end up liking your veggies and feeling good exercising...

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[ArmoredDragon]

No, that's not the problem. Only a half-wit conspiracy theorist dumbass would think they aren't trying to find a cure. The fact that they got here alone speaks volumes about just how badly they want one. What they've discovered is groundbreaking. They didn't choose for diabetes to exist. They also didn't choose for this treatment to only last two days, rather that's just an unfortunate downside of it. If you think it's so damned easy to find a cure, go publish your own damn paper.

Not everybody is involved in a conspiracy to deprive you of your wallet. The fact that you see it that way is entirely your choice to do so, and is probably the reason you feel like shit every day and think everybody is out to make your life suck. If you really hate civilization that bad, go live in a tree, shit in the woods, get a tropical disease, and see just how much better life is without all of the evil drug companies ruining it for you.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

One thing I can caution you about, as a med student, is to question where the guidelines for the "correct" cholesterol came from. Hint: it's probably an echo chamber, and not tied to scientific evidence.

Take a look at the trend regarding blood pressure/hypertension definitions over the decades. It was all expert opinion based and kept ratcheting down with each report from the JNC. Then JNC 8 came along and said they were going to release guidelines derived purely from the science, using predefined criteria meta analysis of randomized controlled trials. Guess what? They said the previous hypertension definitions were wrong. That fits, too, because you hear about elderly patients on blood pressure medication who are feeling faint when they stand up... by are still in "hypertension" according to the experts echo chamber definitions. I mean, obviously they aren't, if their blood pressure is causing orthostatic hypotension.

Anyway, what I'm saying is not that statins are bad, but merely to question what your goal cholesterol really should be. Your brain has a lot of cholesterol (myelin is high in cholesterol) and cholesterol modulates your cell wall plasticity. Too low would be bad.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Type II diabetes has a very, very strong genetic component. I've seen plenty of active people of normal body habitus with it.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Gaygirlie]

Yet those of use who exercise and eat healthy seem to lead a happier life. With so much frustration and time wasting, it's a strange thing isn't it?

Not really. It's selection bias; those who do it tend to also like doing it, so of course they'll also be happy to continue with it. Those who don't like it tend not to do it. It's like asking people who enjoy chocolate if they're happy when they're eating chocolate.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

If only I could! If it was possible I'd go and do it immediately :)

Actually, it is! Just do what I did and quit eating sugary foods. Eventually your taste buds will recalibrate themselves, and fresh fruit will start tasting good. Even vegetables aren't too bad with a good salad dressing or dip. It's more or less impossible to completely eliminate sugar from your diet because it's in so many things, but if you at least avoid things that taste noticeably sweet, your taste should completely adjust in 3-6 months. But you have to be religious about it. Even eating a sugary dessert as often as once a week can sabotage the effect. As an added bonus, you can still eat some pretty unhealthy foods (foods high in fat), and you will probably lose weight anyway. That's because the insulin resistance that you develop from eating all those sugary things predisposes your body to putting on more weight from the food you eat than it normally would. When it starts to correct itself, with a little exercise the pounds will melt off pretty quickly.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Which is worse, texturally: swallowing a bunch of vegetables now or a bunch of medicine later in life for all of the cancer you got from never eating healthy? If it's texture you have a problem with, get a food processor, steamer basket and cheap blender, or a Vitamix. Seriously, I made alfredo sauce tonight out of steamed cauliflower, sauteed garlic, Bragg's (healthier soy sauce alternative), almond milk, and nutritional yeast--all with a cheap steamer basket and a cheap blender. The calories? Like, tens. Vegan? Check. Feels good in my stomach? Check.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Artifakt]

Probably not. Both me and my ex are Type 2. I can't afford to get even 20 lbs. over weight (I'm 6'1", For me, I should weigh at least 180 - that's show off the six pack range, but even with measured bodyfat at less than, say, 14%, I still have to use some oral meds if I get only 20 lbs. over what looks to be about ideal). For her, at only 5' 6", she could probably get above 220 before she would need to use insulin or see progress in retinopathy - she has some initial traces, but the progression has been totally stalled for nearly 10 years now. However, she has to stay below 180 lbs. or she has peripheral neuropathy symptoms (that's in the feet, where it usually starts. Under 165, she stops having those symptoms, plus even needing Metformin, and so she's trying to stay there. She has about the usual cushion for Type 2, I have almost none at all. For typical Type 2's, managing the disease well enough to beat neuropathy is also plenty to beat retinopathy. For atypical ones such as myself, who knows, but what AbRASION wrote is generally good advice.
            However, it's generally tougher than what he (?) wrote - more like 30 minutes + of just plain running 3x a week, PLUS some weights and wierd stuff like climbing walls, standing jumps for elevation and such, so the gym sessions usually go to a full hour, and weekend hiking, swimming, cross-training if either of us gains even five pounds, and often if not. We both run in 10 K's not just 5's,,and have managed a half marathon in the last 2 years. She leg presses 550 lbs to my 440, I'm benching 265 to her 110. If that's light exercise to someone, their dad's name was Jor El.
          Quadrupliing your complex carbs? Well double them at least, and cut the simpler starches nearly as much as the sugars. "Vastly reduce your sugar intake" is also accurate, as in NO HFCS, NO sweetened soft drinks, Stevia is a lifesaver, a cookie? - is it my birthday? We had to memorize, and check for changes frequently, which peanut butters or canned soups have how much added sugar - there's added sugar or HFCS in a whole lot of products that people don't usually expect. Who would think that some brands of Smoked Ham lunchmeat have more added sugar than the same brand's Honey Ham version? Working out as we do, we can manage twice a week soft drinks made from fruit juice and soda water, no added sweeteners, and a small dessert at sunday family dinners (a third of the pie slice or cake slice everyone else cuts), but I, at least, have to know which fruits are high in Fructose and which have more of the other sugars mixed in to even do that, and I skip that dessert completely more often than not.
          We've been on this sort of regimen for over 8 years for her and 11 for me. I'm not going to jump at a potential cure, because I'm managing, and I doubt she will want to volunteer for early tests either, but if this leads to a real cure, we can stick to what we do, and in another five years, most of you will be welcoming me and her as your new overlords. I'm expeding effort like what I used to do in my 30's to score 380 on the Army's extended scale APFT, just to stay in pretty good shape for a guy in his 50's. Take away this disease and that effort will again make me a veritable titan, and all Slashdot will tremble at my name. Bwaa-ha-ha-ha! Excuse me, I meant to say I find this prosepective cure moderately interesting.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Gaygirlie]

Which is worse, texturally: swallowing a bunch of vegetables now or a bunch of medicine later in life for all of the cancer you got from never eating healthy?

The former. Pills are so small that you can just gulp them down with any liquid drink you have handy. I know you were trying to be cheeky, but you kind of failed at it.

Re: There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's not forget that many foods today contain high processed corn syrup - we have to address this aspect of food production too

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[buckfeta2014]

Eating vegetables doesn't guarantee that you won't get cancer.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Bing Tsher E]

I think you missed out on the overall long term feeling you have that induces you to take the pills. Which is a permanent feeling. It also then sucks to feel dependent on said pills to feel at all well.

You're kidding about the pills, right? You don't consider your body just a big sack of chemicals used as the life support system for your brain, do you? Or is this a futile argument for me to even make?

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Gaygirlie]

I think you missed out on the overall long term feeling you have that induces you to take the pills. Which is a permanent feeling. It also then sucks to feel dependent on said pills to feel at all well.

But that's totally irrelevant. None of that changes how the food feels. Knowing that having your fingernails torn from your fingers and then having your arm chopped off would hurt like hell doesn't mean that stubbing your toe doesn't hurt anymore, and just as well the possibility of having to take meds in the future does not change how the food feels and how the texture dictates whether I can eat it or not. It is you who is missing what I'm saying.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I have a problem with how food feels in my mouth and going down, the texture of it matters a lot. The more consistent, predictable, processed feel the food has the more likely I am able to eat it, but alas, healthy food tends to be rough, tangy, contain all sorts of surprises and all that and I just can't stomach it. I just don't know how to make healthy food that tastes *and* feels good.

Indeed you do. One you should really genuinely seek professional help for. Because you have by your description got a food phobia. Quite common in kids with parents who never made them sit down and finish their dinner, including the nutritious yucky bits, or parents who didn't do much cooking.

Trust me.. your concept of what tastes good or bad is not what it should be. But it can be fixed. Not by forcing yourself to eat normal food, or refusing to eat with others. It's a complicated, and often deeply hidden psychological root that must be dealt with properly. Because there is more than being a fussy eater going on here.
And loading up on vitamin pills is not good either.

Food has texture. Food has variations in size, shape, density. It is supposed to. It's made of different substances. And the more processed it is. the less point there is in eating it.
The stuff you are eating now is tasteless featureless slop. Not opinion.. Fact. That you find real food so distasteful proves it.

Good food tastes bad to you because it actually has flavour. Chicken tastes different to a chunk of potato. But your palette is still stuck in childhood. Go to your doctor and get a referral to someone who can help. This isn't a curious quirk, this is a serious medical and psychological problem.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

What I meant was, you can train yourself to like healthy foods, to the point of craving them. Me, just eating one small burger from McDonald's makes me sick now.

As for exercising, it make you feel good. It really does. It's a real buzz after an mere half hour of cycling or swimming.

And then, in the grand scheme of things, when your health is good, you generally feel good too.

Staying healthy makes you feel good, but it does so in the medium to long run, and it takes a bit of effort to get going. Chocolate provides immediate, short-term and effortless pleasure. But it's not good for you. Don't you think it's worth investing a little effort for a few months to train yourself to enjoy a healthy lifestyle, so that you can feel good all the time afterward?

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[mark-t]

If you don't think something that can last a whole 2 freaking days is a big deal because they have to keep doing it, I suggest asking someone who has to poke themselves with a needlle 4 or 5 times a day what they think.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[MrBingoBoingo]

"Yeah; your cholesterol levels are controlled by your liver." Very much this. I am chubby pack a day smoker while also being sedentary and drinking ~400 ml plus of hard liquor a day. My cholersterol is great though. Ninetieth percentile on LDL's and low HDL and VHDL cholesterol. It is a situation where people don't get to roll their own dice as much as the shills would have them imagine so.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Gaygirlie]

Because you have by your description got a food phobia.

You're jumping to conclusions. Oversensitivity of mouth and throat is one of the symptoms that some people with Asperger's and it's possible that that's the reason for my issues.

And loading up on vitamin pills is not good either.

Vitamin pills? Why do you assume I'd be using such crap?

The stuff you are eating now is tasteless featureless slop. Not opinion.. Fact.

Yes, because you know what I eat, right? Go on, make a guess. I want to see how close you get.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

You have some funny preferences in food. Are you a baby?

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Artifakt]

Thank you. I stopped just saying "Fuck you" to the idiots who want to bash diabetics, because it seems to turn the few who aren't just looking to boost their own egos off to learning, and I want to reach every one that can be reached, but I'm in fundamental agreement. I didn't start having symptoms until my early forties, and am nearly 60 now, but I think I understand (see my post above if you want).
          You see something from someone on the internet who doesn't have the genes for Type 2, and it turns out does less than a quarter of the physical workout you do in their day to day life, (if that), gets away in the short run with eating what you simply, just, can't, has no clue that what he's doing will kill him with a stroke at 48 (because some genetic conditions don't give as many warning shots as others), and is, at 35, already seeing the negative effect on his love life but also has no clue it started with that little bit of weight he thinks he is getting by with, because he obviously isn't as lazy as you, since he doesn't have Type 2 diabetes. And that someone lectures people like you about how lazy you are and if you'd just do like him, you could beat this "disease" (which he puts in quotes, like that). And they won't let you shove him through a wood chipper! It's not fair at all.
          But we (and I mean specific, real, You and Me, not some generalized group) need to get as many of those idiots as possible to wake up, learn this is a real disease, and support finding a real cure. I know they deserve the "Fuck You" ,but we, and plenty of people, who are threatened with dying an average of a decade early, with such conditions as gangrene after limb amputations, or extreme hypertension, deserve that effort to find a cure more. Please save the 'fuck you's' for the idiots who can't learn or have no money.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Gaygirlie]

What I meant was, you can train yourself to like healthy foods, to the point of craving them. Me, just eating one small burger from McDonald's makes me sick now.

That could be, or it could not be. I don't know. I would need to solve the food texture - issue first and I don't know how. Most what people offer me is "stuff it all in the blender and make it all the same, messy goop." -- doesn't sound like much of anything worth eating.

As for exercising, it make you feel good. It really does. It's a real buzz after an mere half hour of cycling or swimming.

Now you're trying to assert your own feelings and tastes as facts. I do not get any sort of "buzz" after excercise, I do not feel good about it, it just makes me cranky. I have tried in the past, I was once in quite good shape. I just couldn't keep it up because it was a major hassle, unpleasant and being cranky and tired was the opposite of what I wanted to feel like. All of you people who actually enjoy excercise always do the same thing where you assert that it's totally impossible not to like excercising and that everyone, EVERYONE, will feel the same as you about it.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Jesrad]

Oh so wrong. Healthy food is also fabulously tasty. Too bad most people have no idea what food actually is healthy and which ain't so much.

Through my college years of pizza, pasta, candy, couscous, cereal muesli and homemade fruit juices I ended up obese and prediabetic in 2007. I lost the extra weight and reversed the diabetic symptoms (fasting glycemia and Hb1ac back to normal) on zero exercise and a diet of roasted fatty duck filets (with the skin braised crispy), salmon sashimi, lamb/veal casserole, chicken massala and lots of greens bathing in molten butter.

There is a big personal investment required though: you must learn to cook.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Jesrad]

Careful here, a low cholesterol level is associated with high CHD risk. The ~15% of people with the lowest total cholesterol (165 mg / L IIRC) account for ~40% of the heart attack deaths, that's quite an over-representation.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Jesrad]

exercising and losing a significant amount of weight.

