According to my Diabetes educator if you live long enough you will end up on insulin. the trick is to make that a loooooooong time away.
That also fits in with diabetes being a progressive disease
Diabetes being an inevitably "progressive" disease is not proven. Currently it's probably a safe bet that an overwhelming majority of T2s are indeed "progressing". An even safer bet is that an overwhelming majority of them are themselves doing things which guarantee progression of the disease like continuing to send lots of glucose and fructose into their bloodstream but just managing to keep levels within the limits "du jour" of their favored organization (which in some cases means just staying below 180!) by some combination of lower glycemic index foods, "portion control", drugs or insulin and the like.
Even those with the most excellent control - like us on this list - might still be on a track to progression. Through much experimentation, most of us reduce our glucose/fructose to the MAXIMUM which we can do with our remaining insulin-producing capability and/or drugs and insulin we are using. I believe this pretty much guarantees progression - just hopefully at a much slower rate. It is not really any different from the 5 or 10 years prior to "diabetes" when the disease was developing: insulin metabolism had become impaired but blood sugars remained normal by means of overwork of the pancreas and abnormally high insulin levels for YEARS before the eventual diagnosis when the pancreas finally became overwhelmed.
There is an alternative. Or at least I hope there is. Kick glucose from dietary sources (except for the one made by the liver from protein) almost completely and likewise fructose. Your meter won't help you here. When you get incoming glucose/fructose down to the MAXIMUM capacity of your system (especially your pancreas) your meter readings will be good. But, you continue to stress your pancreas by making it use all its remaining capability to deal with that glucose, normal BG levels notwithstanding. And, your insulin remains abnormally high which has its own list of harmful effects. Your cells are still glucose-oriented and if they need energy, they send signals for MORE GLUCOSE which can trigger your liver to release stored glycogen which you still have a-plenty on this plan.
Beyond the Meter
Living in ketosis I believe is an actual solution. It is not being tested much or even tracked and it is unlikely it ever will due to terrible profit-making possibilities. Anecdotally, there are hundreds experiencing phenomenal success with this method at least in the short term. It will take time for proof of stopping progression to manifest but I am confident it will. The biology is just too logical and compelling.
This is a very different approach. You induce 95% of your cells to not even require (or scream for) glucose. Instead, they use free fatty acids and more importantly ketones to produce the exact same cellular energy (ATP) which they used to produce from glucose on the hummingbird diet.
It's benefits are many - for diabetics and non-diabetics alike - and stopping T2 in its tracks is I believe one of them. I hope some of those approximately one million people in Sweden eating this way are diabetics so they will provide the needed proof.