Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Naturally: How Tim Lowered Blood Sugar From the 300s While Eating Carbs
Hey my friends! I want to share how our client Tim went from stubborn blood sugars in the 300s, exhausted, and unable to enjoy time with his family and kids to lowering his blood sugar by over 200 points, feeling energized again, playing with his kids, and even surfing again.
Tim has type 2 diabetes and really resonated with a pro metabolic style of eating. At the same time, with blood sugars in the 300s, he was not sure if eating more carbs in a “metabolism friendly” way was even possible or safe.
If you are not familiar with pro metabolic eating, it is typically a higher carb way of eating that does not restrict carbs, fats, or entire food groups. Instead, it focuses on supporting your metabolism and the function of your whole body. Those are principles I align with too, but when you have very high blood sugar, those same diets can easily turn into “way too many carbs for where your body is at right now.”
In this case study I will walk you through exactly how we helped Tim lower his blood sugar from the 300s, feel better, and still keep carbs in his life.
Who I Am and How We Help People With Type 2 Diabetes
My name is Isaac Pohlman. I am a registered dietitian, a fellow person with type 1 diabetes, and the founder of The Pohlman Institute.
What we do is help our clients improve their blood sugar for good.
We do this by digging down deep into what is going on inside your body. We are not giving you one size fits all, cookie cutter recommendations or telling you to cut out carbs and just “go low carb forever.”
Instead, in our framework we help clients with type 2 diabetes:
Identify Your Sweet Spots by uncovering the unique reasons behind your blood sugar imbalances so you can get unstuck and see improvements quickly even while eating carbs
Revive Your Metabolism with personalized nutrition and lifestyle shifts that support your metabolism, balance blood sugar, and help you feel better without obsessing about every bite of food
Achieve Carb Freedom by addressing deeper nutrient and mineral imbalances so you can enjoy steady blood sugar without guilt or fear every time you eat
If you are ready to lower your blood sugar while still eating carbs, you can apply here to get support, guidance, and accountability from a team that has both been where you are!
Now let’s dive into Tim’s story.
Tim’s Blood Sugar Before: Type 2 Diabetes and Readings in the 300s
When Tim came to us, he was struggling with:
Type 2 diabetes with blood sugar spikes into the 300s
Constant fatigue and exhaustion
Diarrhea and poor digestion
Unintentional weight loss
Irritability and low mood
Very low body temperature where he always felt cold, especially in the ocean when he was trying to surf
He had already tried to reverse his high blood sugar naturally. He checked a lot of “good patient” boxes:
Plant based diets
Keto
Pro metabolic eating
Supplements like magnesium, bicarbonate, vitamin E, shilajit, liver supplements, and berberine
None of these really moved the needle. His blood sugar stayed high, his symptoms stuck around, and his energy kept dropping. That is when he joined our program, The Pohlman Method.
Here are the steps that helps him reverse all of his symptoms 👇
Step 1: Lowering Stress and Reshaping Family Routines
For hundreds of clients we have worked with, one of the biggest root causes behind high blood sugar is this: Your routine and stress load are not matching the resources your body has to cope with it.
For Tim, this was very clear. When we first talked, his energy was flat, and you could hear how drained he felt in his voice.
We ran mineral testing that showed significant mineral dysregulation. That told us his body was under high internal stress. I like to think of high blood sugar like the check engine light on your car. The light is not the actual problem it is the signal that something underneath is off.
Chronic stress that your body cannot keep up with will:
Raise blood sugar and insulin resistance
Drop your metabolism and body temperature
Worsen digestion and fatigue
Make it harder for blood sugar to come down even with “perfect” eating
So with Tim, we looked first at how to make his day feel more supportive and less draining. That included:
Building in more simple joy and fun into his routine
Eating with his kids instead of skipping or rushing meals
Taking his kids to the park and being present there
Getting him back to the water in a way his body could handle
At first he did not have the energy or body warmth to surf like he used to. So instead of forcing long surf sessions, we met his body where it was at. He sat on his surfboard in the water for short periods so he could still connect with something he loved without overdoing it.
These small changes sound simple, but they are often the first step to lowering the “cell danger response” in the body that keeps blood sugar high.
Step 2: Increasing Meal Density To Support Metabolism and Blood Sugar
Next, we worked on meal density.
Meal density is what I call meals that are bulky, fibrous, and nourishing enough to keep you satisfied for hours after eating rather than crashing and getting hangry 60 minutes later.
