How this 57-year-old beat diabetes

Retiree New Boon Hwee lost over 10kg under NHG Polyclinics' new programme REMI-D that offers people with Type 2 diabetes the hope of remission

- Akshita Nanda Correspondent

Mr New Boon Hwee, 57, no longer needs to take diabetes and blood pressure medication. His knee pain is also gone and he sleeps better.

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Could you live on 800 calories a day for three months if your doctor asked you to?

This very low calorie diet is part of a new yearlong, medically supervised programme at NHG Polyclinics, which aims to help patients with Type 2 diabetes achieve remission.

Diabetes is a long-term health condition which affects the body's ability to process sugar, leading to raised blood glucose levels. Type 2 diabetes usually occurs when one does not respond well or is resistant to the body's own insulin. It is usually found in people aged 40 or older, who are overweight and physically inactive.

A person in remission has normal blood sugar levels and no longer has to take diabetes medication.

Over a year after joining this REMI-D (REMIssion in Diabetes) programme in October 2024, Mr New Boon Hwee has lost more than 10 per cent of his body weight. He weighs 86 to 88kg, down from 99kg at his heaviest.

The 57-year-old retired accounting manager no longer needs to take the oral diabetes medication he was prescribed after being diagnosed in 2018. He is also off blood pressure medication.

His usual knee pain is gone and he sleeps better at night all outcomes attributed to his weight loss.

But it was not an easy road, Mr New says, during an interview at NHG Ang Mo Kio Polyclinic.

For three months in 2024, he was allowed to consume only 800 calories a day under medical supervision. On average, the recommended calorie intake for healthy adults is 2,200 calories for men and 1,800 for women.

His calories came from meal replacement shakes. Any additions or substitutions, whether vegetable soup or a boiled egg, had to be cleared with the dietitian supporting him.