Diabetes (type 2) Query

[Verbena17]

So for the past 3 months I’ve been trying to lower my HCA1C test of 49. Had my retest, having been really good, cut out almost all processed sugar and lowered carbs, walked more when my feet aren’t painful etc.

Got my results back and it’s literally gone UP to 50 😩.
What does this mean?
In the past week, I’ve been feeling shaky when exerting myself/dog walking, feeling like I need to eat to stop that ‘low blood sugar’ feeling but actually I just took my blood sugar 3 hours after brekkie and whilst having symptoms before I ate lunch, and it was 6.4.

Does this likely mean I’m diabetic? In addition I I’ve requested another blood test to check if my iron is still low (was 10 a year ago) because low iron can obviously affect the A1C test- making readings higher. My shaky/weak/no energy/slight cough symptoms are also the symptoms of having low iron….as well as being the same for low blood sugar.
Im overweight and losing any weight is really hard even though my diet is really quite good.

Really this won’t be full blown diabetes but I had a 2 week course of dexamethasone in 2021 and you can get steroid induced diabetes, either temporarily or long term. There is new research from the Recovery Trial saying patients who had dexamethasone whilst in hospital were prone to acquiring diabetes. When I was on it, they had to give me insulin injections to regulate my blood sugar.

I eat 90% chocolate now which doesn't spike my blood sugar at all. But the spike from eg a Twirl is lower for me than from porridge or rice - I suspect because the trashy chocolate also has fat which slows the absorption of carbs.

I've swapped stuff like I used to eat overnight oats with fruit and Greek yoghurt, so now have Greek yog, berries, chia and other seeds instead. The chia swells into similar texture overnight but no blood sugar spike at all

This is helpful - thanks. I assumed it couldn’t be a detox feeling thing as it didn’t happen when I did the Cambridge diet and was only on 800 cals a day.

That’s a good idea to make chia pudding instead of oats for breakfast.

@Verbena17 you are going to have to decide whether to follow the (outdated) nhs advice which is making you feel horrible, or more modern advice from people who have done it, and really cut back on carbs.
I wonder if you aren’t aware that porridge and banana has a lot of carbs, just as much as jam on toast or cornflakes for example. And if your body is sensitive to this (it seems like it might be) it won’t react well. The medical profession won’t be testing you for your unique responses to carbohydrates. Only whether you have diabetes or pre diabetes.

Definitely if you want to get down from Type 2,considerably, without needing medication , everything I've read says one way to do it quite quickly is keeping carbs below 75g a day. Keto is good too, but like you I'm not keen on that due to eating too much fat and not having a gallbladder..

Thanks. Yes I am aware of all things carbs but I guess I also think that cutting out major food groups is rarely beneficial….ie. When I became vegan (I’m not now), I may have lost some weight initially and felt more energetic but then I became iron deficient.

I feel like keto isn’t a good balance. And low GI, slow release carbs like oats and whole grains aren’t nutritionally in the same negative place as say a can of coke and a Mars bar.

Ive just an online food shop and have bought lots of high protein, healthy fats and no carbs (except for a specific keto pack of wraps).

I think i just haven’t come to terms with such a huge change. DH was being all practical earlier and I cried and explained I wanted him to emotionally support me, not bark orders of what to eat at me. He kept saying “it’s really simple….you just have to do..bla bla bla.”
Im really not yet in the mindset where I need that.😂

I think as well, having a child (now 18) with a serious (most likely life long) eating disorder) means my brain is taken up every day and evening coaxing him to eat something. I have food ideas and food refusal spinning round in my brain all the time and then to see my A1C come back at 50 I was like “no, not today thank you!”.

Yes no need to eliminate carbs or go keto. But try 75g whole grain carbs a day for couple of weeks and see if there’s any improvement

For myself, in terms of blood sugar, there is literally no difference between mars bar and porridge. The other nutritional values are difference, but glucose in the blood is the same for me.

That’s what I need to get my head around. To me, it just doesn’t make sense.

What does 75g of whole grain carbs look like?
That means 75g of carbs, in using sugars on the ingredient nutrition label yes?

and that’s in addition to the other carbs in say veggies and fruit?

