Welcome to another episode of Reversing Your Type 2 Diabetes Summit 2.0. This is your co-host. Dr. Will Hsu. L-Nutra Health for Diabetes has launched a diabetes remission program to help people get off their medication. People with diabetes to get off their medications while driving glycemic control.

And so today, to help us understand a little bit about what the role of the physician is in this whole ask a de-escalation process for diabetes medications.

I have one of my colleagues here, Dr. Niki Davis, here with us today. Dr. Davis, welcome. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. And I'm excited to talk about this. Yeah.

So I know that you you have many years of experience of practicing as somebody that wants to use less medication and treating the root cause of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes.

And and tell us what what kind of gave you the passion to to practice this particular approach to medicine? You know, it's interesting because it started out I you know, I used to work as a mechanical engineer on the space shuttle program and know about that.

And during that time, I was learning more and more about nutrition and health, and I was always excited about health. How could I improve my own health?

And so then once I learned about plant based nutrition and the ability for you to be able to improve your health just by improving your lifestyle, I decided to quit my engineering job and go back and do medical school.

So, yeah, so I was I was already really excited about just helping people with prevention, reversing chronic disease, treating chronic disease, using lifestyle measures.

So once I completed my family medicine residency in 2020, I immediately went into lifestyle medicine. So even though I'm ordered as a family doctor, lifestyle medicine was what I really wanted to do.

And that's all about helping people get well, you know, helping people get off medications and be able to live their lives again. So, yeah, that's what I'm passionate about.

I love I love getting to do what I do. So, wow, this is amazing. You you, you just come from a place where you study rocket science. And now also to translate that that very particular skill sets and also that that science minded mindset to medicine.

That's why I always say you don't have to be a pre-med to go into med school. You see, even space engineering could do this. And and people are looking for all kinds of talents for, for med school.

So I really appreciate that background there. So on this Summit, our listeners are people living with type 2 diabetes. They are pioneers, they are people who want to empower themselves.

They want to take control of their own health. And so, so often they are looking for information like the one we're just about to talk about. That is sort of a, you know, sort of a cut above kind of the routine medicine that that they can get anywhere else.

So recently, L-Nutra, the company has launched a diabetes remission regression program to help people to not only control their blood glucose, but do it with less and less medicine over time and do it through a nutritional approach gives you the precision nutrition that that that confers many of the benefits of fasting without actually going through a long term fast.

So that's in other podcasts or other educational sessions. We talked a lot about that. But what's really missing in the discussion of that is actually the doctor who's managing the program, right?

And that's where you come in. Tell us about the organization you work with and the kind of practice that you have. Sure. So I'm working with a company called Love. Life.

Love. Life TeleHealth. is the portion that I work with. So basically what it is, is it brings lifestyle medicine to people all over the world. So we have doctors that are licensed in all 50 states and we can see people internationally.

So if you're looking for a doctor who knows what to do with lifestyle related chronic disease where the doctors that you come to. So that's where I get to see people.

You know, it's the gamut. It's not only diabetes, but it's, you know, high cholesterol, it's high blood pressure, it's obesity, it's autoimmune. So many different things that people come to me and they say, you know, I'm just I'm tired of being on this same train where I'm just another medication is being added and I'm being told this is getting worse over time.

So they come to me and they say, I really am motivated. I really want to make a lifestyle change to help myself either stop this or help it, at least not get worse or maybe even reverse it, if that's possible.

So I'm helping people titrate off medications and improve those conditions just by using lifestyle measures. This is really amazing because you're describing actually the very characteristics of our listeners.

They are the ones that exactly want to do that. And while L-Nutra has a patented products and solutions for reversing type 2 diabetes, that the company is not in the business of practicing medicine.

So they have to partner with with folks like yourself, experts and professional physicians that are licensed to to adjust medication because it works.

And that's why this partnership just seems very, very natural to me here. So you have begun to talk about the patient characteristics. Well, I love to dive into that a little bit more.

And so what in in your mind, in your experience with the patients, the members in the program, and the L-Nutra Health Program. What typically set them apart?

You know what? You spoke a little bit about the motivation, but is there anything else you see that that may be different than somebody who just wants to take get go to their doctor and get their medicine and then just pop five, six medicine in their body every day to control sugar for the rest of their lives.

Right. Yeah. It's it's interesting because you would think that people who choose to just take medications are taking the easy route because all you have to do is go and get your medication and take it every day or every week and you're good to go.

But it's a hard life to live. It's it's not easy having blood sugar that is difficult to control or having to give yourself insulin injections all the time, seeing that your blood sugars are getting worse over time, that maybe your kidneys are starting to have issues.

That's not an easy life to live. So making lifestyle changes so that you can take back control of your own health is really it. It's seems more difficult.

