Do You Know with Dr. Dwain Woode

Can Fasting Reverse Your Diabetes?

• Dwain Woode

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Imagine discovering a potent strategy that could transform your health, reshaping everything you thought you knew about managing a chronic disease. On today's episode, Dr. Dwain Woode takes us on an intimate voyage through his struggles and revelations with type 2 diabetes, spotlighting the unexpected hero in his story: fasting. As a medical professional who once overlooked his health, Dr. Woode's candid narrative exposes the psychological battles accompanying disease management and how a simple yet profound fasting regimen stabilizes his blood sugar and holds promise for others in their fight against diabetes.

From the awe-inspiring stability of glucose levels during a 72-hour fast, Dr. Woode's experiences are nothing short of a deep dive into the body's remarkable adaptability. We explore the science behind fasting-induced hormonal responses, the surprising glucose spikes sans food, and the post-fast dietary choices that can significantly influence blood sugar control. Whether you're well-acquainted with the struggles of diabetes or seeking insights into preventive health practices, this episode is an invitation to re-evaluate the power of fasting as a potential key to unlocking a healthier lifestyle. Join Dr. Woode as we uncover the therapeutic potential within the ancient fasting practice.

🔬Episode Highlights:
-Fasting, More Than a Trend: Discover the historical and cultural significance of fasting and how it's more than just a modern health fad.
-Personal Fasting Experience: Join me as I recount my 72-hour fasting journey, capturing every detail of my blood sugar fluctuations using a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM).
- Medical Insight: As an endocrinologist diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, I share my unique perspective on managing the condition and the role of fasting.
- In-Depth Analysis: Understand the intricate balance of hormones during fasting and how they impact blood glucose levels. 
- Real-Time Data: Visualize my blood sugar trends through CGM graphs and learn about the surprising patterns observed during the fast.

🌟 Why This Episode Is a Must-Watch:
- Relatable Storytelling: My personal story as a medical professional with diabetes offers a rare and insightful view into managing the condition.
- Educational Content: Learn about the physiological aspects of fasting and blood sugar control in an easy-to-understand format.
- Empowering Message: This episode aims to educate, empower, and encourage you to take charge of your health, exploring the possibilities of reducing medication reliance through lifestyle changes.

👨‍⚕️ About Dr. Dwain Woode:
As an endocrinologist with a history of diabetes, I bring a unique blend of professional expertise and personal experience. My goal is to guide you through understanding chronic diseases and the potential of fasting as a management tool.

🔔 Stay Connected:
If you find this episode insightful, please subscribe for more content on health, wellness, and diabetes management. Share your thoughts in the comments below, and let's engage in a meaningful discussion about fasting and health.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome back and I hope you had a great week. Hope you had a great weekend, had an amazing Monday. It's cold outside, but you know, here we are, so fasting. Fasting isn't just a health trend. It is a practice that we've known about for a long time. It has deep historical and cultural roots and it's a part of the human history for as long as we can remember. But can fasting really manage disease, and can it manage chronic disease? That's what we're going to be talking about here on this episode.

Speaker 1:

In our last show, we delved into the complexities of chronic disease and the empowering path of taking control of your health. Today, we're exploring this topic of fasting. That's where we are. It has gotten so much interest. We're going to be talking about that tonight and specifically the question we're going to ask is can fasting rapidly lower your blood sugar? If you're new to me, I'm Dr Dwayne Wood, that's Wood with an E. The E stands for endocrinology. Here on the channel, I educate, I empower and I encourage you to take charge of your health, your life, avoid complications and go to the next level. We're creating the life we've always wanted and in this year 2024, our new theme is New Year, new Year, new Year. We are excited for this series. The goal for this series is that we, by the end of this year, we want people to be able to decrease their insulin, decrease their diabetes medication and, in some cases, get off of their medication. We're talking about that word right? That word reverse. We'll come to that in just a minute. If you have not done so, go ahead and subscribe to our channel. We would love to be able to talk with you, to chat with you, to let you know things that are coming up. If you know somebody who is a diabetic, someone who's dealing with diabetes, someone who's pre-diabetic, someone who is taking care of someone who has diabetes, go ahead and let them know that we are here because we're excited for where we are heading.

