I Turned My Prediabetes Around: How Rethinking My Body as an Engine Helped Me Reverse My Diagnosis and Reclaim My Health

Introduction: The Diagnosis That Changed Everything

The air in the exam room was cool and sterile, a stark contrast to the heat rising in my face.

My doctor swiveled on his stool, a file open on his lap, and delivered the words with practiced neutrality: “Your blood work came back.

Your HbA1c is 6.1%.

That puts you in the pre-diabetes range.”

Prediabetes.

The word hung in the air, thick and suffocating.

It felt less like a warning and more like a verdict.

I thought of my family history, a roadmap dotted with type 2 diabetes, and suddenly, my own future felt grimly predetermined.

The subtle signs I’d been brushing aside for months—a persistent, unquenchable thirst, a bone-deep fatigue that no amount of coffee could fix, the occasional blurry vision I blamed on screen time—snapped into sharp, terrifying focus.¹

These weren’t just random annoyances; they were the early warning signs of a body struggling.

My doctor’s advice, though well-intentioned, felt like a hollow echo of every health headline I’d ever skimmed.

“You need to make some lifestyle changes,” he said, handing me a glossy pamphlet.

“Eat less, move more.

Cut down on sugar and fats.

More whole grains.”

I walked out of that clinic clutching the pamphlet like a failing report Card. I felt a confusing mix of shame and fear, as if my own body had betrayed me.

The path ahead seemed clear and bleak: a joyless regimen of deprivation, a constant battle against cravings, all just to delay the inevitable slide into full-blown type 2 diabetes, a condition I knew could lead to a cascade of devastating complications, from heart disease to nerve damage and blindness.³

I was determined to fight, but I was being sent into battle with a map that felt hopelessly, fundamentally wrong.

Part 1: The Hamster Wheel of “Healthy” Eating

Armed with my diagnosis and a sense of grim determination, I declared war on my old lifestyle.

My pantry underwent a radical transformation, a purge of everything I now considered contraband.

Out went the white bread, pasta, and rice; in came their “healthy” whole-grain cousins.⁵

I stocked the fridge with low-fat yogurts, convinced that fat was the enemy.

My shopping cart, once a vessel of convenience, became a testament to virtue, filled with items labeled “low-fat,” “multigrain,” and “natural.” I became a meticulous calorie accountant, logging every bite, convinced that the simple arithmetic of “calories in, calories out” was the key to my salvation.

I was doing everything the pamphlet, the doctor, and the entire world seemed to be telling me was “right.”

And it wasn’t working.

My days started with a bowl of “heart-healthy” oatmeal and ended with a dinner of lean chicken breast, brown rice, and steamed vegetables.

Yet, I was perpetually hungry.

An hour after my virtuous breakfast, I’d feel a familiar slump, a craving for something, anything, to get my energy back up.

My weight, which I monitored with obsessive dread, refused to budge in any meaningful Way. More alarmingly, my home blood sugar readings remained stubbornly high.

I was running harder and harder on the hamster wheel of conventional wisdom, yet I was getting nowhere.

It was demoralizing, confusing, and utterly exhausting.

What I didn’t understand at the time was that my strategy was failing not because of a lack of willpower, but because it was built on a flawed premise.

The well-meaning advice to eat a “balanced, low-fat diet with plenty of whole grains” is fundamentally the wrong prescription for a body that is already metabolically broken in a very specific Way.

The Flawed Logic of “Healthy” Eating for the Insulin Resistant

My problem, and the problem for the more than 80 million American adults with prediabetes, wasn’t just about calories; it was about hormones.⁶

The core of prediabetes is a condition called insulin resistance.⁷

In essence, my body had become “deaf” to the signals of insulin, the master hormone responsible for managing the fuel from my food.

And the loudest fuel source, the one that demands the most insulin, is carbohydrates.

The “Healthy” Grain Deception: I had fallen for the myth that all whole grains are unequivocally good for you.

While they are certainly a better choice than their refined, processed counterparts because their fiber slows digestion, for a body like mine—one that was already “carbohydrate intolerant”—they were still a problem.⁸

A meal of oatmeal or whole-wheat pasta, no matter how “healthy,” was still being converted into a large amount of glucose (sugar) in my bloodstream.

My insulin-resistant system couldn’t handle this influx efficiently.

It was like pouring gasoline on a fire I was desperately trying to put O.T. My body would release a surge of insulin to deal with the sugar, leading to a subsequent crash that left me feeling tired and hungry all over again, perpetuating a vicious cycle.⁹

The Low-Fat Trap: My fear of fat was equally misguided.

