Good one
@dawnmc. Very useful thread. Thanks for initiating. Don’t worry about any unfavourable comments. As they say, ‘horses for courses’
I was diagnosed T2 in Jan. Because my A1C was only 51, I went for a diet only regime - which resulted in my losing 2 stone and getting my A1C down to 44 in 3 months.
My diet is not as rigorous as yours: 1,500 cals when I was losing weight and 2k now when maintaining at 70kg.
Recently though, I’ve added some additional activities. This is because, about 6 weeks ago, I noticed that my FBG was creeping up to the high 6s and, occasionally, as far as the low 7s. Overall 7-day and 30-day averages had gone up from 6 to 6.4-5. Nothing in my diet had changed to account for this trend.
So I posted a question and some of our helpful fellow travellers came up with useful explanations (e.g. hot weather can cause elevated BG readings) and tips, such as attempting intermittent fasting “to give my pancreas a rest”.
So I started skipping breakfast and that has definitely steadied things and I believe has played a contributing factor to the downward trend in my FBG over the past 10 days or so.
But the most dramatic impact has been as a result of beginning an exercise regime. And the reason for bringing exercise into the equation is because I came across a thread where one of the contributors argued that exercise is critical.
I was sceptical but decided to give it a go. So, at the age of 67, I committed myself to a brisk 2 mile walk every morning. I’ve managed this for a week now. On the basis of measuring my FBG prior to the walk, commencing the walk and then measuring again upon completion of the walk, my BG levels drop anywhere from between 0.5-1.0. For me, that is dramatic because, previously, my FBG could continue to rise for a couple of hours before beginning to come down.
So all in all, for me, it’s been the combination of diet + intermittent fasting + exercise which seems to be proving most beneficial.
Which brings me to the following question @dawmc : is this thread strictly diet or can we also discuss other approaches EXCEPT meds?
. I’m quite happy to keep things focused solely on diet if you so wish.
Keep on truckin’.
John