Speaker 1:

Now let me tell you a story. Let me tell you a story. So I, years ago we're talking 20 years now at least was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and when I was diagnosed, it was a, I want to say, devastating diagnosis for me, but there's a lot of other ramifications that came as a result of that. I was actually in medical school at the time, where I was just about to start medical school, and I think it was that first year went in to see my doctor. We had moved from Atlanta and I was having those symptoms. You know those symptoms Polydipsia, polyuria, polyphagia, those common ones. That's eating a lot, drinking a lot and peeing a lot. You get it right and those are the things that we typically will see. Those are the most common presenting symptoms for someone who has diabetes.

Speaker 1:

So I'm diagnosed and at the time there was so many other things that were going on in my life that I did not take diabetes symptoms. I did not take diabetes seriously and for years and years and years and years, I neglected. Even as I was going through medical school, even as I was going through residency, I did not do the best job of managing my diabetes. Yes, let me say that. Okay, recently I was talking to someone about diabetes and one of the points that I made was you know, diabetes, the management of diabetes, the things that we do, the things that we are aware of on how to take care of blood sugars. We know those things. We pause there. We know those things, but often the things that we know to do don't get done for lots of different reasons.

Speaker 1:

Now, you may have known, or you may know if you've watched our show for any length of time that I was in a food recovery program and there are recovery programs out there for food. Yes, yes, yes. And in the program I began learning. Even in that space, being someone who was in the medical field, I began learning the things that can override the things that we know to do right. And so in the recovery space, there are lots of things that we learn in terms of how we interact with what are called buffering behaviors Most things that we do when we are trying to soothe, when we're trying to deal with stress, when we're trying to deal with anxiety, when we're trying to deal with depression. Some life event happens and so we turn to these buffering behaviors. And for most of us a lot of us, I shouldn't say most of us for a lot of us, food is one of those buffering behaviors.

Speaker 1:

And as I began learning more and more and more and more about how people interact with diabetes, it occurred to me that there has to be a better way. Now, this thought is not new to me, and you have heard so many people and you go on the internet and you'll see a lot of people talking about the change in the concept, our understanding about diabetes, and so it's not new to me, but it's something that I've adopted and began incorporating for myself and incorporating in the way that I manage my patients. And we're going to talk about a lot of that here today as we get through the show, but before we get to answer the question right. And so the question is can fasting rapidly lower your blood sugars? Before we get to that question, let's back up a little bit and let's talk a bit about diabetes itself. And for years we've had the lock and key model of diabetes that we have taught. So remember where we're heading. This is the question that we've got Can diabetes lower blood sugars? Can fasting rapidly lower blood sugars? And in fact, I want to propose an additional component of that how fast can it lower it? Can it lower it in days? Can it lower it in days? So let's talk a little bit about blood sugars and diabetes.

Speaker 1:

So when we eat, the food goes into our bodies and the food has to be digested. So the food is digested and the first five hours or so, what we're actually doing is we are digesting the food right. So it's not. We are in the process. The body has taken that and is breaking it down, and then the food begins to be absorbed. So when we fast, when we fast, everybody thinks as soon as they stop eating, then that is where the fasting begins. And actually, no, you haven't started fasting for a while.

Speaker 1:

So those first five hours what we're talking about is we're talking about the food that you've just eaten, that getting into the system and that becoming absorbed by the body and it gets shuttled to wherever it needs to be. Makes sense so far? Yeah, so at 12 hours, the body begins producing certain hormones. Now, as an endocrinologist and I could be a little biased, but I don't think I am as an endocrinologist right, I think everything in the body revolves around hormones, right, but it does. It does Everything that happens in the body. There's a signal, and even in the heart, the nervous system, the GI tract, the skin you probably can't name an organ or a cell that doesn't have some component of a hormone in it and so at certain parts of your digestive process, right, the body begins producing hormones and at about you know about 12 hours, we start to see growth hormone getting released, and at 18 hours we have something was called autophagy. So autophagy is the body's process of reclaiming, rebuilding, getting rid of damaged cells, right? So autophagy happens at about 18 hours.

