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Do I have to do low carb to reduce HBA1c?

Franchesca

Member
Messages
15
Hi, I had a terrifying top score of 47 in November when I last had an HBA1c test post stroke. I have ate healthier, cut out all crisps, sweets, cake, biscuits etc and exercised more and lost 3.5 stone in 5 month with yet another to stone or so to loose to be within BMI, I have lost about 20% of my body weight, my cholestral level has reduced from 6 to 3 and my BP has reduced to less than 130/80 meds helping the latter indicators. I attend the NHS pre diabetes programme. I have not been advised to go on a low carb diet. Whilst I can see that many have benefited I am worried that in 2 weeks when my next HBA1c is due I will fail to have reduced my levels because I have not done this. The course focuses on portion size, cutting out added/needless sugar, drinking more water, eating more fibre and exercising. Will that not be enough? I am so worried that I haven't done enough. Everything seems to be a carb. even fruit not just potatoes and bread of which I have reduced but still eat?? Panicking.
 
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The advice about portion control etc is just the NHS sticking to what is carved in stone somewhere.
For me low carb has converted me from fully diabetic to normal - and my GP has been sulking since telling me how bad I was at diagnosis. My nurses have said very good, but not asked how I did the apparently impossible.
I suspect that you will see an improvement proportional to the reduction in your carb intake.
Of course everything is not a carb - meat, fish and shellfish, eggs cheese are the way to go, add in low carb veges, salad stuff, berries and cream - coffee and cream change a very bad diabetic back into normal ranges for blood glucose and Hba1c and I didn't even need to try hard.
 
I eat moderate low carb meals, and I have pulled my hba1c levels right back, also I have reduced my metformin by half.
 
I am moderately low carb - about 100-120g carbs per day and have maintained my hba1c at non diabetic levels for approx 5 years.
 
I am moderately low carb / high fat too. It brought me down from an HbA1c of 41 to 36, in just 6 weeks. I had been in the doldrums until then.

Also about 100 carbs per day.
 
Don't panic! Should your hba1c still be highish in 2 weeks, it only tells you that your body needs something else than what you did in the past months, not that you're a failure.
It's information you can use to improve things, or it may tell you you're doing well the way you are going.
Information, nothing more.

Do you use a meter? It will give you information in real time, telling you how much fruit, potatoes or bread you can have without going too high. It might tell you a whole apple is a bad choice in the morning, so you can divide your apple and eat a quarter in the morning and the rest after dinner. One thing a meter does is tell you if you're on the right path, so you won't be dreading your hba1c anymore.
Good luck!
 
47 that is lower than mine and i had numbers of 105 , its down to 59 now and i would be elated at 47 .
I'm doing low carb high fat i have no idea if it is keto diet but i am going with what my body wants and I will see what my next A1c s in August this year .
 
@Francesca - don't panic. You have done as instructed, and it sounds like you've made excellent headway in getting your health in better shape.

My suggestion to you would be, keep doing what you're doing until you have your next test and know the results. If you have achieved what you wanted to, then any further changes you make will be your choices, because you want to.

If your numbers weren't quite where you hoped they'd be, you'd have some reading under your belt and maybe know what your choice of Nextdoor steps might be.

If you make changes now, you can't hope to know what helped or not.

Good luck with it all. You want a good result, and your medical team can't be angry with you, as you have obviously been trying to get things right. I doubt there is a single person here who got everything absolutely right, first time around.

Keep calm and carry on, as it says on mugs all over UK.
 
I would echo everything Antje77 says above. Don't panic. You've made a lot of big changes! Great job! Why don't you see what their effect has been, and then if you need to do more, explore reducing overall carbs, and investing in a metre for rapid feedback on specific foods that might be a problem for you.
 
 
Thankyou, yes I have just bought one maybe a bit late for this test but so far my results before and after meals and one overnight fasting see I'm normal range so I have more hope.
 
Seems to me you have worked really hard and already got some good results. Just keep on at the moment, until you have a new HbA1c, then you will know if more changes need to be made. well done for taking control of what was obviously a very worrying situation for you and working hard to turn it around.
 
is 47, that bad?, mine came back 50, and I was like meh!, maybe I should be worried?

For the last two weeks I've followed(baring two bad days) a lowish carb diet(30-75g a day) and my blood level has only twice gone above 6.2 (both 2hrs after eating) . Generally I am 5.0 -5.5.

My bp has also occasionly fallen below 120/90 for the first time ever ( with meds).

So at least in my case low carb diet has had a big effect in a relatively short time.
 
Firstly, what diet plan you adopt is NOT mandated, and you are free to choose what suits you best. Many here find that lowering carbs helps them, but there are other valid ways of controlling diabetes. The success and testimonials thread here is a good one to read for pointers as to what people have found to benefit them. You have made a very good start so far, and as others say, wait for the result then decide if you need to go deeper.
 

Well done and interesting I'moff for my next Hba1c this morning. Many thanks. Fingers crossed.
 

Thankyou.
 
Well I am over the moon. All my hard work losing 4 stone and interspersing eating with walking and exercise has paid off. I have gone from being top of the prediabetes scale 47 to of it all together at a score of 36 all in 5 months whilst battling with stroke recovery. Thanks to all those who have helped with positive remarks. I did lower my carbs but only as part of cutting out the bad ie white bread cake crisps and biscuits, portion control and things in moderation together with lots of water has done it. Yippee!
 
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