Watching this fantastic video series right now!

[Packratona!]

This is excellent. On changing your lifestyle to prevent and turn around diabetes and prediabetes. Highly recommend! A nine week series, free to sign up.

https://go.ithriveseries.com/episode-1-live-111p5kh8t?utm_source=E1-e4&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=E1

[SteveinMN]

So after an hour and a half of Episode 1, when do they get to what a person can do to combat the disease?

[Packratona!]

So after an hour and a half of Episode 1, when do they get to what a person can do to combat the disease?

There are 8 more episodes, one each week! They will explain it all!!!!

[JaneV2.0]

It might be related to this trial:

https://reason.com/blog/2018/02/28/is-keto-the-cure-for-type-ii-diabetes

[Packratona!]

Video #2 out! This is so excellent! Watch until 9 tonight for free! https://go.ithriveseries.com/episode-2-live-qgrqqe0r

[SteveinMN]

Harrumph. I think I can save a lot of people many hours and a few dollars. I think Jane is right; they're promoting low-carbohydrate/high-fat or ketogenic diets.

Full disclosure: last summer I was diagnosed Type 2 diabetic. Runs in my family; had some risk factors for it; it didn't come as a huge surprise.

As I believe we've discussed in these forums before, the American Diabetes Association's approach to diabetes care (and, therefore, the approach of much of the American medical profession) seems to have more to do with perpetuating a multi-billion-dollar industry than with actually helping diabetics get better. For whatever reasons, the ADA rejects recent proven endocrinological research and recommends daily carbohydrate intakes that pretty much require medication to bring back to "normal" levels ("carb up and shoot up").

Some of us have chosen a different path. I've been on a very-low-carb diet since July (and was relatively low-carb long before that). I've dropped my A1c by 16% and my cholesterol/triglyceride levels substantially (don't remember the numbers at the moment) and my blood glucose is in tight control, despite eating more sausage, coconut oil, sour cream, and eggs than I probably ever have. It's a way of eating that's not hard to follow (once you acclimate to it); it has given me plenty of energy, and, because it has let me avoid medications, I will never have a dangerous hypoglycemic low. I am more active than I've been in years, which helps. But I largely credit my almost-ketogenic way of eating with tilting my metabolism in the direction of addressing my diabetes without meds and without the myriad complications that come from poor blood-glucose control and with giving me a way to eat that does not leave me crabby and always hungry even while calorie-restricted.

Would that health-care professionals suggested to new (Type 2) diabetics that they try a LCHF or ketogenic diet first before moving to the latest heavily-advertised diabetes wonder drug. But (my surmission) there's too much money in the existing way to try such a simple approach.

By the way, I will differ with James McCarter (in Jane's link); I don't believe there is a cure for diabetes (short of a pancreas transplant and even that is not guaranteed). The biochemical conditions which give rise to diabetes are not reversed by any way of eating or activity; going back to the "old ways" will cause diabetic symptoms to reappear. I consider myself "in remission". Will this work for everyone? No. Not my approach, not Virta's (Jane's link), not iThrive's. But it can work for so many it's a shame that more diabetics don't know about it.

Edited to add: My apologies if the above comes off as crabby. If the iThrive series is what people need to understand their risk for diabetes and to address it, then they should go for it. I think the same end can be accomplished (far faster) with some Web searching (I'm happy to provide useful links), but maybe that's just me. I'm also tweaked by organizations like the ADA (and others, like Komen) that seem to be searching more for endorsement than mitigation.

[ApatheticNoMore]

hmm prevention of diabetes and prediabetes yea likely possible. Even if one is bound to be fat and can't help it for whatever reason, serious physical activity will lessen the risk of diabetes even then. Curing existing diabetes, not so easy (usually it is about managing), but if it's early on there is some research on serious calorie restriction helping recently.

[JaneV2.0]

I've long been an adherent of various low carb plans--which I hope keeps T2 diabetes at bay--but lately I've moved to a looser plan of intermittent fasting, which has roughly the same effect plus autophagy. So far, so good, and I'm enjoying the broader menu IF affords.

[Packratona!]

So did anyone here actually watch the videos?

[Packratona!]

Actually No, Steve. These videos are not promoting low carb/high fat or ketogenic diets at all. You would be able to tell that if you watched the videos. They are really worth watching. I don't know what dollars you are talking about that people can save. The videos are free to view as long as you watch each one as it comes up on youtube for 24 hours. If anything, watching them and becoming informed could save you a LOT of money. Your second paragraph is just what these videos address.

[JaneV2.0]

I watched some of it. They mentioned Dr. Mercola, and I went from there. But I'm happy with what I'm doing.

[Teacher Terry]

A friend of mine was pre-diabetic so they sent her to a nutritionist and she never got diabetes after following her advice. She was not overweight. My DH has type II and I don't want to watch 9 videos to hear what the premise is. It sounded like Steve watched 1 1/2 and they never got to the premise of what they advise you to do.

[iris lilies]

OP, any information that advertises itself as allowing me to “Discover the shocking TRUTH”* with lots of exclamation points isnt a source I consider especially trustworthy. It may or may not contain facts. If it does, I guarantee that this isnt the only way to find good information, the I Thrive people dont have a monopoly on diabetes health facts.

But if it works for you, so be it, good cor you! I am not current on diabetes information so I wont waste your time having you explain the TRUTH according to this film. I wouldnt be able to analyze it for hype vs. fact.

