I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes three and a half years ago, at the beginning of 2014 at the age of 59 - blood sugar 19 mmol, HbA1c 104 (should be below 50). I also discovered over the next few months that I had damage to both my feet and my eyes – it seems that I must have had diabetes for about 5 years without realising it (no obvious symptoms). My weight was about 11.5 stone (as my avatar pic) – BMI around the 25 mark, so borderline overweight. Always been well-covered, but i'm tall and big-boned – the largest dress size i ever needed was a 16. Have been vegetarian for about 35 years (plus fish the last five years) and have always eaten a good basic diet, wholegrains, fresh fruit and vegetables, etc., etc. - but a fearsome sweet tooth, so a fair amount of chocolate and biscuits as well. I don't smoke and I drink less than once a month. My job is sedentary and I've always hated doing anything like running, but I usually swim at least twice a week, about half an hour doing front crawl, and have done for years. When I was diagnosed, my GP told me that I would need to resign myself to being on medication for the rest of my life, as there was nothing I could change about my lifestyle that would make any significant difference. So I started on Metformin.
I followed the conventional dietary advice given to diabetics in the UK, and my blood sugar levels gradually reduced, until after a year I was able to stop the Metformin; but that didn't last, and in April last year I found my HbA1c was back up, in the 60s. When it went up again, I asked the diabetic nurse if there was anything I could do - she said that there was nothing she could suggest, as I was following all the current advice. So back on the Metformin again.
By great good luck, someone mentioned a nutritionist living locally who specialises in treating diabetes , so I went to see him. He told me to forget the conventional advice, and suggested I cut out dried fruit completely, limit fresh fruit to one or two pieces a day, and include protein in every meal. However, the two biggies were to cut out carbs altogether and to leave at least 5 hours between meals, with no/miminal snacking in between. His reasoning for this was that your body needs time to reset after eating; he also recommended having generous portions of food at mealtimes. He also suggested increasing my exercise, but he was quite particular about what I should do. He said that, while swimming would be good for my general fitness, it was also important to build in exercise that involved less regular movements - so he suggested running on rough ground, using a hula hoop or dancing. He also said that it was important to do at least five minutes of fairly high-energy exercise first thing in the morning, to wake my system up. I decided to dance - I had lots of fun putting together music that I liked, and made myself a playlist from which I play three songs at a time, three times a day. I always dance soon after waking, and then fit in the other two sessions when I can. That gives me about half an hour of exercise daily, and fits into my normal routine very easily - and it's fun, and seldom feels like a chore. I started this regime in April last year (2016), also taking some over-the-counter supplements that he suggested – Glucobalance, cider vinegar and bitter gourd juice. Delighted to discover that coffee can help things along, as it's bitter – I've always loathed bitter food, but I've learned to enjoy black unsweetened coffee.
I also started monitoring my sugar levels (almost daily at first), first thing in the morning, and then again either a couple of hours after a meal or at a random time during the day. My aim was to average below 6 mmol, which I managed to achieve after a couple of months and I came off Metformin again last October. I had a diabetic review in April this year and my HbA1c was 36 - so technically, I no longer have diabetes. I also found I had lost a stone over the year, despite not monitoring my fat intake at all, and regularly eating full-fat diary products, nuts and peanut butter. Cholestrol, blood pressure, kidney function, etc., were all normal.
So I continue to follow this regime, although I do allow myself a little leeway now and then, but am very careful not to overdo it. I monitor my sugar levels every 4-5 days, still aiming to keep them averaging round about 6 mmols. I have the occasional blip when they go up, but not often, and it's not dramatic when they do - the highest reading I've had was 8 mmol after I ate far too much fruit at one sitting, but my post-meal readings are generally well below 7 mmols, and my early morning reading is nearly always somewhere between 4.2 and 5.5 mmol. My eyes and feet haven't got any worse since I was diagnosed, so everything seems stable at the moment - my next review is due in September, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