Nope.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

There are a bunch of raw vegan folks claiming that diet can cure type II diabetes, especially the 80/10/10 people :
http://www.rawsomehealthy.com/heal-type-2-diabetes/

It's probably true that dietary changes, especially eating like a chimp, can cure some type II diabetes cases, but not all. In fact, I've commonly heard a rumor that artificial sweeteners impact insulin somehow, so they alone might by the straw that breaks the camels back, although the simplistic version of this story is false : http://www.marksdailyapple.com/artificial-sweeteners-insulin/

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Maxo-Texas]

That's a good approach for many. However, for the 25% of men who suffer from low testosterone- it's not as effective. Just like women can get gestational diabetes, men can get diabetes from other causes (including low T) and all the dieting and vegetabling in the world won't help.

Likewise, if you come from certain racial backgrounds- the diet approach isn't nearly as effective.

However- a healthy diet is good for other things (heart disease for one- subject to the same limitations of course).

Healthy food doesn't have to taste bad. Herbs and other seasoning goes a long way as does using a variety of cooking methods. Roasting can produce delicious vegetables.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

As for exercising, it make you feel good. It really does. It's a real buzz after an mere half hour of cycling or swimming.

Now you're trying to assert your own feelings and tastes as facts. I do not get any sort of "buzz" after excercise, I do not feel good about it, it just makes me cranky. I have tried in the past, I was once in quite good shape. I just couldn't keep it up because it was a major hassle, unpleasant and being cranky and tired was the opposite of what I wanted to feel like. All of you people who actually enjoy excercise always do the same thing where you assert that it's totally impossible not to like excercising and that everyone, EVERYONE, will feel the same as you about it.

QFT. I have given exercise a fair chance several times in my life, to include a year where I was doing strenuous exercise for ~3 sessions/week for 60+ minutes at a time. I even felt the "rush" of endorphins at the end of some of the sessions.

Seriously, these people act like exercise is better than sex.

Exercise nothing but a monotonous, uncomfortable thing you do in order to, i don't know, "be responsible and mature". You know, the kind of unpleasant shit that builds character while concurrently shackling your mind in boredom. Exercise never got to be enjoyable and it was never something I looked forward to. Even at its best moments (the vaunted "runner's high"), it was far less enjoyable than smoking even a single cigarette. I kept waiting for some kind of epiphany where I would hit an inflection point/get over a hump/whatever and start to enjoy it, but it never happened.

I mean, when you think about it, someone probably has to be at least slightly mentally aberrant to enjoy the drudgery and discomfort of exercise as well as the lack of mental stimulus.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL you're a fucking wally.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I have a problem with how food feels in my mouth and going down, the texture of it matters a lot. The more consistent, predictable, processed feel the food has the more likely I am able to eat it, but alas, healthy food tends to be rough, tangy, contain all sorts of surprises and all that and I just can't stomach it. I just don't know how to make healthy food that tastes *and* feels good.

Sounds like you need professional psychological help - this sounds close to food phobia.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Maxo-Texas]

Spot on. People ignore selection bias too often.

Or maybe.... I am just more aware of people who ignore selection bias!

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Dr_Barnowl]

No, but it does mean that some of you who would have gotten cancer, don't.

As the original poster suggests, it's all about learned response to food.

My daughter likes processed crap as much as any 10 year old, but she loves home cooked food with plenty of veggies. Last Friday she was literally using both hands to cram the broccoli into her face (it was tempura broccoli, deep fried but basically nearly raw with a very thin coating of batter on a large piece of broccoli).

She was brought up with a wide variety of fruits and veggies in her life. Until she started dance lessons, where there is a little pocket money tuck shop, she thought that the only kind of sweeties was dried fruit. She has always received encouragement to try new things, and never been restricted from eating foods because they are "too good for children" or "too grown up".

On one notable oocasion when we were driving home from the supermarket we heard a "scronch, scronch" from the back seat like someone was eating an apple. But we didn't buy any apples. It's my daughter, eating a yellow bell pepper straight from the shopping bag with every sign of enjoyment.

I'd be inclined to agree with the sibling poster I see now as I write this ; you're not just stuck in a childhood, you're stuck in a childhood where your parents did you no favours from a food point of view. But I don't agree that healthy has to mean rough or tangy - even something as simple as lentil soup is very healthy but very consistent in texture.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Jethro]

That's actually not a cure. It's a treatment, and it works, but it's not a cure.

I started doing that about 7 years ago. I was never obese, but I was overweight and I ate a lot (and I mean a LOT) of crap.

So, I stopped eating crap, and started getting a lot more exercise. I didn't lose any weight but I lost a whole lot of fat. My A1C last check was 6.1, and my glucose levels tend to be normal... but.

If I go eat a pizza right now, my blood sugar will still spike. It probably won't go a LOT above 200, but it will get there and stay there for a lot longer than a non-diabetic. Now my way of dealing with that is to never EVER eat anything with as many carbs in it as a pizza would have, and limit my carb intake to early in the day before I do the whole exercise thing.

I'm at the point where I've got it pretty much under control (much to the chagrin of my original doctor which I have since moved on from for obvious reasons) but I would love, love, LOVE a cure. Diabetes forced me to develop the tools and discipline to stay in shape, and I would likely still do that, but I do miss soo much good food.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Dr_Barnowl]

Only a half-wit conspiracy theorist dumbass would think they aren't trying to find a cure.

I think this is one case where conspiracy theory is basically the truth. Big pharma has created one of the most systematic systems of scientific fraud on the planet - running multiple studies and carefully cherry picking only those that happen to produce positive results to promote their new drugs, over the old ones with expired patents being just one of the tricks they use. If you want to see an excellent discussion of it from a statistical epidemiologist, read Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre.

In some cases, the new drugs have actually been proven to be worse than nothing at all later on, a fact that the drug companies almost certainly knew when they released them onto the market.

Believing that a company that is ostensibly devoted to improving the lives of people, but actually engages in this crap, just to make a buck, would deliberately withhold a cure for something in order to continue selling a repeat treatment? All too easy.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Too bad healthy food tastes and/or feels like shit

Not true. Food can be healthy, tasty or affordable but you can only pick two.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Considering all ghosts ever say is "Boooo" i'm guessing that being dead tastes and/or feels like shit and they have no choice.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[HnT]

Note that the article talks about a TREATMENT and not a CURE. Your diet and workout regime is also a TREATMENT and not a CURE. As it stands now Type2 can go into remission which usually means your GP will take you off of your meds and people think they are "cured" when actually they are not cured, their condition is just in remission and like your account vividly displays: it can quickly flare up again.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[umghhh]

had my Mum losing sight to this shit so I know haw dangerous it is. Keep up good spirits. I hope your sport regimen makes some fun at least.

Re: There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

that's because enforced exercise in a special purpose exercise room is unnatural. Try cycling or walking to and from your work, and try standing up at work for a significant portion of the day.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

With 11% bodyfat, I'd say he's active enough to spend those calories. Shit, the muscle mass alone helps keep his metabolic rate higher than normal.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[satuon]

Insulin resistance doesn't magically get cured by eating right and exercising.

That's true, eating right and exercising prevent you from getting it in the first place. But once you've gotten it, they can't undo it, it's too late by then.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[gmhowell]

"Works for me. Close ticket"

That's not how science works.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Paradise Pete]

What do you eat? Serious question, not an argument.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[AbRASiON]

Works for most people, do some reading and get back to me.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Paradise Pete]

Pretty much the only way to avoid that in most cases is to eat so little that you aren't meeting your daily caloric needs, which means you'd need to starve yourself to death in order to avoid taking insulin.

Well that's certainly not true. You can eat plenty of meat, eggs, spinach, broccoli, olive oil and much much more.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Paradise Pete]

I've commonly heard a rumor that artificial sweeteners impact insulin somehow

A rumor without any reasonable evidence to support it.

Re: There's another treatment that stops most T2

[RabidReindeer]

that's because enforced exercise in a special purpose exercise room is unnatural. Try cycling or walking to and from your work, and try standing up at work for a significant portion of the day.

I have done all of the above. One job I had was with a company whose policy was "if you have time to sit down, you're slacking". The nearest bus stop is about 1 mile from my home. And in summer, if I don't mow the lawn every 15 minutes or so, children and small animals may disappear.

Sorry. No endorphin rushes came my way. All I ever get is hot, uncomfortable, sore and annoyed.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[RabidReindeer]

Oh so wrong. Healthy food is also fabulously tasty. Too bad most people have no idea what food actually is healthy and which ain't so much.

Through my college years of pizza, pasta, candy, couscous, cereal muesli and homemade fruit juices I ended up obese and prediabetic in 2007. I lost the extra weight and reversed the diabetic symptoms (fasting glycemia and Hb1ac back to normal) on zero exercise and a diet of roasted fatty duck filets (with the skin braised crispy), salmon sashimi, lamb/veal casserole, chicken massala and lots of greens bathing in molten butter.

There is a big personal investment required though: you must learn to cook.

One of my favorite snacks is raw vegetables and hummus. Hummus isn't perfect, but I use olive oil, and chickpeas are favorite among diabetics due to their high fiber and low glycemic index. No cooking required for this one.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Charliemopps]

It's called eating well, exercising and losing a significant amount of weight.
I know, I came very very close to having it. Break the sugar addiction, quadruple your vegetable intake, vastly reduce your sugar / heavy foods intake and do a little, tiny bit of basic light exercise.

In a couple of years, guess what,...?

Watch this: https://www.ted.com/talks/pete...
Get some compassion.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

You're making me thankful for my parents feeding me mainly wholemeal bread* and a varied diet of homemade food, including the occasional vegetarian. I actually prefer if the food isn't smoothed into applesauce and isn't the exact same thing every time. I also prefer careful seasoning to indiscriminate sweetening and/or salting.

From other postings here I get the feeling that US food is full of processed food-like replacements that do a poor job of impersonating actual food. You'd probably better get used to cooking your own and trying new things, slowly daring more outside of the kids' stuff full of preservatives and cheapeners (like HFCS and somewhat cheese-like substitute substance) that you'll get buying prefab. Ironic, since you're sitting on the world's granary, and generally have an abundance of food, that even without being cheapened is cheaper than plenty other places in the world.

Anyway, in the land of the food processor it shouldn't be too difficult to cook up just about anything then mash it into sauce for your enjoyment.

* Back when on some school outing there was this kid complaining he couldn't eat anything but white bread. I actually preferred then, and along with variation still do, at least brown, preferrably wholemeal bread. White just isn't that interesting apart from its parent-instilled status as a sometimes food. I like bread from a Real Baker, not the cheap tasteless fatty crap that's all I can afford at the moment.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[jd2112]

Fresh fruits taste like shit?

Yes.

steamed veggies.

Yes.

Multigrain bread

Yes.

colby jack cheese, lettuce and tomato tastes like shit? Oats stirred with sliced banana, raisins, greek yogurt and vanilla for breakfast tastes like shit?

Yes to all of those.

Translation: If it's not shit it tastes like shit.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Ignatius]

I would need to solve the food texture

Well, the process of "fixing food texture" is probably mankinds oldest cultural achievement: its called cooking. Take some cookery courses - not some diet-crap, but serious gourmet-cooking. If it does not taste good, it cannot be healty.

I do not get any sort of "buzz" after excercise, I do not feel good about it, it just makes me cranky.

I guess this is quite normal - especially endurance training. If diabetes T2 is an issue, than high intensity strenght training https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_intensity_training
is probably the most effective way (in terms of time and will-power employed). The idea ist to completly exhaust every major muscle group for 60 to 120 seconds, therby inducing your body to build up new muscle mass over the next view days. The new grown muscle cells - besides increasing your base calorie consumption - should show normal (i.e. not yet degenerated) insuline sensitivity.

Half an hour twice a week is quite enough and the results are readily verifiable - in terms of the increasing weights you need acheive exhaustion. The drawback is that to do it effectively, you need training machines which allow you to isolate the respective muscle groups and set the respective training weight, so you cannot do it at home.

ignatius

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[TitusC3v5]

As the parent and others have mentioned, healthy food when cooked right is positively delicious. The real issue is that it does take considerably more planning and preparation time than a pizza that you can just throw in the over for 15 minutes or other preprocessed food that require minimal prep time by the people who are actually eating it.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[hawkinspeter]

Exercise should be fun - you just need to find a sport/activity that you enjoy enough so that it doesn't seem like a chore.

Healthy food probably tastes horrible to you as you're not used to it. That's one of the problems with too many sweeteners (sugar and artificial ones) and salt being pumped into everyday food. If you can wean yourself off of the processed food bandwagon, your taste buds will return to a more normal state and ordinary food will begin to taste delicious.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[dywolf]

Here.
Have a cookie.

what works for you may not work for others, as others may have reasons or other issues that preclude what works for you.
shortly, you cannot speak to everyones situation and to do so is extreme arrogance.
thus, this potential treatment is a huge boon to those people.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[hawkinspeter]

That's going to take a while to overcome and unfortunately you will have to WANT to overcome it rather than someone just telling you to do so. This is one of the problems of being on the artificial, processed food rollercoaster - once you've been riding it for a while, it's really difficult to change your course.

Re: There's another treatment that stops most T2

[mrfaithful]

All I ever get is hot, uncomfortable, sore and annoyed.

I think that's true of everyone it's just that the morning gym types get pleasure from rubbing others noses in it. The "I cycled to work this morning" and "I did X in the gym this morning" folk seem to spend all day with lower productivity and tend to be more prone to moodiness. The staff I work with were better before their health kick. I'd prefer they waited until after work, makes my job more pleasant.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[hawkinspeter]

There's lots of different ways of getting exercise and different methods work better for different people. The trick is to find an activity that you enjoy doing that is also a form of exercise. It can be as simple as walking around exploring your environs, or maybe base jumping is more your style.

I agree that pounding a treadmill in a gym is boring as hell, but put me on a bike with some countryside around and I'm happy as a pig in a Jewish vegan festival.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

6:25 mile is nothing to be proud of...

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

No wonder you're "gay" girlie. What kind of respectable male would date a fat slob like you?

