Type 2 diabetes is a complex systems disease, caused by interactions between lifestyle and genes. It is an illusion to believe that it can be cured by medication. Lifestyle change should always be at the heart of treatment.
Hanno Pijl is an internist-endocrinologist and professor of Diabetology at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) In Leiden, The Netherlands. He co-authored over 250 papers in peer reviewed scientific journals, primarily related to obesity and type 2 diabetes. He has been a member of the Dutch Health Council (standing committee on nutrition) from 2008-2016. He currently co-chairs the Dutch Innovation center for Lifestyle Medicine (www.nilg.eu), a joint effort of LUMC and the Dutch Organisation of Applied Science (TNO) focusing on lifestyle interventions in health care.
 
Esther van Zuuren is a dermatologist at the Leiden University Medical Centre, but apart from that and more relevant for now is that her expertise lies in Evidence Based Medicine. She has been with Cochrane for almost 20 years, has held the position of Key Editor and
Methods editor for Cochrane Skin group for several years and conducted over 30 systematic reviews on a wide variety of topics. Furthermore, she is member of the GRADE working group, is a Recommendations Editor for DynaMed Plus (clinical evidence-based reference tool for clinicians) and Associate Editor for Systematic Reviews for the British Journal of Dermatology.

In our 20 min conversation we discuss
Dietary advice for people with type 2 diabetes
The importance of other lifestyle measures
Effects of lifestyle intervention in clinical practice
Patient preferences