Despite what you’ve heard, type-2 diabetes doesn’t have to be a lifelong sentence.

You don’t have to live with the disease or even “manage” it. It can be cured — and I mean really, truly cured: No more drugs, and no more insulin.

But there’s one supposed cure that I definitely don’t recommend, and that’s the dangerous stomach-shrinking surgeries making headlines lately.

Sure, those procedures can take the weight off fast. And in two new studies, the results were so good that surgery is now being touted as a cure for the disease.

In one, gastric bypass surgery brought blood-sugar levels down to normal in nearly half the diabetics who had it. In the other, 95 percent of diabetics who had biliopancreatic diversion surgery were in remission within a year, along with 75 percent of those who got the Roux-en-Y procedure.

Some patients in both studies were able to stop meds before they even left the hospital — and when you consider that diabetes drugs include some of the worst of the worst (Avandia, anyone?), I’m all for that.

But a dangerous surgery isn’t what I’d call the best alternative to drugs. Sure, it might lead to quick results — but this is one case where you don’t want to take any short cuts.

That’s because bariatric procedures don’t cure the biggest diabetes risk factor of all, and that’s the poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyle that caused the disease in the first place.

Just look at singer Carnie Wilson. She’s not a diabetic — not as far as I know, anyway — but she recently made headlines for having a second Lap-Band surgery after the weight she lost from her first one came back.

“I reverted back to old habits (like) mindless eating,” she recently confessed in an interview. As a result, she went from 150 pounds after her last surgery… to 236 pounds before her second procedure.

Her story isn’t as unusual as it might sound. In fact, it’s all too common — and that’s why surgery is a lousy choice, since studies show a significant number of people who get these surgeries relapse.

Besides, you’ve got other options here.

I know you do, because I’ve helped cure diabetic patients myself. I say “helped” because this is one case where a doctor can only do so much. The rest is up to you, and I won’t lie: It takes hard work, dedication and discipline.

But once you’ve done it, there’s simply no going back to “mindless eating” or any of your other old bad habits — and certainly no going back to a life of diabetes.

Gentlemen, there’s one more reason for you to lose weight whether you have diabetes or not. Keep reading for more.

I can’t think of any good reason to ever starve yourself on purpose — but researchers keep pushing ultra-low calorie diets for everything from longevity to disease prevention.

The latest: A new push to brand these extreme and dangerous diets as a “cure” for diabetes.

Over the summer, researchers claimed that three months of 600 calories a day — mostly in the form of diet shakes — “cured” the disease in seven out of 11 patients.

And now, in a dangerous game of “how low can you go,” a different group of researchers claimed they were able to cure the disease on a diet of just 500 calories a day.

This time, it took four months as researchers put 15 patients with type 2 diabetes onto the strict lifestyle, again based on meal replacement shakes. After the very first day, none of the patients needed insulin — and after 16 weeks, they all lost weight, gained blood sugar control, and had improvements in their overall cardiovascular health.

By some miracle, all 15 dieters managed to stay with the study — and even 14 months after the four months of pure hell, most of the improvements remained (although many of the dieters regained at least some of their weight, of course).

So is there something to all this? Maybe — but why bother with it when there’s a much better way?

After all, you can beat and even cure your diabetes, starting today, and not have to count a single calorie or even surrender all hope of ever eating anything delicious again.

Diets extremely low in carbohydrates have been shown to prevent, slow, stop and even reverse both diabetes and pre-diabetes to the point where even people who were once completely reliant on drugs and insulin no longer need their meds.

And instead of hearing their stomachs growl all day, they get to enjoy grilled steaks, pork chops, chicken wings, real butter and more.

Just last month, I told you how one version of the low-carb diet — an all-natural diet called the “paleo” or “caveman” diet because it’s based on what our ancient ancestors ate — reversed pre-diabetes.