Speaker 1:

At 24 hours, we begin to see improvement in the immune system. So we start to see decrease in inflammatory markers, we begin to see improvement in our gut health and then, at 48 hours, we begin to see improvement and we begin to see stem cells. Now you guys have heard stem cells, right? So those are the cells that everybody's excited about, that we can use to begin to regenerate, that we can use to clone and so forth. All and we can use to treat some other diseases. All of that happens over time and I want you to notice. I want you to notice what the timeframe is, right. I want you to notice what the timeframe is. So it's not as soon as you stop eating that the process begins. It takes time to get to the point where we are considered to be fasting. In fact, there are a lot of people who say that you can't really say that you're fasting until you're at 24 to 36 hours. Okay, we'll come and we'll talk a little bit more about some definitions later on, but specifically, let's back up and let's talk a little bit about the FAD.

Speaker 1:

So years and years and years ago at believe that at UGPind there was a scientist who they were doing research and they noticed that the mice some of the mice that they were using their research had not been subjected or afflicted with, if you will, certain diseases, okay, so certain abnormalities and they published this paper and at the time they called it they called it not intermittent fasting, right, which is the phrase that everybody's using. They called it something else. Actually, they called it time-restricted let me go ahead and say it time-restricted eating. So what that meant was there were specific times during the day where some of the mice they just ate whenever they wanted, whenever they wanted, and then there were some mice that ate on a particular schedule. It was restricted. And so they saw that these mice did not have some of these ailments. They published the paper and other researches because at this point had not been done in humans. Other researchers began with that very small introduction. They began taking this information and they started researching it in humans and that's where this idea of intermittent fasting came from, right. So that's the background on it and intermittent fasting has become this big fad because people have realized that when they intermittent fast there are certain benefits that they see and going back to our, going back to our little initial diagram there, let's get back there where we talk about what are the things that we're seeing and the spaces where we see them. All right, you'll notice that, as time goes on, there are certain benefits that we begin to see.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so food gets digested. Now, when the food is digested, so the sum of it goes to energy, some of it goes to your breathing and moving and your heart's beating and all those specific things that we need right now, and then some of it gets stored. This is where excess energy gets stored. Right, it goes in it. We take it and storage is really fat. Right, the sum goes to the glycogen which is in the liver, but for the most part, if there's success, it gets stored in the fat, so that when you are actually in the fasting state, when you're actually in the fasting state, your body has to use up all of the available energy.

Speaker 1:

It's kind of like when you go to the grocery store and you buy something. You can go and you buy groceries, you come home, you put it in the pantry, but you cook some food and that's in the refrigerator. Well, you don't go back to the pantry to get stuff until you finish the things that are in the refrigerator. So, same way, the body does not go to the stores, which is the fat cells. It doesn't go to those stores until the thing that's readily available has been used up.

Speaker 1:

So if it takes five hours to digest food, that is, you break it down, the body absorbs it the first five hours and you say, well, I'm gonna fast, I'm gonna fast for 12 hours. Well, the first five hours there's no fasting, at least. Right, because the body is still processing that stuff. And then it takes about eight hours for the body to use up the stores that it has. So when it does the glycogen that's like cooking food put in the refrigerator Well, it takes about eight hours for it to use that up. So five hours in your fasting, five hours, has been for the digestion. It takes about eight hours for it to use up the stores and then it begins going and trying to break down the stores that are in the fat cells, to begin using them. So notice what's happened. It has taken a while to get there, right? So if you say, well, I've fasted for 12 hours, well, five hours. And let's say another five hours, 10 hours, right? So your body hasn't even started looking at the fat cells, at least the first 10 hours.