Its breakfast I find hardest @Verbena17 - I've taken to eating 2 hard boiled eggs plus sliced ham and a small portion of cheese several days, porridge Pots a couple of days as quite a small portion and Greek yoghurt with blueberries a couple of days - I find now after7 months I can't eat as much and a lot of carb makes me feel really off- but it did drop by 6 points and now am 38

That’s so great you’re now at 38 🙌.
I think because I really love yoghurt, I can manage brekkie ok (without porridge or with only a sprinkle of oats).

DH has said to buy him loads of ready meals for dinners that I can just add him veggies to, so it’s easier for me over the next few weeks to learn about what I can have and save time stressing - that’s the sort of support I need from him so it was sweet tonight when he popped out and bought me a steak and cooked it for me with toms and mushrooms.

I love soup too - so lunches might be good if I can have lots of nutritious soups.

If you are aiming for 75g (this is lower carb rather than low carb) it needs to include carbohydrates found in all foods including eg fruit, milk, veg, pulses

Ah so that’s 75g total carbs from any source for one day?
Got you.

I just need to find something that says eat this, this and this for each meal…..so I don’t have to worry about adding it all up each time.

So I’ve just found this recipe for keto bread - uses almond flour & flax seeds.
So this would be okay to eat yes - to replace bread?

Almond Flour & Flaxseed Bread

If you have a waitrose nearby the do livlife bread which is about 3.5 carbs per slice. It's not clean keto but fine for low carb.

I don't eat breakfast as I intermittent fast so I just have 2 meals to think about.

I've been doing below 20g carbs for blood sugars and I've brought them down a lot (also lost 2 stone that I didn't need to lose) but I'm now stuck in terms of blood sugar progress and fed up with the food and unable to eat enough to gain weight back.

For low carb you need to be careful with fruit and veg as it can use up your allowances quite quickly.

I live 2 mins walk from Waitrose so that’s great - will have a look at that bread for emergencies, thanks.

I just took the dog out for a walk and I’ve just come home, shaky and sweating and red. Usually I would barely feel it at all. Thinking this might be the going into keto sis stage that I remember from doing the Cambridge diet.

For brekkie I had a small portion of Greek yoghurt with a small chopped apple and a handful of cashews.
The thing is, I believe we all need the nutrients of fruit and veg. How exactly would I be getting vitamin c if I didn’t have fruit and veg in my diet? This is why I’m thinking keto & low carb isn’t the best option for everyone.

So do you mean you have max of 20g carbs per meal? You don’t mean the whole day do you?
Where is your blood sugar at now - balanced out at a good place?

20 for the day.

At the end of March I did a random blood glucose test, it was 19.1. After following no sugar/very low carb, it came down quite quickly and up until recently has been quite steady at mid 6 to mid 7 two hours after dinner.

However as soon as I try to introduce a little more carbs (spoon of brown rice, a few pieces of wholewheat pasta etc) it goes up over 8.

I'm struggling with the diet a lot now, struggling to maintain weight and since its been constantly raining, I'm not getting enough exercise either.

Anyway, I'm currently awaiting a gp appointment and further tests to try to see what's going on.

I think low carb is definitely a more sustainable goal and I feel I've become a bit obsessed about what I can and can't eat so I wouldn't recommend being so strict unless it was a short term regime to drop a decent amount of weight.

To be fair at the beginning I quite enjoyed it, lovely salads with avocado, seeds, meat, cheese or prawns etc. Main meals with creamy sauces and brocolli, cabbage etc. A few berries with greek yoghurt. Omelettes with bacon. Now I can barely look at eggs or cheese or meat and don't really enjoy the high fat aspects that I need to eat. I don't crave anything, I just don't have an appetite at all.

OP 20g for the day is the fastest and healthiest way to reduce your HbA1c and get that reactive hypoglycaemia under control.

You really need to go keto!

@BigBoysDontCry gosh yes - that doesn’t sound so good then.
20g of carbs per day is extremely restrictive.

@LMNT you haven’t said how anyone doing that would get their nutrients - that would all normally come from fruit and veg? You seem quite rigid about it - surely sustainability is the long term goal🤷‍♀️. I’ve mentioned I have no gall bladder so need to limit fats and therefore a strict no-carb keto diet just isn’t going to work for me. Plenty of people bring down their A1C by just cutting down on sugar and carbs - not completely getting rid altogether. I’ve experienced my hair falling out from anaemia and when I was on the Cambridge diet …..I really do not want to to ever to get to that point again.