Do i need to chill? Am i just impatient?

[Rushkami]

So i changed my diet around the start of October before I got my HbA1C results - which was 109. I've reduced carbs a lot, upped my protein, sugar comes from dark chocolate, banana chips, and dried cranberries which I eat with mixed seeds and nuts and quite sparingly, and from what carbs I do eat. I eat a lot of vegetables and salads, I try the hacks of eating meals in balance, adding lemon juice/vinegar to a meal, I put cinnamon in everything, always having a side salad etc.

I have started testing my blood sugars and this morning I started Metformin for the first time. I took my blood sugars before food when I got up and they were 13.1. Does this mean all of the changes I have made haven't impacted on my blood sugars or am I being impatient and need to give diet more time to possibly make a difference? Or were my sugars so high to begin with that 13.1 is them coming down??

I'm proud of myself and of how easily I have adapted to it all but I just want to know I'm on the right track. The visible signs of insulin resistance has reduced a lot which has kept me motivated but I was disheartened at the 13.1 bloods this morning. I think I was maybe expecting too much!

Urgh I think I just needed a rant of frustration! XD

Edit: For breakfast most mornings I have been eating 2 eggs scrambled with tomatoes, spinach, cheese, sometimes mushrooms, turmeric, cinnamon, chilli, garlic and quite often 2 slice wholemeal toast (I plan to cut this to 1 slice).

A regular meal can look like salad leaves with tomato, cucumber, maybe mozzarella or cottage cheese, and a protein source such as mackerel, turkey or chicken breast with lemon juice, balsamic, cinnamon and sometimes sumac. I enjoy cooking from scratch and that is often chicken or turkey - breast or mince - sometimes pork chop, with various vegetables, if there's a sauce it is home made without salt or sugar added.

 

[EllieM]

Hi @Rushkami and welcome to the forums.

An hba1c of 109 corresponds to an average blood sugar of 16.7 mmol/L so I suspect your levels have come down. Also, the first thing in the morning reading tends to be high because the dawn pehnomena has your liver pumping sugar into your body so as to help you get going in the morning.

Also, it's always a mistake to rely on a one off reading, as glucometers aren't 100% accurate.

I'm sure some T2s will be along soon to give your more advice. Once more welcome.

 

[JenniferM55]

You're doing very well, so don't be despondent. This is a huge learning curve you're on. Think your diet needs tweaking somewhat.

Banana chips are very high in carbs, one oz is just under 15g carbs. One tablespoon of dried cranberries have over 8 carbs.

Try working with one of the food apps and log your daily food, you'll be surprised what so called healthy foods are too high in carbs for us diabetics. Example of apps, FatSecret, MyFitnessPal, Carb Manager, there are others.... I use Cronometer via a browser.

 

[Rushkami]

Hi @Rushkami and welcome to the forums.

An hba1c of 109 corresponds to an average blood sugar of 16.7 mmol/L so I suspect your levels have come down. Also, the first thing in the morning reading tends to be high because the dawn pehnomena has your liver pumping sugar into your body so as to help you get going in the morning.

Also, it's always a mistake to rely on a one off reading, as glucometers aren't 100% accurate.

I'm sure some T2s will be along soon to give your more advice. Once more welcome.

Thank you! I think I just need reassurance that all I'm doing has not been pointless

 

[Rushkami]

You're doing very well, so don't be despondent. This is a huge learning curb you're on. Think your diet needs tweaking somewhat.

Banana chips are very high, one oz is just under 15g carbs. One tablespoon of dried cranberries have over 8 carbs.

Try working with one of the food apps and log your daily food, you'll be surprised what so called healthy foods are too high in carbs for us diabetics. Example of apps, FatSecret, MyFitnessPal, Carb Manager, there are others.... I use Cronometer via a browser.

I am quickly discovering this about carbs in food! I knew I needed to be careful with the cranberries and banana chips but I will wean myself off those too. Thanks for the info, I will check out the apps.

 

[KennyA]

So i changed my diet around the start of October before I got my HbA1C results - which was 109. I've reduced carbs a lot, upped my protein, sugar comes from dark chocolate, banana chips, and dried cranberries which I eat with mixed seeds and nuts and quite sparingly, and from what carbs I do eat. I eat a lot of vegetables and salads, I try the hacks of eating meals in balance, adding lemon juice/vinegar to a meal, I put cinnamon in everything, always having a side salad etc.

I have started testing my blood sugars and this morning I started Metformin for the first time. I took my blood sugars before food when I got up and they were 13.1. Does this mean all of the changes I have made haven't impacted on my blood sugars or am I being impatient and need to give diet more time to possibly make a difference? Or were my sugars so high to begin with that 13.1 is them coming down??

I'm proud of myself and of how easily I have adapted to it all but I just want to know I'm on the right track. The visible signs of insulin resistance has reduced a lot which has kept me motivated but I was disheartened at the 13.1 bloods this morning. I think I was maybe expecting too much!

