Diabetes – A New form of Treatment and Reversal

In the U.S. today one in 8 adults have type 2 diabetes and one in 3 have prediabetes.  The number is much higher in those over 65.  (Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease and is not being discussed here.)  News from England is exciting- they have found a way to reverse diabetes, with strict dieting and exercise to induce weight loss.  Patients are given a liquid diet of 800 calories – four daily servings of soup or vitamin rich shakes.  They report reduced hunger after the first few days.  They have a small salad of non-starchy vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers.  They go off their insulin as the diet begins and are carefully watched by their doctor.  Type 2 diabetes is due to too much fat inside the liver and pancreas.  Losing weight reduces this fat and allows the pancreas to work again by producing insulin. In the English study,88% of those who last 33 pounds or more no longer had diabetes.  In the U.S., the English prescription of diet and exercise is being studied at the Gonda Diabetes Centers at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica and Westwood, California.  Anyone interested in trying to reverse their diabetes should work with their primary care doctor.  People stop their insulin when they start the low-calorie diet, which is why you must work with your doctor, who will advise you and monitor your blood sugar levels. Note that the diet and weight loss does not work for 100% of people – depending on how long you have had diabetes, and other factors.  

Scattering the Ashes of Someone who Died

I have had 3 experiences of this which may be helpful to others.  I scattered my mother’s ashes in 1992 in a small town in North Carolina. It was inside a circle.  There were spicules and small pieces, all of which stayed above the ground.  Her husband did not attend the ceremony.  He had started calling himself Charly Big Paw.  My mother did not want to become Mrs. Big Paw.  I afound the ceremony to be serious and meaningful.  I scattered the ashes of my long-time companion Alan Margolis at our home in Bolinas.  Alan had made a plaque when we buried our beloved dog Ladi – the plaque depicted stairs which she would walk to meet him on the other side.  Alan was not religious, but the idea had sad and serious meaning.   I dug a small circular 

trench around the plaque and buried his ashes in it.  I visit it whenever I go back to Bolinas.  Ferns and other native plants surround the site.  It’s good to be able to visit it.  Last week I went to San Francisco with my two sons and stepdaughter to scatter the ashes of their father, my ex, Bob Goldsmith.  Fortunately, Bob and I remained friends after the divorce. We walked up a steep trail to a site where he and his partner liked to look out at the city.  We said the 23^rdpsalm and a Hebrew Kaddish.  It was very meaningful.  It is a place where the group can visit again. This is like returning to a grave.
Sadja Greenwood, MD, MPH