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Diagnosed with high HBA1C

Edsarge said:
Wow, congratulations. I wish I can do the same. Is the readings you mentioned an HBA1C test? Where did you get your low carb diet menus?
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@Resurgam is a star here.

I cut my HbA1c from 8.3% (67) to 4.9% (30) in the same period, six months. Compared to @Resurgam this is a similar proportional demolition of the A1c (for details see my signature below).

I did it with low-carb diet, stepped up exercise, and nothing else. I had not yet discovered this forum at the time -- my doctor told me to go on a low-carb diet but provided only skeletal guidance.

The most helpful website was dietdoctor.com but the recipes I came up with were a patchwork. My wife and I got into "spiralizing" which is great for making large amounts of vegetables more palatable ("ersatz pasta" if you like). We learned how to make seed crackers as a great accompaniment to cheese (cheese is low-carb).

To some extent you can do it without any special recipes. For instance, baked cod or haddock, and vegetables, is close to zero-carb as long as you don't use breadcrumbs on the fish. Lean white meat, or red meat if you prefer, are also basically zero-carb.

Cauliflower rice is a good substitute for rice.

Salads and/or omelettes for lunch. Often accompanied by an avocado (low-carb, high-fat).

You will be surprised at how delicious a low-carb diet can be. Yes, it eliminates many of our really common foods but there is still lots left over.

Have fun!
 
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Edsarge said:
I am starting to get used to drinking only black coffee.
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Try it with double cream. That sweetens it and it really fills you up. It is what I have when I get up in a morning, and it lasts me through to lunch time with no food.
 
First, don't think about diets, you need a lifestyle, as your body will never be able to cope with high levels of carbs.

Two books that people find helpful are "The Pioppi Diet" and "The Atkins for New You" the both explain WHY they recommend different foods and how you can keep it up for your complete life.

PS,

Doctors don't expect people to improve their HbA1c results with diet, but this website is so boring, one person after another reduce their HbA1c often to below 5%. More people will come along to bore you with their results......
 
I think officially you need 2 successive tests to be diagnosed diabetic. If you change your diet you are likely to achieve a much lower figure fairly easily if you are type 2. I went from 51 to 36 fairly fast and if I went to a new GP today I would not even be pre diabetic. However in my practice once you have 2 HbA1C tests above 47 you are always diabetic as far as they are concerned. This does mean that you get all the health checks done automatically which given how young you are might be a good thing! And when I say diet, I really mean what you eat from now on and your lifestyle. It all contributes to good health.
 
 

Would I be right in thinking that once over the 47 threshold it will always read 'Type2 diabetic' on your medical notes? I just have the feeling that that is to be avoided if at all possible. I felt stigmatised when I read Hypertension as a heading on my notes when I first got them online. It kind of stares you in the face ! I'm working on avoiding adding Type 2 diabetic to them!
 
gardengnome42 said:
I felt stigmatised when I read Hypertension as a heading on my notes when I first got them online. It kind of stares you in the face ! I'm working on avoiding adding Type 2 diabetic to them!
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It is great that you are working hard to avoid crossing that HbA1c threshold that officially indicates "diabetes" but personally I think that "marker" is overblown. I mean, what is the difference between 47 and 48 (it is within the margin of error for the test)?

I think of it as a continuous spectrum ranging from 39 to ... some astronomical number. Each slight increase along that spectrum indicates a slight increase in concern. A small increase, or even a moderate increase, between three- or six-monthly readings is not something that (personally) would worry me as long as the A1c stays below the level advocated by my doctor -- which is a relatively lenient 53 (or 7.0%) as set by ADA guidelines here in America. I would worry only about the long-term trends, taking into account several successive A1c tests.

Having said all of that: I am trying to keep the A1c really low if possible, even if it is already well within the healthy range. That's because eventually I will almost certainly get ill with something other than diabetes, as I get into old age or extreme old age. I would like to have "reserves" of health, and a range of leniency for deterioration of BG levels that would be likely in a hospital setting, because of sickness and even the food they might serve there!