(yes, blame the suicide on me)

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

I've had Type 1 for 49 years and have spent the past 10 years on an ultra low carbohydrate diet—between 15 and 30 grams/day. It is quite doable, and you don't have to suffer to accomplish it. To avoid being famished, you get your calories from good fats and proteins: eggs, butter, cheese, meat, nuts, etc. You also eat plenty of low-carbohydrate vegetables, avoiding high-carbohydrate vegetables such as corn, potatoes, etc. I never count calories, because they're irrelevant. My main beverage is heavy cream thinned with water. And no, my cholesterol isn't sky-high, because I exercise and because the theories about saturated fat causing unhealthy cholesterol levels are grounded in simplistic misinterpretations of the laws of thermodynamics.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Right, keep gulping down pills till your kidneys give up from chronic abuse.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[sacrilicious]

Really liked reading your entry... I'm same-minded about exercise and what I eat, for largely the same reasons. Thought I'd put in a plug for xylitol; exactly as sweet as sugar gram for gram, no bitterness/weirdness in taste, natural, long long history of usage in Europe, *is safe for diabetics* because it doesn't cause the same insulin reaction that sugar does, and even helps prevent tooth decay (because it looks enough like sugar to mouth bacteria that they try to digest it, but fail/die). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X...

Re: There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

A lot of people are gibing you shit about it. But what you feel is what you feel. People don't always get it. Solyent may work really well for you. It should be healthy, but isn't all crunchy.

I don't have it myself, in part because they don't ship to NZ.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[cdrudge]

Fuck him too. I weigh 285. I can walk a 6:25 1/4 mile. I have 11% that probably isn't body fat. And I have been a Type II diabetic probably for the last 9 years. Fuck him for shaming people with a disorder period, regardless of the type.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[jittles]

Wow. You poor guy. If I run 7 miles 4-5 times a week at an 8 minutes per mile pace I can quite literally consume 4000-6000 calories (kcals for you Europeans) and maintain my exact body weight. You can't see my six pack, but you can feel it. I have to consume 60-80 grams of protein (about 20 before and 40-60 after a workout) per day just so that I don't eat myself out of house and home. It's the only thing that seems to control my appetite in the slightest. I'll quite literally eat an entire family sized bag of vegetables and beg for more. The more I work out, the more I crave and consume fatty foods like hamburgers and other such things. When I get into a funk where I'm not working out, I don't crave those things at all. It's very bizarre to me.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Tyrannicsupremacy]

Yeah too bad exercise is empirically demonstrated to improve brain function and releases endorphins that make you feel good.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[The Fred]

Are you a super-taster? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster

If you are, it may give you a term for the special diet you may be looking for.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I have a problem with how food feels in my mouth and going down, the texture of it matters a lot.

My father with diabetes has all the problems leading to the conditions and is not able to control his eating by himself. These are exactly his words.

I just don't know how to make healthy food that tastes *and* feels good.

Use a blender and filter the sauces in the French style. Blanch and peel. Start avoiding processed sugars and land animal fats. Don't avoid fats form plants and fish. Replace the finest white flour little by little but don't try to force it. It the food requires it, use it anyway. Increase protein intake only if you simultaneously start exercising more.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Now you're trying to assert your own feelings and tastes as facts. I do not get any sort of "buzz" after excercise,

Neither do I, I never understood what the hell some people keep claiming. Perhaps they've just never had a real buzz and I'm desensitized or something.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

For MOST people getting off their ass and losing weight helps a lot. There's a fundamental culture of convenience that established obesity as a national standard, for USA anyways. So don't go fucking everybody because you are the sliver of population who can run a mile.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[cheesybagel]

Try eating an apple first thing in the morning. The first thing you eat after getting up.

Then try eating an apple after having a slice of bread. You'll notice a difference.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

There should be a pill for that -- or a lab-grown kidney on a scaffolding for that

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

It's called eating well, exercising and losing a significant amount of weight.
I know, I came very very close to having it. Break the sugar addiction, quadruple your vegetable intake, vastly reduce your sugar / heavy foods intake and do a little, tiny bit of basic light exercise.

In a couple of years, guess what,...?

This is absolutely terrible medical advice. Decades of research shows it has a terrible success rate, and, of those who it works for, 95% it eventually fails long-term.

If this advice were a pill, the FDA would never approve it, and people like me and probably you would call it a scam.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

First-word problem. Go somewhere where food is not plentiful and have a lifeline to get out alive. You'll find even the simplest foods are suddenly really tasty.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[rossdee]

"Exercise should be fun - you just need to find a sport/activity that you enjoy enough so that it doesn't seem like a chore."

Exercise that has a reason is good. Walking or cycling as a form of transportation (like to/from work or the shops) is a good example, plus you save on CO2 emmissions and cost of gasoline. Of course cycling may not be possible in winter if you live in a northern state, but walking should be. Of course if you live too far away from your work maybe you could just walk part wayu and use public transport for the rest.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[hawkinspeter]

Yes - if you can incorporate a form of exercise into your daily routines then it's a lot easier to keep regularly active.

It can also be a lot of fun to just walk/cycle/run somewhere just because you fancy it rather than because you need to go there. I think it increases the enjoyment you get from exercise if sometimes you do it "just because you can".

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't be defensive, you're the one that said it's hard b/c you like to eat crap and are a lazy asshole when it comes to exercise.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[judoguy]

No, only bad food tastes bad. People today don't know what healthy food is. Bacon and eggs are healthy foods. Butter is healthy food. Starchy carbs are tasty, but unhealthy foods. Rice cakes are unhealthy food. You may have an eating disorder, but that's a different problem.

I agree completely that exercise for the sake of exercise sucks. The trick to happiness in exercise to find something you can enjoy for it's own sake. Physical activity is great for lots of reasons, but weight loss isn't one of them. If you are on a carb diet, you generally can't lose *fat* from exercise. You can burn glucose OR fat. It's called the Randall cycle . You have to get into a fat burning metabolism to burn fat. Otherwise you're just burning muscle and liver stored glycogen and storing the fat.

I'm a 61 year old judo competitor. A little over 4 years ago, I started eating lots of fat, moderate protein and very low carb intake. I lost 40lbs in about 6 months and it didn't come back. I never count calories, eat tons of eggs and very little grain, whole or otherwise. My cholesterol panels went from getting-ready-to-die to teenage athlete levels. Yes, I get plenty of exercise in the dojo, but that literally hasn't changed in decades. Only the diet changed. Eating fat and cutting the carbs is what made the difference for me and about a dozen of my friends.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[StikyPad]

In a couple of years, guess what,...?

What?????

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

I stand firmly behind the "Fuck You" I used earlier. No apologies there.

Now, onto diet, weight, and stuff.

I'm 6'1''. I consistently weigh 205-210 lb. My food regimen is rather boring -- mostly protein-centric, with the load of carbohydrates coming in from fruits and vegetables. I don't eat rice. A typical meal (I have free food at work) for me requires navigating the open bar and creating a plate that has the equivalent of half-to-whole chicken breast with a side of about a cup of broccoli or such and leafy greens. Breakfast usually has fruit, such as half a banana and egg.

Yes, my numbers are managed. Yes, I do cardio 3 days a week (run 4-10 miles, depending on the podcast I'm listening to.) I lift 3 days a week. No, it's not a lifestyle for everybody. No, I probably won't be that active after I hit 40. And I will never get rid of my Metmorfin regimen (my numbers start creeping up if I stop taking my medication.)

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

I have been a Type II diabetic since I was 9..

Not trying to argue, but it's curious that you got Type II at age 9. My sister has Type I from about that age, and I was always under the (perhaps mistaken) impression that Type I (accidentally destroying the cells that produce insulin) was nearly always diagnosed as a child and Type II (insulin resistance) was nearly always diagnosed as an adult.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[interkin3tic]

From a public health perspective: who cares? T2 Diabetes rates are still going up, yet we've known that for a long time. We need to keep telling obese people with T2 diabetes to lose it, obviously diabetes isn't the only problem associated with obesity, and that drives up costs for the public at large, but telling the public to diet isn't working.

You individually, great, pat yourself on the back, but you're not most people. We know empirically that most overweight people will stay overweight, and diabetes on top of that is going to cost the public a lot of money through health insurance. A preventative measure that is not "lose weight" is a very good thing.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[sandytaru]

I have no problem cooking healthy foods from scratch for lunch/dinner. (Well, mostly from scratch. I don't make my own whole wheat pasta.)

What gets me is liking chocolate too much. I lose all self control around a box of truffles. The only safe thing is to get a bag of dark chocolate I really don't like too much and limit myself to a few pieces a day as a treat.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm anti-GMO for the main reason that it's not been proven "safe". Something about creating "frankenfood" (what else can you really call it when you're combining genes from different organisms or even those completely fabricated in a laboratory?) seems like it might be somewhat unsafe on the surface, and downright bad.

After all, we thought DDT was the be all and end all all purpose insecticide, until decades later - gee, that stuff is hampering the survival of a bird or two. Or what about Freon? All seemed well and safe with that stuff, until we discovered, decades later again, that well gosh darn it, that stuff may kill us all by destroying our ozone layer. Then there was that wonderful thalidomide, wonder drug for morning sickness for pregnant mothers. That took only a few years for its ill effects to be realized. There's the current neonicotinoid insecticides which appear to be a major factor in the bee colony collapse disorder, research is still looking into that one to see how far its ill effects will reach. And finally, there's the AGW case, which many refuse to believe or discount because it won't affect them or will be too inconvenient for their profits, or something.

So why should we not approach GMO with a little more care, instead of letting a self-replicating and mutating entity out of the lab? Don't be so short-sighted for the immediate gain to make the same mistakes with several of those just mentioned mistakes.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

if you got it soon enough or didn't get fat enough, you can reverse it.

But get old enough fat enough long enough and even with "repairing" your weight and intake you'll never go back to pill-less living.

Sadly that's where I'm at. Sure a lot less pills to take though. But nothing beats "never getting that bad" in the first place.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[sjames]

The current trend of declaring fat to be the boogeyman to be avoided at all costs is causing a lot of this. The result is packaged foods with no fat and a load of sugar and pepper to try to give it some sort of taste. Naturally the sugar is a blend of separate ingredients so they don't have to list it first on the ingredients.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[profplump]

Eating vegetables prevents cancers? Or not eating vegetables causes cancer?

Is this information being withheld from us by some sort of anti-vegetable cabal? Wouldn't it be easier for the corn producers to let us learn this and just sell us raw corn instead of corn syrup?

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

It's like that at first, but it gets better.

I can only speak from my experience, but I found myself enjoying junk food and laying around.. And getting really fat. Turns out it's mostly conditioning. I was used to those things, conditioned to enjoy them. I found I could condition myself to enjoy healthy foods and exersize too

At first, it's hell. I can't lie about that. Exersize is torture. If it doesn't hurt, if it doesn't fee like you're going to die then you're not doing it hard enough. I got in to cycling and I honestly vomited after my first real hill climb. It gets easier. Every week you can go further and every week you can swap out one food choice for a better one. (Paradoxically as you start exercising more you start eating less. Your stomach shinks)

Now, 100 lbs later, I don't even drink diet soda (too sweet) and I my idea of fun is a 100 mile ride with 9000 ft of climbing in the wonderful outdoors that is northern California.

Healthy food can and is tasty. It's not all bland or bitter. There are so many options! Lean meat, nuts replace your bags of carb-heavy snacks. Salads and fish and chicken are amazing and you've got hundreds of ways to cook them. Eggs are the best breakfast ever (skip the toast and the juice) It's astonishing what you can do with vegetables and a wok. You don't have to worry about fat too much (just don't go overboard) it really is the carbs that get you.

Also don't go low carb for it's own sake. Just do it because they really do contain a lot of calories and they don't fill you up at all.

You still do need carbs. Particularly in the middle of a hard activity. You need that sugar right in to your bloodstream so you can keep going. There's nothing worse than bonking in the middle of something tough because you screwed up and ran out of energy.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[profplump]

Wouldn't it be easier and more profitable for them to sell the one-time cure for the same price as the lifetime treatment?

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

And how the fuck do you know it is even Type II and not Type I (or Type I like) ? They are pretty much related and immune system plays a role in both.

Anyway, type II diabetes is exploding because of fat, inactive people.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[delcielo]

Thank you. I was about to post a "fuck you" like yours when I saw that you had beat me to it.

I'm 45 yrs old, run 15-30 miles per week, eat as diabetics should, etc. I'm 6'0" and just over 175lbs now. I've been diabetic for 10 years. I'm not currently on any medication, but probably will be in the next year or so. My numbers keep creeping up.

There is a subset of people who just think that anything wrong with somebody is their own fault. Small people with limited understandings. And it's amazing the damage they can do to somebody who feels vulnerable. It's bad enough that the doctors are never happy; but now they have some random internet puke telling them it's all their fault for being a stupid fatty.

It burns me sometimes, these idiots.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Neil Hodges]

I hear you, and raise you my weekly unsupported Saturday bicycle tours of 130-180 miles. They burn upwards of 15,000 calories, and I have to keep slamming down food and water in order to not waste away, or even pass out while riding as I did one time. Also, I don't have a car, so I get around by bicycle when commuting and running errands.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Neil Hodges]

By 'northern state,' do you mean Alaska? I live in Seattle and can get around by bicycle year-round. Of course, we don't get snow like the Northeast.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[jeIIomizer]

"First-world problem" is an idiotic phrase. What, because X is less of a problem than Y, that means that X isn't bad? What is this awful logic?

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[dissy]

Eating does involve a bit more than just taste however, and is a problematic issue I've had to deal with most of my life.

I should admit up front that I have the opposite problem as to the article being discussed.
I've had no sense of smell since age 3-4, and so there is a significant class of foods I simply can't taste at all. The texture of the food determines completely my enjoyment of eating it and even my ability to eat it.

For me a steak tastes about like cardboard, and the less well done it is cooked the worse it feels, which of course directly relates to how healthy it would be as burning the nutrients out can't be a good thing, despite the fact it changes the taste not at all for me to do so.

Green veggies tend to feel like between I'm chewing a corn husk and I'm trying to swallow semi-liquid slop that my body feels should already be going in the other direction. The phrase "choking it down" can be quite literal in such cases for me.

The main difference here I would imagine is that a lot of people dislike eating such healthier foods so instead of spending the (not insignificant) time to find the gems they do like, they fall back to crap food that gives a "full" feeling - while I personally take the equally unhealthy route of just simply not eating often enough thus avoiding the unpleasantness for similar reasons.

