Diabetes (&Obesity) Reversal Program 

Type 2 diabetes is a common disease that occurs when the cells in muscle, fat, and liver become resistant to insulin, a hormone that helps glucose enter cells to be used for energy.

As a result, glucose builds up in the blood and can lead to various health problems.

It is typically managed with lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise, along with medication as needed.

Obesity, which is defined as having excess body fat, is a major risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes. The excess body fat associated with obesity can negatively affect a person's health in several ways, including promoting inflammation throughout the body. These changes can affect the body's sensitivity to insulin and glucose metabolism, which can lead to type 2 diabetes. Losing as little as 5% to 10% of overall body weight can greatly improve type 2 diabetes. Therefore, it is important for individuals who are overweight or obese to manage their weight in order to reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes and improve their overall health.

Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar levels), which is very toxic, and can damage blood vessels and nerves throughout the body. Over time, this can result in a range of complications, such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, eye damage, nerve damage, and foot damage. It can also increase the risk of infections, slow wound healing, and cause sexual dysfunction. 

Uncontrolled T2DM can damage almost all the body systems, which may lead to a slow and painful death (hence T2DM is called a silent killer). It is of utmost importance that the blood glucose readings are kept within your target range at all times, to avoid these problems in the future. 

Even a minimum awareness of the illness should make you motivated enough to keep T2DM under control. Type 2 diabetes can be managed with lifestyle modifications and medication. Making healthy lifestyle choices such as eating a balanced diet, regular exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight can help keep blood sugar levels under control. Since Insulin resistance is the primary cause of type 2 diabetes, medications can help improve insulin sensitivity and control blood sugar levels. Newer medicines also aim at reducing extra body fat, while reducing risk of hypoglycaemia. 

To see Dr. Anirban Chakraborty's top 10 tips to keep blood sugar under control, please watch this short video:  https://youtu.be/01LgJk-SwV8 (Mastering Type 2 Diabetes)

Excess belly fat is extremely common, especially in Indian patients. However, it is a very dangerous sign and often implies serious underlying problems like Insulin Resistance and Metabolic Syndrome. It increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and certain types of cancer. It is important to maintain a healthy diet and exercise regularly to reduce belly fat and lower the associated health risks.

The complications are manifolds. Anyone who is obese will realise that themselves. However, here are few of the established complications:

Psychosocial complications:

• Obesity is associated with psychological problems such as anxiety and depression, as well as low self-esteem and lower self-reported quality of life .

• Social problems such as bullying and stigma are also linked to obesity 

Health complications:

• Obesity is associated with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality, which means you are likely to suffer from more illnesses and are likely to die at a much early age.

• People with overweight or obesity are at increased risk for many serious diseases and health conditions, including high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, sleep apnea, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis, among many others..

For (motivated) patients who do not want to take lifelong medicines and deal with the associated complications, Diabetes Reversal Program is an evidence based option, which is a newer and recognised concept. The concept here is CURE of illness, not merely CONTROL with medication. 

Diabetes reversal programs aim to help individuals with T2DM achieve normal blood sugar levels without the need for medication. These programs typically involve lifestyle changes, such as a low-carbohydrate diet, weight loss, and increased physical activity (in patients who are keen or able to do so). Some people refer to this process as "reversing type 2 diabetes," but the term remission is more accurate because blood sugar levels can rise again, if a healthy lifestyle is not followed in the future.

Obesity, central obesity and T2DM often occur together as obesity can lead to changes in metabolic functions and sensitivity to insulin, which are factors in type 2 diabetes. However, the good news is that diabetes can be prevented, controlled, and even reversed through lifestyle changes leading to excess weight loss. Therefore, an obesity and diabetes reversal program would involve the same principles of combination of healthy eating, exercise (in interested patients), and weight loss to address both conditions.

Dr Anirban Chakraborty started the Diabetes (&Obesity) Reversal Program in Kolkata, India (and Online for Global Patients) in 2022.

The program involves an initial 45-60 minutes consultation session with Dr. Anirban Chakraborty (in chamber or online) to understand where you have been going wrong with your food and lifestyle. After this, he will suggest minor tweaks to your food habit which you can incorporate in your day to day routine. This is the most important step, as this involves a holistic, individualised food chart that is the product of his immense expertise and your food preference and lifestyle priorities. 

Under his guidance, the control of blood sugar and body weight is achieved in motivated patients solely by understanding the effect of food in our body, and following a food habit agreed by you during this consultation. 

There will also be input from a trained dietitian to answer your questions and to give you further suggestions for the duration of your program.

1. Done under expert supervision of a renowned Diabetologist, for motivated patients who wish to come off or reduce their medicines

2. Since it is directly supervised by an expert doctor, your medicines will be slowly reduced according to your progress. This will prevent any potential harm of stopping medicines suddenly. Unlike other Reversal programs mainly done by Dietitians, this is done by an expert doctor with help of expert diatitian.

3. The diet will be agreed with you, based on your lifestyle and food preference. The diet will be highly individualised based on your liking and disliking. There will be ongoing input from a senior dietitian. The diet chart will be made by you, with input from us to make sure that the diet is right for you.

4. This program does not involve any strict diet chart, but will give you the basic concept, based on which you can modify your diet as per your circumstances. Our dietitian can help you with this as well.

5. The diet suggested will keep your stomach full, so that you will not have to deal with any hunger.

6. Generally all food items are allowed (except sugar) and patients are able to continue with their favourite food. If necessary, various alternative recipe of some type of food is discussed with the doctor and dietitian.

7. No exercise is needed to lose weight or reverse diabetes by following this program. However, doing exercise is always going to be helpful. Not all patients are motivated, or are able to do exercise.

8. For patients who wish to exercise, Dr Chakraborty can guide you to do the correct kind of exercise based on your circumstances to reduce any chamce of injury or harm.

9. We have different programs to suit your need. Even if you do not fully follow the dietary changes, you should see significant reduction of your medicine burden (and insulin dose).

10. This consultation needs just 45-60 minutes initially, and can be done online from anywhere in the world.