In my quest to eliminate it, I was inadvertently sabotaging myself.

Many commercially produced low-fat foods replace the fat with sugar and other refined carbohydrates to make them palatable, turning a seemingly healthy choice into a hidden sugar bomb.¹¹

Furthermore, I was depriving myself of healthy fats—from sources like avocados, nuts, and olive oil—which are crucial for satiety, the feeling of fullness that prevents overeating.⁶

My low-fat, high-carb diet was a perfect recipe for constant hunger and hormonal chaos.

My experience wasn’t unique.

The numbers don’t lie.

My blood glucose monitor was telling me a story my “healthy” diet couldn’t explain.

I was stuck, and I realized that to get off this hamster wheel, I needed more than a new diet plan.

I needed a completely new way of understanding how my body worked.

Part 2: The Epiphany: My Body Isn’t a Calculator, It’s an Engine

The breaking point came after another follow-up appointment.

My HbA1c hadn’t improved.

It had crept up to 6.2%.

I felt a surge of despair.

I was following all the rules, yet I was still losing the game.

That evening, sitting with my head in my hands, I had a moment of startling clarity.

The “calories in, calories out” model was a dangerously incomplete story.

It treated my body like a simple bomb calorimeter, a machine where all calories are created equal.

But a body isn’t a calculator; it’s a breathtakingly complex biological engine, run by a cascade of hormonal signals.

And different fuels send profoundly different signals.¹³

That’s when the analogy that would change everything began to form in my mind.

My body was a high-performance engine that had become flooded, clogged, and inefficient.

To fix it, I didn’t need to just put less fuel in; I needed to understand the type of fuel I was using and what it was doing to the machinery.

The Fuel Efficiency Analogy: A New Way of Seeing

I started to visualize a healthy, metabolically flexible person as having a finely tuned, fuel-efficient engine.

When they eat, the food is broken down into fuel (glucose).

The pancreas releases a precise amount of insulin, which acts like a key in a lock or a signal to the fuel injectors, efficiently opening the doors to the muscle and fat cells (the engine’s “cylinders”) so the glucose can enter and be burned for immediate, clean energy.¹⁶

The engine hums along, powerful and responsive.

My engine, however, was in a state of crisis.

I realized my pre-diabetic condition could be understood in two disastrous stages.

Stage 1: The Wrong Fuel & The Flooded Engine (Hyperinsulinemia)

For years, my diet had been rich in processed carbohydrates and sugars.

This was like trying to run a Ferrari on cheap, sugary, low-grade fuel.

My body was constantly being flooded with more glucose than it could immediately use.

In response, my pancreas (the “fuel pump”) did the only thing it knew how to do: it worked overtime, pumping out massive quantities of insulin to try and force all that excess sugar out of my bloodstream and into the cells.18

This state is called hyperinsulinemia—chronically high levels of insulin.

It’s like flooring the accelerator of an already flooded engine.

The more you pump, the less responsive the engine becomes.

My cells, overwhelmed by the constant insulin barrage, started to become “resistant.” They were effectively putting their hands over their ears, trying to ignore the incessant shouting of the insulin hormone.

This is insulin resistance.

Dr. Jason Fung, a Canadian nephrologist and a leading voice in this field, uses a powerful analogy that perfectly captures this state: trying to cram more and more people onto an already overstuffed subway train.²⁰

The doors are struggling to close.

You can shove harder (more insulin), and you might get a few more people on, but you’re just making the underlying problem of overcrowding worse.

This is precisely what happens with many conventional diabetes treatments that involve giving more insulin.

They address the symptom (high blood sugar) by worsening the root cause (a system overflowing with energy).¹⁵

Stage 2: Clogged Fuel Lines & A Seized Engine (Ectopic Fat)

This was the next, crucial part of my epiphany.

What happens to all that glucose that can’t get into the resistant cells? Where does all the fuel from the flooded engine go? The body, in a desperate act of self-preservation to clear the toxic excess of sugar from the blood, shunts it to the liver.

The liver then works frantically to convert this sugar into a safer storage form: fat.

Specifically, a type of fat called triglycerides.

This isn’t just the fat you can pinch on your belly.

This is a far more insidious process.

This newly created fat starts to accumulate in places it was never meant to be stored in large amounts—inside and around the core components of the engine itself.

It infiltrates the liver, leading to fatty liver disease.

And, most critically for diabetes, it infiltrates the pancreas.²²

This is known as

ectopic fat, or fat in the wrong place.

This ectopic fat is the “gunk” that clogs the engine’s fuel lines and coats the spark plugs.

A fatty liver can no longer regulate blood sugar properly.

