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A disappointing start?

JenniferW

Well-Known Member
Messages
598
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I was diagnosed T2 in May, after 8 years of warnings, with blood test results above normal and below the T2 level. Finally going above that line was a bit of a wake-up call. I'm not on any medication - it's diet and exercise.

It took me a while to find this website, after making contact first with a local Diabetes UK where someone talked to me about glucose monitoring, and in July I made big changes to my diet, to a low carb one, have done some glucose monitoring, have increased my exercise levels - and all with no change in the HbA1c test results!

My HbA1c results this week were 47 mmol/mol, which is exactly what it was at the beginning of May.

Also, the nurse at the GPs doing this testing says they'll not test me again for another 12 months, and that if it's not gone up, they'll be happy - whereas after reading David cavan's book, I realise I should be able to get that level down to normal.

Help?
 

You are still, albeit just, in the pre-diabetes range, but if you want to try to lower your HbA1c score a bit, the it sounds like a bit more dietary trimming may be necessary. That's where the real differences happen. Exercising is important and desirable, but the changes to your HbA1c from modest exercise (as opposed to serious exercise) will be the finessing, rather than material.

What sort of things are you eating and drinking most days, these days?
 
Hello and welcome. My BS levels don't change much but I'm not going to worry until the next round of tests tell me more. I'm doing the best I can with the low-carb-high-fat diet and I feel very well.
If like mine your HbA1c test is usually annual, that's a good incentive to test your BS levels regularly. Control your diabetes (prediabetes?) instead of letting it control you.
I don't know why they invented "prediabetic" unless it's meant as a shot across the bows.
 
Although 47 is at the high end of pre diabetic it isnt at diabetic levels yet. I ring up my nurse and book myself in for my Hb test every 6 months. I am now at non diabetic levels and I intend to keep it that way. Dont be afraid to request it be done every 6 months as it is your health and it is important. Please let us know what you would generally eat in a day and we may be able to offer you some advice.
 
AndBreathe said:
... What sort of things are you eating and drinking most days, these days?
Click to expand...

I'm a lifelong / serial dieter with assorted eating issues, but the bonus is that I do actually know a bit about foods, and I've switched from a conventional sort of wholefood diet to a low-carb one, but I've only been on that for around 6 weeks.

So, typical breakfast is eggs, sometimes it's a kipper. Lunch is some sort of protein food (cheese, fish, bean curd) plus salad vegetables, and the same in the evening but usually cooked vegetables. I snack, usually on nuts, sometimes on cheese, occasionally on fruit (the lower carb ones). I live on my own, almost always eat on my own, so have been able to literally keep carbs out of the house. When I'm out, there's been the occasional carb food - small bar of dark chocolate, one ice cream last month ... in other words, even that's a big change from what it used to be like.

Overall, I overeat. I've been an over-eater all my life. I've also been a compulsive over-eater for some years, and the GPs tell me there's nothing they can do to help, and the diabetic nurse says we just have to work with it. I'd say the switch in diet - and the sheer wake-up call of T2 - is making me less bad than I have been at some times. There's also major change going on in my life which makes me hope I could be looking at light at the end of a long, long dark tunnel.

I suspect I just have to keep myself on as good a diet as I can now, and assume that in time, it'll improve. But a miracle would have been nice!
 
You're doing really well and I would be very comfortable on that diet. I too eat a great deal and often go OTT with protein, but I always start out by preparing loads of green veg and then adding meat, dairy etc. Motivated by fear (!) I can eat an awful lot of steamed cabbage and broccoli with butter, much to Mrs DeeJay's discomfort later
May I suggest living on your own has its advantages
 

Love all your comments! Including recognising the learnt ability to eat large amounts of things you realise much of the world would turn its nose up at!
 
Thats basically the same as I eat in a day. Im also a serial snacker so I now have lots of low carb baking in the freezer so I can grab something in an instant. Make sure you get yourself booked in every 6 months at least for your Hb test and dont take no for an answer. Hopefully it is just taking your body time to adjust to your new way of eating and you will get a lower result next time round.
 
Try more fatty food, e.g nuts, olives, avocados, cook with butter, oils, cream,and this should make you feel fuller and help prevent you feeling hungry between meals.

And your HbA1c measures glucose levels over the last 3 months, so you've still got some pre-low carb bits floating around - to put it technically. You next check should hopefully be better, so just keep working at it, and please don't stress over it as this will probably just make things worse.

Robbity
 
Robbity said:
... this should make you feel fuller and help prevent you feeling hungry between meals.
Click to expand...

I'm afraid compulsive over-eating has got nothing to do with hunger. I can't give you a simple explanation as to what it is, and what's caused it. We're not a homogeneous group of people who are like this, though we definitely recognise each other and our mad behaviour. I'm not the worst I've ever been, but I'm far from 'normal' around food, I'm afraid.
 
I'd agree with Robbity's points about a) your HBA1C still taking into consideration your old diet and b) upping your fat intake.

I wouldn't presume to speak about compulsive over-eating (I've no knowledge at all) but, in general, if you're not getting energy from carbs then you need to get it from somewhere, and fats is an answer to that.

If I were you, I would read about the Low-Carb-High-Fat (LCHF) method, and think about how you might be able to make use of it given your other conditions. Fat is about twice as calorie-dense as either carbs or protein, and Robbity is right that it generally makes people fuller. Whether that works for you or not is something only you can decide but I repeat, if you reduce carbs then your energy intake has to come from somewhere.

Best of luck.
 

Jennifer - I know of one chaotic/binge eater who, when diagnosed pre-diabetic, I think it was, who was very cynical about going low carb, with added fat, but I can hand on heart say her feedback was that it significantly reduced her chaotic eating patterns.

Looking at her profile, she hasn't logged in for three months, so I haven't tagged her here, otherwise I would have done.

I'm pleased to say I haven't personally experienced compulsive eating, but I do feel for you.
 
Thanks for all the encouragement and support!

After finding out about the low-carb diet approach - literally stumbling across David Cavan's Reverse your diabetes book on the shelf at the public library - I decided to go for it, and after a week or so, started to find it a lot easier than I expected, and would even say I like it!

I do also think it's reduced the binge-eating. I think it's partly because what's now in the house and available for binging on is so different to what was there before. A classic example - which other binge eaters would recognise - is having a loaf of bread in the house, something most people think quite 'normal'. You think you'll have a slice ... or two ... and can eat all or most of a loaf. You can eat till you feel sick, or are in pain. Unlike a bulimic, you don't make yourself vomit. Now that I have no carb food to hand, I will still binge, i.e. still over-eat in an inappropriate way, but it's less intense an occurence. And the irony is that the shock of finally becoming T2 is making me 'come out' about binge eating in a way I never would before.
 
It's good to hear that low carb helping you a bit. Keep up the good work.

Robbity
 
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