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When you’re diagnosed with diabetes, you may feel like you’re faced with something that will be a problem for the rest of your life. One big challenge faced by people with this diagnosis is managing medication as part of the treatment plan. After all, once your doctor diagnoses you, they’ll likely prescribe medication to control your blood sugar levels.

A 2017 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  (CDC) says over 100 million adults in the U.S. have diabetes or pre-diabetes. Yet for many of us, having to take insulin shots and other prescriptions is scary. Whether you’re concerned about side effects or chemicals in your system, you may want to know how to get rid of diabetes and get healthier without help from Big Pharma.

But can you really learn how to get rid of diabetes without medication? For those with type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes, it’s entirely possible. While not everyone can forego insulin entirely, following the plan laid out in this article can greatly improve your health. If you have pre-diabetes, you can halt the progression. And if you have type 2 diabetes, you can drastically lower your blood sugar levels or send it into remission.

What Medications Are Prescribed for Diabetes?

Type 2 diabetes can be controlled through medication and may not need insulin therapy. In fact, Medical News Today reports it can do more harm than good. Furthermore, some patients may have insulin resistance that makes treatment more difficult. These medications are just a part of the overall treatment plan to reduce your glucose levels. Typically, they help make changes to insulin-producing cells that aren’t working properly in the body.

Along with this, your doctor may prescribe a hyperglycemia treatment that can help with your overall health. Through a hyperglycemia treatment, your health can start to improve, the Mayo Clinic explains.

While these medications can be helpful for patients with diabetes, they don’t cure diabetes. Instead, they manage symptoms. When you use medication for your diabetes, you’ll probably be on medication for the rest of your life, even with lifestyle changes. Unfortunately, medications are not the best for how to get rid of diabetes.

Many of us don’t want to our their lives relying on prescription drugs to be healthy. Not only do you have to remember to take it every day, but these prescriptions cost money. And then, you have to consider the possible side effects.

Can You Learn How to Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Without Medications?

You may think that once you’re diagnosed with diabetes, you’ll have to deal with it for life. Fortunately, that’s not always the case. Thanks to ongoing research, healthcare professionals know a lot more about diabetes than they ever did. This knowledge has been used to understand how people can be treated for diabetes to improve health, manage symptoms and even get rid of diabetes altogether. Making changes in your life that counteract the effects of diabetes can be used to improve your health and often leave you free from diabetes.

How Can You Reverse Diabetes Without Medication?

According to Everyday Health, you can reverse your diabetes without medication. However, you’ll need to make some important daily changes in your life. When it comes to your blood sugar levels, the two most significant factors are diet and exercise. Even if you do take medication, it’s likely your doctor will recommend diet and exercise changes. As Dr. Sue McLaughlin, RD, CDE, and lead medical nutrition therapist at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha tells Everyday Health:

“Basic principles of good health like eating right, exercising regularly, and maintaining a healthy weight can be as effective as medicine in the management of type 2 diabetes for most people.”

Better yet, if you’ve got prediabetes, losing 5-7 percent of your total body weight can stop the progression. So if you’re trying to beat diabetes without medication, diet and exercise are essential. In fact, this is backed up by solid science.

With support from National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the CDC, Look Ahead ran a four-year study with 5,145 obese patients. The results show great improvement in blood sugar levels for those who changed their diet and started exercising more.
Here’s what you need to know about getting rid of diabetes — or greatly improving your symptoms — without medication.

A healthier diet with delicious, mostly plant-based foods like the meal shown above can help you get rid of diabetes.

Changing Your Diet

The biggest part of your life that impacts your diabetes is what you eat. That’s why, even if you take medication, your medical professionals are likely to recommend dietary changes. Eating healthier and avoiding certain foods can help keep your body’s systems in better balance, even without medication.

There are lots of nutrition plans that can help manage your health. An article in The Guardian cites a study from Newcastle and Glasgow Universities in the UK with 298 adults ages 20-65. They put the patients on a “radical low-calorie diet” and the results were astonishing. Nine out of 10 patients lost over 33 pounds and reversed their diabetes. This even held true when they’d had the disease for six years.

