Diet controlled vs reversed type 2 diabetes

[sum]

Dear all,
I was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last November with Hb1ac of 8.1%. Doctor suggested the treatment with metformin and simvastatin but i wanted to give a lifestyle change a try. Since then i lost about 8 kgs and started to eat healthy and doing some breathing exercise regularly. I did not totally cut off the sugars as i did take cakes and ice cream occasionally but i restricted my calorie intake to 1100cal per day and i am a vegetarian .
Today i have the blood result and it came out normal with my Hb1ac is 5.5%,total cholesterol 4 and HDL of 1.2.
I know it is too early but what is this indicating- am i controlling my diabetes with diet and excercise or i am reversing my diabetes? I have now slowly putting back peanut butter, rice and increased other carbs and my post postprandial level after 2 hours is between 6.2 to 8.4.
Learned member could you please advice on the difference between diet control and reversing diabetes.

 

[Jamesuk9]

If you're recording readings of 8.4 at 2 hours then you most definitely have controlled it through diet and not reversed. A normal response would be under 7.9 at 2 hours and most normal people would be well below 7 by 2 hours.

 

[Bluetit1802]

I agree. In my opinion you are diet controlled, not reversed.

Most non diabetics would be back down at the 2 hour mark with just occasional trips higher if they stuffed themselves with carbs or sugar. Try your carbs and test at 60 minutes and 90 minutes and see what happens.

 

[sum]

Thank you,
most of the time after two hours of eating carb meal ( moderate portion) , my readings were below 7.8 , lowest recorded was 6.2 but there were times when i had heavy carb rich meal ,when it spiked to 8.4. But as i said ,mostly it remained below 7.8. Therefore i was wondering if i was reversing it.
I am thinking of doing the glucose tolerance test tomorrow morning and update you all. Is it like I take small bottle of lucozade (500 ml)in the morning and take blood readings in 1 hour and two hour and three hour? or there are other simple way of doing it at home.
thank you

 

[Bluetit1802]

Thank you,
most of the time after two hours of eating carb meal ( moderate portion) , my readings were below 7.8 , lowest recorded was 6.2 but there were times when i had heavy carb rich meal ,when it spiked to 8.4. But as i said ,mostly it remained below 7.8. Therefore i was wondering if i was reversing it.
I am thinking of doing the glucose tolerance test tomorrow morning and update you all. Is it like I take small bottle of lucozade (500 ml)in the morning and take blood readings in 1 hour and two hour and three hour? or there are other simple way of doing it at home.
thank you

Before you do a glucose tolerance test you have to eat carbs for 3 days before hand or you will not get an accurate result. This is so your pancreas and insulin production can catch up and not get a sudden nasty hit with Lucozade when it wasn't expecting any carbs/sugar. On low carb you produce less insulin, and your pancreas knows this and automatically produces less. It takes a day or three to get it to realise you need more insulin.

 

[sum]

Before you do a glucose tolerance test you have to eat carbs for 3 days before hand or you will not get an accurate result. This is so your pancreas and insulin production can catch up and not get a sudden nasty hit with Lucozade when it wasn't expecting any carbs/sugar. On low carb you produce less insulin, and your pancreas knows this and automatically produces less. It takes a day or three to get it to realise you need more insulin.

Thank you for your kind advice

 

[debrasue]

Dear all,
I was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last November with Hb1ac of 8.1%. Doctor suggested the treatment with metformin and simvastatin but i wanted to give a lifestyle change a try. Since then i lost about 8 kgs and started to eat healthy and doing some breathing exercise regularly. I did not totally cut off the sugars as i did take cakes and ice cream occasionally but i restricted my calorie intake to 1100cal per day and i am a vegetarian .
Today i have the blood result and it came out normal with my Hb1ac is 5.5%,total cholesterol 4 and HDL of 1.2.
I know it is too early but what is this indicating- am i controlling my diabetes with diet and excercise or i am reversing my diabetes? I have now slowly putting back peanut butter, rice and increased other carbs and my post postprandial level after 2 hours is between 6.2 to 8.4.
Learned member could you please advice on the difference between diet control and reversing diabetes.

Hi, @sum, and welcome to the forum!
Congratulations on making an impact on your T2 by making some lifestyle changes - very well done.
I wouldn't qualify as a "learned member", as I was only diagnosed a year ago so I still have a lot to learn about T2 but, from what I have discovered so far, I'm not sure I can totally embrace the concept of "reversing diabetes".
I can agree with controlling it by diet and, in some cases as you'll see on here, there are members who appear to have put their T2 into remission.
I joined and followed the LCHF programme (which you'll find here: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/lowcarb/ ) and stuck to around 20g of carbs for the first 3 months, then up to 60g of carbs for the next 3 months, then 100g of carbs for a further 3 months. I don't actually count the carbs now, but I do find that I can tolerate them in small portions and my HbA1c has been within 'normal' parameters for the past 6 months (usually in the 5s on fasting and between 5 and mid-6s +2pp). I'm convinced, though, that if I return to eating the same foods/quantities that I did before my diagnosis, I would be regressing very quickly to high BG levels.
As you say, though, it's a little early to say at this stage how you'll do long-term, but I'm sure you'll stick with it and get some great results.

 

[AM1874]

Dear all,
I was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last November with Hb1ac of 8.1%. Doctor suggested the treatment with metformin and simvastatin but i wanted to give a lifestyle change a try. Since then i lost about 8 kgs and started to eat healthy and doing some breathing exercise regularly. I did not totally cut off the sugars as i did take cakes and ice cream occasionally but i restricted my calorie intake to 1100cal per day and i am a vegetarian .
Today i have the blood result and it came out normal with my Hb1ac is 5.5%,total cholesterol 4 and HDL of 1.2.
I know it is too early but what is this indicating- am i controlling my diabetes with diet and excercise or i am reversing my diabetes? I have now slowly putting back peanut butter, rice and increased other carbs and my post postprandial level after 2 hours is between 6.2 to 8.4.
Learned member could you please advice on the difference between diet control and reversing diabetes.

