3 Months after diagnosis....
Blood test yesterday and I'm quite pleased with the results.
A1c down to 39 (from 63 in October). Libre app (estimated a1c 39) and Shuggah apps (estimate 37) were actually pretty spot on.
I have found my pre-meal BG has come down from the 7s in December to the 5s occasionally 6s now.
Was worried about cholesterol as it was in the 5s in October, and I've eaten more fatty foods (cream with breakfast fruits, more eggs, bacon, dairy foods then previously, but it's down to 3.1, so that's a result. I expect the addition of bempedoic acid medication has helped.
Having been 90 kilos in early December when the dietary big bang occurred, I'm now down to 81.5, kilos. Walking 3 miles most days has helped, though I've had to curtail that this week due to poor weather and a very painful flare-up of my arthritic knee.
So how have I done it?
Cutting out most carbs, obviously. Also cutting out ready meals and most other processed foods.
Initially blood strip testing to identify what was causing high BG levels, and cutting those foods out. For the last 3 weeks I've also been using a CGM, which helps give me a better idea of where my BG is generally. It's also helping me find out what works and what doesn't.
I'm tempted to carry on with the CGM for a while longer, it's quite motivating and I know I can't get away with spikes, a bit concerned about "out of sight, out of mind" and I want to keep myself honest. We shall see.
...so what did and didn't work?
Initially, after the first few days of testing with my "old normal" diet, and finding out what gave me high BG, I cut out almost all carbs (cereal, potatoes, bread, rice, biscuits, crisps and other such ****), after about 3 weeks I began to experiment a little...
A few (~180-200g) potatoes is fine if accompanied with plenty of protein.. Xmas dinner didn't spike me (which initially surprised me) and steak and chips is also fine. Some roasties with casserole was not good though (spiked over 12), came to the conclusion that there wasn't enough protein in the casserole.
Eating out is a bit of a minefield, last time we went out there was no steak or fish on the menu, so pie, mash and peas it was. Up went the BG to about 12, so I won't be pushing my luck with that again!
The HiLo bread from Sainsburys is ok, doesn't taste too bad and does a good job of filling me up. The High Protein rolls at Lidl are very nice and don't give me any problems... so that's giving me the confidence to try one of the freshly baked "high fibre" loaves at Tesco this evening.. waiting to see how that goes. Unfortunately a lot of bread products in the freshly baked areas don't give enough nutrition info....
As for the longer term... is it now going to be a case of keeping that BG religiously below 8 to 8.5, or is it ok if you have a brief spike once a week or so by giving yourself a treat or by eating out where it is often harder to keep off the carbs? Are the spikes ok, if your A1c stays low otherwise?
Obviously everyone is different and your mileage may vary.. but I hope the above gives some confidence to those out there newly diagnosed that it may not be the steep uphill struggle that they think it is.
