Yes, we can reverse diabetes with disciplined life style modifications. Now a day diabetes (increased blood glucose level) is very common. We notice many people come to us at our clinic and they are of different age groups. In this modern era people are stressed up, not under control over food intake, addicted to phone, television with less physical activity and inadequate sleep.

A recently published article in December 2021 mentions the number of diabetes cases in India to be 74.2 million with age between 20 -79 years. Indians are more likely to develop diabetes due to comorbidities like obesity, hypertension and poor awareness about diabetes.

Now it is a trend to consume lot of outside, junk and fast food. People are crazy about eating bread, biscuits, pizza, burger, sugary items with added preservatives and color additives. Not considering the health benefits they end up with so many health issues just by giving artificial tasting food to the tongue. These increased artificial additives or carbohydrate intake can destroy the metabolism and leads to fat deposition (obesity) and increased glucose level in the blood.

Across all the generations, kids to senior citizens are stressed up for one or the other reason. Kids and students are stressed due to school, college and home works. Adults are confused and stressed up with higher studies and job profile. Elders are worried over family and work stress. To manage the stress, some end up with binge eating, consuming junk food, get addicted to phone and television. Then forget to rest their body and mind with sleep. So, due to stress the lifestyle is getting spoiled and leads to so many health problems.

In this busy life with work and social media, People are not ready to give time to their own physical activity. By considering all these points like no physical activity, no sleep, improper food and stress we can make out that sedentary lifestyle is the main reason to get type-2 diabetes.

As you all know that the increased glucose/sugar in the blood is considered as diabetes. Type 1 DM is insulin dependent and type 2 DM is non-insulin dependent. When we can reverse type 2 diabetes with lifestyle modifications and help of integrative therapies using Ayurveda Yoga and Naturopathy, what are you waiting for?

Just gain proper knowledge through experts and get treatment.

So what are those life style modifications we can do?

• Diet therapy
• Yoga
• Walking
• Breathing exercises
• Reduction of stress

Diet Therapy

What we eat is very important to maintain good health. When we want to reversible a diabetes, we must follow certain dietary habits. Some tips:

Use Natural grown fruits - fruits which have low glycemic index include apple, grapes, pears, pomegranate, jamun (black berry), guava, watermelon, musk melon, kiwi, avocados, papaya and citrus fruits.

Kitchen herbs - Regular use of 3-4 kitchen herbs will help in the process of reversal.

1. Fenugreek/methi - fenugreek seeds and leaves are act as hypoglycemic and improves glucose tolerance. Soak 1-2 tsp of fenugreek seeds in water overnight. Drink water and eat the seeds on empty stomach next morning. Fenugreek leaves can be used as a curry or sambar.
2. Curry leaves - curry leaves increase the carbohydrate metabolism and reduces the oxidative stress. Good to take few leaves by chewing them on the empty stomach. Curry leaf chutney or curry leaf powder can be consumed daily.
3. Cinnamon - cinnamon powder can be consumed in the form of tea or can use in sambar or soup. Bioactive compounds of cinnamon will help to reduce the blood sugar.
4. Karela/bitter gourd - bitter gourd is having anti-diabetic compounds like charantinn vicine and polypeptide-p. Poly peptide-p act as insulin, all these together brings reduction of glucose in the blood. This can consume in the form of juice, curry or sambar.
5. Garlic, ginger & turmeric - These are rich in antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory compounds. Act as hypoglycemic and controls blood sugar.

Foods to be avoided:

• Sugar
• White / polished rice
• Chikku
• Crusted apple
• Jack fruit
• Mango
• Banana

Yoga therapy

Regular yoga therapy practice for diabetes plays a major role in reversing DM-2. Many research articles show a significant result in reducing blood sugar in the diabetic patients.

In most of the patients, stress will be the main cause fyit the onset of diabetes. So the yogasanas, pranayama, relaxation techniques are very good to reduce the stress and improves the way of life. As yoga is way of living, it brings discipline to the individual and adds value to health.

Yogasanas or physical pose like twisting and forward bending postures (katichakrasana, vakrasana, padhastasana, paschimottanasana, bhujangasana, pawana muktasana etc) will help in increasing the blood circulation and improves pancreatic function. There by the increased blood sugar will come down with yoga practice.

Breathing and relaxation techniques slow down the heart rate, breath rate and increases the awareness of breath. This will help in reducing the stress and improves the sleep.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is traditional Chinese method. In Acupuncture fine needles are inserted to many acupuncture points. It regulates the hormone called cortisol which has a major role in helping body respond to stress. Acupuncture also help in controlling blood sugar by activating the complete digestive system and prevents the complications of DM-2.

Gastro-Hepatic pack

GH pack is one of the mudtherapy treatment in Naturopathy. Many research paper have shown the significant effect by using GH Pack to the patients with type 2 diabetes.

Walking

Any physical activity like walking or other physical exercise will help in increasing the body metabolism and glucose will be utilized by the body for energy.

Case study

A male patient came with sudden increased blood sugar and had a complaint of increased thirst and h/o stress with with from home during Covid. His HbA1c was10.3%, FBS- 270, PPBS- 358. He underwent treatments which included naturopathy Detox, Ayurveda based udvartana, Acupuncture and Yoga therapy. He was on ayurvedic medicines for restoration of metabolism for 6 months and practiced yoga regularlyb with walking. His reports after 6 months was HbA1c -6.5%, FBS -118, PPBS -140. Since there was a constant decline in the parameters, in the next 2 months, he was advised to stop medicines and continue with lifestyle regulation. It's over an year now and the patient has stable levels of blood glucose levels.