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Would you make this claim?
I recently rediscovered HubPages (loving it), and I am about to post a new article, but I need some advice regarding the title. Here's the background info in a nutshell:
A few years ago I was diagnosed pre-diabetic. Without getting into technicalities, on the scale that measures this, 39 to 46 indicates pre-diabetes, and over that is full on diabetes. My reading was 43 - well into pre-diabetic territory.
A few years prior to this I'd switched from a vegetarian diet (since 1984) to a vegan one. Obviously before I took that huge dietary step I looked into what it entailed. I watched many videos online about nutrition and what-not, and I noticed a recurring theme. Many doctors, particularly in America, made the claim that a whole food plant based vegan diet courl arrest, and even reverse type 2 diabetes. With nothing to lose, I ditched the Greggs vegan sausage rolls and the new Ben & Jerry's dairy-free flavours, and I embarked on a battle with my blood sugar. I ate mainly whole foods - out went white rice and pasta (I already ate wholemeal bread), and I upped my intake of whole grains, vegetables and pulses. Eighteen months after my pre-diabetes diagnosis I returned for my annual (Covid delayed) health review. I now registered 35 on the scale - well within the normal range, and I was no longer pre-diabetic. I'd reversed it just as those doctors had said was possible. Good news.
But here's my writing problem. My niche on HubPages is vegan food. The article I'm about to post covers what I said above. Given that I was on no drugs or other treatment for my pre-diabetes, and that I made a conscious effort to try to arrest it by means of my diet alone, and that was the only change to my lifestyle, could I make the claim in the title of my article that my diet reversed my pre-diabetes, or would I need some dort of medical confirmation of that?
Obviously, 'How I reversed pre-diabetes on a plant-based diet' would garner a lot of traffic, but I need to be careful. For while I can edit posts all I like, once I type in the title, that is included in the URL. If i change the title of any article, the URL remains the same, and that can create conflicts for search engines (it sez here).
So what would you do in my position - make the bold statement that my diet reversed my pre-diabetes, or go for something less direct - say 'how a whole food plant based diet affected my pre-diabetes'?
If you've read this far, thank you
A few years ago I was diagnosed pre-diabetic. Without getting into technicalities, on the scale that measures this, 39 to 46 indicates pre-diabetes, and over that is full on diabetes. My reading was 43 - well into pre-diabetic territory.
A few years prior to this I'd switched from a vegetarian diet (since 1984) to a vegan one. Obviously before I took that huge dietary step I looked into what it entailed. I watched many videos online about nutrition and what-not, and I noticed a recurring theme. Many doctors, particularly in America, made the claim that a whole food plant based vegan diet courl arrest, and even reverse type 2 diabetes. With nothing to lose, I ditched the Greggs vegan sausage rolls and the new Ben & Jerry's dairy-free flavours, and I embarked on a battle with my blood sugar. I ate mainly whole foods - out went white rice and pasta (I already ate wholemeal bread), and I upped my intake of whole grains, vegetables and pulses. Eighteen months after my pre-diabetes diagnosis I returned for my annual (Covid delayed) health review. I now registered 35 on the scale - well within the normal range, and I was no longer pre-diabetic. I'd reversed it just as those doctors had said was possible. Good news.
But here's my writing problem. My niche on HubPages is vegan food. The article I'm about to post covers what I said above. Given that I was on no drugs or other treatment for my pre-diabetes, and that I made a conscious effort to try to arrest it by means of my diet alone, and that was the only change to my lifestyle, could I make the claim in the title of my article that my diet reversed my pre-diabetes, or would I need some dort of medical confirmation of that?
Obviously, 'How I reversed pre-diabetes on a plant-based diet' would garner a lot of traffic, but I need to be careful. For while I can edit posts all I like, once I type in the title, that is included in the URL. If i change the title of any article, the URL remains the same, and that can create conflicts for search engines (it sez here).
So what would you do in my position - make the bold statement that my diet reversed my pre-diabetes, or go for something less direct - say 'how a whole food plant based diet affected my pre-diabetes'?
If you've read this far, thank you
Comments
I'm no expert but I do think you have to be careful about health/diet claims that might influence other people, as everyone is different. And, as you say, although it is highly likely that the change is a result of your change in diet you can't really prove that. But a title saying 'I changed my diet and now I'm no longer pre-diabetic' is not actually making any claims - it is stating fact and implying a connection. You can then expand more in the article (of course).