Cloud 9

[CherryAA]

38 days ago I visited a doctor who gave me the the readings BSG 18.4 , HbaC1 92 - 10.3%.

That day I found this website, invested in a meter , signed on to chronometer and got out my walking boots. I obsessively recorded every single item eaten, every step taken, every swim, and every reading.

I bought vitamin supplements for everything my chronometer was telling me I was deficient in . I read obsessively, I sipped a bit of cider vinegar, drank a bit of baking powder solution, took Chromium picconate and I had three whiskies a day for the last week ( on holiday), a full English breakfast without the carbs on most days , fish and chip shop fish on a few occasions and my personal favorite nut Macadamia. I've lost 5 kilos. I did count calories, but my main focus was making sure that the fat content was at least 60% first and I found that the 1200 calories a day wasn't counting the calories per se, just finding I wasn't in need to more food.

Today every single BS measurement has been in the " normal" range.

I'm posting this because just like Poppy Petal, the difference this website has made to me is enormous. And for those who have just been diagnosed to see that the speed of change can be this quick is hopefully hugely encouraging. I've a long haul to go, but I've never seen anything like it and why the hell this is not front page news everywhere so that others can do it too, I just can't imagine.

 

[AtkinsMo]

That's the sort of post I really like to see. Got a problem, accept it, research the solution, adopt it, stick to it! Problem solved, well done you, stick with it!

 

[CherryAA]

I've already recruited my builder onto the program, He's been using insulin for the last ten years. I had to insist he went to his doctor first to get his meds reduced within the first week . He now thinks I'm his guardian angel. I feel rather like I should be going to up to all overweight people in the street and saying - did you know carbs are evil ! go eat some fat at once !

 

[Salvia]

Excellent result @CherryAA; no wonder you're well chuffed. I agree, just can't understand why ( or how) the medical professionals can continue to justify rejecting this way of eating as not being healthy. Agreed, it's not for everybody, but for many people it is a godsend and should be one of the options to be considered.

 

[CherryAA]

Part of me says, that one of the issues is that by telling people they don't need to count calories, it spooks everyone ( doctors and patients) because they have visions of a load of fat gluttons obsessively digging into large Ben and Jerry tubs filled with Cornish clotted cream instead of chips.

I don't really see why the approach couldn't be - " yes of course you need to "count calories" i.e. you do have to restrict what you can have to a sensible size, just that instead of it being 60% carbs and 20% fat- just swap them round. That would be something that people could perhaps more easily " buy into" than the seeming idea that food is " unlimited on a low carb diet. The practical implication is the same - you don't feel hungry ergo its not so hard to stick to whatever " calorie limit" you chose.

 

[CherryAA]

Six weeks in I decided to get a new set of bloods done across the full spectrum. The results are in my signature. Hba1c down from 92 (10.3% ) to 64 (8.0%) bs down from 18.4 to 6.6.

What is also comforting is that practically every single marker covering everything, cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides, liver, kidney, blood, inflammation have all improved - even if they started off within in the normal range, they still moved down the range, so across the full spectrum of health issues this diet seems to be helping me.

I wrote to my doctor with the full details of what I am doing, including this website reference and a summary of my diet. The letter and details have been passed on to other doctors in the practice and he has written back acknowledging it and describing the improvements as dramatic.

 

[AtkinsMo]

Lovely post,@CherryAA , it is so nice to read these huge success stories.

 

[4ratbags]

Awesome news, you'll be in the non diabetic range in no time

 

[Nicksu]

Good for you. I now what you mean about how quickly things can change. I've gone from diagnosis (8 weeks ago) to getting my HBaC1 down to 7.0. Admittedly on Gliclizade as well but the results have been done with low carb and exercise as well. Hardly any potatoes or bread. The ultimate aim is to be able to do without the meds.

 

[CherryAA]

That's great Nicksu. I'm sure you will get to no meds soon.

