It's just about 12 months since I saw the doc and he's amazed both at my weight loss and the fact that I can reasonably maintain on-target blood glucose levels using diet alone. As I thought, my HBA1C is not quite as low as I wanted it to be - 6.6 compared with 6.8 3 months ago - but at least it is lower. It seems oddly high to me, as my average over all blood glucose reading for the last month was under 6.0 at the time of the blood test. Ho hum ....
My triglycerides were down a bit to 0.9, which is OK I think. HDL was up a bit to 1.4, which is also OK - but LDL was up a bit which isn't (too much cheese, maybe). The diabetic nurse also said that my ALT (whatever that is) has fallen a LOT in the last quarter. Apparently, my ALT reading has been rising steadily for years and reached the heady heights of 120 in February 2012. This time it is 16 (sixteen) which is a staggering fall. I'm rather hoping that someone can tell me some more about the significance of ALT.
According to Wikipedia: "ALT level and body fat
Alanine aminotransferase is used as a surrogate marker for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is frequently observed among obese subjects. ALT concentrations have a strong association with visceral fat accumulation. "
Maybe I am misunderstanding, but it sounds like this means that my liver has been defatized to some tune - presumably by my (somewhat feeble) attempt at the Newcastle diet.
From here on, I think it's just a matter of getting back on the diet wagon, actually losing some weight, getting some exercise and keeping my blood glucose under control by keeping the carbs down. I'm going to kickstart the process, starting on Monday next week, with a full week of nothing but Atkins Advantage shakes. At least, when I go on holiday the following Monday, I should have lost a pound or two and maybe have fasting BGs in the low 5's. Sooner or later, I'll get that HBA1C down into the 5's. At least now OFFICIALLY I'm off all diabetes medication.
Andrew