As I have stated in previous posts in 2016, I noticed my blood sugar levels were beginning to creep up and I struggled with the cause. I thought the reason might have been attributed to the Dawn Phenomenon, alcohol, reduced exercise or chewing gum. But after a few months of tinkering I think it was just that I got over confident in my success and decided to deviate too much from the Paleo lifestyle.

Even though I am a Type 2 Diabetic, for several years I have controlled my blood glucose within normal levels without the use of medication. And these “normal” levels are normal for someone without Type 2 Diabetes (fasting measurements between 70-100 mg/dl), not the “normal” that the American Diabetes Association says a Type 2 Diabetic should control his blood sugar (fasting measurements less than 130 mg/dl).

After 3 years of strict adherence to the Paleo lifestyle I had become over confident that somehow I had reversed my insulin sensitivity and my “cheat” days (which had previously been reserved for things like Thanksgiving, Christmas parties, etc.) were now a regular occurrence. Cheats for me consisted of beer, potatoes and grains such as grits, corn and chips and while I knew these were verboten, I refused to confront the brutal facts that these were not conducive to my genetic makeup.

I knew I needed a ‘reset’ and when Robb Wolf’s latest book – Wired To Eat – came out I quickly read it and accepted the 30-day back to Paleo basics challenge outlined in the book. The 30-day challenge didn’t just involve adhering to a strict Paleo diet, it involved getting 8 hours of sleep each night, moving every day and getting involved in community activities with friends and coworkers. Moving every day and socializing with folks is something I do every day so that was not a drastic change for me but getting back to Paleo basics and (more importantly) getting 8 hours of sleep each night was something that required effort on my part.

The results that I’ll share below mainly speak for themselves and this last month has reiterated the importance of following this Paleo lifestyle in not only controlling my Type 2 Diabetes but improving my general well being.

It should be noted again that my exercise regime was still the same – running, walking, biking or lifting weights 3-5 times per week – and the only thing I changed over the past 2 weeks was my diet and getting 8 hours of sleep every night.

Now on to the results….

The following metrics showed the improvement I made during this 30-day period:

The following chart shows my morning blood glucose readings prior to the 30-day challenge and during it.

Even more improvement is seen with the evening blood glucose readings during this same period.

During the mid way portion of this 30-day challenge I took my blood glucose readings about every hour in a typical day and the graph is shown below. (NOTE – the “spike” after dinner on this day was attributed to pineapple I ate with dinner.)

Now compare that graph with another graph during a day in late 2016 when I started to realize that my blood glucose levels were starting to be elevated.

The following chart is from my Fitbit app showing the drop in my resting heart rate during this period and this was not from an increase in exercise but instead from an increase in the amount of sleep I got each night.

You can see from the Fitbit app how my sleep each night during this 30-day period was about 8 hours per night and then you can see how this was a drastic improvement over what I had typically seen over the past year.

I’ll share more insights I gained from this 30-day reset in future posts and I’ll also explore the 7-day carb investigation that Robb Wolf explains in Wired To Eat but I want to stay on this strict Paleo lifestyle for another 30 days before I start that investigation. I need another 30 days to fully heal my body and complete the reset before I start experimenting with carbs and determining which are conducive to my genetics (and based on 3+ years of this, I don’t think there will be many that will fall into that category).