Diabetes Awareness Month: I lost nine stone and put type 2 diabetes into remission

Today’s Diabetes Awareness Month success story is John Nevans, who went low carb and lost nine stone, putting his type 2 diabetes into remission.
John decided to ditch pasta and potatoes after he watched “Fixing Dad”, a documentary about a father of two who had type 2 diabetes and weighed 20 stone.
John followed a similar diet, cutting his carbohydrate intake and losing 6.5 stone in three months.
He decided to join the Low Carb Program for improved access to low carb information and recipes and to speak to “like-minded people who are also on the diet and have been through a similar experience”.
He has now lost nine stone in total – dropping from 23 stone to 14. He has also stopped taking his medication and his type 2 diabetes is in remission.
“My HbA1c has gone from 59 to 35 mmol/mol (7.5 to 5.4%), my digestive problems have stopped and my blood pressure’s reduced,” John said. “I now continue to follow a low carb, high fat diet as well as doing a 5:2 week with 16:8 intermittent fasting.”
John’s desire to improve his health stems from wanting to avoid the complications that his parents experienced.
“Both my parents had diabetes – my dad died when he was 67 and I’m 61 now. I also had a friend who had diabetes and he passed away from a stroke. I’ve got a family to think about, it motivates me to look after my health.
“I was always under the impression that diabetes was something that I’d never get rid of and that eventually I’d end up on insulin. The information I was given was all very negative and painted a bleak picture.”
In the beginning, John admitted he found making some food choices difficult but then realised that very often “hunger is just psychological”. He still has the odd treat from time to time, but never wants to go back to the way he was.
You can read John’s story in full here.
We are sharing the diabetes community’s success stories throughout Diabetes Awareness Month. All of the case studies we have covered so far are available on our News section.
You can see the social media campaigning that are we are running throughout Diabetes Awareness Month by visiting our social media channels and searching the hashtag #StrongerTogether.