Speaker 1:

And then autophagy, right? Autophagy? So autophagy is that process where the body now begins to get rid of old, dead cells and tissues and the growth hormone that came out at 12 hours is in the process of working to help rebuild and help rejuvenate. This happens in two and two things need to happen for this process to be successful. Number one. Number one you have to be fasting. And number two you have to have good rest, because a lot of this happens during sleep. Say that again A lot of this happens during sleep. So when we tell people that sleep is regenerative, this is what we're talking about. Well, partially what we're talking about. So sleep is regenerative, but during sleep the body regenerates and rejuvenates. All right, so let's get back to fasting. Let's get back to fasting. Why does fasting work? And does it work? Well, let me do this. Let me do this.

Speaker 1:

So I have been fascinated by fasting. I've been fascinated by fasting and so I decided that I was going to incorporate fasting into my life. And I have been fasting for quite some time. I've been intermittent fasting or time restricted fasting. That is the fasting. You know you do 16 hours of fasting, eight hours of eating, right? You guys a lot of you have done that and a lot of you aren't are currently doing that. So that's what I've been doing and I've done that, and I have done it successfully at times a little bit less successfully at other times, right, because life happens.

Speaker 1:

And so I decided I was going to do a full fast and I was going to do what's called an extended fast, and an extended fast is not a 16, eight, an extended fast is. I decided I was going to do a 72 hour fast. It is three days, three days of not eating. And so this past week well, I'll show you the last two weeks, let me go back a couple of weeks ago, all right, let's do this one. Let's go back a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 1:

So these are my blood sugars, by the way, these are blood sugars, and you'll see there, there we go. So these are my blood sugars and you'll see there, right? So January, the third, that's a Wednesday, and on this particular one, I don't have the Tuesday that occurred before I started the fast, right. On the next one, you will be able to see that. So at this point right.

Speaker 1:

So I started the fast the day before this at 6.45 pm. 6.45 pm and you'll see this is midnight, so I started 6.45. So at midnight we're about five hours in and you'll see those blood sugars right Right below 120. So about 100 to 110 maybe, and you begin to see kind of fluctuations there. And so my question that we're trying to ask the question is can fasting rapidly lower blood sugar? Right, and you'll see here. So I haven't eaten anything, and so now we got about 6 o'clock in the morning. So if we go about 6.45, right, I want you to look at that. I want you to look at that. So my blood sugar started at about started right here about 110-ish, and 12 hours later, 12 hours later, my blood sugar is actually higher. Look at that. And I haven't eaten anything. So I often get the question from people or the comment from people say I haven't eaten anything and my blood sugar is still higher.

Speaker 1:

Well, the blood sugar is higher because the body has what are called counter regulatory hormones. And so what are counter regulatory hormones? Well, when you fast, your insulin level goes down. Right, we're going to come and talk about insulin here in a minute. When you fast, your insulin level goes down. And as the insulin level goes down, that is the body signal that it needs to stop storing things Right. So when you eat, insulin goes up and the body says, hey, I need to take this stuff that's coming in and I need to begin storing it Right. If I'm not using it for energy, it needs to go somewhere, I need to put it in the pantry.

Speaker 1:

Well, after you stop eating and you're in the fasting state, then the insulin level drops. And when the insulin level drops, the body says, okay, now I've got to go get energy to continue keeping him alive, because he's got to breathe, his heart's got to move, he's got to think, he's got to. You know all the things that we do. The body is in the process of doing that. So those are those counter regulatory hormones and in the morning, everybody believes that they wake up just because they wake up. Well, no, there are particular hormones that come into the system to make that happen and some of those hormones can make your blood sugar rise, even though you have neat and anything.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so remember so right here, at this point, this is about let's see, put a mark right there. So that is probably about 645, right about here. Okay, so at this point I have gone 12 hours without eating, right? So, because I started 645, 647 the night before here I am right. So this is about 18 hours, because that's another six hours and the blood sugar is still probably about 80 or 90. And it does not actually go down to around 70. So this right here is about 70. It doesn't go down to 70 until this is 24 plus another six hours, right? So that's about 30 hours before the blood sugar actually gets down to the point where it is slightly below 70. You see that.

