Horndean man wants to inspire diabetes patients after dramatic weight loss

Mark Hancock was inspired to cut carbs out of his diet after hearing medical broadcaster Michael Mosley speak on BBC Radio 2 about tackling diabetes.

Adopting Dr Mosley’s eight-week blood sugar diet, Mark, 45, lost 1st 5lb in five weeks.

Now working with the Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, Mark is encouraging people to use the ‘opportunity to turn everything around’.

He said: ‘All the advice we’ve been given about a low-fat diet is complete rubbish.

‘The ideal thing for people with diabetes to do is to go on one of these diets and reset their bodies.’

Weighing 16st before he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2010, Mark admits that he ‘wasn’t overly big’ when he started making changes to his lifestyle which saw him lose some weight.

He explained: ‘Being diagnosed with diabetes was just dreadful. I remember one point where I was standing in the middle of my kitchen not knowing what to eat because I thought everything was going to harm me.

‘I spoke to my nurse and she said that people weren’t going to stick to these eight-week diets. She also said that diabetes cannot be cured.’

After one week on the diet, doctors told Mark, who lives in Horndean, to stop taking his medication as his blood sugar levels were ‘perfect’.

‘All the nutritional advice that people have been given over the last 40 or 50 years is now being torn up,’ he said.

Now weighing 12st 8lbs, Mark says he has ‘never felt better’, and is looking forward to sharing his weight loss experiences at a NHS conference for Type 2 diabetes patients at the Queen Elizabeth Court in Winchester on November 12.

Diabetes UK estimates that the number people with diabetes will rise from 3.5 million to five million by 2025.

Around 80 per cent Type 2 diabetes patients are overweight or obese.

Specialist diabetes dietrician Sarah Woodman says the Southern Health NHS 
Foundation Trust is intent on giving diabetes patients access to advice, helping them achieve their aims and ‘encouraging them to take an active role in their care’.

She said: ‘We’re pleased that Mark is coming along to our conference to share his experience of making a lifestyle change to improve his diabetes control, reduce his weight and benefit his health overall.

‘I’m sure he will inspire others who might be struggling with how to manage their diabetes and improve their health.’