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Am I off the Hook???

J

Jon Hong

Newbie
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hi,

I am Jon, from Singapore, chinese, 53 years old, weigh 84.7kg and a taxi driver. I was diagnosed with Type 2, diabetes on 27 April 2017 with a reading of 277mg/dl. Was put on metformin (500mgx2 for 2 weeks) and aspirin (100gm x1 for 2 weeks).

Next couple of days were fuzzy and clueless. I stop eating rice, bread, sugar and any flour related produces. Low Sugar Smart Carb bread was recommended by my GP and become my stable food for the next few days. I try brown rice and did not like it. My BG was reading between between 162 to 270mg/dl for the first few days. It was scary.

Back track to early April, I started eating watermelon, almost one eight slice of a big melon, almost every day and throwing in some sweet dessert every other day. On top of that, I had bread for breakfast and lunch nearly every day. Aglio e Olio was my FAV. Then all hell broke loose. I use to wakeup once or twice to pee, suddenly it like every one to two hours. It got so bad that I wet myself in the cab. My mouth was dry even though I was sipping water or chinese tea all the time. Then I went to my GP for medical check. In mid March I was weight at the clinic at 92kg and had dropped to 86kg during my medical check.

I went online to look for information and home remedies and stumble on diabetes.co.uk, and I just keep on reading. I learn a lot. I like the LCHF diet but my cholesterol is not helping. So on 2 May, I start on a diet pretty close to LCHF. No carbohydrates and No sugar, period. Here my BG and I kept a pretty good food diary for the next 12 days.

2 May - 8.2 (Fasting) / 8.7 (after Food)
5.7(b4Food) / 7.6 (afterFood)
3 May - 5.9 (Fasting)
5.3 (afteFood) dinner

Encouraged by the good reading, I decided to stop metformin and aspiring.

4 May - 5.9 (Fasting) / 6.7 (afterFood)
5 May - 6.3 (Fasting) / 5.4 (afterFood)
- 5.7 (b4Food) / 5.8 (afterFood)
- 5.5 (b4Food) / 6.8 (afterFood) (had one cup of corn)
6 May - 7.2 (Fasting) / 6.8 (afterFood)
- 5.7 (b4Food) / 5.8 (afterFood)
- 5.8 (b4Food) / 5.7 (afterFood)
7 May - 6.2 (Fasting) /NA
- 5.7 (b4Food) / 5.9 (afterFood)
- 5.8 (b4Food) / 5.7 (afterFood)
8 May - 6.2 (Fasting) / NA
- 5.4 (b4Food) / 5.2 (afterFood) dinner
9 May - 6.2 (Fasting) / NA
- 5.5 (b4Food) / 5.3 (afterFood) dinner
10 May - 6.0 (Fasting) / NA
- 5.6 (b4Food) / NA, had a fight with the mrs and forgot to take reading
11 May - 6.4 (Fasting) / NA
- 5.1 (b4Food) / 5.7 (afterFood) dinner
12 May - 6.1 (Fasting) / NA
- 5.1 (b4Food) / NA (no ideal why) dinner
13 May - 5.3 (Fasting) / NA
- 5.2 (b4Food) / 5.9 (afterFood) dinner

Today is special, I had a bowl of fried rice (white) and couple slices of roasted pork. Also a bowl of chinese soup and here is the reading.

14 May - 5.7 (Fasting) / NA
- 5.3 (b4Food) / 6.7 (afterFood) dinners

Well, folks, what do you guys think? Am I off the hook? Or more food testing is needed?

Thank you for reading and your advise is greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Jon
 
I am not sure what you are asking.
You seem to have been able to improve your blood glucose levels and also recover some ability to eat carbs - but diabetes doesn't just go away in a few weeks.
 
I would say that the bigger spike you got after eating the rice shows you still have a problem with insulin resistance. You didn't spike anywhere near as much when you didn't eat the rice so.... I know this is hard for someone in Singapore as rice is everywhere... but I would try to still avoid it. The spike may have been reduced by the fat content as it was fried rice too but this can often extended the period your blood sugar is raised so again not great. You had great responses on the 06th 07th and 08th so whatever you ate on those days was good. The cup of corn and the rice both caused you to spike more ( not a dreadful spike but still worse than I would like for myself) so maybe try avoiding those for another month or so and then retest.
A lot of people find that their cholesterol can reduce on a low carb diet.. others don't care either way as cholesterol is not a good marker for cardio vascular disease so maybe concentrate on getting your sugars down first. Just my opinion of course.
 
Your results are very good. Do keep it up. Things do fluctuate. It would be best to keep the momentum going towards the right direction...
 