A fatty pancreas struggles to produce insulin effectively.

The very organs responsible for managing my body’s fuel were becoming physically gummed up and dysfunctional because of the fuel overflow.

My engine wasn’t just flooded anymore; it was seizing up from the inside O.T.

This reframed everything.

I realized that type 2 diabetes and prediabetes are not, at their core, diseases of high blood sugar.

That’s just the most obvious symptom.

They are diseases of insulin dysfunction driven by a chronic overflow of energy that manifests as hyperinsulinemia and ectopic fat accumulation.

To fix the engine, I didn’t need to just manage the smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe (high blood sugar).

I had to stop pouring in the wrong fuel and, most importantly, I had to find a way to clean out all the gunk that was clogging the machinery.

Part 3: The Blueprint for a Full System Tune-Up

With this new understanding, the path forward became clear.

The goal was no longer the vague “eat less, move more.” The goal was specific and mechanical: reduce the chronic energy overflow, lower my insulin levels, and give my body a chance to burn off the toxic internal fat that was clogging my liver and pancreas.

The goal was remission.

First, A Word on “Reversal”: Setting Realistic Expectations

Before diving into the “how,” it’s critical to use the right language, because words shape our understanding and our expectations.

While you’ll often hear the term “reversal,” the international scientific community, including the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the Endocrine Society, and Diabetes UK, has reached a consensus on a more precise term: remission.²⁵

This isn’t just a matter of semantics.

A “cure” implies the disease is gone forever, with no further management needed.

“Reversal” can suggest a permanent fix.

“Remission,” however, accurately describes what is happening: the signs and symptoms of the disease have abated, but the underlying predisposition may still exist.²⁸

According to the 2021 international consensus report, remission is officially defined as achieving a hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level below 6.5% that is sustained for at least three months after stopping all glucose-lowering medications.²⁶

Understanding this is incredibly empowering.

It means that while type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition, it is not necessarily a one-way, progressive disease.

It can be put into a dormant state.

It also instills the crucial understanding that maintenance is key.

You are the one in the driver’s seat, but you must remain a vigilant driver to keep the engine running smoothly for the long haul.²²

The Two Proven Paths to Remission: Clearing the Gunk

The scientific literature is clear: the most potent driver of type 2 diabetes remission is significant weight loss, specifically the loss of 10-15 kg (22-33 lbs) or more.²²

This level of weight loss is what’s needed to effectively reduce the ectopic fat clogging the liver and pancreas, allowing them to function properly again.²²

Groundbreaking clinical trials have illuminated two primary, evidence-based strategies to achieve this.

Path A: The Rapid System Flush (The DiRECT Trial Approach)

This strategy is akin to a rapid, intensive engine flush.

It’s based on the landmark Diabetes Remission Clinical Trial (DiRECT), which tested the effectiveness of a very-low-calorie diet (VLCD).32

• The Concept: For a period of 12-20 weeks, participants in the DiRECT trial replaced their normal meals with a medically supervised, nutritionally complete formula diet of shakes and soups, totaling just 825-853 calories per day. This was followed by a structured, gradual reintroduction of whole foods.³² The severe caloric deficit forces the body to rapidly mobilize and burn stored fat, including the harmful ectopic fat, for energy.
• The Evidence: The results were nothing short of revolutionary. At one year, an incredible 46% of participants in the intervention group had achieved remission. At two years, 36% were still in remission.³² The most telling statistic? Among those who lost and, crucially,
  maintained a weight loss of over 15 kg (33 lbs), a staggering 86% achieved remission.³² Follow-up data at five years showed that 13% of those who continued with support were still in remission, demonstrating the potential for long-term success, though also highlighting the challenge of maintenance.³²
• Who It’s For: This is a powerful, fast-acting approach. It’s best suited for highly motivated individuals who are prepared for an intense, short-term intervention and, critically, who do so under the guidance of a healthcare professional. It appears to be most effective for those who are closer to their initial diagnosis.²²

Path B: The Premium Fuel Conversion (The Virta Health Approach)

This strategy takes a different route to the same destination.

Instead of focusing on radical calorie reduction, it focuses on radically changing the type of fuel going into the engine.

