@Dottyandbet Sorry, I've probably confused you with all the links and videos.
The A1C test is also commonly known as the haemoglobin A1c test or HbA1c test. It attempts to estimate the average level of glucose in your red blood cells. As these blood cells have a lifetime of 10 or 12 weeks or so, it basically tells you the average level of blood sugar over the past three months.
Normal range, according to NHS is below 42 mmol/mol, between 42 and 47 is classed as pre-diabetic, while 48 and over is classified as diabetic.
So, according to NHS, your measurement of 36 mmol/mol is in the normal range.
However, what does the blood sugar measure really tell you? Not that much. Let me try to explain.
Glucose is an essential component in our bodies, it's the fuel that our cells need to work, our muscle cells, our vital organs, our brain, everything uses glucose. When we eat, we get fuel for our bodies in the form of carbohydrates (e.g. sugar, starch, and more complex carbs like fibre, which are pretty important for our mitochondria to work properly), proteins (like eggs, meat, fish, nuts) and fats (they also come in meat, butter, milk, oils). In fact most foods are a combination of all three (carbs, proteins and fats). You also get micronutrients like vitamins and minerals, which are essential for our bodies to repair themselves.
I'll ignore proteins and fats for the moment, and just concentrate on sugar and carbs. So when we eat carbohydrates, most of them are converted into glucose almost as soon as we have eaten them. Insulin is a hormone produced by our pancreas, which regulates what happens to the glucose in our bodies:- when we have just eaten, and our glucose levels go up, our body then produces insulin to help manage that glucose:- it takes the glucose to our muscles, where we use it up when we move; it takes glucose to our brain, so we can think; it uses glucose to keep us warm, etc. But when there is too much glucose in the blood, more than our body can use for energy at the time, then insulin decides to store that excess energy into fat cells for leaner times ahead, or to use during the night when we are not eating, but we still need energy to keep our heart beating, our bodies warm, etc. This is all normal.
The problems come when this mechanism goes haywire, and this happens to the majority of people as we grow older. We tend to eat more carbohydrates than we need over our lifetimes, so our insulin levels are constantly higher than they should be, in order to manage all that excess glucose. But as with anything else, if you have too much of something, eventually the body adapts to ignore it. For example, the first cigarette will make you feel dizzy and lightheaded, but if you smoke 20 a day, your body becomes resistant to the level of nicotine, and you no longer feel as ligh-headed as you used to, so in order to get the same effect, you need to smoke a lot more. The same happens with insulin - the higher the level, the more insulin your body needs to produce to do the job of managing your glucose levels.
So, while your blood sugar levels appear normal, you have no idea how much insulin your body needs to produce in order to manage those sugar levels. It could be at normal insulin levels, or it could be very high levels of insulin. If your body needs to produce much more insulin, then you have developed insulin resistance, which is a vicious cycle, and generally gets worse, until eventually your body is unable to manage sugar levels, no matter how much insulin your body produces. THAT is what you need to find out to decide whether you need to worry about it or not - are you insulin resistant or not?. Ask your GP for a Glucose Tolerance Test, which measures how quickly your body gets rid of a given quantity of glucose, and gives you some idea whether you already have full blown insulin resistance or not.
If you do have insulin resistance, you need to find a way to make your body insulin-sensitive again. This is best done through sensible diet - minimise the carbs, except fibre, and replace them with more proteins and more fats. Don't be afraid of healthy fats like butter, olive oil and coconut oil - they will give you energy without raising your insulin levels too high. Proteins also raise your insulin levels, but much less than carbohydrates. So, start eating like your our grandmothers used to feed us when sugar was scarce - meat and 2 veg, preferably not starchy potatoes, have plenty of full cream milk, butter, cheese. Remember, no snacking on chocs, no biscuits, no bread, no cakes, no cornflakes or weetabix (you could have a full English breakfast without fried bread instead). I can't explain it now, but stay away from fruit with high fructose (some researchers suspect that fructose kick-starts the insulin resistance visious cycle, and fructose can give you a fatty liver). If you feel hungry between meals, eat a raw sweet pepper instead of an apple or orange. Have a fist-full of almonds instead of a packet of crisps. Don't eat any ready meals - cook your own from real ingredients. I do allow myself a homemade cake on birthdays, i.e. once every couple of months - my family's birthdays and Xmas also count. :-), although I probably shouldn't.
Forget calorie counting, don't be hungry, eat as much as you want of the sorts of foods I mentioned. You will feel fuller sooner, and you won't overeat.
That diet change will stop increases in insulin resistance. But to start resetting your insulin levels to a insulin-sensitive state, then you will need to have intermittent fasts - go without any food for 24 hours once a month, or more often if you can stand it. Just drink water. I have to take medication with food in the mornings, so I have an early breakfast one day, then wait 24 hours and have a late breakfast the next day.
Actually, don't start viewing the two video links I sent you - have a look at this one first, it's only 15 minutes long, and explains the basics in simple terms without too much medical evidence. Also, it's useful because it tells you exactly what to eat and what to avoid. In fact, this video started me off on low carb eating, and probably saved my brother's life - I'm his carer and by changing his diet, I helped him lose 30kg and to become more active. His blood sugar is now well controlled, but I can't get the GP to give him a second Glucose Tolerance test, to see how much his insulin resistance has improved.
Here's the link:-
Just remember, high sugar levels and obesity are no more than symptoms of another disease - Metabolic syndrome and Insulin resistance. Those are the things which matter, and which make so many of us sick.
Sorry for such a long post, I really hope this helps.