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.

There’s always multi vits OP

@Verbena17 - can you have a look at The Sugar Solution by Dr Mark Hyman, and the accompanying 10-Day Detox Diet book. The former explains the physiology really well, and the latter includes a lot of interesting and unusual but realistic recipes. Both are available for free via Internet Archive.

Dr Becky Gillaspy has a lot of interesting talks about sugar and carbs on YouTube. Most are only around 10 minutes and very concise. Here is one of them:

My app makes your yogurt nut apple breakfast 15g of carbs

I’ve been subscribed to Becky for a few years.
I’ll have a look at that archive stuff, thanks.

That’s good then yes? Because it’s only 15g of carbs for the meal.

Just found this….hence why I’m very reluctant to stop eating fruit and veg and limit myself to a crazy 20g of carbs a day.

Interesting research on a well formed keto diet compared to a lowish carb Med diet
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/116/3/640/6596279?login=false
The compliance study, i.e. how well people stuck to it is even more interesting
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/3/967

Keto is probably not suitable for you @Verbena17 but the Med diet proved to be much easier to stick to. The files on what people ate are here

Video, from Zoe where Chris is interviewed, to help make sense of it all

You're right 20g of carbs a day is extreme and hard to stick to. The results seem good when people stick to under 100g, this also allows you to get enough fibre.

Thank for the info and video. I’ll take a look.
Yes you’re right about fibre - I can get constipated really easily and so for me, fibre is really important - hence why I would usually eat 2 or 3 dates a day.
I’d usually eat raw carrot, apples and plenty of salad and I felt energetic and healthy. Obviously I was eating way too many carbs for my body but it just feels so wrong to not eat fruit and veggies.

I’ve only watched the first 11mins so far but Dr Chris Gardner seems like a very intelligent man. Believing much more in the balance of whole grains and fats etc. He even explained that the blood brain barrier prefers to burn carbs than fats. I think I’ve got to take a more sustainable and balanced approach.

A few beans and lentils are generally very good for you, just keep an eye on the portion size.

@Verbena17 that's sensible advice on that tips post you posted- I found 'big ' meals were not great and I have eaten a fair bit of fruit and veg , but spaced out - your diet looks good to me- just clearly like me -too many carbs (even good ones like porridge and bananas) and as the doctor told me- not enough excerise doesn't help either - something the doctor told me stuck with me- I'm 61 and he said that approx 1 in 4 people are diabetic or pre diabetic by that age but approx 50% don't know it. Far too much stuff these days is based on carbs, especially cheaper food out the home, sandwiches, cakes, pasties and pastry etc - many older people actually eat far more than they need to as habit

Yes that’s all very true. I’m mid 40’s and have a whole load of life stuff going on - premenopausal, autistic child with eating disorder, other child with binge eating/starving thing going on….I’m not making excuses or blaming them as to why I am where I am with my health but I’ve put me last for ages instead of paying enough attention.

Thanks @JudyEdithPerry i do eat kimchi and love it but can only have a little at a time as it bloats me. I generally think my stomach gut is ok although haven’t tested it, due to if I eat yoghurts like Activia or pro/prebiotics, I get stomach ache and definitely not constipation!

Hi OP
I just wanted to share my experience. Listening to the Zoe podcast (I think) I heard Tim Spector speak about how porridge gave him a huge blood sugar spike and it was a lightbulb moment for me - although I've not tested I truly believe oats give me a huge spike and it affects the rest of my day. We all respond to food differently and while one person could have porridge no problem, I, and probably you, cant!
In fact I have found a low carb breakfast really, really helps. I eat carbs but I try to focus on getting them from fruit, veg, lentils and beans and have them later in the day.
Porridge and banana would leave me hungry with a sugar dip at 10am! I think it affects me all day and I eat more all day. Greek yoghurt with flaxseed and nuts keeps me fuller. Or eggs. Nothing is off limits for me but breakfast really, really matters and must be low carb. I also don't eat until 9am and have dinner early at 5.30pm, so a gentle fast between 6pm and 9am.
Just a thought - I'm no expert but thinking about the order I eat food helps

@Verbena17 me too lovely !!

Got my ferritin results just now.
They are 19ng/mL the range is [13 - 150]

It says ‘no further action’.

Looked online and it all says anything below 20ng is super low iron stores!

And we know about the link between low iron/ferritin and false high reading for HBA1C test.
My full bloods aren’t back yet so not sure if they’ve looked at iron as well but will see what that says. Because you can have low stores but okay circulating iron. No wonder I’ve been getting symptoms of low iron again 😩

You're not low enough to get iron prescribed, so ask the pharmacist for a supplement.

Then iron rich food; some people are gonna hate this list
Beans
Sardines, tins are fine
Dark, really dark chocolate
Liver and other offal
Lentils
Soy products
Spinach
Venison, black pudding or beef

Variety features, yet again.

@Itisyourturntowashthebath oh no I realise they won’t prescribe me it - I have some Vitabiotics Ferrous Sulphate but not sure 17mg will be enough.

It wasn’t the not being prescribed thing that annoyed me - it was the fact it said no further action when the whole reason I asked them to test my iron was because I thought it was giving me an overly high A1C reading. It annoyed me that they didn’t look at my last 2 iron test results that said 8 and 10 and still didn’t put 2+2 together. So I’ll explain it all to the diabetic nurse next week when she calls.

OMG! This is the exact thing that happened to me! Until today, I also didn’t know it could be caused by low iron and the GP said I needed physio and it couldn’t possibly be anything other than plantar fasciitis issues. Physio didn’t work.
But I’m betting it was the low iron like this poor guy had!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/medical-mysteries/his-anemia-was-followed-by-searing-foot-pain-seventeen-years-later-in-precarious-shape-a-stellar-athlete-learned-what-was-wrong/2020/06/26/1acfdebe-95ec-11ea-82b4-c8db161ff6e5_story.html

Oh actually I didn’t read the whole article - it seems it wasn’t just anaemia, he actually had cancer. Thank goodness he is ok now.
But the foot pain part is interesting in reaction to the low iron issue.

Your diet is still quite high carb. You need to lower the bread etc and up the protein and good fats (as they slow carb absorption)

Yes I’ll be staying low carb from now on…..just not no carb/keto