The Dr. Hyman Show
Blood Sugar Chaos: How to Take Back Control & Reverse Diabetes | Virta Health
Wed, 12 Feb 2025
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 Get Free Weekly Health Tips from Dr. Hyman Sign Up for Dr. Hyman’s Weekly Longevity Journal This episode is brought to you by Big Bold Health, Timeline Nutrition, BonCharge, and Paleovalley. Try Big Bold Health’s HTB Rejuvenate and get 25% off by going to bigboldhealth.com and use code DRMARK25 at checkout. Support essential mitochondrial health and save 10% on Mitopure. Visit timeline.com/drhyman to get 10% off today. Order BON CHARGE’s Max Red Light Therapy device today and get 15% off. Visit boncharge.com and use code DRMARK for 15% off. Get nutrient-dense, whole foods. Head to paleovalley.com/hyman for 15% off your first purchase.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic of this episode?
Coming up on this episode of The Dr. Hyman Show.
Yeah, there's a lot of sort of societal debate, like how do we get the insulin price lower and lower and lower? And I always say, guess what's better than a lower insulin price? It's eliminating the need for insulin in type 2 diabetes context. Obviously, type 1 is a different disease.
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Now, before we jump into today's episode, I'd like to note that while I wish I could help everyone by my personal practice, there's simply not enough time for me to do this at scale. And that's why I've been busy building several passion projects to help you better understand, well, you. If you're looking for data about your biology, check out Function Health for real-time lab insights.
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Chapter 2: How can type 2 diabetes be reversed?
They have tried somewhere between three and 15 different diet programs or different times, and they failed every single time. So if somebody is listening and say like, well, I've tried everything and I've failed. I just want to say, I see you. I hear you. You're not alone. That is the story of practically every single person. American struggling metabolic disease. You haven't failed.
I think the right message is the program or the diet failed you. The program or the diet failed you. And I say this with high degree of conviction because that is the case. And there is a way to help you succeed. When you have the right support and the right nutrition science, you can succeed. But this is the story of everyone. I've tried five things. I failed. I'm a loser. I'm a failure.
You are not a failure. The program has failed you. You haven't failed.
And Grisham, why do you think medicine is so resistant to this? I mean, you come from the center of, you know, sort of the heartbeat of traditional medicine at Harvard and Jostin Diabetes Center. You know, why do you think there's such a resistance to accepting this as an effective model?
Well, I think part of it is that we all sort of have our belief systems that we grow up in and we're mentored in. And even with research, when a trial is negative, it's very unlikely to get published, right? So we sort of perpetuate biases in medicine. And so there's sort of like this bias built into the science. But I think slowly we're going to see that change. And I think
now that we're in the age of more data and big data like i think the outcomes speak for themselves and i think what we've just been saying like the what the triple the triple aim uh of better outcomes better patient experience at lower cost that that is going to drive things forward and i think sami's point of saying like the business model is really important and i don't think i would have said this four years ago but after working at virta
Because no, I mean, I practiced in a model where I was in that fee-for-service, even though I was an academic clinician, I was in that fee-for-service model.
And so even if I provided excellent care, I needed to spin my wheels and race through my clinic and try to get everybody through as fast as I could so I could stay on schedule and then do my pajama charts late at night because I don't have time to do any of my documentation, which is excessive, it's burning out clinicians.
So I think until we fix the way we reimburse folks who take care of preventable diseases, it's going to be hard to change. So I think the business piece of it is really important.
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