How I Lowered My Blood Sugar After 50 Without Meds or Starving
In short
For type 2s, high blood sugar is mostly diet driven, which means it’s within your control. Instead of just taking something to deal with the sugar, why not stop eating it in the first place? That means the obvious sugar, plus the bread, pasta, rice and potatoes that are basically repackaged sugar. Eat real food cooked in butter or tallow, ditch the seed oils, and forget the calorie counting. Within a couple of weeks I’d expect your blood glucose to drop. For me it meant losing close to 23 kilos in 4 months and getting my blood pressure back to normal.
Key points
- It’s mostly diet driven. Unless you’re type 1, high blood sugar is primarily about what you eat, so it’s entirely within your control to solve.
- Starch is repackaged sugar. It’s not just cakes and biscuits. Bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and other starchy root veg all end up as sugar in your blood.
- A radical idea. Doctors rarely talk about the cause. They’d rather put you on metformin and other meds. Why not just stop putting the sugar in your blood?
- Eat like your grandparents. Real meat, fish, dairy, butter, leafy greens and non-starchy veg. If they’d recognise it, it’s probably a good idea.
- Cook in the good stuff. Tallow, butter, olive oil and some coconut oil. Skip heavily processed seed oils like canola.
- No calorie counting. No portion control and no little book of calories. A big tomahawk steak with salad and keto fries is fine.
- What to expect. Within a couple of weeks I’d expect your blood glucose to drop, and the weight may start peeling off. I lost close to 23 kilos (50-plus pounds) in 4 months, and my blood pressure dropped from around 180 over 120 to within normal range.
- Plateaus happen. The scale might stall for a month or more. Stick with it. When I got stuck, eating only between midday and 6pm got things moving again.
- Resistance is a muscle. The more you say no to the cake and the Friday beers, the easier it gets. Nobody’s coming to save you but you.
Blood sugar is something I struggled with for years without knowing it. I was an undiagnosed type 2 diabetic for who knows how long, and once you hit 50 it seems to get out of whack pretty easily. The good news is that for type 2s it’s primarily diet driven, which means it’s in your hands. In this video I talk through what I did to bring mine down, what to expect, and how to stick with it.
I’m not a doctor, dietitian or nutritionist, just a bloke with a phone on a stick telling you what worked for me. Talk to your doctor before you change your diet, especially if you’re on medication for blood sugar or blood pressure.
Where the sugar comes from
Type 2 diabetes is too much sugar in the blood. Some of that comes from the obvious places: cakes, biscuits and sugary treats. But a lot of it comes from carbohydrates that don’t taste sweet at all. Bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and other starchy root veg are pretty much just repackaged sugar. I go into that more in avoid bread, rice and pasta and sugar, sugar everywhere.
Why not just stop eating it?
It’s rare for doctors to talk about the cause of high blood sugar. They’d rather get you on metformin and other meds to deal with it. So here’s a radical idea: stop eating the sugar in the first place. If you’re not putting it in your blood, you don’t need to control it. It’s not a wild idea, it’s just common sense. If you want the fuller picture of what happens when you do, watch what happens when you stop eating sugar.
The plan: eat real food
Look back at what our grandparents ate before the 1970s: meat and three veg, and nothing in the supermarket was processed. That’s the plan. Real meat, fish, dairy, butter, leafy greens and non-starchy veg. If your grandparents would recognise it, it’s probably a good idea. There’s a full rundown in what can you eat on a low carb diet?
Cook in tallow, butter, olive oil and, to a lesser extent, coconut oil. Steer clear of seed oils like canola, which go through a chemical plant to get the oil out. My take on those is in why you should avoid seed oils.
And there’s no calorie counting, no portion control and no missing out. If you want a big tomahawk steak with a side salad and some low carb fries, go for your life.
What to expect in the first few weeks
Within a couple of weeks I’d expect your blood glucose levels to drop, and you might find the weight starts peeling off. That’s certainly what happened to me. I lost close to 23 kilos, 50-plus pounds, in 4 months just by cutting sugar and carbs. My blood pressure had been massively high, something like 180 over 120, and it came down to within normal range. My doctor told me, “I don’t know what you’re doing, but just keep doing it.” The full story is in how I lost 20kg in 4 months at 55 and over 50 and reversing type 2 diabetes.
Plateaus, cravings and family
You will hit obstacles. Family members might not get what you’re doing, and if you’re using the scale as your gauge, there will be times it stops for a month or more, or even goes up a bit. Stick with saying no to the sugar and carbs and it will start moving again. When I got stuck for a long while, I started only eating between midday and 6pm, and that kicked the weight loss back into action. More on that in intermittent fasting over 50.
Saying no to sugar is like a muscle. The more you resist, the more it becomes normal, and the easier it is to turn down cake at a birthday party or a pile of beers on a Friday. It’s not always easy, but it is simple. Have a read of a healthy low carb mindset if you need a hand with that side of it.
Nobody’s coming to save you
Picture yourself six months from now with your blood glucose in normal range, 10 kilos lighter, moving better and with joints that don’t ache so much. That’s what I experienced. So what would that future you do today? Walk past the bread, put down the donut and pick up some beef jerky instead. Your actions today decide where you’ll be in six months.
Grab the free Carb Guide, the traffic light chart I stick on my fridge to see which foods are red, amber or green.
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Not medical advice. I'm not a doctor, dietitian or nutritionist, just a bloke telling the story of what worked for me. Check with your doctor before changing your diet or medication.