It's taken me a good 15 year period to actively try different and new things prepared by many different people other than myself to find those gems, and similar to applying security to IT it is one of those things that is on-going and never ends.
I can completely see why that prospect would be so overwhelming to some, as I was (or potentially still am) in that same camp.

When thinking of your next meal fills you with dread due to all of the horrible aspects of doing it right without a single positive in sight, falling back into comfort mode is terribly easy to do and can take as much constant effort to break out of usually attributed to the weakest willed of addicts trying to stay sober.

The advice "Meh you just suck, it's super simple!" is about as twisted as a slinky and as truthful as a politician.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[nblender]

I'm not sure what textures you can or can't handle so it's not clear you can come down on anyone for 'missing' what you're saying.. When my son was born almost 13 years ago, we stopped eating processed or fast food... It took a bit to get used to, I'll admit... But there's a wide variety of options for making your own food from basic ingredients and where you also have control over texture and taste. ie: it's easy to make a healthy tomato sauce with the same texture as Ragu but without all the salt and HFCS... There are a ton of wonderful soups you can make that are healthy and nutritious with the same texture as a milkshake which you can probably handle...

The difference is you have to _want_ to... One of the side benefits of learning to cook and making wonderful meals is that you will gain a whole new pretext for inviting potential mates over for meals at your place... It will make you more attractive to potential mates as well...

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Dr_Barnowl]

No, because

It would be a harder sell.

* One price for... what, how many years of life? Do you sell it for more to a 40 year old than a 50 year old, because they have more life left?

* That much money for one shot (or a course of them)? When clearly the material cost is so much less than the prolonged treatment?

While the actual cost of manufacturing pharmaceuticals already has very little relation to their price (while in patent), it would be too much to swallow that you should pay tens of thousands for a dose of something manufactured in bulk for ... what, a few hundred a pint, tops?

The risk that some Indian pharmaceutical company is going to just synthesis a few thousand gallons of it and sell it on the black market, killing your profits for an entire generation (by which time it will be off patent) is also quite high.

The PR value would be *great*, but you can't take good feelings to the shareholders meeting.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Nephandus]

A year plus of eating oatmeal, cold cans of salmon, and water says you're full of shit about any form of taste recalibrations. BTW, that dressing and especially dip are probably unhealthy. Of course, most salads aren't actually healthy either. Might as well drink slightly chlorophyll dyed water and lay off the dressing/dip for all they're worth.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[nblender]

I have the same problem with 'exercise'. After 20 minutes on an exercise bike, I want to kill myself. I don't know how people can blow 2 hours of their day on some sort of exercising apparatus... I don't play well with others so team sports are out as well. I find the best exercise I get now is just engaging in some sort of hobby that keeps me active.. Either home renovations, working on my vehicles, landscaping, etc. If I can have dinner and then head outside and stay outside until 9PM, I can then afford 30 to 60 minutes of 'tune out' time in front of the TV and I have a terrific sleep and my weight stays constant. If I don't get myself outside, or engaged in hobby time, but sit in front of the TV or computer for whole evenings at a time, then things start to suffer. My weight, my back, my sleep, my attitude at work, my focus, and my productivity....

It's not an exercise regimen. It's just living.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Careful, the LGBT mob will demand your IP, track you down, and tear the company you work for down to the ground with their bare hands.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

What you say MAY or MAY NOT be correct, general thinking is, that you're right [I suspect there a bit of empire protecting in this position], but honestly, no-one knows for sure, the largest ever T2 study undertaken in the UK, is now seeking to throw some real light on the most fundamental of questions - is T2D REALLY, for everyone, a chronic medical condition? Why can't blood sugars rise and fall for people - actually, who says they can't?

T2 strikes me, as a potentially very serious condition, but its never really been looked at altogether rationally. Thankfully, what is clear, is over the next few years, from multiple sources, there is going to a paradigm change in how this condition is viewed, with vastly improved treatments/cures and hopefully, better understanding of the reality of the condition, instead of people blindly hitting a panic button! [see recent Ph2 announcements from Isis Pharma, Mesoblast the stuff of science fiction! and others].

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Dr_Barnowl]

Corn producers like corn syrup because it doesn't spoil and it absorbs what excess crops they have after supplying the human and animal markets (as does the ethanol synthesis scam).

US Sugar producers also like corn syrup because it lets them keep the price of their sugar high (if the sugar import tariffs that protect the Florida sugar growers profits were lifted, natural sugar would be cheaper than corn syrup - without corn syrup, the supply of US sugar would be inadequate to meet the needs of food producers, which would cause a wave of lobbying to get sugar tariffs lifted).

Food producers like corn syrup because it's cheaper than (expensive Florida) sugar and produces foods that have a long shelf life and a taste that inspires the formation of habits.

Natural corn doesn't get a look in. Most of the corn used for the syrup isn't food grade anyway, and if it was, it would still be inconveniently prone to spoiling (lower profits) and less scrummy than a twinkie (lower profits).

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[josquin9]

It's not a question of whether this would be better than current treatments. The problem comes from the fact that getting something a little bit better will prevent them from providing something a lot better. Right now, there is a surgery, called a duodenal switch (DS), which has upwards of a 95% cure rate for diabetes. It was originally developed for weight loss, but the combination of its affect on the production of gherlin and the malabsorption of calories it induces has been shown repeatedly to offer a permanent cure for diabetes. The treatment has been around for over a decade, and is used in many places in Europe as a treatment for diabetes. Here, since it was initially classified as a weight-loss surgery, insurance companies claim that it's elective and won't authorize it for patients whose BMI is under 50.

I developed diabetes a little over a decade ago. At the time, my weight was well within the healthy range, I was a dance instructor and working out 4-6 times a week. Both of my grandmothers and my father were diabetic, though, so I got a double dose of genetic predisposition. The first symptom I had, though, was the sudden onset of neuropathy in my feet.

The primary downsides to the DS are the need to take vitamin supplements for life and go to the doctor to get blood levels checked every 6 months and a risk of disagreeable flatulence if you eat certain foods. Given that I would be able to give up injections and several other medications that I am already taking on a daily basis, and am visiting the doctor every 6 months anyway for bloodwork, I'll trade gas for diabetes. The surgery would pay for itself in about 3 years, and I would be able to live a much more normal life, not only eating more normally, but not having friends and relatives obsessing over my eating at social events, being able to go out for a beer after work without worrying about having to adjust my medicine and food intake for the next 12 hours, and not having to skewer my fingers and arms multiple times each day for testing and injections.

By and large, though, someone like me with type 2 diabetes would not only be able to eat normally, but also stop taking hundreds of dollars worth of medicine each month and prevent further damage to nerves, kidneys and eyes. The surgery runs from around $8000 to $15,000. It would seemingly save the insurance companies money over the course of 3-5 years for someone like me, given the amount they claim to be spending on my medication, BUT that is not the calculus the insurance company is using.

Since BCBS also has its subscribers locked in to its mail order pharmacy, anything that would reduce the cost of my monthly medication is a threat to their profits. Their actual cost of medication has nothing to do with the "List Price" they show on the receipts. I would be very surprised if there are any medications that their cost exceeds the copay they extract from their subscribers, but it would be impossible to prove, given the fictitious transfer costs that insurers and drug companies report. I would suggest, though, that the cost of drugs in foreign countries is a good place to look for their true costs to the insurer, because, if the pharmaceutical firm can afford to sell a drug profitably for $20 in Canada, I suspect the $300+ List Price in the US is a bit padded, and that the $45/month my insurer charges for a copay leaves them with a profit margin they would rather protect than do what would be in my best interests.

I plan to pay for the surgery out of pocket as soon as possible, but I resent the damage done to my body from having to wait years to do so because the institution responsible for my health care is less worried about my quality of life than their own profits.

Re: There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Nephandus]

Yeah, it's always been a tradeoff personally. Rage in the gym, ornery out. Intervals or distance cardio just make me even more restless and hornier (yes, that's bad...) in addition to extra arthritis flareup and increased insomnia (since teens, so that's sadly not age...yet). The alternative is a weak, dazed (if more comfortable) zombie though, so even the dark side of slowly downward spiraling hypomania is still more useful this decade...

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[AthanasiusKircher]

That could be, or it could not be. I don't know. I would need to solve the food texture - issue first and I don't know how. Most what people offer me is "stuff it all in the blender and make it all the same, messy goop." -- doesn't sound like much of anything worth eating.

I would need to know exactly what kind of "processed" foods you like to suggest a way to create similar textures in less processed stuff, but it's certainly possible. There is an incredible array of possible textures in food -- all you need to do is find a few dishes that work for you, and you can build more using similar principles.

As for the rest of your comment, I'm really not following and beginning to suspect you must be a troll. You want processed food with homogeneous texture, but processing food in such a way to make it have a homogeneous texture "doesn't sound like much of anything worth eating." That indicates to me that you're either lying about your texture aversion or your objection to whatever "healthy food" is broader than texture -- you have problems with flavor too. So, we need to fix both.

The point is the problem is NOT unsolvable. Even if you only liked to eat some weird textured food that is generally only available in processed stuff, chances are you might be able to make it yourself in a more healthy way by using your own ingredients (under your control) and using only one or two chemical additives to get the special texture effects you desire (something modern chefs are experimenting with).

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Necron69]

There isn't enough science yet to be conclusive on this, but for me personally, cutting out stevia from my diet entirely caused me to lose 13lbs in a single month.

IMHO, all zero-calorie sweeteners can screw up your metabolism, whether artificial or natural.

- Necron69

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[AthanasiusKircher]

The real issue is that it does take considerably more planning and preparation time than a pizza that you can just throw in the over for 15 minutes or other preprocessed food that require minimal prep time by the people who are actually eating it.

You don't need both more planning AND more prep. Often you only need one. Sometimes you don't need either.

With the knowledge of proper chopping and cutting techniques, and some thought about recipes that require little maintenance, there are dozens of different full-meal dishes I could make off the top of my head that require less than 10 minutes of prep and active cooking time.

If you want more variety or dishes that take longer for flavors to develop... One of my best friends grew up in a family of 6 where both parents worked -- but they ate home-cooked meals every day. Every weekend they just spent a few hours putting together simple dishes, cooking them (often low maintenance things like slow cooker stuff that would take 5 minutes to throw things together and then would just sit for hours), and then they'd refrigerate or freeze the stuff for use on weeknights... it just required reheating, which took all of a minute to remove it from the freezer and pop it into the oven.

Make big batches and alternate the kinds of dishes you make on various weekends, and you can easily build up a repetoire of a half-dozen or more options for weeknight dinners with little effort and almost no prep time required other than a couple hours one day per week.

There also are lots of time-saving things you can do for dishes you eat on a regular basis. Lots of ingredients can be prepped in advance in big batches. For example, if I want to make pancakes, I could spend 10 minutes measuring out the ingredients every time, or I could spend 10 minutes measuring out a giant batch of dry ingredients for 10 or 20 batches of pancakes, and then store homemade "pancake mix" in the pantry, ready to just add milk and eggs (and whatever else). Lots of other dishes can be simplified in the same way by prepping dry ingredients or ingredients that can be frozen in big batches.

Yeah, you're probably never going to save as much time as you would eating frozen TV dinners (and not everything can be made fast -- you're not going to be able to do homemade croissants in a short amount of time or something), but given the cost savings and the health benefits, it's surely worth it.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[sjames]

It can't be that many calories relative to his expenditure if he has 11% body fat. Or does it just burn you up that you can't fat shame someone?

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Not sure where you are located, but diabetes is reversible.

http://newstart.com/about-the-program/conditions/reverse-diabetes/#sthash.zZNxAXeI.dpbs

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Gaygirlie]

As for the rest of your comment, I'm really not following and beginning to suspect you must be a troll. You want processed food with homogeneous texture, but processing food in such a way to make it have a homogeneous texture "doesn't sound like much of anything worth eating."

I'm not trolling, I'm dead serious. I was specifically saying that goop isn't exciting or enjoyable in the long term. While I do like e.g. mashed potato I do add generally add chicken or chicken balls to go with it and some sauce to give it flavor and I still wouldn't want to eat it often. As for processed food; I do not know if "processed" is the most descriptive term, but I don't really know how to explain it much better. I like pizza, for example, but only with cheese and meat on it -- nothing crunchy, nothing tangy, nothing that's a lot different from the rest in terms of hardness. If the edges of the pizza are crunchy I cut them out and just eat the inner pizza because the crunchy edges feel nasty. I like chicken because most often it's got consistent structure and while I do like the taste of pig I tend to avoid it because it's got these tangy parts here and there, or the sudden splotch of fat. Bread? Not really, it's too dry.

I do also have problems with taste, but less so. I do assume I could train myself to get used to new tastes if I just tried and if only the food came in a form that I found edible. I enjoy garlic, for example, quite immensely, but only if it's in the form of paste or powdery seasoning.

The point is the problem is NOT unsolvable. Even if you only liked to eat some weird textured food that is generally only available in processed stuff, chances are you might be able to make it yourself in a more healthy way by using your own ingredients (under your control) and using only one or two chemical additives to get the special texture effects you desire (something modern chefs are experimenting with).

Oh, I don't assume it's unsolvable. I just don't know where and how to start and what's actually healthy. I mean, just look at all the replies I've gotten here: one person says this is healthy, the next says that is, the third one says both of the previous ones are bad for you and it's those instead that are the healthy foods and so on. Also, I have never ever been interested in cooking and it doesn't come to me naturally. It's easy for people to say "just learn to cook!" when it's one of those things you totally suck at -- not everyone can be good at everything. I posses quite literally zero creativity. I saw a food and nutrition therapist and asked her for help, too, but all she offered was "eat more veggies" and kept repeating that like a parrot -- not a single god damn recipe that I could actually try. Total waste of time.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[assertation]

Nobody is forcing you to do anything and quite frankly, with no offense, it doesn't matter to us as it is not our health.

Just as a tip, for your health and to clear up misinformation, it is all about what you are used to.

If you start eating different types of food, your tastes will shift. Even for healthy food.

