HbA1c

[stepBack]

Hi, this is my first post and I'm not used to forums, but here goes anyway! I'm here because my husband has recently been diagnosed with Type 2. We bought a BG monitor even though it was not even mentioned by the Diabetic Nurse (I have read enough posts to understand why!). So far his readings have been pretty reasonable with only one spike (?) of 9.9 after eating our favourite shop bought veg. samosas (bye bye samosas). We've been testing for about a month now, not regularly but most days and as much as possible pre and post meals. We have an Accu-Chek Performa Nano which gives averages and I've been using the HbA1c calculator on the Accu-Chek website to see how things are going. I realise we need to have a series of results for about three months to truly see how things are, but so far he's averaging about 6.1 which comes out as 36 on the calculator (his HbA1c was 66 at diagnosis about 6 weeks ago). Am I doing this right - it seems too good to be true. One other question - I've read on this forum that checking post meal is done 2 hours after the start of a meal. This doesn't seem right to me, surely it should be done 2 hours after the end of a meal? Sorry it's a long post and I hope I'm making myself clear. I've read a lot on this forum so far and it's been helpful; that's why I signed up.

 

[Resurgam]

Digestion begins as soon as the food enters the mouth, which is why it is two hours from the start of the meal.
Eating low carb is a poerful took for reducing blood glucose, and very effective in lowering Hba1c, so you might well see a significant drop at the firs retesting.

 

[poemagraphic]

Hi, this is my first post and I'm not used to forums, but here goes anyway! I'm here because my husband has recently been diagnosed with Type 2. We bought a BG monitor even though it was not even mentioned by the Diabetic Nurse (I have read enough posts to understand why!). So far his readings have been pretty reasonable with only one spike (?) of 9.9 after eating our favourite shop bought veg. samosas (bye bye samosas). We've been testing for about a month now, not regularly but most days and as much as possible pre and post meals. We have an Accu-Chek Performa Nano which gives averages and I've been using the HbA1c calculator on the Accu-Chek website to see how things are going. I realise we need to have a series of results for about three months to truly see how things are, but so far he's averaging about 6.1 which comes out as 36 on the calculator (his HbA1c was 66 at diagnosis about 6 weeks ago). Am I doing this right - it seems too good to be true. One other question - I've read on this forum that checking post meal is done 2 hours after the start of a meal. This doesn't seem right to me, surely it should be done 2 hours after the end of a meal? Sorry it's a long post and I hope I'm making myself clear. I've read a lot on this forum so far and it's been helpful; that's why I signed up.

Hi StepBack
Welcome to the site.
I found like you, some of the numbers did/do seem too good to be true. However, true they are thankfully.
Your husband is so lucky to have your support, this journey is so much easier with a supportive partner.
I feel you are correct in your assertion Re. testing 2 hrs after the end of the meal.

Keep reading, learning and understanding what works for you both.
Po

 

[stepBack]

Thanks for the explanation Resurgam, that's helpful.

 

[mouseee]

That's very impressive!
The only thing I'd say is don't forget, if you are testing mostly before meals then the average you see on the meter could be lower than the actual hba1c as that's the average over the whole 3 months not just of the readings you've taken.
This doesn't take away any of the amazing results you've seen already through your testing! I was so surprised at how quickly my bs cane down after starting LC.

I'm guessing he's seen lots if other improvements too, and might even be a little less grumpy than he was. (Speaking from experience, I got fat more difficult to live with when high!)

Well done. Keep going!

 

[stepBack]

Thanks Po and mouseee!
I'm supporting my husband because he already has enough to contend with having a chronic anxiety condition, so diabetes is just another issue we could well do without. A good point about when the bg tests are done - we try to do both pre and post meal. I forgot to say that the other thing is, most of the differences between pre and post are less than 2 and all below 3 which I believe is good. I hope we can keep this up because the change in diet is challenging. No problem with salads, veg, fish, but low carb baking without my tried and tested wholewheat flour is doing my head in!

 

[bulkbiker]

low carb baking without my tried and tested wholewheat flour is doing my head in!

A whole lot of us have found that simply giving up baked goods is the best solution..

 

[stepBack]

Hi bulkbiker, give up baked goods, hmmm. Maybe in time. It'll take a while to adopt the LCHF approach, if at all. The alternative choices will challenge because my husband doesn't like milk, cheese, yogurt or butter or any fatty meats like lamb unless it highly flavoured. He can tell if something has butter in it a mile away and we're not vegan.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Hi bulkbiker, give up baked goods, hmmm. Maybe in time. It'll take a while to adopt the LCHF approach, if at all. The alternative choices will challenge because my husband doesn't like milk, cheese, yogurt or butter or any fatty meats like lamb unless it highly flavoured. He can tell if something has butter in it a mile away and we're not vegan.

Hello @stepBack ,

That's quite a few challenges indeed, but then, there's people here who don't respond well to lactose and/or caseine, so it's all quite do-able without milk products... https://drillurispantry.com/2018/04/02/keto-low-carb-gluten-free-nut-free-samosas/ isn't shop bought, but you could give it a shot in spite of the cheeses. There's a LOT of alternatives online if you put samosas and keto in the google search bar. Also, his palette is going to change. Could well be butter isn't as off-putting in three months as it is now, same with fats. And yeah, the digestive process starts when you start masticating, (which is why chewing gum is good for constipation: it all starts just with chewing), so you want to check 2 hours after the first bite, not after the last one.

