9 Science-Backed Strategies to Help Reverse Diabetes

First, start exercising

“I always tell patients that the most important change they can make is getting more exercise,” says Betul Hatipoglu, MD, a Cleveland Clinic endocrinologist. The University of Alabama at Birmingham recruited more than 5,000 overweight adults with type 2 diabetes and assigned them to either an intensive weight-loss program or an education and support intervention. After one year, 11.5 percent of those in the intensive group (who reduced their intake to between 1,200 and 1,800 calories a day and increased activity levels to 175 minutes per week) experienced diabetes remission, compared to just 2 percent in the support and education group. This is the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

The American College of Sports Medicine and the American Diabetes Association released a report in a 2010 issue of Diabetes Care that analyzed multiple studies on the effect of exercise on type 2 diabetes management and concluded that regular exercise helps control insulin resistance and blood glucose levels. Follow this step-by-step plan to reverse diabetes.