But ultimately you are getting to live the life that you want to by taking control of that. So so I really I love being able to help people who, like you mentioned, people who are motivated, but it's also people who want to take back that control and not just going and seeing their doctor and getting another prescription and sent out the door again.

Right. You get to take control of your own health. And so I see that as well, that it's people who really want to take that back and are sick of being told this is a chronic condition that I'm just going to have to manage over time.

And that's just going to get worse over time if that's something you don't want to be told. I don't blame you because I have been able to see in my own practice people feeling like that and actually being able to improve and get better over time and get off those medications.

Dr. Davis. It really dawns on me. So we've almost created a medical culture where even of lifestyle related or age related conditions, our first go to is always the drugs.

I mean, every guideline says you start with lifestyle modification, but that's almost like a lip service, right? Yeah, that's where you exercise. Okay, let's go on 1 minutes and write that in.

Should I perspire for you? Right. So, but on the on the patient's perspective from the patient's angle, why do you think there is such acceptance that.

That we should just be taking more medicine? We should just rely on these medication for the rest of our lives in your only experience in talking and taking care of so many patients.

What do you think? Is that? What is the mindset? Why is that? We get to this place where we just say, Oh, okay, diabetes just take minutes and oh, just take injections?

Or why is that happening? You think? Okay. Well, I think that part of it is that we as a society have decided that that's how it is, that when you go to see your doctor, that you listen and and you do everything that they say instead of taking it into your own hands.

And I'm not saying that you should decide which medications you should take and which ones you should stop. But there is. But but thinking about it, thinking about the bigger picture.

And and I really do like working with patients. I think instead of me telling you, here's what you need to do. I like having a conversation. Here are the options.

Here's what you could do. Here, here's what I would recommend. What? How would you like to go about this? You know, it's more of a conversation because different people have different goals, right?

Some people do just want to take medications and they're not willing to change anything about their lifestyle. And that's okay, too, if that's what they choose to do.

So everyone's going to be a little bit different. And that's why I think that instead of thinking of doctors as these all knowing beings and you should just take everything that they say and do everything, you know, just exactly what they say.

Step back for a moment and think, Well, what do I really want? What are my goals? Because they may not be in line with what the goals of your doctor are.

And that's, I think, you know, with with patient education, empowerment, that movement is ongoing. More and more people are coming to physicians telling the physicians of what they want, what they're looking for.

And and that's awfully well, that's the wrong word. That's actually the fantastically empowering right for our patients. I think that's what a good way to to to to help our patients.

But from the doctor's perspective, let's switch the role a little bit. Right. So we all know college guys that may not subscribe to this kind of philosophy.

A lot of the physicians still feel that, oh, lifestyle medicine or, you know, diet and exercise, they sound good, but it's too hard to implement. Let's just let's just take out a prescription pad.

Tell us a little bit more about about some of our colleagues who why is it that they may be they they feel that this is really the way to do medicine that's very different than the one we're describing?

Well, I think that it is difficult to talk to your patients about making lifestyle changes, not only because we typically don't have a lot of time with our patients.

You barely have enough time to go through medications and make one change. But to actually sit down and talk about lifestyle changes takes time. And so a lot of people don't have the time.

The other thing is I think that a lot of providers get discouraged because they will offer lifestyle changes to their patients and not get checking up on it.

So I think that can become discouraging. And then they decide they're not going to bring it up anymore. But what I've found is that you've always got to give the benefit of the doubt.

You never know who's going to be that person who does want to make that change and doesn't want to just have it be the typical treatment of medications and surgeries and really does want to improve their health.

Yeah, that's very, very true. Now, the only true health for diabetes is a comprehensive program that involves a five day fasting mimicking diet for the rest 25 days.

They provide longevity, nutrition guidance by a registered dietitian. But this is where I think, you know, having a physician now to oversee the entire journey, adjusting medications and so and so forth becomes such a critical piece.

And now now you've begun to take care of these patients coming in from the program. What do you do for them? I know that there's so many value here, having a doctor.

And in fact, we've we've done a survey asking people what is the thing they most value about about a program, a diabetes program and metabolic program.

They said talking to the doctor actually is one of the science values for the program. So tell us what you do for for members. Yeah. So basically we go through their medical history, we go through their medications and we come up with a plan for what that's going to look like while you're doing your five day fasting, mimicking.

So everyone's going to be a little bit different. Some people are going to need to stop certain medications. Others not. And so we really it's a case by case basis of what do I feel like you need to do during that fasting period?

And then as you continue to do these five day fasts over a period of months, because I'm trained in lifestyle medicine and I often and tighter titrating people off of medications, I know what to look for and I know which medications typically we would want to stop first, which how do we go about decreasing those medications.

So it's not only figuring out what they should be doing during the fasting period, but also what are they doing as they improve over time, Because most doctors unfortunately don't get to see people getting better or getting well.

