BEAT DIABETES RECIPE PULLOUT

UNTIL very recently, doctors believed that type 2 diabetes was a life-long condition which got steadily worse year by year. You end up needing more and more drugs and face the prospect of sight-loss, heart disease and even amputation.

So the discovery by my team that diabetes can be reversed by rapid weight loss has really shaken things up.

all this week in the Daily Mail, I have been serialising my groundbreaking book, Life Without Diabetes, and explaining how it only takes two months on a strict diet plan to put type 2 diabetes into remission.

Today, I will reveal the secret to keeping free from the disease long-term while enjoying the mouthwatering recipes devised by my team to improve your health.

I have worked at the cutting edge of diabetes treatment and research for more than 40 years, and the incredible results of the numerous studies compiled by my team at Newcastle University have enabled me to perfect a very straightforward three-stage plan for reversing type 2 diabetes — and keeping it away.

as I have explained in these special four-page pullouts this week, it really is as simple as 1, 2, 3.

Stage one is the rapid weight-loss phase, where you switch your normal meals for three calorie-controlled meal replacement soups or shakes, plus one low-starch vegetable meal per day. The aim is to lose 15kg and put your diabetes into remission.

Stage two — which you start when you reach your target weight — is a carefully monitored re-introduction of real food, one meal at a time.

Stage three is your chance to introduce a new long-term plan for healthy eating to help ensure you remain free from diabetes for life.

The amazingly healthy, family friendly recipes in today’s pullout prove that keeping diabetes away doesn’t have to mean hunger or deprivation. You can still enjoy hearty meals with family and friends. In fact, eating this way isn’t just good for you, it’s very good for the rest of your family, too.

If you’ve been diagnosed with type 2

diabetes, it means you have probably inherited a susceptibility and you will even have a genetically lower ‘personal fat threshold’.

Unfortunately, type 2 diabetes tends to run in families, and there’s every chance your children and grandchildren could be at risk.

The best way to protect them is to encourage them to enjoy these meals with you, and to join you in your new healthy, active lifestyle.

DIABETES-FREE FOR LIFE

By The time you reach stage three you should feel very proud of yourself. you will have lost a substantial amount of weight; hopefully, you will have achieved remission of your type 2 diabetes; and you will be feeling dramatically better, both mentally and physically: more energised, confident and motivated.

having worked so hard to get your weight down, you will be feeling better than you have for years, ready to embrace life with renewed vigour and confidence.

But do not relax too much! It is important that you don’t think of this as the end of the matter.

If you want to stay away from type 2 diabetes, it is much more useful to think of this as the start of your new life and a new way of eating.

The stark truth is you just can’t return to your old ways of eating because, inevitably, that was how you gained the weight that tipped you over your fat threshold into diabetes territory.

If your diabetes is in remission, it means you’ve lost enough weight to strip the excess fat from your liver and pancreas that we now know was causing your blood sugar problems.

If you are going to stop type 2 diabetes from creeping back, you must stay below that fat threshold, meaning you can’t gain more than a few pounds in weight.

But this is why my three-stage plan is so effective, and our studies show it really does work long-term.

Stage one necessitated a switch from ‘normal’ eating to a strict calorie-counted programme of meal replacement soups and shakes. Not only is this effective in terms of weight loss, but it marks a clear end to the old way of eating that was clearly bad for your health.

Two months away from your old eating habits is enough to make the more toxic elements a distant memory.

DELICIOUS REAL MEALS

STage two allows a gradual re-introduction of real meals, inspired by the recipes in this series. This is your chance to rewrite the way you shop, cook and eat to maximise your health and minimise your risk of regaining the weight you’ve lost.

Stage three is just a natural extension of that new way of eating. There’s no going back now. you’ve got rid of the terrible spectre of diabetes and now you just need to be aware of a few simple rules to keep things that way.

I cannot emphasise enough how worthwhile it is to work at maintaining your newly recovered health. While you can enjoy eating with family and friends again, and even indulge in a special treat or the occasional party, if you want to keep the weight off, you simply must avoid slipping back into your old ways and habits.