Drew carey overweight, People magazine reports that comedian Drew Carey says he has stopped his type 2 diabetes - and the need to take any medications for it - by shedding 80 pounds through a diet in which he almost totally gave up eating carbohydrates.
Carey, 52, said he has dropped 80 pounds since going on a no-carb
diet in January. The comedian, who gained a nationwide audience with his
long-running "The Drew Carey Show" on ABC (1995-2004), has always
appeared as husky and somewhat overweight. But the photo accompanying
the People article shows a startlingly transformed, slender man.In his diet, Carey says he eliminated almost all carbohydrates,
including pizza, bread, crackers and any grain or starch-based food.
Instead he focused on foods like egg whites and yogurt. His only
concession to carbs was to eat some fruit.
Carey combined his no-carb diet with a lot of time in the gym, doing 45-minute cardio workout sessions.
The end result, he claims, is a 10-size drop in the pants he wears
and the end of his diabetes. His plan is to shed more weight and drop
one more pant size.
That's where the controversy comes in. Can somebody "cure" himself of type 2
by undertaking the radical changes in weight and diet that Carey did?
Perhaps the furthest that any medical expert would go in describing
Carey's condition is to say that his type 2 symptoms are in remission.
If he can maintain his new weight and diet, he may stay in remission
indefinitely.
There's also the matter of Carey's extremely low-carb diet. Even the
staunchest advocates of high-protein/low-carb diets call for some
carbohydrate intake. It's simply too hard for most people's metabolisms
to create glucose exclusively from fat and protein. Carey's inclusion of
fruits in his diet allowed for some carbs even as he excluded ones
supplied by highly refined foods.
So, technically, Carey didn't undertake a totally no-carb diet. But
he came close, according to his claims. For now, his story is just one
other piece of anecdotal evidence that says people with diabetes (and
pre-diabetes) should consider adopting a low-carb lifestyle. But Carey's
celebrity status may also inspire further research into the question of
just how many carbohydrates people with diabetes or pre-diabetes really
need.