Your husband'll need to be a bit adventurous for a bit, I'm afraid... I know I tried things I'll keep a mile away from for the rest of my life, but there were some really good surprises in my experiments too (My freezer is filled to the brin with cauliflower rice.). And when it comes down to it, and this new way of eating makes him miserable, he can always resort to medication alongside the diet. That would mean a bigger chance of complications and insulin later in life though, but for some people it just boil down to that. So I'd say, give it all a try, check https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/recipes/dairy-free for ideas... See where it gets you.
Good luck!
Jo

 

[ianf0ster]

Thanks Po and mouseee!
I'm supporting my husband because he already has enough to contend with having a chronic anxiety condition, so diabetes is just another issue we could well do without. A good point about when the bg tests are done - we try to do both pre and post meal. I forgot to say that the other thing is, most of the differences between pre and post are less than 2 and all below 3 which I believe is good. I hope we can keep this up because the change in diet is challenging. No problem with salads, veg, fish, but low carb baking without my tried and tested wholewheat flour is doing my head in!

Hi stepBack,
Welcome to the forum. You are really doing well, most people are dissuaded from getting a BG meter and testing.
Low Carb is a challenge for Lacto intolerant people, but at least you aren't Vegetarian or Vegan so you have more options than they do. Any meat is good, it doesn't have to be extra fatty, the High Fat part of the dietary lifestyle (yes this is for life, not a quick fix) is just to make up for the Calories that were previously eaten in the form of Carbs and to help the body get used to 'burning fat' since it is the bodies own stored visceral fat that tend to cause Insulin Resistance and can also eventually lower Insulin production by the pancreas.

For non-dairy fats, you still have Nuts , Eggs, Olives (and Olive Oil), Coconut Oil plus the invaluable Avocado.
Though personally I would avoid 'vegetable oils' since most are high in Omega 6 which is both inflammatory and already too high in the typical western diet.

 

[Baggy64]

Hi All. New to Diabetes Type 2 having been Diagnosed 6/7 Weeks ago.
Through my Bloodtest I had a rating of 87 which my Doctor said its extremely high. Struggling to get my head around this at the moment.
Even more so now after taking my own testing and a rating of 11.5 and that's different to the doctor ones and not sure if I have come down or gone up. Any help would be gratefully received.

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi All. New to Diabetes Type 2 having been Diagnosed 6/7 Weeks ago.
Through my Bloodtest I had a rating of 87 which my Doctor said its extremely high. Struggling to get my head around this at the moment.
Even more so now after taking my own testing and a rating of 11.5 and that's different to the doctor ones and not sure if I have come down or gone up. Any help would be gratefully received.

Hi Baggy64,
Welcome to the forum.
Yes, both numbers are high - but others started with worse than those and still achieved remission (if Type 2 diabetics).
The HbA1c is a number giving an average Blood Glucose over a 2 to 3 month period. The 'finger prick' tests use a Blood Glucose meter and the average numbers can be compared to give a prediction for an HbA1C score.

For the finger Prick tests it is best to test before each meal and then again 2hrs after the meal in order to see the effect of that meal. The more carbohydrates (not just Sugar) in the meal, the bigger and the faster the effect.
For a Type 2 the aim id to keep the high numbers below 8.0 if possible and to have the after meal spike to be no higher than 2.0 higher than the reading taken before that meal. But you will learn more about this in time as you see experienced people posting.

You don't say which medication you are taking (if any).
These are very important things, because if you are a Type 1 or a Type 2 but on Blood Glucose lowering drugs such as Insulin or Gliclazide or similar is at risk of a Hypo (Blood Glucose going too low) which could be dangerous.

Even if you are currently on Insulin, members have been able to get their Hba1c numbers down into the 'pre-diabetic' range and reduce their insulin dose.

There are 4 ways of controlling your Blood Glucose (apart from drugs):

1.My favourite is a Low Carb dietary lifestyle. There is a sub-Forum for this and one thread is called 'Low Carb Success Stories' - my short story is in there. The more extreme version of this is known as Keto. The great thing about Low Carb is that it has been proved to have a very high success rate (compared with drugs) of 50% or higher and is something that most people should be able to sustain for life.- Unfortunately there is no such thing as a fix for Diabetes that will allow you to go back and eat how you did before!

2. Fasting. There are 2 forms and which one is better for you would depend upon how much (if any) excess weight you are carrying. Short Fasts (skipping one meal up to One Meal A Day) are OK for all weights, but longer fasts lasting several days are better for those with lots of visceral body fat to live off.

3. A Calorie restricted Diet such as 'the Newcastle Diet' for which there is a sub-forum here, or the Michael Mosely 8 week Blood Sugar Diet. The disadvantages (as I understand them) are:
You can only stay on such a diet for a few weeks, then have to find a new way of eating.
You lose some visceral fat (as in both the other methods) which improves your Insulin Resistance, but a crash Diet also reduces your metabolism, which strangely Fasting does not. This makes it much more likely that you will then put the weight back on again and be in an even worse state than you started. This is why the vast majority of people who diet merely to lose weight don't manage to keep the weight off and just get heavier after every failed diet attempt.

4. Bariatric Surgery. This forces you to eat less - at least at first.

 

[Robbity]

@stepBack - If your husband can't tolerate butter and you want to continue baking, you could perhaps try using nut oils instead. I've used walnut oil when making low carb walnut "bread" for example, and I've seen recipes online that use coconut oil. Diet Doctor is a good go-to resource for low carb breads, etc, and Diabetic Good Baking had a great selection of recipes too (and is owned by one of our own [ex?] forum members)

In general, as long as you can find low carb foods or recipes you enjoy, it's quite possible to eat LCHF long term - I've been doing so for nearly six years now and others on the forum have for similar or longer periods.

Robbity