Well said, tmana...I also "control" my T2 with diet and exercise -- and I find the diet part to be (somewhat) dubious.

As illustration -- when I am on holiday and "let go" on my diet a bit here and there, but relax and laugh a lot my sugar levels are BETTER than on my carefully controlled diet when I am stressed and overworked (Exercise remaining equal)

So me thinks there's much more to T2 than simple insulin resistance/less than optimal insulin production and trying to adress it simplistically by the "correct" diet.

After all, all foods at the end of the day are just that -- fuel for the body, and whilst some get absorbed slower and some are bad for your heart etc. from a fuel perspective food is food.

Stress related hormone production and body responses thereto needs to be investigated ito T2 (e.g. adrenaline production and its effects on blood sugar levels) -- my gut feel is that these hormones are some of the main contributors over time to elevated sugar levels and other T2 symptoms.

Viz also the stories of people developing T2 after major shock/war etc. -- how can that be if it was diet dependant? Or are only fat, overweight war victims affected that eat high GI foods -- the rest are OK?

Exercise on the other hand does seem to make real contribution to T2 control - is it perhaps the natural fight/flee reaction that exercise emulates that are giving the benefit, and not simply the "increase in blood flow" and "using of energy(sugar)" that gives the benefit?

Adrenaline (stress originating) primes the body to fight or flee, if the stress is then not released one way or another sugar levels should remain high, never mind the bloody diet...

Why so little researh on this???

How can there be no evidence of this yet? I topped out at Dawn Syndrome elevated liver enzyme FGB of 142 two years ago. I've never had an A1C above 6.5. My lipids aren't great--225 TG without meds at worst.

Now I weigh 35 less than my peak (260) and am headed to 70 less than my peak and a BMI of 24.5.

I have angrily scoured the Internet to find if I have shot. It is crazy that there is no info on this. How much does the ADA get a year? It seems a small study of rapid and sustained weight loss by T2 pre-insulin folks merits a bit more of a look. This is just crazy.

I was diagnosed as type 2 in May, 2007. My A1c was 7.0 now is 6.3 and falling. I have been controlling my blood sugar w/diet and exercise. Currently I do not take any meds. I have made a drastic change in my eating habits and I follow a tight diet. It disease is enough to scare you straight.

That a number of us who have been diagnosed with diabetes have been able to come off oral medications and maintain normal blood glucose levels with diet and exercise alone suggests that either (1) there are a number of distinct disorders that are currently being lumped together as "Type 2 Diabetes", not all of which can be mitigated by diet, exercise, and weight loss; (2) prevention and/or long-term maintenance through intensive lifestyle management depends on the motivation of the individual to maintain the new lifestyle; and/or (3) if blood glucose management can be maintained by diet, exercise, and weight loss alone, then the individual did not have "Type 2 Diabetes" to begin with (but has/did have/tends towards some sort of adipose-hormone-mediated glucose metabolism disorder)...

Given that a number of us diagnosed as "T2" can keep within non-diabetic ranges with diet, exercise, and weight loss, either (1) the case was dismissed: diet and exercise do work, or (2) what we are dealing with is not diabetes, but rather an expression of excess adipose hormone secretion that mimics diabetes. Or (3), there are multiple conditions the present the "Type 2 diabetes" syndrome -- and lifestyle management can only affect some of these underlying conditions.

Then there's always (4) advice does not translate into action, and many patients are happy to pop a couple of pills and be done with, rather than change their diet and exercise habits.