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I have worked as a diabetes specialist for more than 30 years. For 20 of those years I, along with everyone else in the diabetes field, believed that it was a progressive condition. Patients were advised to base every meal around starchy carbohydrates and take medication in the hope of halting its progress, which meant they avoided ill health as a result of complications.

It was all rather depressing for me as a doctor. It must have been even more depressing for my patients.

Then, 10 years ago, an incredible notion that you could reverse type 2 diabetes – simply by changing your diet – began to filter through.

For the first time in my career I began to ask patients about their diet and lifestyle, suggesting they ignore official advice and, instead, strive to reduce the carbohydrates (sugars and starches) in their meals.

Their blood sugar levels improved and some no longer needed medication.

My book Reverse your Diabetes: The Step-by-Step Plan to Take Control of Type 2 Diabetes, caused quite a stir when it was published in 2014.

Some doctors thought I was jeopardising my reputation and career for a fad diet.

But within a few months, readers and medics were contacting me with success stories. There is now greater acceptance that the condition can be reversed, and that a low carbohydrate diet can help people achieve this.

Despite this, I still come across many sceptical health professionals. So many of their patients are continuing to follow, and believe, what I now call the ‘diabetes myths’. But with a few lifestyle changes, anyone with type 2 diabetes can transform their health.

Myth 1: Type 2 diabetes gets worse over time and there’s nothing you can do to stop it

Fact: With dietary changes, you can not only halt the condition in its tracks but, by reverting blood sugar levels back to normal, put it into remission.

Myth 2: You’ve got type 2 diabetes because you’re lazy and eat a lot

Fact: Many people feel ashamed at developing type 2 diabetes. But this is not your fault. People have not made a conscious decision to become less healthy. In just 20 years, cases have tripled globally as lifestyles adapt to changing environments.

Junk food has supplanted real, fresh produce, and industrial-level marketing of the food industry has shifted us towards a highly processed, high-calorie, carb-rich diet.

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Together with more sedentary lifestyles, this has led to harmful effects on our metabolism and overall health.

Myth 3: You just need to eat healthily

Fact: Type 2 diabetes, and prediabetes, is a form of carbohydrate intolerance. Tackling it means ignoring official dietary advice (to reduce fat and base meals around starchy carbs) and reducing carbs in your diet.

It seems rather obvious that sugar will push up your blood sugars. But starch, which is found in everyday foods such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice and cereals, is essentially sugar molecules joined together. Once eaten, they separate and become glucose.

I don’t think it’s purely a coincidence that rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes rocketed since the 1980s when a low fat, high carb diet was first recommended.

Myth 4: Saturated fat is bad

Fact: Saturated fat is no longer the enemy. Fat is essential in your diet. Dairy products are minimally processed, low in carbs and high in protein and healthy fats. It’s better to eat cheese than a biscuit.

Myth 5: It’s only people with type 1 diabetes that need to check their blood glucose levels

Fact: Checking levels – even just a few times each week – is invaluable for anyone with type 2 diabetes.

It is the only way to check the impact of food on your blood glucose levels and track your progress towards reversing type 2 diabetes. (You can buy monitors and test strips fairly cheaply).

Myth 6: You need to eat three meals a day

Fact: Don’t eat when you’re not hungry. Missing breakfast, in particular, is a form of intermittent fasting shown to have many health benefits – including reducing insulin levels and, thereby, helping to reverse the diabetes disease process.

Myth 7: You need to exercise

Fact: Exercise is good for your heart, muscles and mind. But it is not great for losing weight or controlling diabetes. Some types of exercise increase blood glucose levels and intensive exercise can be dangerous if you are unfit. But everyone should walk more and sit less. ? Extracted from Busting the Diabetes Myth – The Natural Way to Reverse Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes by Dr David Cavan (£14.99 Allen & Unwin).

• It’s vital to check with your doctor or diabetes nurse when making dietary changes (especially if you take medication) to prevent blood glucose levels dropping.

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