Type 2 High cholesterol increasing glucose good diet

[coconutjob]

Hi, just had my hba1c after about 2 years due to covid. It’s come back with glucose from 147 to 151 (or 47 to 51? - not sure of units) and cholesterol 7.1. I’m sometimes anaemic but this time levels were ok, I am tired all the time though.

Doctor phoned and said I needed to make lifestyle changes but I’m already eating low carb and already eating healthily as far as cholesterol goes (I don’t eat meat, I eat nuts, little saturated fat, good fats like olive oil etc).

I’m female 41, 5’6 and was 148lbs when hba done a couple of weeks ago but it fluctuates and today I’m 144lbs.

Diagnosed T2 about 3 years ago when my weight had shot up to 163lbs despite exercising and eating within cal allowance and I felt really ill. My father had just died and I was under a lot of stress with other things too. After cutting out pasta and bread etc weight dropped back down within a month. Went from just over 25bmi to just over 23. Blood sugar on diagnosis was just over the threshold (8.5?) I think.

I’m not sure what more I can do, she clearly didn’t believe me that my diet is healthy or that I exercise and is pushing for meds but I don’t want to go on statins and I’m wondering what could be causing levels to increase other than diet.

I used to be able to get blood sugar down to 4-6, lately it’s always higher no matter when I check. I’m only eating twice a day most days and snacking on nuts if I need to, I do a lot of fasting. Despite having a last meal at 7pm, 8am the following day it was 8.7 (after getting to work and no food or drink).

It’s really disappointing that someone you’ve never met comes to the phone with their prejudgments and it’s like hitting a brick wall. I suspected lada as I’ve never been obese but they refused to do a gad test as they said they don’t do it on the nhs and because my blood sugar has been reasonably maintained without treatment (but that is because I dropped carbs against the advice of the course they sent me on).

Wondering if anyone else has similar issues or are aware if other causes? I’m always stressed so I’m thinking that may be a factor. My grandfather had some kind of hardening of arteries and died at 64 but I was a child and have no more info.

 

[LaoDan]

A good place to start would be listing out your diet, maybe someone can recommend better alternatives.

stress can raise your numbers significantly, so maybe there’s some work you can do to relax.

Are you still doing exercise?

 

[coby]

Hi, just had my hba1c after about 2 years due to covid. It’s come back with glucose from 147 to 151 (or 47 to 51? - not sure of units) and cholesterol 7.1. I’m sometimes anaemic but this time levels were ok, I am tired all the time though.

Doctor phoned and said I needed to make lifestyle changes but I’m already eating low carb and already eating healthily as far as cholesterol goes (I don’t eat meat, I eat nuts, little saturated fat, good fats like olive oil etc).

I’m female 41, 5’6 and was 148lbs when hba done a couple of weeks ago but it fluctuates and today I’m 144lbs.

Diagnosed T2 about 3 years ago when my weight had shot up to 163lbs despite exercising and eating within cal allowance and I felt really ill. My father had just died and I was under a lot of stress with other things too. After cutting out pasta and bread etc weight dropped back down within a month. Went from just over 25bmi to just over 23. Blood sugar on diagnosis was just over the threshold (8.5?) I think.

I’m not sure what more I can do, she clearly didn’t believe me that my diet is healthy or that I exercise and is pushing for meds but I don’t want to go on statins and I’m wondering what could be causing levels to increase other than diet.

I used to be able to get blood sugar down to 4-6, lately it’s always higher no matter when I check. I’m only eating twice a day most days and snacking on nuts if I need to, I do a lot of fasting. Despite having a last meal at 7pm, 8am the following day it was 8.7 (after getting to work and no food or drink).

It’s really disappointing that someone you’ve never met comes to the phone with their prejudgments and it’s like hitting a brick wall. I suspected lada as I’ve never been obese but they refused to do a gad test as they said they don’t do it on the nhs and because my blood sugar has been reasonably maintained without treatment (but that is because I dropped carbs against the advice of the course they sent me on).

Wondering if anyone else has similar issues or are aware if other causes? I’m always stressed so I’m thinking that may be a factor. My grandfather had some kind of hardening of arteries and died at 64 but I was a child and have no more info.

Some of your story is similar to mine, especially with regard to recent family losses and the stress it causes, and also with your cholesterol levels. I am a big 'nut eater' too, funnily enough! Have you tried Plant Sterols for your cholesterol levels? My GP suggested them to me four years ago when I refused Statins. I take one 800mg with every meal and although they don't work as quickly as a statin would, they lowered mine from 7.5 to 5.5 within a year. It may be worth you trying them?

 

[bulkbiker]

already eating healthily as far as cholesterol goes (I don’t eat meat, I eat nuts, little saturated fat, good fats like olive oil etc).

Total cholesterol is a pretty meaningless measure.. do you have your full lipid panel results?

 

[Bluetit1802]

I agree with @bulkbiker in that you need your cholesterol numbers including the breakdown of its component parts. You need your HDL, LDL, and triglycerides. The HDL is your good cholesterol. The higher the better. The LDL can be good and can be bad depending on the type of its particles. (the particle size is not calculated in our normal routine blood tests) and the triglycerides are the baddies. The total is just that, so it contains all the good cholesterol as well as the bad. This makes it meaningless without the breakdown.

You need to obtain these numbers. Either ask for a print out of the test results. You are entitled to these but do have to ask. The receptionist may sort this out. Or you can ask to register to have your test results on line if you live in England. Without this information you cannot decide whether or not to take statins, and nor should your doctor.

 

[coconutjob]

Thanks guys, I mainly eat a plant based diet and exercise and I wasn’t expecting the cholesterol result, I’ll look into the sterols because I think statins do more harm than good. They don’t give me the ratio just the total so I’ll ask for more info. I live in Wales and to put it bluntly in this tiny village healthcare is ****. When i got diagnosed I’d already started researching low carb and asked loads of questions, one of his comments was that most people don’t care and eat what they like (inspirational), and none of them know much about low carb, their course said you need at least 130g carbs for energy and I just ignored it or I would be obese

 

[coby]

Thanks guys, I mainly eat a plant based diet and exercise and I wasn’t expecting the cholesterol result, I’ll look into the sterols because I think statins do more harm than good. They don’t give me the ratio just the total so I’ll ask for more info. I live in Wales and to put it bluntly in this tiny village healthcare is ****. When i got diagnosed I’d already started researching low carb and asked loads of questions, one of his comments was that most people don’t care and eat what they like (inspirational), and none of them know much about low carb, their course said you need at least 130g carbs for energy and I just ignored it or I would be obese

Maybe he didn't like you asking lots of questions simply because the 'NICE' version that they stick to is not acceptable to many of us?