Exercise may feel like zero fun when you start, I know I have been there.

As you get in better shape you come to enjoy it.

As the OP mentioned, you don't have to do anything dramatic.

Minimize the # of your calories in the form of refined flour products and sweeteners. Get out and start taking a walk every day.

Those things done constituently will make measurable results.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Would you be unable to stop yourself from drinking a glass of silky smooth and deliciously sweet antifreeze?

We have brains capable of accumulating experience and allowing us to understand long(er) term consequences.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[HiThere]

Healthy food tastes fine (to me). Unfortunately it tastes too fine. And while some people start to like exercise, I don't. This is made worse because I have various joint problems that make (many) exercises not only unpleasant, but actively painful.

I definitely need to lose weight, but the only diets that have had any results have left me unhappy and depressed all the time. Except Atkins, which was not only expensive, but which raised my triglycerides. Before the Atkins(ish) diet, I needed to lose weight, but had no signs of diabetes. Now I'm pre-diabetic, even though I almost never eat either sugar or refined carbohydrates (including potatoes as refined carbs). And I don't even eat that many whole grains. It's largely beans and vegetables, with some meat (chicken or fish).

Some people start liking exercises after they do them for awhile. The talk about feeling a glow, etc. I don't experience that, and didn't even 50 years ago in high school. I did before I was 12, though, and I don't know when or why I stopped feeling it. But now if I walk too long, my knees start telling me to think about replacement surgery. (I have. Not a good idea. They need to be a lot worse than they are before it would be reasonable...O, and I should lose weight to make the surgery safer.) My ankles aren't happy either (I've a few bone spurs). Etc.

I should probably bite the bullet and go total vegetarian (including no eggs and no cheese). Most vegetarians are rather thin. So far, however, I haven't got the conviction to stick to it, and I'd need to convince my wife.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[ponos]

I am not a great cook but I do enjoy cooking and I can't think of a texture that you can't achieve with good materials and decent cooking technique. Healthy food really doesn't have to have a bad texture I think. Maybe an investment in a few cooking books and some classes would help you?

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[HiThere]

You are overgeneralizing. Some people clearly enjoy exercising, and they do it. Others can force themselves to do it, and they tend to prefer not to think about it, much less talk about it, when they're not doing it.

At one age I was in the first group, but for the last several decdes I have been in the second group. Unfortunately, as I've aged pain during exercise has been added to the "I just don't like it", which has made it more difficult to continue. I can still usually coerce myself into an hour of exercise a day, but only with external support (i.e., my wife encouraging me). But I don't like it at all, even though most days I don't really dislike it except for the pain.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[HiThere]

Be sure to avoid the Atkins diet. I'm not sure that was what drove me to pre-diabetic, but there's circumstantial evidence that it was involved. And you don't need that risk.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[HiThere]

There's multiple groups involved here. Some researchers are trying to find cures. Pharma companies are much more interested in treatments. If their competion has a treatment for a disease, then they are interested in a cure, also.

There are a lot of perverse incentives in the drug business as currently organized, and the Pharma companies are trying to maximize their profits under the existing rules, which means they have a lot of perverse incentives institutionalized. You don't need a conspiracy, you just need to understand how systems work. To put it in other terms...

Have you ever had to maintian code on a deadline that severl other people have also had to maintain under the same conditions? You may all have had the best of intentions, but the code will be a nightmare. And it gets worse if different people had different coding styles. (One maintainer I can think of liked to take common C sub-expressions and create macros of them with "mnemonic" names that he used instead of the standard language. It was fast for him...but nobody else.)

Complex systems don't need malicious conspiracies to go off the track in crazy ways. Unfortunately, we've also got a few actual conspiracies (only some of which are criminal). And the results of their actions are also being maintained by well intentioned people just trying to do their job as best they can.

Looking at it from the outside we can say it's maliciously designed chaos, or that it's a conspiracy. What we have a hard time understanding is that the chaos wasn't intentional. Sometimes the parts run by the conspiracy are the sanest part of the system. What it *is* is a complex system that has evolved to survive in an environment that fosters certain kinds of actions, whether any participant is aware that those actions are happening or not.

And one result of that is that vaccinations don't get significant research funding. This isn't due to a conspiracy, it's a bunch of individuals each acting in their own perceived self interest in a complex environment. They there are cases where there apparently *is* a conspiracy. E.g., Cohchicine was taken off the market as a generic drug and reauthorized as a trademarked drug. I'm willing to believe that that was due to a criminal conspiracy. I'm not willing to attempt to prove it, because other explanations are possible, if quite unlikely.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[HiThere]

There *is* evidence to support it, though the evidence that I know of is not compelling.

What I'm remembering is a report of a study of several, or at least one, artificial sweetener that caused one to not be able to tell how many calories that one had eaten. It seemed that there was a learning estimate of how much one had eaten when things were flavored with sugar, but when the artificial sweetener was used there was learning that a sweet taste didn't mean caloric burden. And the result was increased eating.

I only saw this reported once, over a decade ago now, I think. So I'm a bit vague on the details, and can't offer a link. But that's *some* evidence. OTOH, it definitely didn't include all possible artificial sweeteners, and may only have tested one or two.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[gurps_npc]

Studies have shown that:fat is addictive. Worse than tobacco.

Specifically, it is harder to lose 30 lbs than to quit smoking. That is why people call it a disease, it acts like one.

If you want to lose more than 30 lbs, you have three choices:

1) Get a gastric bypass. This works over 95% of the time.

2) Hire a personal trainer AND a personal chef to cook most of your meals. This works most of the time - and is the method that Hollywood stars use, not whatever they claim on the advertisements for weightloss products.

3) Give yourself a severe psychological complex. Basically you have to drive yourself insane where you obsess about eating and exercising.

Jenny Craig, Weightwatchers, etc. can work for short term periods - but they fail over 99% of the time when talking about years, rather than months.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[AthanasiusKircher]

Oh, I don't assume it's unsolvable. I just don't know where and how to start and what's actually healthy. I mean, just look at all the replies I've gotten here: one person says this is healthy, the next says that is, the third one says both of the previous ones are bad for you and it's those instead that are the healthy foods and so on.

Yeah, this is typical. Everybody, including most nutritionists and most medical researchers, seem to have different opinions. I would never claim to know definitively what is "healthy" and what isn't, but from your posts here, you seem to think that what you're eating is NOT necessarily healthy. I agree that eating a wide variety of foods, including plenty of veggies, is probably better. But it's hard to make categorical statements beyond that. Personally, I try to eat a variety of things in moderation, and in recent years I've been cutting down on carbs (though not eliminating them), especially processed ones. But I don't claim to have all the answers -- you need to find what works for you, what doesn't cause you to gain weight, and what makes you feel good.

I do know other people who have food texture issues similar to what you describe. And while some of them eat a very limited diet, I know others who have gradually expanded. I hope you figure it out.

Also, I have never ever been interested in cooking and it doesn't come to me naturally. It's easy for people to say "just learn to cook!" when it's one of those things you totally suck at -- not everyone can be good at everything. I posses quite literally zero creativity.

Again, I'm just trying to help here -- but have you tried a book like Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" or a cookbook focused on "one-pot easy and quick dinners" or similar titles? I learned some things about cooking growing up, but I've learned a lot more as an adult, and most of it was just from buying a variety of cookbooks and trying things out. You don't need to be "creative" -- some cookbooks, like Bittman's, are designed for relative beginners and often contain 5 variations on most recipes, so you can tailor them to what ingredients you have on hand or perhaps how much time or effort you want to put it. (I'm not trying to promote Bittman, by the way -- there are lots of other good cookbooks, but it's one I know a lot of people have found useful.)

I saw a food and nutrition therapist and asked her for help, too, but all she offered was "eat more veggies" and kept repeating that like a parrot -- not a single god damn recipe that I could actually try.

For your problem I think you'd be better off talking to a cook or chef than to a nutritionist... or even just a friend who knows quite a bit about cooking. If I were you, I'd find somebody like that and tell them the kinds of foods and textures you like and dislike, and see what advice they have. (There may even be a way that you could sign up for a "cooking lesson" or two and use that time for your questions.) Texture is often about technique and the way you cook food, and there are other options besides just throwing everything into a blender. But a skilled cook will likely be able to suggest good recipes and resources that could fit your constraints.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Slime-dogg]

I've been there. I know how that is, too. I wouldn't consider food that didn't make me feel stuffed, and would frequently eat to that point. I was uninterested in "healthy" materials. I like cheese a lot, which translates to me liking anything with cheese as a highlight.

I had to quit cold turkey. I had good reason to, considering that I got married and effectively removed myself from the environment where I had developed my habits. I dropped 40 pounds in roughly 6 months, and it was a healthy drop.

Now, I'm so accustomed to "healthy" food, that overly processed stuff just tastes terrible. Regular soda is overpoweringly sweet. Foods like frozen pizza, box mac & cheese, and fast food literally tastes abnormal. Once you get off the sugar, salt, and fat diet pushed by Kraft, Nestle, McDonald's/Wendy's/BK, Coca-Cola, Pepsico, etc, it becomes very difficult to get back on that diet. It shifts from satisfying your tummy and giving you that pleasant sleepy contentment to just tasting bad. The textures end up all wrong, and you'll find yourself wishing you'd gone for the "healthy" stuff.

It takes time, true. It isn't impossible, and it's remarkable how much your preference will change once you finally decide upon that change.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[mpe]

One thing I can caution you about, as a med student, is to question where the guidelines for the "correct" cholesterol came from. Hint: it's probably an echo chamber, and not tied to scientific evidence.

IIRC the numbers were the lowest the drug companies could get away with.

Anyway, what I'm saying is not that statins are bad, but merely to question what your goal cholesterol really should be. Your brain has a lot of cholesterol (myelin is high in cholesterol) and cholesterol modulates your cell wall plasticity. Too low would be bad.

One very intresting thing is pattern B LDL particles contain less cholesterol than pattern A LDL particles. Which rather means that breaking lipoproteins apart and looking at their lipid "cargo" is likely to be less useful than looking at the lipoproteins themselves.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[HiThere]

That's not what my doctor said. Do you have an authroitative link?

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Amen!

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

"First-world problem" is an idiotic phrase. What, because X is less of a problem than Y, that means that X isn't bad? What is this awful logic?

God damn, I know what you're talking about. I remember the time I had to write an $86,000 check to the IRS for my remaining income taxes for the year. It was bad. I'm glad you sympathize with my plight.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[jeIIomizer]

I don't necessarily sympathize with any random plight; I just don't buy into bullshit logic like "X is worse than Y, so Y isn't bad simply because there's something worse."

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

6:25 mile is nothing to be proud of...

It certainly is if you're over 40, lack feet, happen to be a Siamese twin running relay-race style, or have Type II diabetes. Unfortunately, we have no possible way to determine whether any of these conditions apply to the GP ...oh, wait.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, well, then simply consider the "first world problem" attribution to be a figure of speech. It's really just a euphemism.

You can mentally substitute "others consider you to be a petulant bitch whining about your insignificant problems while apparently being blind to your privilege". Bitching about having to submit an income tax check that is approximately double the median gross per capita income of the country would be an example.

Basically, you are misapplying logic to a social situation. Interpersonal social communication isn't logically rigorous. If you prefer a more rigorous mental substitution for the term, consider trying "I reject your unproven premise that X is, in fact, bad."

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[jeIIomizer]

If you prefer a more rigorous mental substitution for the term, consider trying "I reject your unproven premise that X is, in fact, bad."

I reject that too, because what is and is not bad is 100% subjective.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

And, as such, your comment is illogical. You are once again attempting to apply logic to what is purely subjective.

I reject your position that something is bad when I believe it is insignificant. That is to say, I reject your rejection. You can't debate this, because you already admitted it is completely subjective.

Okay, so let's try one more time: mentally substitute "I think anyone bitching about X is a whiny, self-absorbed douchebag" for "first world problem". That should be compatible with your parsing predilections.

Euphemisms reduce the friction of social discourse, which is why people don't really say that directly.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[jeIIomizer]

And, as such, your comment is illogical. You are once again attempting to apply logic to what is purely subjective.

No, my comment is not illogical. And subjectivity is not devoid of logic, either. There might not be an absolutely correct answer in certain cases, but that does not mean logic is not involved at all. I have absolutely zero clue what your second sentence is supposed to mean.

You can't debate this, because you already admitted it is completely subjective.

It is completely subjective. But you're misunderstanding something about subjectivity; nothing prevents you from criticizing others, even if your criticism is subjective. So I can debate anything I want, as long as I frame it all as a personal opinion.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry so many people are bent on shaming you. Have you tried taking in fruit and green veg via smoothies? I've found that I'm more likely to "eat" something like kale if I swirl it up with blueberries and strawberries and a heap of chocolate protein powder.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Reziac]

So your mouth wants lump-free and shreds-of-fibre-free texture, and mild flavors? I was like that as a little kid. I ate jarred baby food (the really smooth-textured "baby's first solid food" stuff, not "toddler food") longer than normal because of it, but that doesn't seem to have done me any harm (probably wouldn't hurt an adult either, if one prefers the stuff). I'm still fairly picky about my food, but mainly I don't tolerate any 'off' flavors, and I can't swallow apple peels (my throat is fairly sure they're poisonous; they just won't go down). In particular with regard to meat, if it ain't fit to eat raw, it ain't fit to eat cooked.

Anyway, what if you run the food thru a juicer and then strain it? maybe freeze the result if that's more appealing? dilute it if the flavor is too strong? Lots of things can be made into custard, if that appeals. (Quiche is really just a savory custard.) Just throwing out ideas; feel free to throw them up, er, I mean back. :)

Also, a marked predilection toward sweets should always be investigated for hypothyroidism (which can cause juvenile reactions to other stimuli, too).

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Reziac]

I don't think it's a matter of training. I think it's a matter of genetics and therefore of hormones.

Frex, there was an interesting study on women who became vegetarians in mid-life, because "meat suddenly smells bad" (not for 'ethical' reasons). Turns out they uniformly suffered from estrogen deficiency, which radically altered their perceptions of smell and therefore taste. I have personally witnessed this phenomenon with someone who had a hysterectomy at 40 and never bothered to get her hormones adjusted. I've also seen it a couple times with M-to-F transgendered folks who haven't yet got their new hormone levels right.

