Cut Your Insulin: Michael’s Triumph Over Diabetes

Ashley Introduces Her Role and Goals 0:00

Hi, I'm Ashley, a dietitian at L-Nutra Health. A lot of people come to me looking to improve their weight. They want to lose weight. They want to reduce their insulin resistance. They want to increase their healthspan. And they want to drive their diabetes into remission. People want to be able to come off of their medications, and they want to do it in a way that's doable. And sustaining, and that's what we're here to help them do. Today, I want to share a story with you about a member of mine, Michael.

Michael's Type 1 Diabetes and Weight Concerns 0:44

Michael is unique in that he has type one diabetes. The majority of the members I see have metabolic conditions, maybe pre-diabetes or type 2, and have had for 20 years or so. But Michael was diagnosed in his 30s. He's currently 50. A little unusual from your typical type one that is diagnosed in their early childhood years or teenage years. But Michael shared with me in that first call that he was just headed down a path that he didn't want to go down. He could see what led ahead and his future if he did not make changes.

His weight had crept up. As a result, his insulin needs were creeping up his intake. And so he tried to do all the things that he heard were right. Eat low carb. Eat more protein. He dabbled, dabbled in a little keto, and nothing was really working for him. He talked to his doctor about it and his endocrinologist told him about L-Nutra Health. She shared with him a little bit about the fasting mimicking diet, and gave him instructions on what to do with his insulin pump when he met with this. So when I met Michael in the fall, he shared those goals with me.

Starting the Fasting Mimicking Diet Safely 1:52

I could tell immediately that he was very competent and his insulin pump needs, because safety is a huge priority for us. That's something we want to make sure that our patients feel very comfortable right from the beginning. They understand how fasting mimicking works, what it is, what's going on with their body, but especially if they're on medications like insulin or other medications that could lead to hypoglycemic events. So I reviewed that with them. He understood. And he was so excited to get started.

You're so motivated to make changes. So when he began that first round, I had a couple of touch points with him because I was curious and wanted to make sure he was safe. But he loves data. He had immediately on our first call, he had seen tears in his sleep app. He had sent his weight, his CGM. he steps even.

Early Results and Reduced Insulin Needs 2:51

He was doing all the things so that we could look at those trends together. Each time we met, actually, what was really interesting is that first round, he only needed about 28 to 30 units of insulin in his vest, which is a stark contrast from the 100 and 510 units per day that he was taking on a regular basis. So even one week, two weeks and even three weeks after that first round, he was finding that his body only needed about 50 to 60 units. That's half. It was incredible. I was, even shocked at how quickly that was happening for him.

so in the in between fast, we made simple steps to improve his diet. You know, Michael wasn't ready to give up meat, and that's okay. We meet our members where they are, and we talked about Dr. Longo's Longevity Principles and just kept creating

Diet Improvements Between FMD Cycles 3:48

Smart goals each time we met. That would help get him in the right direction. So even though he's not completely meat free, which is okay, he's having more plant based meals, he's having more fish, he's reduced a lot of the processed foods that he was consuming and is just trying to make better overall choices. So after three cycles of FMD, he had bloodwork drawn and his agency had gone down from 7 to 6.8. Now, you may not think that's a huge jump, but consider this it dropped while using half of his insulin needs, which is fantastic and was really motivating to him.

And as a bonus, he had lost 25 pounds. and so we are now about to approach our sixth round.

Lab Improvements and Weight Loss 4:34

I just talked to Michael two weeks ago and he has his follow up scheduled with his endocrinologist, and he's going to get lab work at the end of April. And we're just both really excited to see how far he's come. He told me that, you know, with type one, he knew prior to us getting started that even when he would try to eat healthy, there were days where he would just say, you know, when I watch a football game with his boys and eat chips or cookies late at night and just kind of much in in the back of his mind, he thought, I'll just get myself a little more insulin. It's okay.

I can keep my target range with my CGM around 80,85%.

Ongoing Progress and Closing Message 5:14

So he was good at that, but he knew that wasn't what he wanted long term. He wanted a solution. He wanted help. He needed accountability. And he's been able to be successful. L-Nutra Health is here to help you make those changes, too. we want to offer it to anyone. So thank you for your time today. And feel free to reach out to us if you have questions.