I assume that in the UK, like here in America, medical records are confidential. So the fact that my online record lists AODM (adult onset diabetes mellitus), states that I was an immoderate beer drinker at diagnosis, and contains reams of diabetes tests doesn't worry me at all. Quite the contrary, it shows that they are looking after me!

(I do worry a little bit that organizations like the NHS, or the private hospital chain that I use, do not protect our data adequately. But that is a subject for another thread!)
 
Yes, the numbers are the Hba1c - and I used Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution from 2002 as my guide - as it has been what I went back to every time my doctor changed or lost interest. I did low carb on and off since the early 1970s - the things you can eat are a lot nicer than the things those which are off the menu.
Last night we had roast beef - delicious. I am going out tonight so I will grab a Lidl protein roll, some of the beef, coleslaw, some of the salad stuff - radish tomato cucumber green stuff in a packet - add the olive oil and vinegar dressing - top notch evoo and a good wine vinegar - not exactly a hard life.
 


I think medical data is supposed to be confidential but a few years ago there was talk of the NHS using all the data available for something [forget what it was] unless patients opted out. So I did! At the time I was still in denial regarding hypertension and didn't want anyone using the data. ~Even now I still feel peeved at the HCA who said on giving me a health check "Well you are 70 now". I felt as though she thought I was ready to be shunted into a care home and told her I was only 29. My HbA1c was 41 five years ago and has hovered around that mark ever since until recently when it rose to 43. Only then did the surgery take any notice and hauled me in to give me the usual NHS talk. Eat plenty of carbs etc....

I now find my own son at 48 is at the same level. He has an underactive thyroid and pre diabetes was discovered when he had a recent blood test. Although he has put on a lot of weight over the past few years I wonder if there is a connection with Hypothyroidism and diabetes? Prior to developing hypo he was hyper and after they had sorted that he went the other way.He has had problems in that dept for quite a number of years and now they have doubled his thyroxin. That is more worrying to me as obviously he will have to live with it for longer - well, hopefully.

I know someone [not very well] who is 90,she's a tiny, petite, active lady and has apparently had diabetes since her 20's. She doesn't take medication, just relies on diet. Her daughter thought she was Type 2 but to have had type 2 at such a young age when you are slim surprised me - and still no meds almost 70 years down the line.
 

It is tragic that we just don't have long-term longitudinal data. If only a cohort had been chosen decades ago and analyzed according to type of T2D therapy, including a low-drug/no-drug low-carb therapy. We would now have some proper data to sink our teeth into.
 
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Hello Edsarge. You have had some very sound advice from everyone here which should get you started on your journey. The only thing I would add is that for myself it was an eye opener to realise how loaded with sugar fruit juice was. I always knew cocacola and other fizzy drinks were bad but has wrongly assumed the breakfast type juices were fine - no they aren't! I would recommend you get hold of a copy of Michael Mosely's '8 week blood sugar diet'. He discusses fast weight loss to reduce glucose levels and the science he lays out is fascinating.
 
Edsarge said:
Is diabetes condition still reversible? I mean, I can probably lower my HBA1C through diet and exercise, but would I still be considered diabetic?
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The answer is yes you can. My hba1c was 11% on being ‘labelled for life’. Within 6 months it was (and still is) 5.4, and I’ve never taken so much as an aspirin (I hate taking any meds), an I’m now as fit as the proverbial butchers dog!

Sadly once you’re ‘branded’ as having Diabetes (I hate the term diabetic), no matter what you do, or how fit, or how healthy you are, or how good or normal your numbers are... you will always carry the mantle!

Good luck with your journey.
 

My grandmother had diabetes back in the mid 1950's. At the time I was in my teens and far too busy growing up to take much notice! We lived with her and what I do remember from what would have been the early days of the disease were jars of diabetic jam appearing in the cupboard apparently stuffed with Sorbitol. What is sorbitol - I know it was used instead of sugar but you never hear of it these days. She spent the final 3 years of her life barely out of bed with what I was told were 'pressure sores' but actually were ulcers caused by bad control. I once saw them and they were horrific. She was living by this time with my aunt whose husband was a GP yet he didn't seem to know the first thing about how to treat her. She died age 90 of a stroke
 
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