Hi @sum .. and welcome
I'm not a "Learned Member" (yet ) .. I'm still very much in the learning curve. In my opinion, though, while your readings are very good just 3-4 months after diagnosis, I think that this is due to your diet and lifestyle changes. As others have said, your post-prandial readings of up to 8.4 indicate control rather than remission

 

[Freema]

welcome here sum

think you have only controlled it till now, but keep on your good job and your low calories for maybe 6 month more and maybe you will be able to reverse your diabetes... but remember to eat fats and go even lower in carbs...

hope you will succeed in reversing, well only few reverse in a way so that they can get back to their old eating style again... so the tendence to keep on becomming diabetic if eating rather many grams of carbs daily is maybe with us forever..

I haven´t given up reversing yet... but am not as optimistic as I was at my diagnosis when I first read of the Newcasstle diet

the http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diet/newcastle-study-600-calorie-diet.html

just keep on trying...

 

[sum]

Hi @sum .. and welcome
I'm not a "Learned Member" (yet ) .. I'm still very much in the learning curve. In my opinion, though, while your readings are very good just 3-4 months after diagnosis, I think that this is due to your diet and lifestyle changes. As others have said, your post-prandial readings of up to 8.4 indicate control rather than remission

hmmm.... confused Won't my occasional 8.4 after heavy portion of carb rich diet ,and my readings of below 7.8 most of the times (carb rich but moderate portions) indicates I am near normal range. I heard non diabetic do spike above 7.8 postprandial sometimes.
So what is the test to find out if I have reversed diabetes and not simply controlling it with diet. Am i correct in thinking if i pass glucose tolerance test, i have reversed it? i am going to do it with lucozade test and update.

 

[Jamesuk9]

hmmm.... confused Won't my occasional 8.4 after heavy portion of carb rich diet ,and my readings of below 7.8 most of the times (carb rich but moderate portions) indicates I am near normal range. I heard non diabetic do spike above 7.8 postprandial sometimes.
So what is the test to find out if I have reversed diabetes and not simply controlling it with diet. Am i correct in thinking if i pass glucose tolerance test, i have reversed it? i am going to do it with lucozade test and update.

For an accurate interpretation, the test should be completed first thing in the morning, preferably between 7 and 9am, after a period of overnight fasting.

Good luck, please let us know how it goes.

 

[walnut_face]

If you have been following a Low Carb diet you will almost certainly 'fail' an OGTT, you would need to recondition your body to processing carbs by eating said carbs for 3 consecutive days before the OGTT

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

When you are 8.4 after two hours, what are you after three? Do you know how many grams of carbs gave you the 8.4?
Anyway, sounds like you are doing pretty well and are on your way to reversing your type 2.

 

[Kristin251]

8.4 is too high for me. So you aboaolutley need the rice, cakes and ice cream? I'm sure but yiud do better without. I like to stay under 120 but that's just my personal goal

 

[sum]

Hello everyone, done my oral glucose tolerance test today and I am happy with the results
75 g of glucose used in the form of lucozade original .
pre test reading @8.32 am -5.2 mmol
410 ml of lucozade drunk @8.33 am
reading after 60 mins @9.33 am -11.1mmol
reading after 2 hours @10.32 am -6.3 mmol

So I think I am getting there and I am hopeful for all diabetics and now believe this nasty disease can be beaten.
I will be doing this glucose tolerance test every month and keep you all updated.

 

[Freema]

Hello everyone, done my oral glucose tolerance test today and I am happy with the results
75 g of glucose used in the form of lucozade original .
pre test reading @8.32 am -5.2 mmol
410 ml of lucozade drunk @8.33 am
reading after 60 mins @9.33 am -11.1mmol
reading after 2 hours @10.32 am -6.3 mmol

So I think I am getting there and I am hopeful for all diabetics and now believe this nasty disease can be beaten.
I will be doing this glucose tolerance test every month and keep you all updated.

well I am worried that glucose test in it self is damaging our pancreas gland..... so doing it every month seems dangerous to me, like thinking too much glucose isn´t damaging to pancreas is a bit naive in my way of looking at it...
when people are diagnosed type 2 diabetics they have already in average lost 20% of the pancreas cells........ and the reason that many type 2 end up needing insuline even thought they initially many times have a up till ten times raised insuline level, the reason for the oncoming need for added insuline from outside by medicine is that the main part of their pancreas cell have been destroyed... theoretically thought to be destroyed from the ever raised glucose levels as I have understood explanations of the ongoing worsening of type 2 persons health conditions...

 

[sum]

well I am worried that glucose test in it self is damaging our pancreas gland..... so doing it every month seems dangerous to me, like thinking too much glucose isn´t damaging to pancreas is a bit naive in my way of looking at it...
when people are diagnosed type 2 diabetics they have already in average lost 20% of the pancreas cells........ and the reason that many type 2 end up needing insuline even thought they initially many times have a up till ten times raised insuline level, the reason for the oncoming need for added insuline from outside by medicine is that the main part of their pancreas cell have been destroyed... theoretically thought to be destroyed from the ever raised glucose levels as I have understood explanations of the ongoing worsening of type 2 persons health conditions...

Thank you .The idea was to see how I am responding to pure glucose. But I think you are correct to advise not to overwhelm pancreatic cells with pure glucose load.I think i would see it doing every three months along with Hb1ac test.