Yes, in many people it can be substantially improved and sometimes put into remission, especially if addressed early. The problem arises because we struggle to make those tough decisions. People ask me how I can practice autophagy, where I drink only water, green tea, and no-sugar herbal teas for 60-65 hours. I grew into it and can do it. I tell people to start with 24 hours.
Drugs can be used, but my focus is naturally reversing it.

Let me share this insight shared by the Health Ranger -Mike Adams:

“Today, more than 95% of all chronic disease is caused by bad food choices, toxic food ingredients, nutritional deficiencies (vitamins , minerals, etc., e.g., iodine deficiency leads to goitre) and lack of exercise”.
In this quote are the root causes we must deal with.

Here are the pillars for naturally preventing or reversing it:

🎯Weight-loss:

The truth is that losing weight if you are overweight plays a significant role in healing chronic illnesses like diabesity, diabetes, infertility, etc.
It’s amazing that even a modest weight loss has been associated with big effects.

Let’s look at some statistics:

📍 Losing 3–5% weight actually results in:
• Improved insulin sensitivity.
• Lowered fasting glucose and triglycerides.

📍 Losing 5–10% weight results in:
• Significant reduction in the risk of progressing from pre-diabetes to diabetes. As far as I’m concerned, once you are pre-diabetic, you must do all it takes to reverse it and prevent it from progressing into full-blown diabetes. Diabetes is a KILLER DISEASE!!! Don’t joke with it !!!
• Improved blood pressure, LDL, and HDL.

📍 Losing more than 10–15% weight loss can result in:
• Normal blood sugar is enough to achieve diabetes remission. This includes getting off glucose-lowering meds and achieving normal HbA1c levels . It’s well worth it.

What’s exciting to me is that clinical trials show that intensive weight loss programs can lead to remission or reversal of type 2 diabetes in a substantial proportion of participants, especially early in the disease course.

🎯Diet:
Let food (good and natural food) be thy medicine and thy medicine thy food- Hippocrates.
Food is medicine, pick up your prescription from the kitchen -Dr Axe.
I will emphasise that there is no single “best” diet, but there are simple principles that are strongly supported as being essential.

Let’s look at the Key principles.

I will emphasise the following:

• Non-starchy vegetables: These include leafy greens, broccoli, peppers, etc. I love them and they are a must in my daily diet. I don’t compromise on this. It’s a habit that I can’t change.

• Whole foods: These are natural foods as God created them. They are unprocessed or minimally processed.

• Lean proteins: Fish( I love oily fish a lot ), poultry ( I prefer Guinea fowl because it’s leaner and less fatty than regular chicken ), eggs( I prefer organic or free range eggs ), tempeh(organic is safest as it’s a soya product and most soya products in the USA are GM), legumes.

• Healthy fats: olive oil( especially extra virgin olive oil), nuts, seeds, avocado 🥑( I love avocados and add to my salads as my salad dressing ).

• High fibre (our diet must be high in fibre for good health. It protects us against Colon cancer). Carbs with low glycemic-index (GI) like whole grains, e.g., ofada is higher in ofada than long grain rice, lentils, beans, oats (giant unprocessed oats are better).

Make eating fruit & veg daily your priority. These foods are loaded with antioxidants, micronutrients, macronutrients, phytonutrients that heal the body and prevent disease. They are more effective when raw, as overcooking kills them.

📌Reduce or avoid these unhealthy foods below:
Sadly, the food industry has gotten us hooked on processed and ultra-processed foods that are destroying our health.

• Sugary drinks and juices: They are high in fructose that has a negative impact on the liver. I was addicted to Coca-Cola for years. I had my last one in 2012. I avoid packaged fruit juices. I make mine at home from fruits that aren’t so sweet, and I add greens to it.
  
• Refined carbs: Flee from them, e.g., white bread, white rice, pastries.
  
• Sweets and desserts like ice cream, mousse, cakes, etc. Moderation is key. I’ve seen what it’s done to people’s lives.
  
• Ultra-processed foods, fast food, trans fats.
  
• Excess saturated fats: Nigerians eat too much red meat (fatty red meat, processed meats), especially if you have heart issues and high cholesterol levels, if your levels are abnormal.

🎯 Physical activity:
I keep saying that we weren’t created to be sedentary.
Both aerobic and anaerobic. Do you know that walking 10–15 minutes after meals can reduce post-meal glucose?
Sitting for too long is unhealthy. Break up long sitting with short standing or walking breaks.

🎯Sleep and stress:
We all go through stress, but it mustn’t be chronic.
As much as possible, we try to get 7–9 hours of good-quality sleep.

Practice stress-management techniques.

The truth is that the power is in our hands. It’s not village people killing us. We need to develop good diet & lifestyle habits.
Start today one step at a time. The ball is in your court. What you sow today in your body is what you reap up to 100-fold in the future.

The new year is here, and it’s time to start making the right decisions about our health.

Follow me on my social media pages and my website.
www.opeoluwaokulaja.com