Clients with blood sugar spikes and low energy almost always have some version of this pattern:
Appetite is low
Meals are light and snacky
The body’s energy needs are not actually being met
That was Tim. He was rarely hungry and often just picked at lighter foods.
When your body is under stress, appetite often drops. Even if you want to eat more satisfying meals, it can be hard to get enough in.
So we worked from both ends:
From the stress side by improving his ability to handle daily stress so his body felt safer and more relaxed
From the nutrition side by slowly increasing the density of his meals so he had enough protein, fiber, carbs, and fats to actually fuel his body
Over time, this helped:
Reduce those huge blood sugar spikes into the 300s
Improve his energy after meals
Lower the need for constant snacking and chasing crashes
This is a big part of reversing type 2 diabetes naturally instead of living in permanent restriction. Your body has to feel fed and supported.
Step 3: Gentle Movement and Sunlight To Support Insulin Sensitivity
The third area we focused on for Tim was movement and getting outside.
Movement is essential for anyone with high blood sugar or type 2 diabetes:
Light movement like walking can help immediately with blood sugar spikes after meals
More intense strength work over time can build muscle, which gives you more “real estate” to store glucose away instead of letting it sit in your bloodstream
Because Tim was so exhausted, we did not start with intense gym workouts. We met his body where it was at:
Short walks that gradually got longer
Gentle outdoor time to pair movement with sunlight
Slowly building back toward surfing as his energy and body temperature improved
The bonus here is the sunlight. Sunlight is a huge lever for insulin sensitivity, stress, and energy. For clients with type 2 diabetes and high blood sugar, building in outdoor movement is one of the most powerful and underrated tools they can use.
Step 4: Mineral Testing To Address Deeper Root Causes of High Blood Sugar
Finally, we looked at mineral testing.
Most people with type 2 diabetes have never had functional mineral testing done. Their doctors, dietitians, or diabetes educators simply are not using these tools yet.
At The Pohlman Institute, we use a specific bundle of labs that allows us to see:
Mineral imbalances
Deficiencies
Patterns that show hidden stress and inflammation
For Tim, we found that he was a fast oxidizer.
A fast oxidizer is someone who burns through mineral resources very quickly, similar to a wood stove that goes through firewood way too fast. The body is constantly draining the very minerals it needs to stay calm and stable.
To help cope with stress, Tim’s body was burning through a lot of calcium and other calming minerals. When you are low on those, it is hard for your body to:
Slow down and relax
Regulate blood sugar
Maintain steady energy and body temperature
So for Tim we focused on:
Calcium rich foods
A small amount of magnesium support
A bit more fat in his meals to help him feel grounded and stable
Usually we also run a Full Monty panel to look more deeply at iron, copper, and related nutrients. Tim lives in Hawaii and did not have a local lab that could easily run that, and his doctor was not willing to order it, so we worked with what we had.
Even so, his HTMA still showed signs of high iron.
High iron is a big deal for people with type 2 diabetes and high blood sugar because excess iron:
Increases inflammation
Raises insulin resistance
Makes it harder to regulate blood sugar and energy
Can impact the liver and pancreas, two key organs in blood sugar control
Because of this, we had him focus on more variety in mineral rich foods, including:
Copper rich foods
Vitamin A rich foods
Vitamin C rich foods
These help the body use iron in a healthier way so it stops driving inflammation and insulin resistance.
Tim’s Results: Lower Blood Sugar, More Energy, Back To Surfing and His Kids
After implementing The Pohlman Method for type 2 diabetes with Tim, here is what happened. He was able to:
Drop his blood sugar by more than 200 points naturally without cutting out carbs
Regain healthy weight and strength
Get his energy back so he could play with his kids again
Get back in the ocean and surf
Feel warmer and more comfortable in his own body
Improve his digestion and mood stability
These are the kinds of changes that happen when you stop only chasing blood sugar numbers and start addressing the root causes behind type 2 diabetes: stress, mineral imbalances, metabolism, and the way your routine supports your body.
Ready To Lower Your Blood Sugar While Still Eating Carbs?
If you are dealing with high blood sugar and symptoms like fatigue and you feel like you have tried everything, you are not alone.
You do not need another extreme diet. You need the right plan that:
Meets your body where it is right now
Lowers your blood sugar into a safer range
Supports the health of your whole body
Lets you bring carbs back in a way that actually works for your body
If you want to reverse high blood sugar while eating carbs, like Tim, you can apply here to get support, guidance, and accountability from a team that has both been where you are!
