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2 diabetes can be reversed by losing weight – and one former sufferer has proved it after losing eight stone.
Faith Roots, 64, from Didcot, suffered with type 2 diabetes, but after going on a diet, says she feel like a different person.
Ms Roots said she felt unwell, had high cholesterol, high blood pressure and severe back pain. She also had collapsed ankles because of extra weight she was carrying had weakened the tendons and ligaments in her feet which meant it was extremely painful to walk or even stand.
She said: “I was taking three tablets a day for my diabetes and I just had no energy. I’d struggled with my weight my entire adult life and at 17st 13lbs, I knew I needed to do something about it.”
Ms Roots decided to start losing weight and she reluctantly joined Slimming World.
She said: “It was February 2017, and I’d just got back from walking the dogs when the phone rang. I had to sit down while I answered it, I was so exhausted. The walk had been less than 10 minutes, but I was completely breathless, and my back was aching. It was my daughter-in-law calling to ask me if I would go with her to her local Slimming World group as she didn’t want to go alone. I was happy to go to support her and we joined together that night.
“I didn’t think too much about it as I’d joined other weight-loss groups before myself, and although I saw some success, as soon as I stopped going, I went back to eating the same things I did before – and the weight piled back on.”
After being apprehensive on her first visit to the group, Ms Roots decided she would not be beaten. She started cooking from scratch and she was kept motivated by other members.
Before she said she did not plan my meals but now, always plans ahead and has lots of fruit and veg in the fridge. She said she has stopped eating sweets and cakes and removed all fat from her cooking.
After 14 months Ms Roots lost eight stone and her health dramatically improved.
On a visit to her diabetes nurse after losing weight, Ms Roots found out her diabetes is in remission. The news of her weight loss made the nurse dance around the room with joy.
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Ms Roots’s blood sugars have been the same for six months and if the positive results continue for another six months she will no-longer be in remission meaning she will no-longer have diabetes.
She said: “My diabetes is in remission and I don’t take any medication at all for it now. My blood pressure is normal, my cholesterol is no longer high, and I don’t suffer from the back pain I had before either.”
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Now Ms Roots has more energy and has taken up park runs and before lockdown she attended regular dance classes, she has even started running a 5k every day.
She said: “Throughout the first lockdown, I was so active I ran at least 5k every day, sometimes 10k and on one occasion a half marathon distance.”
