jdd_london
Newbie
- Messages
- 1
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
I consider I have been very lucky with my diagnosis of type II diabetes last November 2015 just after my birthday when I turned 62 years. Unfortunately, my late mother (and her father) had type II diabetes and my younger brother has had this for some 15 years. My fasting blood glucose last November was 14.5 mml/m. I went on a low carb diet (no bread, potatoes, pasta or rice) and started and an exercise regime, which subsequently means I have lost over a stone and now weigh 12 stone 7 pounds. I monitored my daily blood glucose for about three months and it returned to normal (non-diabetic) levels within two months. I walk 3 to 5 miles most weekdays. My last longitudinal blood test (HbA1c ) in August was 37mml/m – prior to that it had dropped from 94mml/m in November to 42mml/m by March this year. Fortunately, I never experienced any serious problems with the low carb diet. I was somewhat concerned that I would not be getting sufficient amounts of “my five a day” but this only amounts to 400 g of vegetables which is completely achievable spread out throughout the day. As a rule of thumb, I tend to eat only vegetables that grow above the ground. I do have an apple every day but tend to eat this with a small amount of cheese. Initially the walking exercise resulted for the first couple of weeks of me being somewhat out of breath but this quickly passed. Personally, I would not recommend running particularly on roads and pavements as this can cause joint problems to somebody of my age. In any event, a brisk walk seems to do the trick. To be honest, I have not felt this healthy for many years. The only thing that irritates me at the moment is that my diabetic nurse is trying to insist I take statins – my total cholesterol was 6.7 initially on diagnosis and now has dropped to 5.3. I asked for a breakdown of my cholesterol readings a few weeks ago from my last test and my LDL is 3.1 and my HDL is 1.7. I firmly believe that slight changes in my diet and my continued commitment to exercise will result in my LDL cholesterol levels dropping below 3.0. I can see no logical reason to take medication if I can achieve the same results through lifestyle change which has bonuses beyond my diagnosis with type II diabetes as regards my general health. My advice to anybody is to examine your lifestyle and create achievable goals we are all different.