This is the low-carbohydrate, high-fat (LCHF) or ketogenic diet approach, famously studied in the Virta Health trials.34

• The Concept: By restricting carbohydrate intake to very low levels (typically under 50 grams per day), the body’s primary fuel source shifts from glucose to fat. This metabolic state is called nutritional ketosis. With carbs out of the picture, insulin levels plummet. Low insulin is the signal that unlocks the body’s fat stores, allowing both dietary fat and stored body fat (including ectopic fat) to be burned for energy.¹⁰
• The Evidence: The Virta Health trial results are equally compelling. At one year, 60% of patients achieved diabetes reversal (remission by another name), and 94% of those on insulin were able to reduce or completely eliminate it.³⁷ At two years, 53.5% had reversed their diabetes.³⁹ The five-year data shows remarkable durability, with 20% of participants in full remission and sustained improvements in weight, inflammation, and cardiovascular health markers.⁴⁰
• Who It’s For: Many people find this approach more sustainable and satisfying in the long run because it focuses on eating satiating whole foods like meat, fish, eggs, and non-starchy vegetables, rather than liquid meal replacements or severe calorie counting.⁴² It requires a significant lifestyle shift but can become a permanent way of eating.

Table 1: Two Paths to Remission – A Head-to-Head Comparison

To help you decide which tune-up might be right for you, here’s a direct comparison of these two evidence-based strategies.

The key takeaway is that while the methods are different, the essential mechanism—achieving significant weight loss to clear out ectopic fat—is the same.

Feature	Path A: The Rapid System Flush (DiRECT/VLCD)	Path B: The Premium Fuel Conversion (Virta/Low-Carb)
Primary Mechanism	Severe caloric deficit (~800 kcal/day) to force rapid weight loss and fat mobilization.	Severe carbohydrate restriction (<50g/day) to lower insulin and switch the body to burning fat for fuel.
Typical Foods	Medically formulated shakes, soups, and non-starchy vegetables for 12-20 weeks, followed by gradual food reintroduction.32	Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, non-starchy vegetables, nuts, seeds, healthy fats (avocado, olive oil). Focus on whole foods.15
Remission Rate (1-2 Yrs)	~46% at 1 year, 36% at 2 years.32	~60% reversal at 1 year, 53.5% at 2 years.37
Medication Reduction	Antidiabetic drugs withdrawn at the start of the intervention.32	94% of insulin users reduce/eliminate dose at 1 year; 63% of all diabetes meds eliminated.37
Average Weight Loss	~10-15kg (22-33 lbs).22	~12% body weight (~31 lbs) at 1 year.44
Key Consideration	Highly effective but intense and requires medical supervision. Long-term maintenance can be a challenge.33	Can be highly sustainable and satisfying, but requires a significant shift in eating patterns and careful management of electrolytes.45

Building Your High-Performance Meal Plan: The Universal Principles

Regardless of which primary path you and your doctor choose, the principles of building a healthy, remission-focused diet are universal.

They are about maximizing nutrient density while minimizing the hormonal chaos caused by processed foods.

1. Prioritize Protein: Protein is the building block of your body and is crucial for feeling full and satisfied after meals. This satiety is a powerful tool for controlling overall calorie intake without feeling deprived. Furthermore, when you are losing weight, adequate protein intake is essential to ensure you are losing fat, not precious muscle mass.⁴⁶ One study focusing on a high-protein diet for prediabetes saw a 100% remission rate, underscoring its importance.⁴⁶
2. Embrace Healthy Fat, Fear Sugar: The era of fat-phobia is over. Healthy fats from whole-food sources like avocados, olive oil, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish do not provoke a significant insulin response and are vital for hormone production and overall health.⁶ The real dietary villain is, and has always been, added sugar and the refined carbohydrates that act just like sugar in the body.⁵
3. Be Strategic with Carbohydrates: This is the cornerstone. You must drastically reduce your intake of the carbohydrates that cause rapid spikes in blood sugar. This means eliminating liquid sugars (soda, fruit juice), refined grains (white bread, white rice, pasta, most breakfast cereals), and processed snack foods.⁵ Your carbohydrate intake should come predominantly from high-fiber, non-starchy vegetables (think leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers). This approach, sometimes called a “carbohydrate flatline,” helps to stabilize blood sugar and prevent the insulin spikes that drive fat storage and insulin resistance.¹
4. Build a Bigger Engine with Resistance Training: Diet is paramount, but exercise is a powerful, non-negotiable partner. While cardiovascular exercise is excellent for heart health, resistance training is the key to improving your metabolic machinery. Lifting weights, using resistance bands, or performing bodyweight exercises like push-ups and squats builds lean muscle mass. Think of muscle as a series of “glucose storage tanks.” The more muscle you have, the more places your body has to put glucose after a meal, taking the pressure off your pancreas and directly improving your insulin sensitivity.¹ You are literally building a bigger, more efficient engine.

Part 4: Life on the Open Road: Stories of Hope and Health

The science is compelling, and the clinical trial data is irrefutable.

