Hba1c down by two thirds

[KittyKatty]

When first diagnosed/told about diabetes in June 2014, my hba1c was 97. I saw the DN a few days ago after my 3 month test, my hba1c is now 33. Obviously the 4 metformin a day must take the bulk of the credit. She has advised me to now go down to 2 metformin a day.
Today I tested my blood post meal and it was just 4.4. Perhaps the meal of roast beef and carrots with gravy had something to do with that.

Has anyone indulged in something naughty (chips, mash or pie for me) in order to test their body response?

 

[jack412]

that's a slippery slope, there is more than one person back on the carbs...don't give it a second thought...
you can eat to your meter and can have a bit more each week, but watch out for carb craving
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarb101/a/carblevel.htm

ps google it.. metformin is good for 1-1.5% or 10-20 points. the other 50 points is what you did..you take the credit, well done

 

[Squire Fulwood]

When first diagnosed/told about diabetes in June 2014, my hba1c was 97. I saw the DN a few days ago after my 3 month test, my hba1c is now 33. Obviously the 4 metformin a day must take the bulk of the credit. She has advised me to now go down to 2 metformin a day.
Today I tested my blood post meal and it was just 4.4. Perhaps the meal of roast beef and carrots with gravy had something to do with that.

Has anyone indulged in something naughty (chips, mash or pie for me) in order to test their body response?

To simplify my life I just cut out sugar and anything made with flour. I have never been too strict on potatoes although since I grow my own a lot they tend to be new potatoes and not a problem. Chips? yes if I fancy them but not from a shop. KFC fries have an ability to raise BG more than the portion size would suggest.

I had a nasty experience yesterday. It stems from the fact that avoiding flour is trickier than you might think since lots of foods use it as a bulking agent. You have to stay on top of that. I went to Tesco where I often buy breaded chicken. It has bones in it so it is real chicken and it is delicious but they didn't have any. From the same shelves there were fillets, steaks and goujons etc. none of which were shaped anything like chicken parts. I checked the labels and everything was around 25g carbs per portion. I had the sensation that I was in the middle of large quantities of poisonous food and all cheek by jowl with the proper food. I went to another shelf and bought a whole prepared chicken.

So the bottom line is that I am not too strict but the work is identifying foods which have other substances mixed into them.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Well done on that HbA1c result. Fantastic, you must be so pleased!

 

[douglas99]

Congratulations, that is a good result.

To answer your question - yes.

My figures are in my signature, but I achieved my results mainly by weight loss, and low GI/GL
I do eat carbs. low GI/GL where I can though. (and for the record, Tesco don't sell poisonous chicken, I'm still here).

If you do fancy trying the food, you need to check yourself with a meter, and see if it spikes you.

There are two things to bear in mind with this.
Some posters have an attitude such as Jack, once you eat a carb, you'll never be able to stop.
Personally, I eat as much as I decide I am going to, then stop. Maybe it's because I decided to calorie control, so I have set limits, and to me, carbs I can eat are simply a source of calories, so I don't overindulge, and they certainly aren't addictive.

The second thing to bear in mind is if you have been LCHF for a while, your body loses the ability to cope with carbs, so initially you will see some artificially high numbers. If you do continue, these will fall back into your normal response range, whatever that my be at the moment. (The main reason I don't LC, and do keep low GI/GL carbs in my diet)

But only try one thing at a time.
If you are going onto half your dose of merformin, give it a couple of weeks to take effect, than try a few carbs if you want to, but bear in mind you will have to let your body re-adjust before getting a true response.

 

[belmont97]

My hba1c figure was 45 in July. I have just had the results of my blood test and the figure is down to 38. I have been on a no carb diet and lost over 1 stone in weight. The "diabetic doctor" wanted to put me on Metformin but we decided to try diet rather than pills. Seems like the right decision as I have achieved the result I was hoping.

 

[Brunneria]

It is a good thing that @douglas99 does not experience carbs as addictive. I'm pleased for him.

But my experience is very different. And I dislike sweeping statements intended to apply to everyone - because there are always exceptions. Claiming that carbs are not addictive is just such a statement.

We are all so very different that @KittyKatty may be able to reintroduce carbs easily. Or not. But if carb cravings do rear their ugly little heads, then the answer is to drop the carbs back down, until the cravings fade away.

We all have different carb tolerance capacity. It's great to find out where yours is, because it makes it much easier to eat yo your meter.