• The participants who started with fiber achieved the strongest results — Patients who received the high-fiber intervention first experienced substantially greater improvements in blood sugar control than those who started with conventional care. HbA1c, a marker that reflects average blood sugar levels over roughly three months, showed a substantially greater improvement in the early high-fiber group than in the conventional-treatment group.

Researchers reported a 9.45% relative reduction from baseline, compared to a 1.44% relative reduction with conventional care. Fasting blood sugar also improved substantially more in the high-fiber group. These findings suggest that the period immediately after diagnosis represents an important opportunity to influence the course of the disease.*

• Early improvements were linked to a lasting advantage — Those who started with the high-fiber program retained many of their metabolic gains even after crossing over to conventional care. In contrast, participants who began with conventional treatment failed to achieve the same level of improvement after later switching to the fiber intervention.*

Think of it like making a major correction early on a road trip instead of waiting until you're hundreds of miles off course. The earlier correction required less effort and produced a better final outcome. According to the researchers, the timing of the intervention appeared to be just as important as the intervention itself.

• Weight loss alone didn't explain the results — It's easy to assume that improvements in Type 2 diabetes occur only because of weight loss. This study tells a more nuanced story.

Although participants experienced reductions in body weight and body fat, the most significant differences between groups appeared in blood sugar measurements rather than body mass index or HOMA-IR, which stands for Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance, a calculation commonly used to estimate how resistant your body has become to insulin.*

This finding suggests that factors beyond simple weight reduction contributed to the metabolic improvements researchers observed.

• The gut microbiome shifted in a healthier direction — Researchers analyzed the participants' gut bacteria and found substantial changes after the high-fiber intervention. Several beneficial bacterial groups increased, including Akkermansia muciniphila, Roseburia, Blautia, Oscillospira, and members of the Eubacterium ruminantium group. These microbes are known for producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), substances created when gut bacteria break down fermentable carbohydrates.*

At the same time, levels of Escherichia-Shigella, a bacterial group associated with inflammation and metabolic dysfunction, declined. Participants whose microbiomes shifted the most also tended to experience stronger improvements in blood sugar regulation.

• The study points to a possible chain of cause and effect — The high-fiber program shifted the gut toward bacteria that produce SCFAs, and those compounds appear to do real metabolic work — that may help prompt the gut to release GLP-1 (the same hormone that newer diabetes drugs imitate), support the gut barrier, and calm the low-grade inflammation associated with insulin resistance.

These specific downstream effects were not directly measured in the cited trial and represent a proposed mechanism rather than a confirmed finding. SCFAs help support communication between the gut and the rest of the body, influence how nutrients are processed, and contribute to healthier metabolic function.

Researchers concluded that the intervention enriched beneficial bacteria while suppressing lipopolysaccharide-producing microbes. Lipopolysaccharides, often abbreviated as LPS, are inflammatory compounds produced by certain bacteria. By shifting the microbiome toward more favorable species early on, the intervention appeared to help create conditions that supported healthier blood sugar control.

1. Rebuild your microbiome — Your body is designed to produce SCFAs like butyrate through beneficial gut bacteria. If your digestion is relatively healthy, start with fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, and full-fat yogurt. These foods help increase microbial diversity and provide compounds that support bacteria involved in butyrate production.

Grass fed butter, ghee, and aged cheeses also contain small amounts of butyric acid, an SCFA that serves as a primary fuel source for the cells lining your colon and helps support gut barrier function.

Introduce these foods gradually and pay attention to how you respond. If years of digestive problems, repeated antibiotic use, or chronic inflammation have disrupted your gut, a butyrate supplement may serve as a temporary bridge while you restore a healthier microbiome. If you choose a supplement, you may want to look for one formulated to deliver butyrate throughout the colon rather than releasing it early in digestion.

2. Repair your gut before increasing fiber — Many people assume more fiber is always better. In reality, fiber tends to work best when your gut environment is ready for it. If you experience bloating, erratic bowel habits, food sensitivities, or fatigue after meals, loading up on beans, raw vegetables, and whole grains often makes symptoms worse. In an irritated gut, fermentable fiber feeds bacteria that release LPS, an inflammatory endotoxin.

Think of LPS as a chemical alarm signal released when certain bacteria break apart. When your gut barrier is weakened, those inflammatory compounds move into your bloodstream and increase systemic stress. Start with easier-to-digest foods such as whole fruit and white rice while your gut stabilizes.

3. Increase fiber in stages instead of all at once — As digestion improves and bloating becomes less frequent, begin introducing foods that nourish butyrate-producing bacteria. Start with resistant starch sources such as cooked-and-cooled potatoes and green bananas. Next, add foods such as onions, garlic, and leeks. Root vegetables generally come before non-starchy vegetables, followed by starchy vegetables such as squash and sweet potatoes.

Beans, legumes, and minimally processed whole grains belong later in the process. Most adults function best with roughly 250 grams of carbohydrates daily, which helps support cellular energy production, gut repair, and microbial diversity.

Progress slowly. Diversity matters more than speed because different foods nourish different beneficial microbes.

4. Remove seed oils that work against gut repair — If your meals regularly contain seed oils like soybean, corn, canola, safflower, cottonseed, or sunflower oil, you're creating conditions that make gut recovery more difficult. These oils are rich in linoleic acid (LA), which disrupts mitochondrial energy production and weakens the intestinal barrier when consumed in excess.

Many packaged snacks, restaurant foods, dressings, sauces, and convenience meals contain these oils. Replace them with more stable fats such as grass fed butter, ghee, and tallow. A healthier gut barrier helps beneficial bacteria thrive, improves fiber tolerance, and creates a stronger foundation for metabolic health.

5. Measure insulin resistance with the HOMA-IR test — Long before blood sugar reaches diabetic levels, insulin resistance damages blood vessels, promotes inflammation, and impairs energy production. The HOMA-IR test is a valuable diagnostic tool that helps assess insulin resistance through a simple blood test, so you can spot issues early and make necessary lifestyle changes.

Created in 1985, it calculates the relationship between your fasting glucose and insulin levels to evaluate how effectively your body uses insulin. Unlike other more complex tests, HOMA-IR requires just one fasting blood sample, making it both practical and accessible. The HOMA-IR formula is as follows:

HOMA-IR = (Fasting Glucose x Fasting Insulin) / 405, where

If you're using mmol/L for glucose instead of mg/dL, the formula changes slightly:

HOMA-IR = (Fasting Glucose x Fasting Insulin) / 22.5, where

Anything below 1.0 is considered a healthy HOMA-IR score. If you're above that, you're considered insulin resistant. The higher your values, the greater your insulin resistance. Conversely the lower your HOMA-IR score, the less insulin resistance you have, assuming you are not a Type 1 diabetic who makes no insulin.

Interestingly, my personal HOMA-IR score stands at a low 0.2. This low score is a testament to my body's enhanced efficiency in burning fuel, a result of increased glucose availability. By incorporating additional carbohydrates into my diet, I provided my cells with the necessary energy to operate more effectively.

This improved cellular function has significantly boosted my metabolic health, which I believe reflects how strategic dietary adjustments may support better insulin sensitivity and overall metabolic performance.

Note: Talk to your healthcare provider about whether HOMA-IR or other insulin-resistance testing is appropriate for you.