Hba1c Help please

Although your Hba1c is not really high, it will not drop down all that fast if you eat high carb foods, as they will keep your blood glucose levels high.
If you get a meter to check your levels so you can fine tune the amount of sugar and starch you eat to what you can cope with it will enable you to set your menu to what is right for you.
For me bread and porridge are out, as I can only manage 40 gm of carbs as a regular daily intake, but others can eat 60 or 80 gm or more, particularly if they do daily exercise. I don't mind surviving on stir fries and salads, stews and curries so 40 is fine by me, and my daily blood glucose is in the normal range.

Hi and Welcome @Yorkie608

With your levels you should be able to to impact them reasonably quickly and you are on the right track by using this forum and starting to reduce your carbs. As mentioned by @EllieM and @Resurgam get your self a meter and test. Then you can know where you are at everyday and test your meals to see how they impact your levels. It gives you control.

Hi and welcome to the forum @Yorkie608 , thanks for the tag @EllieM

Sorry about the delay in replying, but here’s some info on UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.


Home Health have recently bought out the Gluco Navii, but I haven’t heard any reviews yet, links to strips and the meter:

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/

There are also discount codes for when you come to buy more strips - "navii5" and "navii10" will give you 20% off purchases of 5 packs of strips and 25% off 10 packs of strips respectively.


Disclaimer, I haven’t used the discount codes that I have quoted recently so I don’t know if they are still current.





Spirit Healthcare have a meter called the Tee2 + found here:



https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793

with the strips found here:



https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097

Some members have got a free Tee2+ by phoning up to order, with a large order of strips they often throw the meter in for free:

Phone number 0800 8815423


With more expensive strips is their Caresens Dual which I currently use, this one has the advantage of glucose and ketone testing in one machine, it’s to be found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/collections/caresens-dual



If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.


Don’t forget to check the box if you have pre diabetes or diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)

The hba1c value measures the average blood sugar quantity in the body over a 3-month period. It is a very slowly changing average value, so if you measured hba1c yesterday the hba1c value measured today would be nearly the same. A hba1c value above 47 indicates you have diabetes, a value below 40 indicates you have no diabetes, or, you have diabetes on a very well controlled diet at the time of the measurement and the carbs in the food did not contribute much to the hba1c value.
I realised I had diabetes 2-3 years ago and changed to a 20g carbs/day keto diet and measured blood sugar with a meter after my favourite foods for a couple of weeks to see what I could eat. Then had 3 meals per day, dinner being the largest. I always finger-prick 2 hours after dinner and measure values in the range 5.8-7.8 mmol/L (values higher than 7.3 caused by colds, flu, overtiredness, stress).

Hey Welcome to the forum. This is the best resource you will find so stick with us and you will be just fine.
I was in exactly your position about five years ago and put my type2 in remission within 6 months due to the knowledge gained here. And I remain largely ( occasional wobble ) in control because of that too.
So get a cuppa and start browsing there is a lot to learn
I’m not sure I’d be overly worried about your hbA1c for a while yet.
Without lecturing you need to learn about :
Don’t necessarily believe everything you think you know.

Carbs are the key

LCHF low carb lifestyle

Get all you medical info you need to know your starting point

Eat to your meter and keep records

Take some excersise if you can

Have a look around here and you will learn a lot.


Plus there are loads of testimonials of success to inspire you if it gets tough.

But most importantly stick with us and remember no question is a stupid question.
It will be fine

I agree with what many others have said here, a BG monitor is so helpful.

My reader has a 7 day, 14 day and monthly average, so I take note of the those and compare to the previous averages so I can see how I’m progressing.

It is also a good idea to keep a food diary and note how a specific food impacts on your blood sugar levels. I would test before eating individual items and then after 1 hr and 2 hrs and then decide if it’s a keeper or it’s off the menu.
But we are all different I can’t look at rice,disastrous for my blood glucose (81% carbohydrates tho) but some brown bread in small amounts I can tolerate.
But you need to know what you can tolerate.
On a brighter note pretty much everyone here is good with bacon and eggs!!!
Who knew!!’