So forget counting calories, diet shakes and any other gimmick that comes along. If you want to “cure” your diabetes — or simply want to slash your risk of getting it in the first place — cut down on the carbs instead.

On the face of it, it hardly seemed fair.

Researchers put women on a low-carb diet up against women on a low-calorie diet — but with a huge catch: The low-carb eaters would stick to the plan for just two days a week… and eat whatever they wanted the rest of the time.

The low-calorie dieters, on the other hand, would commit to their diet 24/7.

Now, it’s been proven in the past that going low-carb is better than going low-cal any day of the week. But two days a week versus seven? How could it possibly compete?

Turns out very well — because after four weeks, the low-carb dieters lost more weight and had better insulin readings.

It’s like winning a fight with both hands tied behind your back.

The study actually involved three groups of women: Two went low-carb for two days a week. One got to eat as much as they wanted as long as they kept the carbs to 50 grams or less… while the other had to practically starve for those two days, eating just 650 calories of low-carb food.

The third group had to stick a version of the Mediterranean Diet every single day, and limit themselves to just 1,500 calories.

Two months later, and both sets of low-carb women lost an average of 9 pounds — while the calorie counters lost just 4 pounds. In addition, the women in both low-carb groups lowered their insulin levels by 18 percent — versus just 4 percent among low-calorie eaters.

And for the cherry on top, the low-cal women were twice as likely to quit the study as those who went low-carb — but that’s hardly a surprise. Nearly everyone has tried calorie counting at some point… and nearly everyone has failed at it.

It’s impossible because it’s unnatural. When you’re hungry, the instinct is to eat until you’re full — and the low-carb diet allows you to do just that.

What’s more, low-carb diets have also been shown to lower blood pressure levels, improve HDL cholesterol, slash triglycerides, and dramatically reduce your risk of diabetes.

The best way to get all those benefits — and more — is to go full time on your own low-carb diet. The women in the study were allowed to eat whatever they wanted for five days a week — but they didn’t.

Instead, their healthy low-carb habits carried over into the rest of the week, on their “off days,” once they realized how much good it was doing them.

Give it a shot yourself and you’ll find out why.

It’s so easy it seems unreal: A key weapon in the fight against diabetes might be hovering right outside your window, right now.

It’s the sun — the primary source of vitamin D, and a new study shows how this pancreas-boosting super nutrient can
help stop the disease before it starts.

Researchers gave 92 pre-diabetics either vitamin D3 supplements, calcium supplements, both, or a placebo for four months — then ran some blood tests and found that patients who took the D3 had slightly better blood sugar levels.

Not that big of a deal.

But this is a big deal: The patients who took D3 had dramatically better pancreas function — with the organ’s beta cells showing improvements of up to 30 percent.

Those beta cells are needed to make insulin — and when they stop doing their job, you get diabetes.

The researchers wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that calcium didn’t make a difference when it came to giving those cells a lift — just the D3.

It’s not the first study to make the link: Research has found time and again that vitamin D can help control blood sugar levels (even more so than in this study) and lower the overall risk of diabetes.

One study last year found that people middle aged and older with the highest D levels had a 55 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes and 51 percent lower risk of metabolic syndrome than those with the least.

That should be enough to entice any pre-diabetic into spending more quality time under the sun, or at least investing in a quality D3 supplement — but while the sunshine vitamin is a great place to start, you’ll need a few more weapons if you hope to win the war against this disease.

Cinnamon — as in the spice, but you’ll want the extract — has shown an amazing ability to slash blood sugar levels and reduce your blood pressure, while the mineral chromium can reduce both fasting insulin and fasting glucose levels.

And if you want to put some punch into your plan, try Popeye’s favorite source of power: spinach. This leafy green is packed with magnesium, which studies have shown can lower your levels of insulin resistance and slash your risk of diabetes. (Read more here.)

Your body also needs magnesium to put its vitamin D to work — so if you’re going to get one, be sure to get the other.

Up next: More on vitamin D.