My situation was a bit similar to yours: diagnosed T2, went LCHF and brought my sugars down to non-diabetic levels to the extent that after testing, the same doctor who diagnosed me as T2 said I evidently wasn't T2 after all.
Basing my advice solely on my own situation, I'd say you *might* be off the hook depending on what the hook is. If the hook is unbearable thirst, urination issues, then serious diabetic complications you might be off the hook (if you keep doing what you're doing). If you can get there, that's a great result, and it looks like you've done really well so far.
If being 'off the hook' means you being able to eat without concern, then you definitely aren't. It's not necessarily bad news though.
For me, I would have been heading for serious non-diabetic issues anyway because of stress and being overweight: my cholesterol was bad- the doctor said my triglycerides were the worst he had ever seen. LCHF or rather Low Carb Moderate Fat took care of that, and I went from 100 KG to 70. If I eat rice though, I'll spike. Noodles are better, but still not great.
Bulkbiker is right to warn about rice, but I know Singapore quite well, and it should actually a pretty good place for a diabetic to eat: just stick to the meat and veg- Choi sum, and soya chicken or Hainan gai without the rice. Rendang should be OK, again, just ditch the rice. Chinese tea instead of kopi o etc. You'll do fine. Get the chicken legs from 7-11 if you need a snack when you're out in the cab. No bread or rice if you can help it though
 
Sad....it doesn't just go away. So back to the LCHF diet. I love meat, egg, cheese, broccoli and cauliflower. Of course I miss my bread and spaghetti. Anyway, thanks all for the kind words and advice.

Cheers, Jon
 
I can't see any spikes after food there.

Looks good.
I reversed my type 2, mainly by weight loss, so yes, it's certainly possible.
Have a look at the 'Newcastle Diet' on this forum.
 
You're only off the hook if you had a seat protector

You're back on track with some good numbers there, probably best to keep it that way.
 
Those results are good even the rice and corn ones. When you eat them again test after 1, 2 and 3 hours as sometimes quite carby foods such as rice take a little longer for BS to rise. If you lik spaghetti try it reheated from cold as I find I can eat small amounts like this.
 


Hi folks,

Sorry for not responding sooner, mom was transferred to a hospice about 2 weeks ago from the hospital diagnosed with liver cancer. So life is really hectic now.

Ok some update..... so far my BG being staying between 4.5 to 6.5. I am still very much staying away from carbohydrate and anything sweet. BUT..... yesterday and today I did some food testing....

Yesterday dinner, before dinner my BG was 4.6 and after was 5.6. I had two serving of spaghetti with bacon, mushroom, butter and olive oil.

Today my dinner, before food was 4.4 and after dinner 7.8. I had yesterday reheated spaghetti and........garlic bread (french loaf 4/5 slices and yes heaven!!!). I have checked on this site that 7.8 is still normal for 2 hour post prandial (after meal).

So what sort of conclusion can we draw from these two testing. Will try rice next.. Thanks to all who respond to my post. BTW, my weigh was 83.8kg after 1 hour morning walk.

Cheers. Jon
 
Sorry to hear about your Mum. It must be very stressful and worrying.

I agree with what everyone has been saying. Keep testing, and keep controlling your carbs.
You may find that your blood glucose levels stay under control, but that doesn't mean that you have got rid of your insulin resistance, in which case, keeping to lower carbs will help your health in years to come.

Best wishes to you and your Mum.
 
Thanks Brunneria for the well wishes.

I had white rice (215g) with braised pig trotter and pork belly of dinner. The reading is 4.1 before food and 6.6 after food (2 hours). I will try white bread sandwiches next.

Question is, when can you be sure that you have reversed your diabetic?

Cheers

Jon
 
You seem to be doing well but it may be an idea to test after 3 hours as well when you eat particularly 'carby' food like rice as BS sometimes rises slowly so may still be going up. Not sure re reversal of diabetes though - my hba1c has been between 36 and 38 for the past 3 years but, when I ask if it's been reversed, my diabetic nurse tells me "once a diabetic always a diabetic" whereas others have been told that their's is reversed after having a normal hba1c for a year.
 
Personally, I'd also check about an hour after dinner as well to see how high it goes before it comes back down. I wouldn't want to see 7.8 2 hours after eating.

One thing you need to keep in mind is that there are two things you need to be concerned about: insulin levels and blood glucose levels. You can have normal blood glucose levels with abnormally high insulin levels. Unfortunately you can't measure insulin levels yourself. Therefore, I think it's best to keep carbs as low as possible. You don't need to eat carbs, anyway.
 

it looks like you have taken control .. keep on the good work.. watermelon makes ones blood spike very fast and high... and mango does that too
 
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