Likewise, most little kids don't like strong or sharp flavors, yet at maturity, these same kids often prefer those same flavors they couldn't stand as juveniles. The most critical factors between juvenile and adult are changes in the hormone profile. (I've also noticed that apparent hormone insufficiency often accompanies the schizo/bipolar/OCD spectrum, which I believe is not so much something one comes down with, as something one fails to mature out out.)

I have Hashimoto's thyroditis, and if I crave and like the taste of sweets above other stuff, it's a good indicator that I need to increase my thyroid dosage (in fact this preference for sweets will appear before ANY other hypothyroid symptoms).

So what I would recommend is that you have a complete thyroid (not just TSH, which unless obviously high is worthless by itself) and reproductive hormone panel done. If there's something that needs adjustment, it may well take care of much of the hypersensitivity about food texture and taste. If that's not it -- well, I expect you have some enzyme deficiency, perhaps not anything medically identified as yet, and maybe not particularly 'abnormal' but rather on the far edge of the normal range of perception. Or it may indicate some unidentified medical issue, but apparently not life-threatening or you wouldn't still be here. :) I know someone who had a variety of physical hypersensitivities ("princess and the pea" syndrome) which sounded like neuroses if you didn't look further, but eventually proved due to a mild form of porphyria!!

But I don't think it's "all in your head" or a matter of just training yourself to accept it. Our sensory equipment is FAR more sensitive than most people give it credit for; if your body believes something isn't edible, it may well be that you lack an enzyme (again, that's genetic) needed to process it, and your nose can tell, even if your conscious brain can't.

Example: Ever see a little kid have a literal panic attack when some adult tries to force them to eat spinach for the first time? Why, you may ask, does some 5 year old, who'd never even heard of spinach before, act like you're trying to feed them poison? I think it's because the kid can (unknowingly) smell the oxalic acid, which is indeed 'poison' to a child's calcium metabolism.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Reziac]

Other I-hate-to-cook hints:

Everything (except for pie crust and cookies) in the "new" Betty Crocker Cookbook can be cooked in the microwave without altering the recipe. Only cooking time must be decreased. I've even made souffles in the microwave!! And do your microwave cooking in glass bowls, not plastic.

Another good investment for I-hate-to-cookers is a top-quality nonstick electric frypan. I recently had to replace mine and found an inexpensive Presto brand frypan that's the best I've ever used... heats fast and evenly.

Lots of stuff like pancakes can be flung together 'close enough to wind up with the right thickness of batter' without troubling to measure it. Or do stuff like turn pancake batter into something nifty by adding a chopped onion and some grated cheese, and baking it like a cake. (Serve dripping with melted butter.)

Random stuff like meat scraps, tomatoes, water or broth, rice or chunks of leftover baked potatoes, and whatever seasoning you like go into a bowl and into the microwave for a few minutes to make a hearty and pain-free casserole.

Similarly, last week's chicken carcass or beef/pork bones and any random leftovers becomes this week's soup, or sometimes an ugly but tasty scraps-and-rice-glop. Instant mashed potatoes also make a good quick binder for random scraps of meat and veggies.

My other Instant Food Maker is a Nesco countertop roaster. I throw a chunk of frozen meat and some potatoes and carrots into it, add a little water and seasoning (or an onion soup packet), turn it to 300F, go away for a couple hours, and the contents are magically turned into enough food for a week.

I know all this because tho I hate cooking, I hate most frozen/processed food more; also, I'm cheap, and it's a lot more economical both to cook from scratch and to repurpose the small leftovers most people throw out.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Reziac]

A great many vegetarians are fat; to get enough protein and fat, you have to eat a lot more calories. A vegetarian diet is by definition very high in carbs (and relatively low in protein and fat, which are both far more necessary than are carbs), and refined vs unrefined carbs really doesn't make that much difference to your Randall cycle. Eating lots of unrefined carbs can cause acid reflux, tho.

But do have a complete thyroid panel. Recalcitrant weight gain and wonky triglycerides (not that there's real evidence they're harmful) are pretty typical hypothyroid symptoms, and it's probably the single most underdiagnosed medical issue today (the TSH test is not helping, as now doctors treat the test rather than treating the symptoms).

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

As such, calling something a "first world problem" makes absolute sense and isn't idiotic at all.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Gaygirlie]

and I can't swallow apple peels (my throat is fairly sure they're poisonous; they just won't go down)

Sounds familiar. Trying to eat tomato literally makes me spew nearly immediately, I can't stand potato peels, lettuce is both crunchy and soft and tangy and sticks to my mouth and also generates a similar reaction as tomato and so on. It's quite bothersome, I would genuinely like to be able to eat normal food.

Anyway, what if you run the food thru a juicer and then strain it?

That's pretty much the same thing as everyone else has offered. I guess I don't have much choice, but just eating goo doesn't sound terribly appealing. Besides, I have no idea what sorts of stuff goes well with others.

Also, a marked predilection toward sweets should always be investigated for hypothyroidism (which can cause juvenile reactions to other stimuli, too).

Oh, I don't really care that much for sweets. People generally assume that fat people eat sweets and stuff all the time, but I actually buy such stuff rather rarely. I don't really care for cakes, cookies, ice creams or stuff and just a single bag of chocolates can take a week for me to consume. It's the things I drink -- I drink too much soda -- and the fact that I eat lots and lots of just plain fatty food.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[jeIIomizer]

Whether it's idiotic or not and whether it makes absolute sense or not is subjective. However, it all depends on what you mean by that. A lot of people mean, "X is worse than Y, so Y is objectively not bad." when they say "first world problem." That is a blatant non sequitur.

If you mean to say, "In my opinion, X is not a bad thing." then just say that.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Reziac]

Yeah, I was trying to think of some way that would get rid of the intolerable bits but not be too revolting. Goo doesn't sound wonderful... tho I love custard (and pudding), and the appeal is more the silky texture than the flavor. Maybe adaptations of stuff you already like, that sort of thing...

But so long as you don't veer off into some radical deficiency (eg. vegan or fruitarian or some such nonsense), the fact is our bodies are very flexible about nutrients and nutrient sources. People can do fine on a low-variety diet for a very long time if it just hits the high points for basic requirements.

Too much soda can be a contributor toward too much weight, yeah, mostly it's a helluva lot of sugar calories, or if sugar-free, aspartame is a thyroid inhibitor and may do more harm than the sugar would. Not something I drink either way... don't really care for it, most of the time.

But fatty food generally is not an issue unless you consume to serious excess, or too many carbs alongwith (fat-fried carbs are still carbs). My own rule is "If you can still see the food, there's not enough butter!" :)

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[ArmoredDragon]

If that was the case (which it isn't) then pharma wouldn't ever manufacture antibiotics, or any number of drugs which permanently remove acute conditions. Instead they'd sell a treatment that never gets rid of the underlying cause.

Sorry but you're just subscribing to yet another bullshit conspiracy theory, only to a lesser extent, but bullshit all the same.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[ArmoredDragon]

One thing I can caution you about, as a med student, is to question where the guidelines for the "correct" cholesterol came from. Hint: it's probably an echo chamber, and not tied to scientific evidence.

And this may be true. To be honest I'm not overly concerned about the cholesterol, rather my bigger concern was the triglycerides being too high. The statin drugs are regulating that rather well.

Besides, lovastatin literally comes from an oyster mushroom. You can literally eat oyster mushroom (about 2 grams according to my calculation) and get the same effect.

by are still in "hypertension" according to the experts echo chamber definitions. I mean, obviously they aren't, if their blood pressure is causing orthostatic hypotension.

I have hypertension myself, which I happen to know shouldn't be there (and I should be taking medication for it) because of damaged renal function. Since my kidneys are impaired, the renin cycle is thrown out of whack, which means my blood pressure is rising higher than it's supposed to be. Again, IGAn is the root cause of this. There are potential medications for correcting this (ARBs to be specific) but they're still considered experimental.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[ArmoredDragon]

I'm anti-GMO for the main reason that it's not been proven "safe". Something about creating "frankenfood" (what else can you really call it when you're combining genes from different organisms or even those completely fabricated in a laboratory?)

Except nobody is combining genes from different organisms. What you're reading about is experimental research done to understand what the genes do, but that is never made into actual food that lands on your plate.

There really is no such thing as "frankenfood." In fact it doesn't even qualify as a myth, rather it's just a lie invented by the dietary fanatics I speak of. The ones who perpetuate it know it isn't true, rather they just in principle are spreading shit because they don't like it being on the market. Some of them have a financial interest in it not being on the market, namely because they're in the business of selling organic food, which makes HUGE profit margins.

After all, we thought DDT was the be all and end all all purpose insecticide, until decades later - gee, that stuff is hampering the survival of a bird or two. Or what about Freon?

Well let me say this much: GMO foods have very few modifications made. Generally the count is about 15 genes. Considering that a given plant can have millions of genes, this is a very tiny number. Basically this small change makes the plant resistant to glyphosate, and it is inspired by other plants that are already resistant to it (but isn't copied from them, rather the gene sequences are engineered in the literal sense.)

Now consider that when a plant naturally reproduces, literally thousands of genes are mutated in ways completely unknown. Absolutely 100% we have no idea what these mutations do. 100% completely unknown "tampering" done by nature on a very massive scale compared to what GMO does deliberately. Yet the organic crowd insists that these thousands of mutations are harmless, whereas a very tiny deliberate change, the effects of which we know precisely what they do, that GMO does is supposed to be considered dangerous? How the HELL is that even logical?

There really is not any compelling reason to be opposed to GMO plants.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Whether it's idiotic or not and whether it makes absolute sense or not is subjective.

You didn't qualify your original sweeping generalization calling it idiotic, so I didn't bother to do it here.

If you mean to say, "In my opinion, X is not a bad thing." then just say that.

If you meant to say, "in my opinion, calling something a 'first world problem' conflates subjectivity with objective standards." then just say that.

Either way, when people actually mean to say, "bitching about that problem makes you appear to be a self-absorbed, petty twat, and your complaint may be offensive to those present" , it tends to be excessively direct. So, you don't say that explicitly. People use euphemisms like "first world problem" to communicate a concept while avoiding being blunt or directly insulting.

Furthermore, certain classes of problem are essentially nonexistent in other global settings. Any "complaint" about having to send in an $86,000 income tax check is simply not a problem that exists in the third world.

Even if you are on the autistic spectrum, you need to understand that complaining about a large income tax payment while, say, volunteering at a homeless shelter would be tone deaf, rude, and likely to make others angry.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[jeIIomizer]

You didn't qualify your original sweeping generalization calling it idiotic, so I didn't bother to do it here.

I think it was a mistake on my part to not do so.

If you meant to say, "in my opinion, calling something a 'first world problem' conflates subjectivity with objective standards." then just say that.

That's actually not an opinion, depending on what one means when they use the term "first world problem." I believe the problem is that it's not always clear what someone means when they say that.

People use euphemisms like "first world problem" to communicate a concept while avoiding being blunt or directly insulting.

I think it's too ambiguous to be truly useful.

Even if you are on the autistic spectrum, you need to understand that complaining about a large income tax payment while, say, volunteering at a homeless shelter would be tone deaf, rude, and likely to make others angry.

Whether it would make them angry or not is irrelevant to me. Whether it's rude is subjective.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it's too ambiguous to be truly useful.

It communicates the concepts quite well for the preponderance of the population. The fact that you have difficulty with the idiom while "everyone else" does not suggests you are the aberration.

Whether it would make them angry or not is irrelevant to me. Whether it's rude is subjective.

Do you have an ASD diagnosis? Either way, you should care about others' reactions to what you say. You seem to be asserting you prefer to be oblivious. I am not saying you have to let courtesy dictate your life, but it would be maddening to go through life not being able to assign a probable reaction for social communication. Even if you can't intuit the reaction, you can build an emulation layer via collected data points from prior communication. Shit, you need this information even if you only want to use your powers for evil (e.g. solely to troll grieving parents, etc).

Protips: bitching about how a huge income tax check you had to send to the IRS in front of destitute people would be considered rude by the overwhelming preponderance of people. Similarly, bitching in front of starving people about how you had to eat mushroom pizza last night is rude. Overwhelming consensus.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[jeIIomizer]

The fact that you have difficulty with the idiom while "everyone else" does not suggests you are the aberration.

Who says that "everyone" else uses it that way? My experience is that it's sometimes meant as, "X is a first world problem, which means that the problem is less bad than the problems in other parts of the world, so X is not a problem at all."

Do you have an ASD diagnosis?

Don't you think it's too early to be trotting out the buzzwords?

Either way, you should

That's subjective.

You seem to be asserting you prefer to be oblivious.

I'm not oblivious; I just don't care.

Protips: bitching about how a huge income tax check you had to send to the IRS in front of destitute people would be considered rude by the overwhelming preponderance of people.

I think it's nice that you're part of a hivemind; you can instantly know what most people think.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

I never said everyone uses it that way. I said you were the aberration for having difficulty with it. I have come to realize that you have quite an autistic streak, whether it's intrinsic or an affectation.

It must be hard for you to operate socially when everyone presumes you are too self-absorbed to care about how they react to what you say. Interestingly enough, it's a true presumption, so it's consequently fair for them to shun you. I suppose by now you're quite used to being shunned, too.

It's unfortunate that you lack the insight to be able to predict with a degree of confidence whether something would be perceived to be rude. What you deride as "being part of a hivemind" seems quite apparent to the rest of us. Then again, I have heard about people who literally cannot perceive music. They just hear noises instead.

You seem to be choosing a life of self-imposed exile. Have fun with that.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[jeIIomizer]

I said you were the aberration for having difficulty with it.

Again, using something as vague as "first world problem" does not give enough information to discern what you really mean. Especially for such a short post as the one far above. I don't even know if it was you that made that comment, but you seem more preoccupied with making assumptions about me than you are about anything else.

I have come to realize that you have quite an autistic streak, whether it's intrinsic or an affectation.