But what truly brings the possibility of remission to life are the stories of the people who have walked this path.

These are not just data points; they are lives transformed.

They are the proof that a diagnosis does not have to be a destiny.

These stories show that the benefits of achieving remission are not just about the numbers on a lab report.

They represent a profound restoration of health that touches every aspect of a person’s life.

This isn’t just about reversing diabetes; it’s about initiating a cascade of systemic healing.

The fatigue, joint pain, poor sleep, and mental fog that so often accompany metabolic disease begin to lift, revealing a vitality that many thought was lost forever.

This is the true promise of taking back control—not a journey of deprivation, but one of profound and joyful restoration.

Dramatic A1c Drops and Rapid Results

The speed at which the body can begin to heal is often astonishing.

• Donnie, a Virta member, saw his A1c plummet from a dangerous 11% down to 6% in just 10 weeks.⁴³
• Jane Ann Dimitt, who was on the verge of starting insulin with an A1c of 11.4%, brought it down to 5.5%—well into the normal range—with Virta’s program.⁴¹
• Crystal Gonzalez, after being diagnosed with an A1c of 11.5%, learned to manage her diet and brought her level down to 6.5%, the threshold of remission.²

Freedom from Medication

For many, the ultimate prize is liberation from the daily burden of pills and injections.

• James, a Diet Doctor success story, was able to come off insulin completely after living with type 2 diabetes for over 20 years.⁴⁸
• Nate, another Virta member, went from needing nearly 300 units of insulin per day to taking zero medications for his diabetes.⁴⁹
• Elizabeth, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, eliminated her insulin shots and saw her A1c improve by nearly 4 points, allowing her to return to her cherished hobby of basket-making.⁴⁹

Life-Changing Weight Loss

Significant weight loss is a common and powerful outcome of these approaches.

• Terri, featured on Diet Doctor, lost an incredible 200 pounds and reversed her type 2 diabetes.⁴⁸
• Kristina, through Virta, lost 65 pounds and achieved a normal BMI for the first time since she was a teenager, calling herself “the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been”.⁴³
• Kirk lost 100 pounds and declared, “I no longer have type 2 diabetes”.⁵¹

The “Non-Scale Victories”: Reclaiming Life

Perhaps the most powerful stories are about the return of life’s simple joys—the “side benefits, not side effects”.44

• Tim, a Navy veteran, found that his knee pain vanished, allowing him to get back to riding his motorcycle.⁴⁹
• Wilma, a grandmother, lost weight and eliminated her insulin, but the real victory was regaining the energy to play with her grandkids.⁴⁹
• Anya, another Virta user, reported not only a nearly 50-pound weight loss and diabetes reversal but also a dramatic increase in energy and improved sleep. “My husband asks, ‘What happened to my wife? Who are you?’ I no longer need naps to make it through my day”.⁵²
• Kieran Ball, a participant in the DiRECT trial, lost 22 kg and remains in remission today. He calls the experience “100% life changing,” stating, “DiRECT was an opportunity to reboot the way I was living and I’m so grateful for what being healthy has given me the opportunity to do”.³³
• Kim Shepherd, a Virta patient who lost 55 pounds and eliminated 10 medications, saw her acid reflux and plantar fasciitis disappear. For her, the motivation is clear: “I have 4 kids and 9 grandkids to keep up with. I’ve learned to love hiking and biking. Nothing is worth losing all of that and going back to how I was before”.⁴¹

Conclusion: You Have the Keys to Your Engine

My journey began in a cold exam room, with a diagnosis that felt like a life sentence.

I felt powerless, a victim of my own biology, destined for a future of managed decline.

The engine analogy changed everything.

It transformed my understanding from one of passive victimhood to active ownership.

I wasn’t broken; my engine was just flooded with the wrong fuel and clogged with the consequences.

The overwhelming evidence from major clinical trials and the powerful stories of countless individuals who have walked this path all point to one resounding, hopeful truth: type 2 diabetes is not a one-way street.

It is a disease of excess fuel, a state of chronic energy overload.

And it can be put into long-term, sustainable remission by fundamentally changing the fuel you put in your body and giving your engine the chance to clean itself O.T.¹⁵

The paths are clear.

The science is robust.

Whether through a short-term, intensive “system flush” or a long-term “premium fuel conversion,” the ability to reclaim your metabolic health is more achievable now than ever before.

This knowledge is the most powerful tool you can possess.

It allows you to walk into your doctor’s office not as a passive recipient of a diagnosis, but as an informed partner in your own health.

You have the owner’s manual.

You have the tools.

You have the keys to your own engine.

It’s time to get back in the driver’s seat.

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