Urgh I think I just needed a rant of frustration! XD

Hi and welcome.

It would help people to reply to you if you gave a better idea of exactly what you're eating each day, with quantities. It strikes me that things like banana chips and dried cranberries (any dried fruit) are high in sugars. Depends on quantities obviously. What do you mean by "the visible signs of insulin resistance"? Diabetic symptoms?

Pne of the problems is that there is no easy read-across from a single fingerprick test to your HbA1c. Any number of things might affect the single test, and it tests your blood glucose at that instant. In contrast the HbA1c doesn't test blood glucose at all, but counts glycated red blood cells which is used as a proxy for your blood glucose levels over the last two to three months - basically the higher your blood glucose, the more likely that RBCs will have had a glucose molecule attach itself.

Second point on fingerprick testing is that (in my opinion) it's most useful benefit is to show you the impact of various foods on your blood glucose. If you eat food with carbs in it your blood glucose will rise - that's what happens as the carbs are digested to glucose. It happens to all of us, diabetic and non-diabetic. What you're looking for is how quickly and efficiently your system deals with those carbs. The advice is therefore to test immediately before you eat (to establish a baseline) and then to test two hours later. If you're not diabetic, your insulin response to the carbs should have been enough to bring you back to where you started, or reasonably close.

Those of us who are T2 usually find that this isn't the case - our BG will generally stay higher for longer. High levels of blood glucose over time does physical damage to nerves and capillaries. I found that reducing my carbs considerably got me to the point where my system can now cope with the lower level of carbs I eat (usually around 20g/day). I'll still get a rise in the first half hour after eating even small amounts of carbs - but by two hours I'll be back where I started.

This forum is a great resource - just keep asking!

 

[Impy]

hI @Rushkami,

I started out with a hba1c of 123. It took about 3 months of low carbing before my post prandial (2 hours after eating) glucose meter readings were regularly under 10, so you are probably a little impatient (my latest hba1c was 38, so it does work)

Have a look at @JoKalsbeek blog linked here which should help.

For what it's worth my recommendation is to gradually reduce your daily carb intake until you can get down to about 50g per day. That doesn't mean you have to starve, just replace the carb calories with healthy fats and protein. Others have recommended various apps to monitor your intake, so I won't add any to that list.

You're doing well and you will see progress at a reasonable rapid rate, so don't get frustrated if you levels aren't coming down as quickly as you might like. You will get there in the end.

PS you mentioned that you were taking metformin. Have you been prescribed anything else as that will affect any advice that people on here can give to help?

 

[Rushkami]

Hi and welcome.

It would help people to reply to you if you gave a better idea of exactly what you're eating each day, with quantities. It strikes me that things like banana chips and dried cranberries (any dried fruit) are high in sugars. Depends on quantities obviously. What do you mean by "the visible signs of insulin resistance"? Diabetic symptoms?

Pne of the problems is that there is no easy read-across from a single fingerprick test to your HbA1c. Any number of things might affect the single test, and it tests your blood glucose at that instant. In contrast the HbA1c doesn't test blood glucose at all, but counts glycated red blood cells which is used as a proxy for your blood glucose levels over the last two to three months - basically the higher your blood glucose, the more likely that RBCs will have had a glucose molecule attach itself.

Second point on fingerprick testing is that (in my opinion) it's most useful benefit is to show you the impact of various foods on your blood glucose. If you eat food with carbs in it your blood glucose will rise - that's what happens as the carbs are digested to glucose. It happens to all of us, diabetic and non-diabetic. What you're looking for is how quickly and efficiently your system deals with those carbs. The advice is therefore to test immediately before you eat (to establish a baseline) and then to test two hours later. If you're not diabetic, your insulin response to the carbs should have been enough to bring you back to where you started, or reasonably close.

Those of us who are T2 usually find that this isn't the case - our BG will generally stay higher for longer. High levels of blood glucose over time does physical damage to nerves and capillaries. I found that reducing my carbs considerably got me to the point where my system can now cope with the lower level of carbs I eat (usually around 20g/day). I'll still get a rise in the first half hour after eating even small amounts of carbs - but by two hours I'll be back where I started.

This forum is a great resource - just keep asking!

I've edited my post and added a couple of regular meals I eat on there. The insulin resistance symptoms for me is the darkening of the skin around my neck and underarms, and skin tags. I also have polycystic ovary syndrome and have had the darkening and tags since I was around 8 years old. Thanks for the info!

 

[Rushkami]

hI @Rushkami,

I started out with a hba1c of 123. It took about 3 months of low carbing before my post prandial (2 hours after eating) glucose meter readings were regularly under 10, so you are probably a little impatient (my latest hba1c was 38, so it does work)

Have a look at @JoKalsbeek blog linked here which should help.