I will say, since we are talking about it, that whatever diet Steve was on that he talked abput measuring carbs in broccoli is not a diet I will eat. Avoidance of giant carb numbers like bread and pasta, I understand. But avoid broccoli? Nope. That is too radical for me.

* this video series promotes itself using that phrase and also the quack publication Natural News says the film “reveals secret to reversing type 2 diabetes” with the hewdline “Diabetes SOLVED!” This is more loud hype journalism.

[sweetana3]

Iris Lilies, I am right with you on this one. Somewhere in all this is a money angle for sure. I always strive for "Balance in everything" and avoid anything radical whether food, religion or politics. :-)

Whether cancer, diabetes, or any other disease, there is no easy solution. It is hard work.

Want to add that any knowledge, properly evaluated, is probably not a bad thing. But advertising a "cure" or "shocking truth" turns me totally off. Too many snake oil people use these techniques.

[SteveinMN]

IL and sweetana are covering the ground I was getting to.

The first video runs an hour and 21 minutes. After about 20 minutes of watching iThrive describe how terrible diabetes is (I know how bad it is; I've seen family and friends live with the symptoms for years, but, okay, maybe other viewers have never lived with anyone who's been diabetic for any length of time) and how it is becoming a worldwide scourge (it is) and seeing people self-flagellate for not doing "more" "sooner", I started skipping ahead. I did not see anything that resembled an action plan that buttressed iThrive's claims. To think that there are eight more videos in what likely is the same format ... well, ...

Then we get to the hype. As others have noted, terms like "cured" and "reversed" and "shocking truth" get my antennas waving.

First, diabetes is not exclusively a "lifestyle" disease. In some forms (Type 1 and Type 1.5 [LADA]) the body simply does not produce any usable insulin; no amount of exercise or mental conditioning or special diet or such will make up for that absence. At ths same time, there are millions of overweight/obese people who never contract diabetes and people with good body mass indexes and high fitness levels who do contract it. There is no one-size-fits-all to what causes diabetes or what is needed to treat/manage it.

Second, as I wrote earlier, in the absence of any external change, once diagnosed, diabetes is still present. T-cells do not regrow themselves. If untreated for a long time, the damage done by excess glucose in the body does not go away. There is scientific debate that insulin resistance can be reversed to "normal". But take away the exercise, the regulation of carbohydrate intake, and/or the medications, and diabetes continues.

At the same time, and, as I wrote earlier, there is a huge industry built around treating diabetes that I view with a great deal of skepticism. As with other chronic health issues (cancer, fibromyalgia, back pain, etc.), diabetes seems to offer a deep well of money to those who treat the afflicted. "Wonder drugs" that encourage already-weakened pancreases to produce even more insulin, blood-glucose meters given away because the manufacturers know they'll make back the cost (and then some) with test strips that cost over a dollar apiece, foods/supplements/shoes/magazines marketed specifically to diabetics, and the questionable recommendations of the American Diabetes Association, all give a strong impression that there is more interest in keeping the money machine going than there is in giving diabetics the tools to live their best lives.


The videos are free to view as long as you watch each one as it comes up on youtube for 24 hours.
That statement implies to me that, after 24 hours, there's a charge to view the videos. So is there a fee or not?

As others wrote, if this presentation is what gets people to review their risk factors and choose to act on them, good for them. There's just a lot here that strikes me as questionable and hidden. Not a fan.

[SteveinMN]

I will say, since we are talking about it, that whatever diet Steve was on that he talked abput measuring carbs in broccoli is not a diet I will eat. Avoidance of giant carb numbers like bread and pasta, I understand. But avoid broccoli? Nope. That is too radical for me.
I don't follow a ketogenic plan, though I'm not far from it. I try to keep under 30-40 grams of carbs a day (ketos shoot for 20-25) and try not to bunch too many of them into any one meal.

Broccoli (in fact, pretty much any brassica) is fine so long as you're not eating the entire head at a time. ;) Some vegetables (like tomatoes and onions) naturally have higher levels of sugar so going overboard on eating them is not a good choice when you've got only 20-30-40 grams of carbs a day to "spend". But I have no issue eating reasonable quantities of non-root/non-starchy vegetables.

Low-carb/high-fat/keto is no magic bullet. For people with severe impairment of the pancreas, even reducing carb intake that severely won't be enough though it will allow the diabetic to use less medication and/or insulin. And especially for those who love grains and sweets, it can be a tough adjustment. I was never that much a fan of sugar and starches, which made it easier for me. But almost anyone who presents as some stage of diabetic can do it and it doesn't cost money for a special diet or (for many) meds. There is the cost of a blood-glucose meter at first. But, compared to co-pays or paying outright for drugs like Trulicity and Januvia, it's a pittance. And it's put my diabetes into remission. Win-win for me, I guess.

[Tybee]

Packratonia, is this the video you were talking about, how you and your husband lost the weight?

[Suzanne]

IrisLilies, Jane, Steve - right on!

[Suzanne]

Diabetes could be five (or more) diseases. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/health-43246261

[Packratona!]

Ok everyone; watched all 9 videos, will report on my take on them, and reply to some of your messages later. This weekend only they are making available all 9 episodes to watch, no need to sign up or register, just go to this link. I will say I really liked the videos, and for me they were educational. The first several lay the groundwork, with interviews from various nutritionists. They then get at how to put it all into action, towards the end. Just thought I would let you know, in case any are interested in preventing and dealing with prediabetes and diabetes and want to watch some or all of the videos. https://go.ithriveseries.com/series-replay-xfvly9xe