Newcastle University’s Prof. Roy Taylor, the lead researcher, says it’s because “substantial weight loss results in reduced fat inside the liver and pancreas.” This means the organs “can return to normal function.” Health further explains how belly fat increases your risk of type 2 diabetes because it “tends to swaddle organs that play a key role in regulating blood sugar.”

But if you love to eat or fear a drastic diet’s effects on your health, a whole-foods, plant-based diet may be the ticket. In Forks Over Knives, Mark Ramirez wrote that taking this approach sent his diabetes into remission so he could stop all his medications.
“I now follow three basic guidelines,” he explains. “I eat no animal products, I eat low-fat foods, and I avoid high-glycemic foods.” After only two months he stopped taking insulin and eight years later he’s still off all his meds. And sure he’s lost weight.

But that doesn’t mean he’s food-deprived. Plant-based fats are okay in moderation and so are complex carbs. In fact, he enjoys delicious meals like oatmeal, pasta primavera, and bean burritos with lots of fruits and vegetables.
dogBefore you start a new diet plan for getting rid of your diabetes, be sure to consult your physician. Depending on your overall health, your doctor may have specific recommendations for your nutrition plan.

Getting Enough Exercise

Another important part of keeping healthy without diabetes medication is regular exercise. Exercise helps lower your blood sugar. So if you have diabetes, exercise can work with your nutrition plan to keep your blood glucose levels under control without medication.
According to the American Diabetes Association, exercise lowers your blood sugar levels. Firstly, it amps up your insulin sensitivity to process glucose more efficiently. Secondly, when your muscles contract, your body metabolizes glucose. This happens whether you have enough insulin in your body or not.

When you add exercise to your life, try to select an exercise regimen that interests you or that you think is fun. If you enjoy the exercise you’re doing, you’re more likely to stick with it. You should also take your overall health into consideration.

If you’re not already active, Web MD recommends that you start exercising for 10 minutes at a time, and work your way up to 30 minutes a day. Check your blood sugar levels before and during your exercise regimen, and bring a snack with carbohydrates along. You should also make sure to bring water so you can keep yourself hydrated.

When exercising, it’s also important to take good care of your feet. Wear good athletic shoes that provide support for your chosen activity. You should also make sure to keep them clean and tell your doctor if you have any foot problems. Also, if any part of you suddenly hurts, stop what you’re doing right away.

Even when you’re not exercising, staying active can help when you want to know how to reverse diabetes without medication. Find ways to be active throughout the day. If you have an office job, take regular breaks to stand and stretch, walk around and give yourself plenty of breaks.

When implementing exercise into your life as part of reversing type 2 diabetes, it’s important to ensure that what you do is safe for your health. Consult with your doctor before starting an exercise regimen. Your doctor may have suggestions for what exercises are best for you and can help you identify any limitations you may have.

Other Lifestyle Changes

Along with diet and exercise, there are other lifestyle changes that can help you get rid of diabetes without using medication. Knowing what lifestyle changes you need to make is based on knowing what risk factors are associated with diabetes. As the CDC’s website explains, smoking, drinking alcohol, and being overweight put you at a higher risk for diabetes. Stopping smoking and drinking and achieving a healthier weight will help you get rid of diabetes.

There are also some risk factors that you can’t control, like family history, genetics, and race/ethnicity. Since those risk factors can’t be changed, it’s even more important for you to make any lifestyle changes you can.

In Conclusion

Even though a diagnosis of diabetes can be scary, reversing type 2 diabetes is possible without medication. Even diabetics with difficult-to-treat insulin resistance can find health and balance their health through lifestyle changes like a better diet and regular exercise. Through these changes, you can not only beat diabetes but you can achieve greater overall health. With these changes, you can live the healthy, happy life you’ve always wanted to!

Author Bio:

Kelly Seuferer is the owner of LeavesThatHeal. LTH is a site that will allow you to explore alternative avenues to treat common medical issues. We take pride in creating this site to share with you how natural herbs and plants can help you with your well-being in a natural way. If you’re interested in learning more about alternative medicine, he recommends you check out a recent article about the effectiveness of slim tea to lose weight. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.