So they're very used to adding on what's the next medication that we would add. But to know when and how to titrate off medications is not something that we get access to.

We don't get that training and residency or medical school. We just don't. We get training to increase medications. Right. Exactly. Not the other way around.

So this really is a unique experience and expertise. So the program has the the M. D. supervision has the laboratory That's part of this, because you also order labs, right, for exactly.

And then the dieticians, the coach individuals got going through these cycles of nutrition. And then obviously we have this patented fasting mimicking diet products that are specially designed for people with metabolic conditions.

And so I'm always surprised, even though I do a lot of research and when I saw the results of of of studies looking at this kind of approach, it was said, you know, one study was published about two years ago in the Journal, the clinical Journal, Endocrinology and Metabolism, JCM six cycles of the fasting mimicking diet.

So five days, six, six cycles sounds like a long time, but it's actually five days per month for six months total 30 days. The what? The researchers from University Heidelberg in Germany was able to show that there was a 1.41 C drop, 1.4 hemoglobin A1.

So that's pretty impressive. That's like that's like a drug, right? Maybe that's drops. But at the same time, people were able to lose about 22 pounds.

But the good news is that only it's not only just any weight, but it's really a factor of and weight loss with preservation of lean body mass that's so important.

A lot of people don't talk about that. Number three, that 67% is two thirds of the people in the study were able to reduce their diabetes medications while achieving all these outcomes.

And then back to talking about addressing the root cause of diabetes. Dr. Davis, you both and I know that insulin resistance is such a big driver for type 2 diabetes.

We saw more than 50%, actually 59% decrease in instant resistance with 30 days of plan based dietary approach. Now, if you put it all together, I don't know how many drugs people have to take to to attempt to achieve that, but that's with more medicine now that works with less medicine.

Yeah. So what when you hear a results like this from a professional, from a physician perspective, is there any reactions as you listen to the results like that?

Yeah, I think it's it's amazing. It's just another tool, right? It's it's something that people are looking for. How can I make a change that will help me get better?

And it's not you know, most people don't want to make a significant change overnight. And this is something that I feel is very doable for most people because you can take your time to improve your lifestyle.

You can add in a little exercise, you can add in more plant foods during the 25 days that you're eating a normal diet. So you can slowly improve those lifestyle changes while you're doing these five day fasts over time and you're going to see that benefit.

So I really love this for people who say I want to improve things, I want to make changes in my lifestyle, how do I kickstart that? And and not feel like I have to do a, you know, a 360 overnight that doesn't feel sustainable or doable for me.

And I feel like this is something that is yeah. I believe that practicing medicine, the way we describe it, even from the patient's perspective, managing health conditions that we describe it, is is on the right side of history.

I think, you know, we've embraced the that the technological advances over the last decades with a lot of new drugs and they have a place as physicians.

I'm not going to say we don't need them. We need them for certain situations and timing. But the goal should always be, hey, when can we stop the drug and get that body into back to good health?

But we stop that. We kind of just focus on the first part. Just what drug do we use? But but it's always there. There is no expiration date on the drug use.

It's always until the day you die. Cholesterol medicine, hypertensive medicine. Right. And type of coagulation therapy, diabetes medicine. No wonder our patients, they're taking five or six drugs a day, at least on average.

And this is to me, I hope that in a few years later, maybe that's optimistic, maybe decades later, as we look back, we're going to say, oh, wow, is that the way people used to practice medicine for these chronic illnesses?

Yeah. So, yeah, I hope our listeners are agreeing with us. Right. They are getting motivated to take control of their own health. This is a clearly there is a little more and more believers in taking control of their own health through lifestyle medicine. So, Dr. Davis, you you I believe you practice the best brand of medicine out there for people with diabetes and for metabolic conditions.

And if people wanted to find out more about your your practice, where do they go? So the best place to go would be. So first of all, you can go to my website which is drnikidavis.com and then you can also go to love.life/telehealth and both of those places you will find additional information on lifestyle medicine and then also just access to a lot of other lifestyle medicine doctors.

I'm licensed in 11 states, so between all of the doctors that we have, we're licensed in all 50. Including D. C. So that's why 11 states you are. So our listeners may be thinking, well.

Let's see if I can remember I. Got off by just top five. Top five, I would say California, Texas, Florida, Colorado, Utah, Oregon. Those are probably Washington.

Okay, That's ready. I'm I'm sure our listeners are jotting down these days. Okay. As they well, Dr. Davis, thank you so much. I think I think, you know, we we always inform, but we also from time to time like to inspire.

And I think you've just done that for our listeners. Thank you so much for what you do. And thank you for what you do as well. I love that we are on the right side of history here.

Amen.

Niki Davis, MD

L-Nutra Health Secret For Diabetes Remission