Hello
It's the start of your journey as a type 2. Yes that HBA1C result says you are diabetic. It's not the highest figure I have ever seen so that is a bit of good news, I have only been on this journey for 2 years myself but this is what I have learned.
Take a sensible pace, things don't change overnight, they take time and allowing them to do so will make for a long term health plan and it does work, it is also lovely.
Cut out processed foods, white flour, white rice etc. the things that are high in carbohydrates, these are not helpful to us now. You can have carbs but as part of veg etc.
Cut the booze out for a good while, it's not needed
Learn to love bubbly water
Salad, ooooh we all love salad now
keep a food diary that shows what your food is made of. When you test your levels you will be able to see what meals are good for you and which are not .
Testing.
Test before a meal, test 90 minutes after, write it down. see what patterns occur
Morning readings are not the most important reading. I can have the same meal for several days on the trot and have different readings, the reasons for the variance is hydration, how deep the sleep was, the deeper the sleep the more energy your liver releases to get you going, it's not a good or bad thing, it just happens every day.