I have come to realize that you have quite an autistic streak, whether it's intrinsic or an affectation. The evidence is in every single one of your comments. I have trouble believing you can function very well in the presence of others, and you're very likely a social outcast. Your tendency of making assumptions about the mental well-being of others based on insufficient data is definitely a put-off for most people (that's just common sense), so it's inconceivable that you're a social person.

Yes, it is true! I can determine all this from Slashdot posts.

It must be hard for you to operate socially when everyone presumes you are too self-absorbed to care about how they react to what you say.

I'd just rather not hold myself back to avoid causing others offense. I have different priorities from you, obviously, but that doesn't mean I have an autistic streak, or whatever other buzzword you want to use.

I suppose by now you're quite used to being shunned, too.

Nope. Another unfounded assumption on your part, no matter how much you wish it were not so. But continue making all sorts of assumptions and pretending that short Slashdot posts qualify as good evidence for your pseudo-scientific analysis. As you don't know how I usually operate, who I spend my time with, or any relevant details, anything you say is quite irrelevant.

It's unfortunate that you lack the insight to be able to predict with a degree of confidence whether something would be perceived to be rude.

I consider possibilities and try to suppress my own biases favoring certain answers in case where I simply lack data, whereas you seem to be overconfident and prone to make generalizations. I know this because you did it in a few posts on Slashdot, so it's true about you in general.

What you deride as "being part of a hivemind" seems quite apparent to the rest of us.

Really? Can you provide scientific evidence of this (preferably that you've reviewed previously before anyone ever asked this), or are you just going to cite "common sense," which has little to no meaning? If that's the case, then just vanish; I have no interest in your unscientific "common sense."

You seem to be choosing a life of self-imposed exile. Have fun with that.

Well, you've managed to shift the topic to one that's mostly about me personally, but I think you'll find that it won't help you one bit, and you might find it difficult to analyze someone based on Slashdot posts.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Meski]

Your last sentence is the answer, I think. "You don't know how to make healthy food that tastes and feels good" - well, it is harder and more time consuming to do it than to nuke another processed meal, but it is possible. Eventually you'll end up making healthy food you like more than the processed stuff.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[badkarmadayaccount]

Does your wife know? Or is it a open relationship?

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[Anonymous Coward]

Dance Dance Revolution, and in another week, Crypt of the Necrodancer. Also, healthy food tastes good too.

Re:There's another treatment that stops most T2

[dywolf]

again: not a troll post.
someone is abusing their mod points again, going through and marking "troll" posts days after they're made.

wall-e

[nbritton]

Remember the movie wall-e? All those fat people on the ship, we're going to end up like them if we don't tackle the root problem. A cure for type II diabetes is great and all, but it does nothing to solve the root problem(s).

Re:wall-e

[Anonymous Coward]

And, what do you suppose is the root problem(s).

Lack of exercise? Not even remotely close.
Too many carbs? Close, but no cigar- but you're getting warmer.
Too many of the wrong kind of carbs? Hey, might be onto something.
Entirely too much FREE Fructose in your diet? Hey, there's one of those root causes!

To be sure, there's a bunch more, but no matter how much exercise you have, if you drink a soda, it has the impact of drinking 1-2 beers without the booze on your liver and causes you to be fatter regardless of your activity because Fructose is processed SOLELY by your liver and nothing else. That can of soda will cause your blood sugar to spike, the insulin to jump repeatedly because your pancreas doesn't distinguish between Fructose and Glucose, and it'll just sit there until your liver processes it all. Eventually, the fat and the insulin spikes take their toll and your endocrine system's busted all to hell in a manner they're apparently just NOW figuring out (Hence the article)- you just became a Type II Diabetic.

Once you're broken, though, you want to find a cure/remedy/fix- because being a Type II SUCKS. Esp. if you're allergic to Nutrapoison (which I am...).

Re:wall-e

[Anonymous Coward]

You've forgotten something...

Genetic mutation / pee-disposition to be type 2 diabetic.

It's a bad gene that makes it so that your body doesn't produce the correct *something* - could be proteins, like this FGF1, or it could be a chemical messenger released by the pancreas, or some other totally unknown chemical compound that causes your body to become insulin resistant.

We just don't know all the facts.

People who get off thinking they know, spewing drivel to trample over those of us with the predisposition, are poor excuses for human beings.

Re:wall-e

[Anonymous Coward]

Everybody is allergic to the toxic substances known as artificial sweeteners.

Everyone that ingests foods with these face severe health problems down the road.

Nutrasweet - chlorinated sugar - 300 times sweeter than table sugar, increases insulin resistance and damages mitochondria when the chlorine breaks down in the blood stream. Also, many people are allergic to the chlorine levels in it.

Aspartame / Sacharin - both of these sweeteners damage genetic material leading to Altzheimers and Parkinson's disease, as well as several forms of cancer.

Hell, even the preservatives used in sodas lead to problems.

Mt. Dew - one of my favorite drinks as a kid, contains Sodium Benzoate as a preservative.
Guess what? Sodium Benzoate, when mixed with citric acid, causes genetic mutation - it's a known and listed carcinogenic compound.
What's one of the main ingredients to Mt. Dew? Orange Juice... Right there, Pepsi Co. is mixing up a cancer causing agent and bottling it under the name Mt. Dew. They know it causes cancer, yet they do nothing to stop producing it.

Just remove the preservative, shorten the shelf-life, and boom - healthier than the current formula.

Real sugar is made up of glucose, while high-fructose corn syrup has no or very low glucose content.
This sweetener (high fructose corn syrup) is one of the evils that leads to being type II.
  If Pepsi Co. would use real sugar for the non-diet version, or tagatose (left-chondrite sugar) for a diet version, and they would have a soda that wouldn't be so bad, especially after removing the Sodium Benzoate (or Potassium Benzoate).

   

Re:wall-e

[Anonymous Coward]

Forgot to mention that aspartame breaks down into Formaldehyde once it gets above 7x degrees Fahrenheit, enjoy embalming yourself as you drink your diet pepsi and diet coke.

These drinks also increase your appetite. How many super-heavy weights do you see drinking a large diet-drink with their mega-sized fast food meal? You get the idea.

Re:wall-e

[slashmydots]

Diabetes is mostly annoying and not commonly deadly. Heart disease is the number one killer according to some study somewhere. Murder, drugs, alcohol, HIV, starvation, and dehydration are all also the #1 killer worldwide according to more studies. But still, it's a higher number for heart disease.

Re:wall-e

[Anonymous Coward]

You didn't even read wikipedia:

"The development of type 2 diabetes is caused by a combination of lifestyle and genetic factors. While some of these factors are under personal control, such as diet and obesity, other factors are not, such as increasing age, female gender, and genetics"

Re:wall-e

[paintswithcolour]

If you're worried about formaldehyde production in your body then you'd better give up eating a lot of food.

I think drinks companies must actually love aspartame. It's basically been arbitrarily chosen to be the focus of wide-spread (and still as of yet largely unproven) hysteria. It the perfect distraction, while they get to pump the drinks with as much sugar as they like.

Re:wall-e

[ArmoredDragon]

No, that's very wrong. Prior to the 1920's, diabetes was a death sentence. Most diabetics are just so good at managing it that you aren't very aware of what they are going through. Diabetics frequently die from other diseases which were caused by diabetes, heart disease being one of them (also kidney disease, liver disease, and many many others.)

Re:wall-e

[GigaplexNZ]

If you can't run a 10 minute mile, you are unfit.

You do realise it's possible to be a fit paraplegic, right?

Re:wall-e

[techno-vampire]

Diabetes is mostly annoying and not commonly deadly.

To quote the infamous Dr. Terwilliger, "I, on the other hand, am inclined to doubt that statement." The most brilliant man I ever knew, Dan Alderson was diabetic and didn't take care of himself. Two years before he was forced to retire for medical reasons, he lost his eyesight to diabetic neuropathy; he was only able to continue because I became his "seeing eye person" and helped him continue to program by dictation. Next, it caused his kidneys to fail so that he had to go on dialysis, forcing him to retire. About a year later, he lost a foot to an ulcer, largely caused by his diabetes. Within a year he was dead. Another friend was concerned about his blood sugar levels and made an appointment to have it checked; before the appointment came, he died of hyperglycemia. I developed Type II twelve years ago and since then have woken up in four different ERs. Diabetes can be, and often is a deadly metabolic disorder. Please learn what you're talking about before you comment on this subject again.

Re:wall-e

[Dr_Barnowl]

is caused by a combination of lifestyle and genetic factors

That's the key right there - in the majority of cases, you need the combination.

As many have posted, some people are huge fatties with low cholesterol and well controlled blood sugar. This concurs with the above - they are lucky enough not to have the genetic components.

Type II diabetes is of low incidence in India, but of high incidence in those of Indian-Asian ethnicity living in Western cultures. What's the difference? In India, people eat differently and exercise more. Despite their increased genetic predilection to Type II diabetes, they don't get it from their genetics alone.

The assertion that it has one root cause is false - the human metabolism is a complex system with many factors. The fact that you can't control many of these factors seems to be a vast comfort to some folk, as if it somehow absolves them of responsibility - but it remains true that you DO have control over factors that by themselves can prevent you getting the disease.

Re:wall-e

[Anonymous Coward]

why not Sucralose? it doesn't metabolize at all and gets flushed from the body.

Re:wall-e

[Anonymous Coward]

Not in your body, in the can / bottle, on the delivery truck during the summer, or sitting in a warehouse waiting to be delivered or stocked on a shelf.

Re:wall-e

[Anonymous Coward]

People exercise more in India? Where did you visit? I mostly see people getting drunk on various substances.

Re:wall-e

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, yes. It's not the number one killer, therefore it isn't deadly.

You really are a special kind of stupid.

Cure?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it really a "cure" if it only lasts 2 days?

Re:Cure?

[Anonymous Coward]

It works for 2 daty, perfect for a drug company as the patient is hooked for life
works so great for the patient

Re:Cure?

[rusty0101]

The headline is sensationalist. A "cure" could be to find a way for the body to start producing whatever variation on this hormone they come up with to address the insulin resistance, and the insulin sensitivity on it's own, without additional pharmacology. I'm not expecting that to happen though.

Re:Cure?

[ArmoredDragon]

No, but if it removes insulin resistance even temporarily then it can improve the hell out of their lives and dramatically reduce morbidity. Even taking that treatment once a day would be much better than dealing with the constant finger pricks, injections, and constantly having to be careful about what you eat (and I'm not talking about sugary foods, which are obvious and easy to avoid, but rather the glycemic load in other foods that are very much not obvious.)

Re:Cure?

[GigaplexNZ]

That just makes it an improved treatment. It's still not a cure.

Re:Cure?

[ArmoredDragon]

It doesn't seem to me that anybody ever claimed it was a cure. So what point are you trying to get across?

Re: Cure?

[Anonymous Coward]

From the summary:

However, the cure only lasts 2 days at a time.

Someone claimed it was a cure.

Re: Cure?

[ArmoredDragon]

That's called bad slashdot submitters and equally bad editors. It's nothing new. I think it's pretty well established at this point that you take slashdot summaries with a pinch of salt (especially the ones about graphene.)

Original Press Srelease from Salk Institute

[Thorfinn.au]

sounds good, but a lot more work to do

http://www.salk.edu/news/press...

Old wives tale

[Okian Warrior]

Remember the movie wall-e? All those fat people on the ship, we're going to end up like them if we don't tackle the root problem. A cure for type II diabetes is great and all, but it does nothing to solve the root problem(s).

This is an echo-chamber response: someone on the internet heard something, and keeps repeating it. It's rooted in emotional superiority, and comes from someone with no background in scientific research or statistics.

All attempts to pin obesity on the "that sounds about right" reasons have failed, including exercise and food intake - for both amounts and types of food.

In particular, lab animals grown today are fatter than the ones grown decades ago, despite having the same (and well-documented) diets and exercise. (Source.) Same with pets.

Current opinion holds that there is something in the environment that causes obesity - some agent that wasn't pervasive a couple of decades ago. Over 700 possible causes have been suggested, including your favorite bugaboo (whatever that is). We're slowly going through the options looking for the cause.

No diet will work, even that great "miracle cure" you heard about on Oprah. Lack of exercise doesn't cause it. Diets and exercise regimes work for *some* people because in changing their behaviour they eliminate the causal factor inadvertently - without knowing what it is. It wasn't the diet and it wasn't the exercise.

Try to keep current with scientific theory, otherwise we'll be repeating these old wives tales forever.

Re:Old wives tale

[ArmoredDragon]

Environment definitely plays a role. Genes play directly into that, mainly as an adaptation to that environment. Is already well known that if you have relatives with diabetes (of any type) you are more likely to have it, but also statisticians found that Caucasians are least likely to have it, with Asian being higher than most, and Native American (who happen to be mongoloid, just like Asians) having by far the greatest chance of developing it.

And, as recent research turns out, diabetes isn't new to Native Americans. Furthermore, the high glycemic load foods they now eat make the symptoms stick out more, but this is mainly because their evolution centered around diets that had very low glycemic load to begin with (and are foods that Caucasians would more likely starve to death on because they don't provide sufficient caloric needs as our metabolic system isn't equipped to process them the same as natives do.)

http://www.livescience.com/218...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/re...

At any rate, for GP's comments to be true, most diabetics would have to starve themselves to death long before they'd consume few enough sugars to not need insulin. Natives *could* be a different story, but remember that in many cases they literally did starve, and furthermore their metabolic system is more able to deal with that than ours.

Re:Old wives tale

[Maxo-Texas]

People show measurable levels of over a hundred chemical compounds (including rocket fuel) which they didn't have 50 years ago.

My bet is on psuedo estrogens given the symptoms.

Re:Old wives tale

[Anonymous Coward]

Yet some diets do seem to work, especially the ones that eliminate intra-organ fat in the pancreas and liver. They are drastic and dangerous and most people are not able to complete them, but they did reverse type 2 (although if there is already damage done, that can not be reversed). Have a look at the work of Roy Taylor, e.g. http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/36/4/1047.full .

