Blood Sugar Chaos: How to Take Back Control & Reverse Diabetes | Virta Health

Mark Hyman

Feb 12, 2025

Episode description

What if instead of managing diabetes with drugs, we focused on reversing it? In this episode of The Dr. Hyman Show, I sit down with Sami Inkinen, CEO and co-founder of Virta Health, and Dr. Greeshma Shetty, a board-certified endocrinologist, to discuss an approach that’s transforming how we treat metabolic disease. They share groundbreaking research and real-world results that prove type 2 diabetes isn’t a lifelong sentence—it can be reversed with the right nutritional and care model.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

Why mainstream medicine still treats type 2 diabetes as a progressive disease—even though science shows it’s reversible.
How Virta Health is using a combination of nutritional therapy and continuous remote care to achieve Ozempic-level results, without the drugs.
The critical role of personalized dietary interventions in reversing metabolic dysfunction.
How a high-touch, tech-driven approach to patient care is leading to long-term success.
The real cost of diabetes—not just for individuals, but for the entire healthcare system—and why prevention and reversal should be the priority.

If you or someone you love is dealing with type 2 diabetes, this is a must-listen episode.

View Show Notes From This Episode

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Mindsip insights from this episode:

Recognize diet program failures, not personal shortcomings

If you have tried and failed multiple diets, it is not a personal failure; rather, the diet programs themselves have failed you.

#mindset

#nutrition

Eliminate insulin need through nutritional intervention for type 2 diabetes

A more effective goal than lowering the price of insulin for type 2 diabetes is to eliminate the need for it entirely through nutritional intervention.

#diabetes

#nutrition

Achieve Ozempic-like results with a ketogenic diet

Eating a well-formulated ketogenic diet can naturally increase your body's own GLP-1 levels, leading to appetite suppression and results similar to drugs like Ozempic.

#GLP1

#keto

Implement stricter low-carb approach for insulin resistance benefits

There is a dose-response relationship with carbohydrate restriction, where the more insulin-resistant a person is, the more they benefit from a stricter low-carb approach.

#carbohydrate

#insulin

Eat real food to satiety for hunger control

The nutritional program is not based on calorie restriction or willpower; instead, it focuses on eating real food to satiety to eliminate unnecessary hunger and cravings.

#nutrition

#satiety

Reverse type 2 diabetes with nutritional strategies

Contrary to conventional medical wisdom that type 2 diabetes is a progressive, irreversible disease, it can be systematically reversed using nutritional strategies.