An electrical engineer struggling to keep diabetes under control
The small things that affect diabetes
Indrajeet, a 32-year-old, noticed a small wound on his neck that was not healing in August 2022.
He was always a little overweight (weighing 80kg), but he had never faced this problem before.
After examining the wound, a doctor recommended a blood sugar test.
The report revealed that Indrajeet had an HBa1c of 6.85%.
He was confirmed to be diabetic.
The moment his reports came back, his doctor put him on anti-diabetic tablets, two times a day.
However, after consulting a doctor-friend, Indrajeet stopped his diabetes tablets; he wanted to reduce his blood sugar using food only.
Some YouTube videos suggested:
Increasing physical activity
Reducing white rice
White rice has a high glycemic index, which means that it may increase blood sugar rapidly.
So Mr. Indrajeet decided to replace his white rice with brown rice first.
The results were extraordinary.
PP blood sugar fell by 50+ points! (from 280 to 223).
This increased his confidence in being able to reduce blood sugar without medicines.
He tried to incorporate more physical activity; he was moving around the factory and spending more time on his feet.
But his blood sugar didn’t budge much.
In fact, his Hba1c was more or less the same 6 months later.
Additionally, he started feeling very lethargic at work.
It was exhausting, for example, to climb stairs.
He always felt hungry in between meals.
This is when he approached us.
During our first call, we learned that Indrajeet was an electrical engineer who worked in alternating day-night 8-hour shifts.
This was red flag #1.
Several people who work in night shifts eat in the middle of the night during their shift. This can spike blood sugar levels.
We also learned that he consumed alcohol very regularly (~about 180ml per week since 2010).
This was red flag #2.
His weight, combined with regular alcohol consumption pointed to fatty liver.
We confirmed this in his reports.
His liver enzymes were elevated, and his triglycerides were 300+, nearly 2x more than the limit of 150 - both strong indications of fatty liver.
The liver plays a vital role in blood sugar management.
Based on Indrajeet's history, it was likely that this fatty liver was the root cause of his diabetes.
i.e. his blood sugar was high because of poor liver function.
Finally, we asked Mr. Indrajeet to take a photo of his meals.
Here is one of the pictures that he shared:
You can see the portion sizes are very large.
One big katori of dal, combined with 5 rotis.
Converted, this translates to a 700-750 calorie meal.
He revealed that he consumed 3 such meals, daily.
Meaning he was consuming ~2100 to 2300 calories, daily.
This was red flag #3.
Treatment Plan
It was difficult to change the night hours, since his profession demanded it.
So for month 1, we decided to focus on supporting his liver.
We asked him to consume the Mango Leaf Tonic for 72 days, a juice made with fermented leaves, to help improve liver function.
Within the first 24 days, he reported:
He had more energy throughout the day
He no longer felt as tired or fatigued
He didn't feel as hungry in between meals as he did before
Here are his reports after ~24 days.
A summary of the changes👇
On 31 March 2023:
Triglycerides = 307
Hba1c = 6.8%
On 27 April 2023:
Triglycerides = 287
Hba1c = 6.7%
Hba1c is usually measured after 3 months. Here, there is (small) change in just 3 weeks.
Positive, but not good enough.
We expected better results than this.
Upon questioning him, we realized that he still consumed his occassional drink.
You can take a look at how much alcohol affects the liver (and management of blood sugar) by going through the CGM readings of this 60 year old woman.
We also noticed that his day-night alternating shifts make his dietary management extremely difficult.
i.e. he wasn’t able to manage portions.
This continuous daily load of 2000 calories, mainly in the form of carbs, made his liver repair journey longer than typical.
And this reflects in his reports: better management of triglycerides, but slower results on Hba1c.
A lot of people wrote to us after reading Neha’s CGM story.
Let this story be a reminder beneficial ingredients will have little to no effect in the face of lifestyle abuse.
Indrajeet is continuing the mango leaf tonic, and intends to do until he shifts his job or stops his night shift.
Know someone in Mumbai who is struggling with blood sugar and fatty liver like Neha ji? Just write to me on harsh.doshi@hatabevtech.com, and we’ll set up a CGM for them :)
Want to know more about the Mango Leaf Tonic for your own practice or use? Just write to me on harsh.doshi@hatabevtech.com, and I’ll guide you further.