FYI--Mayo clinic article on diabetes

[thorndt]

Just to level-set everybody.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/dise...

what a coincidence

[slashmydots]

After hundreds of years, they come up with a "cure" that the patient takes for their entire life and like half a billion people need. I'm sure it's a complete coincidence that the pharmaceutical company never intended to happen *sneezes and takes another Zyrtec*

Re:what a coincidence

[mark-t]

One injection every 48 hours is one helluvalot better than having to jab yourself with a needle 4 or sometimes even 5 times in a single day.

Re:what a coincidence

[Anonymous Coward]

One injection every 48 hours is one helluvalot better than having to jab yourself with a needle 4 or sometimes even 5 times in a single day.

Yeah, and it's a convenience you'll definitely be paying extra for. GP poster is right.

Re:what a coincidence

[HAKdragon]

You're thinking of Type 1 Diabetes where this is for Type 2.

Re:what a coincidence

[mark-t]

No... I'm definitely thinking of type 2.

Re:what a coincidence

[compro01]

You're thinking of Type 1 Diabetes where this is for Type 2.

No, many type 2 diabetics are insulin-dependant.

Tobacco smoke boosts FGF1 by 50%

[Nightlight3]

As always when a new miracle medicine is hailed in the media, I check the effects of the ancient medicinal plant, tobacco on the same biochemical mechanisms, and it didn't disappoint this time either -- as shown in this paper (pdf), it boosts the same Fibroblast Growth Factor-1 by 50% (nicotine will do as well in this case).

Re:Tobacco smoke boosts FGF1 by 50%

[Anonymous Coward]

No, it doesn't. It boosts FGF-2, which is implicated in preventing Parkinsons, but does dick-all for diabetics.

Re:Tobacco smoke boosts FGF1 by 50%

[Nightlight3]

You didn't get beyond abstract apparently -- it boosts both growth factors, FGF-1 by 50%, FGF-2 by 100% (see Fig2, p.6 or here Fig2.jpg).

I'll try it

[RubberDogBone]

As a T2 Diabetic for some number of years, I have tried just about every other treatment. Some work. Most don't The cheap ones don't anyway.

Evolution

[Bruce Perens]

For most of the existence of mankind and indeed all of mankind's progenitors, having too much food was a rare problem and being hungry all of the time was a fact of life. We are not necessarily well-evolved to handle it. So, no surprise that we eat to repletion and are still hungry. You don't really have any reason to look at it as an illness caused by anything other than too much food.

Re:Evolution

[sjames]

That is a common theory, but there is some confounding evidence. For example, the obesity rate is growing fast in the 3rd world which has far less excess food than the west.

Re:Evolution

[Bruce Perens]

:-)

You make it sound like starving people are getting fat too.

If they are becoming obese, the particular individual has a surplus of caloric intake, if only for this year or month. This is not to say that they have proper nutrition. So I am not at all clear that the fact that there is obesity in the third world is confounding evidence.

Re:Evolution

[sjames]

There are a LOT of variables in metabolism and we clearly don't know all of them yet. For example, a person could consume only adequate calories but they end up preferentially going to fat anyway and the person becomes lethargic from inadequate available calories. Or, if the calories are empty, craving for adequate overall nutrition could cause excessive calorie consumption.

Re:Evolution

[Bruce Perens]

I think it's more likely that more people are becoming obese because of exactly one factor: age. They are living artificially prolonged lifetimes due to access to adequate food and to medicine. It's easier to get fat when you are 50 than when you are 30 because of the natural changes in your metabolism.

Re:Evolution

[sjames]

That is likely a contributing factor.

Another could be that we have released a lot of chemicals that mimic estrogen and otherwise disrupt the endocrine system into the environment. That could easily encourage weight gain.

Very good news

[Alien1024]

Very good news. Extremely low calorie diets also look promising, worth a try.

Awesome.

[PC_THE_GREAT]

Extremely great news. Happy for many of my closed ones, i hope that this could lead to a potential solution to fix type 2 diabetes, i have a lot of familly members having this, despite regulating food intake and doing regular exercise. I just hope pharmaceuticals companies do not manipulate things to create a drug that one should be dependant on forever but instead create a one X number of dose fix it all thing :).

colby jack cheese

[Anonymous Coward]

That, along with all the other cheeses commercially available in the US tastes like rubber, if it has any taste at all.

Re:colby jack cheese

[Anonymous Coward]

I always compare it to slices of plastic, which is exactly what it looks and tastes like.

thank god!

[meeotch]

Finally, hope for the most vulnerable among us, the children!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Available food ...

[Thanatiel]

It's not only the lazyness or whatever you call it. It's also about what's available and how accessible it is.

I'm an European. I've made a trip to Canada & the U.S.A. a few week ago. (Mostly around Montreal and New York)
Everything was great and marvelous (the people are very nice, everything is huge and there are many cultural differences and things to see ...).

Except for ... the food. Too much on a plate and burnt, too greasy, too sweet, too salty. It mush wreak havoc with the taste buds.
"French" fries, fried with their skin ? Burnt, brown color like if they had been cooked in the same oil more than a couple of times ? Burned (black) meat but not cooked in the middle. Burned bread. Burned pizza.
Coffee that tastes like watered moka.
Pastries were so greasy I suspected them to be flammable and felt sick for a day after couple of them. (from Tim Horton, and to my surprise the food & service there is relatively better than Starbucks, at least in the few places I sampled it).
High-fructose-corn-syrup in many products (which makes you eat more by tricking your brain)

I had a few good meals too but it looked that to can only expect a good healthy dish from about $100 taxes and tip included (which I find quite expensive).

It's not difficult to make tasty AND healthy food. As long as you get fresh products (not OGM, not these mostly-water tomatos, ...).

Lazy: 150g brown rice, water, 200 vegetables, salt, olive oil. Steam-cook in an inox cooker (never any plastic) for 27 minutes (no need to watch) and voilÃf.
Less lazy: a bit of olive oil in a saucepan with a bit of oignons, cook them a bit (middle power), add peas, carrots, a bit of thym and a pinch of salt, cook and watch a few minutes, and eat that with a bit of fresh (home made?) bread. (I'm drooling.)
Bread (hand made) is very easy too.

Re:Available food ...

[gmhowell]

There's a helluva lot of territory between Tim Horton's and $100 meals.

And what's wrong with fries fried with skin on? Most of the nutritive value of a potato is in the skin.

Re:Available food ...

[Thanatiel]

I got all the way up to $100 (and a bit more) before getting good food. By comparison in Japan (2006) I could get healty food for about $7. Where I live I'm used to more or less 35€ so about $47 for a good meal.

And the other thing about T.H. : I did not expect to get very healty food on what I assumed was a "café" but that unhealthy ? I'm not sure where you have to go "here" to get the same kind of bad food. Mc Donald and its likes ?

You are right about the value of the skin of a potato. But this mostly matters if the potato is cooked whole (Steamed, boiled or in the oven). When you cut it to fry it you lose most of the advantage of the skin.

Re:Available food ...

[Shados]

I definately gained a lot of weight when I moved to the US. Restaurants everywhere, and so cheap, it takes a fair bit of willpower to resist.

Aside for availability and quantity though, its not that different from Europe, especially not Montreal. Sounds like you went to the wrong area of both cities. (All the easily accessible restaurants in NY are just shitty fast food making a buck because of their location, too, which doesn't help)

Re:Available food ...

[gmhowell]

How do you lose the advantage of the skin when it is cut prior to cooking? I'm seriously at a loss here.

(As far as your other observations, I don't know. Seems odd to me that you couldn't find something considerably better than TH for considerably less than $100. I suspect part of the problem is not knowing the area and which non-chain restaurants to hit. Chains are almost invariably aimed at the lowest common denominator)

There's a name for that

[Anonymous Coward]

The name for something that makes symptoms go away for just a couple of days is "treatment," not "cure."

Strike that. Reverse it.

[Antique Geekmeister]

[ I speak as an older programmer, with plenty of diabetic acquaintances and family. ]

I'm afraid there are plenty of Type 2 diabetics whose weight gain was _triggered_ or at least ballooned, under the influence of Type 2 diabetes. The insulin resistance can also cause high insulin levels, which triggers hunger. The spiral of high insulin levels and weight gain can get out of hand very quickly. The result is that people believe that the weight gain triggered the Type 2, not the reverse, especially as the early symptoms are quite modest and only show up with regular blood testing or a glucose tolerance test. It also makes treatment quite difficult, since lapses can leave the victims feeling surprisingly hungry and eager to break their treatment regimes.

There are certainly millions of Type 2 diabetics who'd welcome a much simpler treatment approach: the oral medications do have complications. Injections are awkward, but there are certainly millions of Type 1 diabetics who absolutely need frequent insulin injections or insulin pumps who will say "get over it".

Re:Strike that. Reverse it.

[Reziac]

"I'm afraid there are plenty of Type 2 diabetics whose weight gain was _triggered_ or at least ballooned, under the influence of Type 2 diabetes."

That's an interesting perspective, and perhaps we do have the cause and effect entirely backwards. Has there been any research looking at it from this end?

the race is not always...

[Grey Geezer]

but that's the way to bet.

Excitig news or depressing? The latter ...

[fygment]

... granted my understanding is that weight induced diabetes is a self-inflicted wound. Poor diet, no exercise, and it all catches up. But this technology is a money maker for someone, I'm probably just jealous.

wow

[dagarath]

Good news for mice of the world!

Necrosis of Fat Tissue

[Anonymous Coward]

One of the possible "side effects" would be long term necrosis of fat tissue. However.. that side effect would take time to appear. And could actually be worse than any side effects from Diabetes seen so far. Fat tissue is like a water reservoir.. it soaks up the fatty acids created by excess glucose in the blood.. "inhailing it" when excessive.. "exhailing it" when low.. the reason for Diabetes and Obesity.. it the continued "inhailing" of excessive levels of glucose.. primarily driven by sabotaging the gherlin and leptin feedback look.. which people do.. because of addiction to getting "high" on elevated glucose levels in the blood.. its as simple as that.. they figured it out in 2027.. people suffered a lot.. then the suvivors slowly came off the "high" and fast food was regulated.

Re:Excitig news or depressing? The latter ...

[Livius]

Type 2 diabetes is 90% (or so) self-inflicted. Do you deny a remedy to the 10% innocent victims because of the weakness of character of the 90%?

The quality of the treatment matters

[ponos]

Although a definite cure would be nice, simply improving the quality of glycemic control would be a revolution. Optimal glycemic control can be very complicated, especially for patients who do not have the courage to follow strict dietary and healthstyle recommendations. Being able to treat a complicated disease with a single daily injection sounds nice. I know it would simplify my job as an MD...

I know exactly what you eat

[Anonymous Coward]

You eat cock, fag!

Prelude to Hibernation?

[Anonymous Coward]

I read this in a book somewhere and unfortunately I don't remember the title. I'm also not qualified to judge the theory, so I'm hoping a couple people from here could comment on it:

There's a theory that diabetes is a natural prelude to hibernation (apparently this happens to a lot of animals?). In the summer you're supposed to eats lots and lots of sugary fruits. All the excess sugar gets stored as fat and you get fatter and fatter. Eventually you're fat enough that you become insulin resistant. The more insulin resistant you are, the more sugar stays in your blood stream and is absorbed by your cells. By the time it's getting colder you're fully resistant, fat, and your blood or cells have extremely high levels of sugar in it. Now you hibernate. The sugar helps keep your blood and cells from freezing. Of course some ice crystals will form and they damage cell walls (that's why freezing kills you, all those super tiny, sharp ice crystals cutting things up). The damaged cells start leaking, but the excess cholesterol clogs up the cell holes thus they stop leaking to death. Meanwhile, your body is slowly burning through your fat reserves to keep you warm using those heating cells we have nearby our major organs. They directly convert fat into heat without needing to shiver. By the time winter is over, you've burned through all your fat and you get up to repeat the cycle.

As someone without a medical degree it sounds somewhat reasonable of how things could have been. Does anyone have more details?

The End of Diabetes by Joel Fuhrman, M.D

[Paul Fernhout]

Glad to here about your success story! If you want to take your success to the next level, you may find this of interest:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/shop/...
http://www.amazon.com/The-End-...
"This New York Times best seller offers a scientifically proven, practical program to prevent and reverse diabetesâ"without drugs. Diabetes does not have to shorten your life span or result in high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney failure, blindness or other life-threatening ailments. In fact, most type 2 diabetics can get off medication and become 100 percent healthy in just a few simple steps. This book offers no compromises, it is the most aggressive and effective approach to reverse obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease; which typically accompany type 2 diabetes. The information about Type 1 diabetes is simply life saving. It is a must read for every diabetic, as well as any nutritionally-aware person wanting to understand the failure of conventional medical care for diabetic treatments and the "no-brainer" of using nutritional excellence, not drugs."

And see:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/disea...

The grand parent poster said quadrupling *vegetables* (many of which are leafy greens like Kale) not "complex carbs"... And there are much healthier things to eat than cancer-implicated processed lunchmeat if you want to eat meat...

Also, exercise does not help much with weight loss because it stimulates the appetite, even though exercise in general is good for health...

Also, for yet another different perspective (on how the recommendations decades ago to avoid fat on the theory it made people fat have instead led to an epidemic of obesity and heart disease by leading people to eat too much sugar):
http://healthimpactnews.com/20...

Good luck staying with what is working for you and maybe even going further which might then free up energy for your titanic plans! :-)

Re:The End of Diabetes by Joel Fuhrman, M.D

[Meski]

Also, exercise does not help much with weight loss because it stimulates the appetite, even though exercise in general is good for health...

Not so much for me, I never feel less like eating than after gym sessions. Which is a problem because I typpically have plummeting BGL for the hours following. Grrr. More insulin tweaking.

Preventative and behavioral medicine

[ToddInSF]

Yield the best and most cost effective results, every time.

This, however, is not how medicine is practiced and funded int he USA. Because it cuts into drug company profits.

The medical and medical research communities in the US are essentially owned by the drug companies and the insurance industry.

I wonder...

[WeeBit]

How much that 2 day cure will cost a month? Judging by how much they are charging people for other new drugs... I don't have 2-4 thousand a month to dish out. So much for them eradicating diabetes!