Over the last week lots of change has been happening in health care and especially around Type2Diabetes. With myself having learnt first-hand how hard change is for the NHS and how badly we need change in our health care system.
But change is COMING. Some amazing things are happening...Be that in attending UKHealthCamp in Manchester. And meeting some amazing tech entrepreneurs and future thinkers in health all that know change is needed.
Or having seen (and heard the numbers from) the introduction of more and more technology innovations at the NHS Expo and the great speech by MP Matt Hancock.
Or the admittance of the Deputy Labour Leader that he reversed his condition with diet and exercise and believes the NHS could save billions moving forward.
Or the new numbers coming in from the studies done by PHE . And their wish to move to prevention rather than cure.
Or the DiabetesUK sponsored DiRECT studies that are proving that this method of treating Type 2 Diabetes (which we have been petitioning for) might work on more and more people.
Or that the NHS is planning to fund more innovative ways of dealing with the Type 2 Diabetes epidemic and may finally allow the use of rapid weight loss – like the approach I used to reverse my condition.
As I went on the liquid diet as part of #TheFastFixDiabeteswhich itself was based on the Direct study and the work of Professor Roy Taylor. Who for too long wasn’t listened to by many parts of the #NHS.
It seems now that people are listening and taking action.
As the trial report is published in November and already NHS chiefs are planning how they nationally roll out the diet.
As the liquid diet was described as an exciting development by Professor Jonathan Valabhji of NHS England. Who is a lovely chap, a specialist and a London GP. As well as a great speaker who I chatted to whilst at the Expo. As he himself puts it…
‘The trial involved 300 people, of those in the intervention arm a staggering almost 50 per cent their diabetes went into remission, their blood glucose levels fell into the non-diabetic range.‘That excites us. The beauty of the research is that it was implemented in GP surgeries. It wasn’t hugely expensive.’
He said the average weight loss of 2 stone and 5lb was staggering. Which was around how much I also lost.
Which is all in my book (as well as lots of the research behind why it works.)
Which you can get a free PDF of here.
But why should the NHS change?As the number of diabetics has doubled to nearly four million in the past 20 years. Nine in ten have Type 2, which is strongly linked to excess weight.
As Professor Valabhji, said at the NHSExpo in Manchester last week:
‘Not only are we seeing greater numbers, what we’re also rather frighteningly seeing is younger age of onset.‘I may have been looking after the grandfather for the last couple of decades who was diagnosed at the age of 65, then the father came onto my book who was diagnosed at the age of 48, now I’ve got the granddaughter diagnosed at 29.
‘I’ve got quite a lot of people who are in their 20s with Type 2 diabetes which we simply didn’t see when I started practising. You’d write that up in a journal if you saw it back then, now we’re seeing it all the time.’
Remember this is not Type 1 diabetes which is very different indeed. Type 2 can be reversed or put into remission (in many cases – in some races up to 86% of cases) with diet and exercise.
The diet isn’t seen as healthy by many (myself included) but it is highly effective at causing dramatic weight loss. And yes rapid weight loss DOES work.
What you do afterwards I tackle a little in my book. As diet is only one of the keys to reversing the condition.
But it is possible. The Deputy leader of the Labour party can do it. And whether you like his politics or not. With all the stress and strains of that. And all the networking. And all the work. And probably all the temptations…
All of it is pointing towards change coming. And not a moment too soon. As Tom Watson, in his blog tells us:
“In 1998 just three per cent of adults in England had diabetes diagnosed. By 2016 that had more than doubled, with seven per cent of adults having it diagnosed. Each year in the UK 24,000 people with diabetes die prematurely.”
And he continues
“I believe there are times when politicians of all sides must join forces to enact change. My experience of escaping Type 2 diabetes has given me a new mission to help others to get healthy. We can’t afford to keep going as we are. The challenge is huge but generations will suffer if we fall to get a grip on the obesity crisis that threatens to engulf us.”I believe this too as...
Treating diabetes, he points out, costs 10% of the NHS budget – not just in medication, but for complications such as limb amputation, sight problems, kidney problems and stroke – and this is predicted to almost triple to £39.8bn a year by 2035/36, if trends continue.
This isn’t a political change that is needed. It’s a moral change. A structural change. A cultural change. And we can’t hide behind it and some uncomfortable truths.
We have known about this way of reversing Type 2 diabetes for a while. We don’t have all the answers yet – but some of the answer - is people taking control of their own health.
Yes - with help from the government.
Yes - with new laws to help healthier eating become easier and cheaper.
And yes – by using technology to help scale the message and make it easier.
But what we can’t afford to do it NOT change.
And not just personally. But for our whole society.
WHO IS WITH ME!And let's start with real action. Give this free PDF copy of my book to ANYONE you know with Type2Diabetes. As my gift to you.
It's time to re-start the mission.
I was on Channel 5 News yesterday and mentioned the book - but FORGOT to say it is FREE in PDF format during September!
I also forgot to look at the camera or turn my phone off.
Unlike Tom ...
