Unexpected HBA1C check

Barba_Rossa

Well-Known Member
Messages
97
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi, I would just like to add my congratulations.
You say you did it on Low Carb, was that only Low Carb - or Low Carb with an increase in Fat i.e. LCHF? The reason I ask is because imho LCHF is a lot easier to handle (at least for people who eat meat, fish or dairy) than Low Carb alone.

I have increased my healthy fat intake - more avocado, salmon, eggs, cheese - but not sure I would describe it as “high”. I did find in the second week that I was eating a lot of protein and veg but not much fat. Adding in the fats described above not only helped with feeling more satisfied, it also opened up alternatives in the kitchen and stopped boredom becoming a negative factor.
 
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Barba_Rossa

Well-Known Member
Messages
97
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Well done @Barba_Rossa! That's a great reduction! :)



Did you tell the hospital HCPs how you achieved the reduction? If so did they say anything about it?

To be honest, I’m not sure the nurse I saw really listened to much of what I was saying. I said I had cut out most carbs from my diet and then the next minute she was talking about eating cakes and pastries. I was quite disappointed by the advice she was able to offer. Had I not found this forum and had to rely solely on the advice from the hospital team, I’d be very confused and not at all reassured.
 
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ianf0ster

Moderator
Staff Member
Messages
2,398
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
exercise, phone calls
I have increased my healthy fat intake - more avocado, salmon, eggs, cheese - but not sure I would describe it as “high”. I did find in the second week that I was eating a lot of protein and veg but not much fat. Adding in the fats described above not only helped with feeling more satisfied, it also opened up alternatives in the kitchen and stopped boredom becoming a negative factor.

You are right that both 'Low' and 'High' are relative terms and that what they mean in these Forums is different to what they mean in the mainstream medical/nutritional world and that is different from what they meant before the Second World War, or even back in the 1960s & 1070s.

By 'High Fat' what (I believe) most of us mean is that you have reduced the Carb Portion of Calories in your meals. Hopefully to way less than the 40% to 60% in the 'outside world'. So you either go hungry, or you increase the calorie contribution from either Protein or from Fat or from both. So in this context 'High Fat' just means an increased calorie contribution from Fats compared to what you typically ate before.

I notice that you said 'healthy fat'. Many of us (but not all) believe that 'traditional edible fat' is healthy and that there is doubt about those requiring an intensive industrial extraction. So I would say that Cream is healthy, but that Soya Oil, Rapeseed Oil and especially Cotton Seed Oil may well not be, despite them being polyunsaturated.
 
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ianf0ster

Moderator
Staff Member
Messages
2,398
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
exercise, phone calls
Actually what constitutes a 'Low Carb' diet varies hugely, as I believe that it should.
I encourage every Diabetic to 'eat to their Blood Glucose meter', only by having a meter and using it can they actually see the effect of each individual meal. This is different , even considerably so, for different people.

My meter tells me that I can't handle root veg like Carrot, Turnip, Swede, Beetroot. Legumes (for me) have to be strictly limited, so that means that I am eating at the lower end of the 'Low Carb' spectrum - generally between 20gms and 50gms of carbs per day.
But this is not the case for several others who don't get spiked Blood Glucose from eating those. So you will see that 'Low Carb' in some of the medical studies done could mean as high as 120gms of carbs per day.
In some of the studies done deliberately to try to 'debunk' Low Carb they even use values of up to 200gms or more.
 
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myracat

Well-Known Member
Messages
72
Type of diabetes
Don't have diabetes
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
To be honest, I’m not sure the nurse I saw really listened to much of what I was saying. I said I had cut out most carbs from my diet and then the next minute she was talking about eating cakes and pastries. I was quite disappointed by the advice she was able to offer. Had I not found this forum and had to rely solely on the advice from the hospital team, I’d be very confused and not at all reassured.
Hello
I am interested to see that your nurse was talking about cakes and pastries as my OH has just come back with a high HBA1c and we was previously told to eat pies, pastry, pecan slices and the like
KR