English: About five years ago, I was diagnosed with diabetes myself, and it came as a huge shock. I didn't meet any of the criteria that people normally would. It was type 2, but I had never smoked in my life, never drank and wasn't particularly overweight either. Diabetes can happen to just about anybody and for various reasons. For myself, it was because of an illness that attacked my pancreas. As soon as I was diagnosed, I did as most people do, and I went straight to the internet and started to look at ways to cure myself, or heal myself, of this terrible blight. I came across quite a few things that all talked about the same areas - about losing weight. I'm not sure, Cabinet Secretary, if you've ever heard of the Newcastle study on the 600-calorie diet. This is something that you mentioned there was no magic pill for, but Newcastle University did some research that was funded by Diabetes UK, and they followed 11 people. They put them on a 600-calorie diet for eight weeks, and they had an additional 200 calories from eating vegetables. At the end of the study, seven of those 11 people were no longer diabetic. That is unbelievable. That is, if you have this terrible illness and you can suddenly be in a position where you are no longer diabetic, it's phenomenal. I myself self-diagnosed this and did this myself. I lost six stone - some of you out there might be thinking 'Holy cow!' I actually weighed less than my wife. She doesn't like it when I point that out, but it's true - I weighed less than my wife. I managed to keep myself from going onto insulin for about two years as a result of this. My doctor just couldn't believe how my blood sugar absolutely plummeted to the normal level. But it was unsustainable for me, and because my pancreas had been attacked, that's why it didn't have a long-term effect on me. But for people who are pre-diabetic or people who are type 2 diabetic because of a large amount of fat around the pancreas or other organs, I would exalt you, Cabinet Secretary, to look into this. It's not one of those crazy things from the internet; the University of Newcastle, GPs and Diabetes UK all looked into this and followed this study. Now, 7 per cent of the population has diabetes. It accounts for 10 per cent of the NHS spend, which in Wales is £500 million a year. Over half of the population in Wales is overweight. What a lot of people aren't aware of is that if you're female and your waist is over 31.5 inches, and if you're male and your waist is over 37 inches you have just increased your risk of type 2 diabetes significantly. When I first was receiving the symptoms of diabetes - when I was what's classed as pre-diabetic - I think if I had followed this diet, I could have pushed things back even further with it developing to the state that it did. I myself will not die from diabetes. I will die from heart disease, I will run the risk of becoming blind, of having my limbs amputated, of having a stroke. Because people don't die from diabetes - you die from the knock-on effects of it. Before I was diagnosed, I never went to the doctor's. I just never went - I didn't need to. Why waste my time and waste his time in going? Since then, I'm a regular and have many other illnesses that pop up from time to time that are directly related to the diabetes. If I was pre-diabetic, believe you me, knowing what I know now, I would do everything under the sun to stop this illness from developing to the state that it is in now - everything - because it is an absolute scourge and a curse. I hope, Cabinet Secretary, that you can take a look at this study and maybe trial it. I know from speaking to GPs that most of them are not aware of this, and certainly have no idea about how to push it out to people who would be able to do it. Let's face it - to have only 800 calories a day for eight weeks, that's quite a big ask. You need to be motivated to do that, but there will be people out there who will benefit from this. It's not a magic bullet, but it can help some lives. Thank you.
