American-Indian author Deepak Chopra said, “If we are creating ourselves all the time, then it is never too late to begin creating the bodies we want instead of the ones we mistakenly assume we are stuck with.” And author Brian Wansink said, “The best diet is the one you don’t know you’re on.”
It’s no secret — the foods we consume on a daily basis drastically affect our physical, mental, and emotional health. Not only that, but the amount of time we spend eating them affects our health as well!
If we can get clear on what foods we should eat and when, then we are one step closer to leveling up our health. Healthy eating and intermittent fasting have amazing results — they’ve been known to reverse Type 2 diabetes, improve mental health, facilitate weight loss, and even help prevent cancer!
This Monday, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Jason Fung — a leading expert on intermittent fasting and low-carb diets. We had such an incredible conversation that I had to split this interview into two parts! Definitely check out Episode 1,030 to get the scoop on intermittent fasting, cancer prevention, and whether we should take vitamins and supplements.
Today, I’m sharing Part 2 of our conversation with you! It’s full of amazing information that’s sure to level up your health and improve your life!
Who Is Dr. Jason Fung?
Dr. Jason Fung, MD, is a Toronto-based nephrologist and a world-leading expert in intermittent fasting and low-carb diets. He is also the bestselling author of The Diabetes Code, The Obesity Code, and The Complete Guide to Fasting, and the creator of the Intensive Dietary Management program as well as co-founder of The Fasting Method.
After graduating from the University of Toronto and completing his residency at the University of California, Los Angeles, Dr. Jason returned to Toronto to work as a kidney specialist. He began to work with patients to prevent and treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity — both precursors to kidney disease.
He started by prescribing more conventional solutions — low-fat, low-calorie diet, and exercise — but he found that such conventional treatment plans weren’t truly helping his patients lose weight and get healthier. That’s when he decided to think a little outside the box.
Dr. Jason, along with his friend and professional partner, Megan Ramos, co-founded the Intensive Dietary Management program and The Fasting Method to help their patients truly lose weight, prevent obesity and Type 2 diabetes, and completely avoid kidney disease. They started seeing real results in their patients, and now, they’re beginning to see that fasting can also lower our chances of getting cancer.
Dr. Jason fundamentally believes in the power of intermittent fasting to help people lose weight, lower their blood glucose levels, reduce their medication dependency, and improve their overall health. His work is positively impacting thousands of people around the world, and today, he’s sharing his wisdom and knowledge right here on The School of Greatness on Part 2 of the episode!
In this interview, Dr. Jason Fung shares how to use intermittent fasting if you’re an athlete, how mental health affects our physical health, and his three most important lessons for living a healthy life. Trust me — you’re not gonna want to miss this one.
How to Reverse Type 2 Diabetes via Fasting
In our interview, Dr. Jason gave a shocking statistic — almost 50% of the American population suffers from prediabetes or Type 2 diabetes:
“About 10% – 15% is Type 2 diabetes. About 30 – 35% is prediabetes. So the point is that if you put all that sugar into your body, what happens is that you can cram it in, but then all that sugar sort of goes all over the body. And every single organ just starts to rot away.” – Dr. Jason Fung
Prediabetes eventually leads to Type 2 diabetes, which is extremely harmful to the body and, in some cases, even life-threatening. How do people develop Type 2 diabetes? The answer is simple: an overabundance of sugar.
“Imagine your body is a sugar bowl. And over the years, you’re sort of eating a lot more and not using it up. So the sugar builds up, builds up, builds up. Eventually, it gets to the point where it starts to overflow. And that’s basically what Type 2 diabetes is. You’ve stored up so much sugar in your body that it overflows into the blood.” – Dr. Jason Fung
People suffering from Type 2 diabetes often take insulin shots, but Dr. Jason says that this treatment is actually counterproductive in the long run. Instead of getting rid of the sugar that has overflowed into the body, insulin merely “crams” it back into that initial sugar bowl — which will eventually overflow again. The solution to curing Type 2 diabetes isn’t insulin — according to Dr. Jason, it’s getting rid of most sugar and giving your body time to burn it off:
“The solution is not to put more and more [insulin] to push it in. The solution is to get rid of all that stuff. … The solution is to get rid of all that sugar. So how do you do that? There [are] only two things you need to know: Don’t put it in and let your body burn it off.” – Dr. Jason Fung
There are tons of ways you can do this — going on diets, taking supplements, etc. — but the method with the most results is intermittent fasting combined with a low carbohydrate diet. Dr. Jason used the analogy of going to the gas station to fill up your car — you don’t go to the gas station three times a day to fill up the tank, do you? If you did, the gas would overflow (and it’d be a waste of money, right?).
“[It’s the] same as the body. Every time, you’re just putting more sugar and putting more sugar. … [Instead,] run that body without sugar for a while. And that’s what intermittent fasting does. And that’s why we were able to reverse [Type 2 diabetes]. We wrote a case series about three patients who we did this for. We just reversed the diabetes — like, they had 20 years of diabetes, and we reversed it in them.” – Dr. Jason Fung
Do you suffer from Type 2 diabetes or prediabetes? Do you know someone else who suffers from it? It’s sadly becoming more and more prevalent, but thankfully, there is a way to reverse it. Type 2 diabetes can completely wreck your internal organs, give you kidney disease, increase your risk of heart attack, and shorten your lifespan, but you don’t have to let it. I’d encourage you to talk to your doctor about intermittent fasting and whether or not it’s right for you. And if you want to learn the specifics about intermittent fasting, I encourage you to check out Part One with Dr. Jason Fung where he explains the different methods!