For what it's worth my recommendation is to gradually reduce your daily carb intake until you can get down to about 50g per day. That doesn't mean you have to starve, just replace the carb calories with healthy fats and protein. Others have recommended various apps to monitor your intake, so I won't add any to that list.

You're doing well and you will see progress at a reasonable rapid rate, so don't get frustrated if you levels aren't coming down as quickly as you might like. You will get there in the end.

PS you mentioned that you were taking metformin. Have you been prescribed anything else as that will affect any advice that people on here can give to help?

Thank you! Only prescribed metformin. I have been taking inositol, berberine, and magnesium daily for a while now in relation to polycystic ovary syndrome - supplements not prescribed medication. I was told they wouldn't interfere with the metformin.

 

[Impy]

Don't know much about PCOS - but from what I've seen on several YouTube videos the low carb approach appears to help with that too.

 

[Paul_]

I would definitely recommend @JenniferM55's advice. If you track what you're eating then a lot of diet improvement can be made from substituting higher carb ingredients for lower carb ones, rather than complete abstinence from "all foods under category A". Portion control of higher carb ingredients also has a significant positive effect as well.

To give an example from your current diet you listed, dried cranberries are around 50% higher in carbs than banana chips. If you're struggling to do without these, could you start by having the same portion size, but only have banana chips and cut out the cranberries? From there, once you've got used to only having one of the two, could you lower the portion size of the banana chips? Taking it further, could you substitute cranberries and banana chips for raspberries or strawberries instead, which are lower carb fruits?

I also see you use a lot of spices. I do too in many meals, however do you measure/weigh these? Some herbs, spices and seasonings can add up very quickly when it comes to carbs, so it might be useful to check how much you're using if you don't already.

Each of the above steps would reduce your carb intake, which should result in lower blood glucose levels, but you're reducing carbs one step at a time.

 

[Rushkami]

I would definitely recommend @JenniferM55's advice. If you track what you're eating then a lot of diet improvement can be made from substituting higher carb ingredients for lower carb ones, rather than complete abstinence from "all foods under category A". Portion control of higher carb ingredients also has a significant positive effect as well.

To give an example from your current diet you listed, dried cranberries are around 25% higher in carbs than banana chips. If you're struggling to do without these, could you start by having the same portion size, but only have banana chips and cut out the cranberries? From there, once you've got used to only having one of the two, could you lower the portion size of the banana chips? Taking it further, could you substitute cranberries and banana chips for raspberries or strawberries instead, which are lower carb fruits?

I also see you use a lot of spices. I do too in many meals, however do you measure/weigh these? Some herbs, spices and seasonings can add up very quickly when it comes to carbs, so it might be useful to check how much you're using if you don't already.

Each of the above steps would reduce your carb intake, which should result in lower blood glucose levels, but you're reducing carbs one step at a time.

Thanks. I've just cut out the cranberries and banana chips, it's not a problem for me. I've been putting the spices in the food tracking app aswell so I can keep an eye on that but that might be where I take my carbs and cut everything else because I can not have bland food!

 

[Paul_]

Thanks. I've just cut out the cranberries and banana chips, it's not a problem for me. I've been putting the spices in the food tracking app aswell so I can keep an eye on that but that might be where I take my carbs and cut everything else because I can not have bland food!

If it helps reassure, I'm doing keto with a maximum of 25g carbs on a "bad" day, and I use many herbs, spices and seasonings in my meals. Like you say, it's just about making better choices for where your carbs are coming from, while still having the ones that make your diet sustainable and enjoyable.

 

[Rushkami]

If it helps reassure, I'm doing keto with a maximum of 25g carbs on a "bad" day, and I use many herbs, spices and seasonings in my meals. Like you say, it's just about making better choices for where your carbs are coming from, while still having the ones that make your diet sustainable and enjoyable.

Fab, thanks that's good to know

 

[ajbod]

Many herbs and spices are high carb, but the small amount you actually have make them virtually irrelevant.

 

[sueh500]

Hope you are feeling more positive now and it's good that you have cut out the cranberries and banana chips - dried fruit is a very concentrated source of carbs. One thing that no-one has mentioned so far is fibre - increasing your fibre will help with your management - you should be aiming for about 30g a day. If you are using one of the apps (MyFitnessPal etc), then that should give you an idea of how much you are consuming each day. If you aren't having enough, then increase gradually so as not to upset your stomach. Raspberries are great as a lower carb fruit and good source of fibre. Try and include seeds and nuts. Cashew nuts may have some benefit in reducing glucose. We use the HiLo bread from Sainsburys as a low carb bread (5g per slice), which is also high in fibre. We bought Liv Life from Waitrose too until recently (3.4g a slice) - currently out of stock. The fibre counteracts some of the glucose and is healthy for you in lots of ways, so win win! Don't forget that exercise will help you too.

 

[Ro9998]

My advie is look at it long term i have not lost weight in 3 months but by worrying i go to carbs but have support partner frineds make adjustments little keep going