Welsh: Tua phum mlynedd yn ôl, cefais ddiagnosis o ddiabetes fy hun, ac roedd yn sioc enfawr. Nid oeddwn yn bodloni unrhyw un o'r meini prawf y byddai pobl yn ei wneud fel arfer. Math 2 oedd gennyf, ond nid oeddwn i erioed wedi ysmygu yn fy mywyd, nid oeddwn i erioed wedi yfed ac nid oeddwn i'n arbennig o dros bwysau ychwaith. Gall diabetes ddigwydd i bron unrhyw un ac am wahanol resymau. I mi, roedd oherwydd salwch a ymosododd ar fy mhancreas. Cyn gynted ag y cefais ddiagnosis, gwnes yr hyn y byddai'r rhan fwyaf o bobl yn ei wneud, sef mynd yn syth ar y rhyngrwyd i ddechrau edrych ar ffyrdd o wella fy hun o'r cyflwr ofnadwy hwn. Gwelais gryn dipyn o bethau a oedd i gyd yn sôn am yr un meysydd - am golli pwysau. Nid wyf yn siŵr, Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, pa un a ydych wedi clywed erioed am astudiaeth Newcastle ar y deiet 600 calori. Rydych wedi dweud bod hyn yn rhywbeth nad oes pilsen hud ar ei gyfer, ond gwnaeth Prifysgol Newcastle ymchwil a ariannwyd gan Diabetes UK, gan ddilyn 11 o bobl. Cafodd y bobl hyn eu rhoi ar ddeiet 600 calori am wyth wythnos, ac roeddent yn cael 200 o galorïau ychwanegol o fwyta llysiau. Ar ddiwedd yr astudiaeth, roedd saith o'r 11 o bobl hynny nad oeddent yn ddiabetig mwyach. Mae hynny'n anghredadwy. Hynny yw, os oes gennych y salwch ofnadwy hwn ac y gallwch fod mewn sefyllfa yn sydyn lle nad ydych bellach yn ddiabetig, mae'n rhyfeddol. Rhoddais ddiagnosis i mi fy hun o hyn a gwnes i hyn fy hun. Collais chwe stôn - efallai y bydd rhai ohonoch allan yna'n meddwl 'rargian fawr!' Roeddwn yn pwyso llai na fy ngwraig. Nid yw hi'n hoffi fy nghlywed yn dweud hynny, ond mae'n wir - roeddwn yn pwyso llai na fy ngwraig. Llwyddais i gadw fy hun rhag gorfod cymryd inswlin am tua dwy flynedd yn sgil hyn. Ni allai fy meddyg gredu bod y siwgr yn fy ngwaed wedi plymio mor sydyn i'r lefel arferol. Ond roedd yn anghynaliadwy i mi, a gan fod y cyflwr hwn wedi ymosod ar fy mhancreas, dyna pam na chafodd effaith hirdymor arnaf. Ond i bobl sy'n gyn-ddiabetig neu bobl â diabetes math 2 oherwydd swm mawr o fraster o amgylch y pancreas neu organau eraill, byddwn yn erfyn arnoch chi, Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, i edrych ar hyn. Nid un o'r pethau gwallgof hynny oddi ar y rhyngrwyd yw hwn; mae Prifysgol Newcastle, meddygon teulu a Diabetes UK i gyd wedi edrych ar hyn ac wedi dilyn yr astudiaeth hon. Nawr, mae diabetes gan 7 y cant o'r boblogaeth. Mae'n gyfrifol am 10 y cant o wariant y GIG, sydd yng Nghymru yn £500 miliwn y flwyddyn. Mae dros hanner poblogaeth Cymru dros bwysau. Yr hyn nad yw llawer o bobl yn ei wybod yw os ydych yn fenyw a bod eich canol yn fwy na 31.5 modfedd, ac os ydych yn ddyn a bod eich canol yn fwy na 37 modfedd, rydych newydd gynyddu eich risg o ddiabetes math 2 yn sylweddol. Pan gefais symptomau diabetes am y tro cyntaf - pan oeddwn yr hyn sy'n cael ei alw yn gyn-ddiabetig - rwy'n meddwl pe byddwn i wedi dilyn y deiet, y gallwn fod wedi gwthio pethau yn ôl hyd yn oed ymhellach cyn iddo ddatblygu i'r cyflwr a wnaeth. Ni fyddaf i fy hun yn marw o ddiabetes. Byddaf yn marw o glefyd y galon, byddaf yn wynebu risg o fynd yn ddall, o golli aelodau, o gael strôc. Oherwydd nid yw pobl yn marw o ddiabetes - rydych chi'n marw o'i sgil effeithiau. Cyn imi gael diagnosis, doeddwn i byth yn mynd at y meddyg. Nid oeddwn i'n mynd o gwbl - doedd dim angen. Pam gwastraffu fy amser i a'i amser ef drwy fynd? Ers hynny, rwy'n mynd yn rheolaidd ac mae gennyf lawer o afiechydon eraill sy'n ymddangos o bryd i'w gilydd sy'n uniongyrchol gysylltiedig â'r diabetes. Pe byddwn yn gyn-ddiabetig, credwch fi, ac yn gwybod yr hyn yr wyf yn ei wybod nawr, byddwn yn gwneud popeth o dan haul i atal y salwch hwn rhag datblygu i'r cyflwr y mae nawr - popeth - oherwydd mae'n bla ac yn felltith llwyr. Rwy'n gobeithio, Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, y gallwch daro golwg ar yr astudiaeth hon ac efallai gynnal treial. Rwy'n gwybod o siarad â meddygon teulu nad yw'r rhan fwyaf ohonynt yn ymwybodol o hyn, ac yn sicr nid oes ganddynt unrhyw syniad o sut i'w gynnig i bobl a fyddai'n gallu ei wneud. Gadewch inni wynebu'r peth - mae cael dim ond 800 calori y dydd am wyth wythnos yn gryn dipyn i'w ofyn. Mae angen cymhelliant arnoch i wneud hynny, ond bydd pobl allan yna a fydd yn elwa ar hyn. Nid yw'n fwled hud, ond gall helpu rhai bywydau. Diolch.