Speaker 1:

So into the next day and what I love about this part is I want you to pay attention to that that blood sugar is just riding at 70. That riding at 70. So the question that I want you to be asking is if I haven't eaten now for 36 hours, where is the body getting the energy? Right, and I haven't gone low, right? This point up here showed a little low. I think that may have dipped a little bit, but it came right back up. So where's the body getting the energy to keep this blood sugar right on that 70 line? And in fact, look at this, right, so it was riding at 70, and then these little numbers show that it goes up a little bit. So we're at 36 hours. We're still at 70, y'all, we haven't seen a low blood sugar yet. And right here, you see those red lines. You see that reds. That's where. Oh, you guys aren't seeing this, okay, okay, let's get you back over here I'm just talking and having a good time, okay. So let me go through that again.

Speaker 1:

So at this point, let me put some marks. So at this point, right here, I have been fasting for because that's midnight I've been fasting for about five hours. So five hours. And right down here I've been fasting for about 12 hours, right, because I stopped eating the night before 6.45. When we get to 12 or 12.45, that now is going to be 24 hours. Am I doing that math, right? Yeah, 24, 30 hours, okay. And so as I go through this entire day, y'all notice I didn't eat since the night before at 6.45 and my blood sugar has yet to go low.

Speaker 1:

Coming into that was Wednesday, so I fasted all day Wednesday, started the night before. So that's 24 hours plus five. So that's about 29 hours. And as I get into the second day, you'll notice that my blood sugar just rides on that 70. And in fact it goes up a little bit. You know, you see those little fluctuations right there, right, and it increases a little bit and right here, right, so the gray line is 70. But this line right, let me see this line right down here is 70. But the blood sugars are actually above that, you see that. And so now, right, so now we're over 36 hours and now we begin to see that we're having low. And those red, the red color that you're seeing there, those are where the blood sugars dipping below 70. And 70,.

Speaker 1:

By the way, blood sugars that are below 70 are what are considered to be low, right, and you notice here all those circles. That's me checking, checking, checking, checking, right, I think, right about here was the first time I felt anything, right. And so this is right, at six, maybe 630, 645. So now we've gone a complete 48 hours, right, so we've done about 48 hours now, and it took about 48 hours before I felt anything in terms of a low blood sugar, and that was the only time I felt a low blood sugar. And I'll tell you one of the things that happened there. Okay, but I want you to watch that, right. So now I'm staying below 70, below 70. And I'm coming into Friday, right. So so far we've done 48 hours and coming into Friday. So by six o'clock the next morning, by six o'clock the next morning, I've gone quite beyond 48 hours, okay. And so now I have another 12 hours before I have to go, before I have to, before I'm going to eat, and for that entire day my blood sugar stayed right at about 63, between 63 and 69. So how many days did it take before I had a low blood sugar? If you're out there, you've been watching. How many days did that take? Well, it took about 48 hours, right, it took about 48 hours for me to get there. And so the question is can fasting lower blood sugars rapidly? And the answer is yes. You see it right there, okay.

Speaker 1:

Now what I want to do is I want to go back, and so that was two weeks ago. Now we'll talk a little bit about, and you'll see when I started eating, right. So I started eating right around here. So I started eating right about here, and look how long it took before my blood sugars rose above 120. So I started eating about 6, yeah, 645 here. So 645 the next day would have been 24 hours. Right here, right. So, if I back up a little bit to this point, so it wasn't there, it wasn't until there that my blood sugar started going above 120. And yeah, so I kind of ate some stuff I shouldn't have eaten. Okay, all right. So let's jump over to the second week that I did this, and this time I have I do have the Tuesday on the graph, so I did it the same time, right? So, right about 645, right about here.

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Dwain Woode

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