Hi
@EFMax you have made alot of progress from a very high HbA1c. My wife was trained 3 times in diet and nutrition, as a PT, Sports Science and Physio graduate - she ditched that mantra around 4.5 years ago after helping me get to remission of Type 2; her brother also a previous PT, also ditched what he learnt after trying LCHF. Clearly there are some nutrition facts that are accurate chemically, such as the macro and micro nutrients - but "we" are concerned with application and quality for metabolic health. So in short you may need to adjust what has been previously learned to make further progress.
My thoughts are that you should work with your health care professional to further de-prescribe, as you already have over a 40% improvement in your HbA1c. Straight up, it is likely the "healthy food" that could be holding you back.
I come from a traditional Caribbean background myself, so guessing our food paths may be similar. With such a high starting HbA1c (mine was 134), the course you might want to adopt could / should(?) be quite strident. The below foods are taken from the website of Dr Ted Naimen, he is a Dr who actively reverses Type 2 in his patients and also walks the walk with his physical regime. These foods are what he recommends
https://burnfatnotsugar.com/index.html:
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The highlighted foods in yellow should be avoided in the bottom right and perhaps coconut (flakes I use) raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries can be added in small amounts, but on the whole this will put you on the right path. Butter, ghee, coconut oil, lard should replace any oil / fat being used to cook and olive oil is good for drizzling. I would replace cashews with almonds, swap wholemeal wrap with keto homemade wrap, loads on YouTube, no beans (too starchy). In general your foods look great apart from usual starchy suspects - they just don't
* work for persons with blood sugar dis-regulation.
Here's an example day of eating for me yesterday on a 16 / 6 eating window with 2 meals:
11.00 am (alternative kippers, punnet of garlic and buttered mushrooms, yes I do the whole lot)
Unsweetened coconut flakes, berries, 95% dark chocolate (lidl), 3 generous tablespoons of local farm yogurt, a little local farm milk, nutmeg, pecans, almonds, brazils and hazelnuts)
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Sometimes I would add a further protein such as fish, last nights meat or scrambled eggs
16:00 Super seasoned leg of lamb, broccoli, greens and carrots (I can tolerate these, others should test)
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Went back for additional meat. The picture does not convey the taste
Coconut, cream cheese and egg pancake with berries (had a couple more squares of dark chocolate)
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So lots of healthy fat, ton of protein and low sugar carbs.
I was able to reduce my blood pressure by 15 - 20 points so close to 120 - 127 / 78 by eating fresh cooked garlic with meals (2 cloves), a couple of celery sticks and beetroot (again not strictly beetroot, but results first).
You have got a workout ethic which alone should bring you close to remission in my view, but it appears you have alot of insulin resistance to get rid of. I would recommend a walk after every meal or cycle - this is proven to reduce glucose responses on any eating protocol. With the resistance training go to failure twice a week on the legs / glutes (e.g. pulse squats). My regime involves training everyday, Walking on average 7 miles a day in total, at a heart rate just below cardio zone, whilst on my walk I either do Karate blocks and punches, squats and push-ups or carry my X3 Bar (this is the best single exercise equipment I have ever used) and do maybe 100 dead lifts or bicep curls. I will then later do conventional dead lifts, bench press, squat, battle ropes and or static cycling. I focus on muscle building.
The elephant in the room may be your sleep. 3 hours is not enough to propagate natural killer cells for example. A lack of sleep also leads to insulin resistance, harder ability to burn body fat and poorer glucose metabolism. It may be worth you putting every other bit of advice as secondary and getting professional non-drug based help in this area.
If you do follow any of this advice, make sure you are monitoring you blood glucose and blood pressure, as medications will need adjusting - keep you Dr in the loop and warn her / him that you may be calling to reduce medication.
* I might be that after some years you can occasionally (really occasionally) bring in some other foods. I sometimes have clementines with my berries and today for the first time in 5 years I had a cut up plum with my berries - but the plum was one of a set for home ripening for the rest of the family, and mine was still hard so not sweet.