For me I decided that if I did the diet first, then I would at least know to what extent the actual meds were making a difference if I do need to take them. If I change too many things at once I won't know. I'm having trouble getting my morning reading in shape and if anything I seem to be getting slightly higher readings at present than a couple of weeks ago. The only thing I can think of that I have been more generous with is onions ( 10g to 30g with breakfast omelette) , so I am going to try not eating certain foods and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Kingofnowhere]

HI Cherry

Very well done, you readings at DX are almost exactly where mine when I got DX in March (92), a month later it was 66, and @ 3 months it was 39, and got off the medication. 3 months later it is still 39 . Seems to me you are following a similar pattern to me, so hopefully you can get off the medication if that is what you want.

Well done again, now waiting for your next test results.

Mark

 

[CherryAA]

Thanks for this Mark,
It is very useful when you can see a pattern in something that someone else went through. I never took any medication at all. It seems to me that the difference is diet is so huge that anything that the medication would be doing is probably quite marginal to the end result, certainly when the initial dietary change is made. I can revisit that if I need to later. I see that 39 equals average blood sugar at 6.5%. I can quite regularly get a bs reading in the 6's but my morning readings are stubbornly closer to 8. Are you finding that at 39 that still includes morning readings above 7.5 ? or was there a trend where these higher readings started to disappear giving you a more stable set of numbers around the 6.5% mark? Also would you mind telling me what is the highest kind of readings you now see post breakfast, lunch and dinner?

 

[Kingofnowhere]

Hi

My reading have never been that high in the morning, but I was on metformin as soon as I was diagnosed. Hover, I did suffer from dawn phenomenon, but I seem to have that sorted by drinking a pint of water spiked with apple cider before bed.

(Excluding, when I had a cold and the bucket of coke I drank at the cinema days (was told it was diet), my numbers are for the last 3 months. Readings taken 2 hours after starting meal

FBG Av 5.4 (Min 4.5, Max 6.2)
After Breakfast Av 6.7 (Min 5.8 Max 8.5 once, 7.7 once)....However, this is taken after I have been swimming and I push myself . (I swim nearly everyday). I also then eat a second breakfast after swimming, as my blood sugars will fall pretty much no matter what I eat.
Before lunch Av 5.7 (Min 5.1 max 6.7)
After Lunch Av 6.2 (Min 5.2 Max 7.1)
Before dinner Av 5.7 (Min 4.7 Max 6.6)
After dinner Av 5.8 (Min 4.5 Max 6.8)

I tend to eat half of my daily calories, between first breakfast and second breakfast. Evening meal is often chicken, with some streamed vegetables, which probably helps keep the night time blood sugars lower.

Also, my HBA1C, was higher than I expected by my averages. (And it isn't I miss peaks!), my current theory is that I had an iron deficiency (I had this when I was a kid), so I am taking Iron tablets now, so hopefully my HBAIC will be more reflective of the average blood sugars I get....but we shall see, but no more HBA1C tests till May.

Hope that helps, and good luck

Mark

 

[CherryAA]

Thanks Mark

 

[PoppyPetal]

Hi CherryAA,

That's a brilliant result in such a short time. Keep on going and I'm sure you will get your figures to where you want them. It just takes a bit of determination and you can help yourself so much.

 

[CherryAA]

Hi PoppyPetal.

I must admit I find the willpower that accompanies a - " get fitter or get amputated " message rather more compelling than - you would look so much nicer in a smaller dress - ( which I do too! )

 

[PoppyPetal]

Hi CherryAA,

For me the doctor said "it's okay you won't need any heavy duty medicine for a few years yet" that finally did the trick. I basically thought, f.... you I am going to do my best to never go any further down this road. But your analogy works well, maybe a short sharp shock in those kind of words would make more people take notice and try more to help themselves.

 

[CherryAA]

Hi PoppyPetal,

I think if people knew how relatively easy it to " help yourself" by diet, instead of just hearing the doom and gloom then more people might not stick their head in the sand in the blind hope that " this is not happening to me".

Given many people would be able to see a difference in a week, the nation should do one of those live TV experiments where everyone is encouraged to buy a meter and join in a nationwide experiment to prove you can take control yourself of your blood sugar . If they just chose two meals then asked everyone to submit their readings at hourly interval between the two, then asked all those showing the biggest numbers to follow up with three days of LCHF then it would dramatically illustrate what happens.

You could even do it with the GREAT British Breakfast - one with the carbs - one without . Its about time some real clout went into showing everyone that food IS medicine instead of the scare mongering panorama program.