Hbac1

cratat said:

I don't follow any diet I eat what I want, I do eat wholemeal bread and have full fat natural yoghurt. I run 10k 3 times a week for exercise. Haven't changed my approach in over 15 years and hbac1 was always around 40 to 42.

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You may not have consciously altered anything but it's clear that something has changed. I'd guess that you have simply become unable to deal with the amount of carbohydrate in your current diet. The evidence for that - your increasing A1c, which indicates that the level of glucose in your blood is rising, which is normally because you are not processing it - in other words, insulin resistance.

Testing is fine, in your situation, because it will show you which foods, situations, and activities are most affecting your blood glucose levels.

T2 Diabetes doesn't have to be progressive unless you do nothing. Many of us here (I'm one) have had huge success with low-carb/keto ways of eating - and no medication. It stopped my A1c going up and took me back to normal levels within four months.

Some willpower will be needed - but if you're a distance runner you have that - , and you have to be prepared to let go of what you thought you knew about "healthy eating" - I cut out all bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and other root veg, most fruit, sugar etc. This includes beer (although there are some good low-sugar ones these days, which helps).

I eat meat and fish, eggs, cream and cheese, green veg, nuts (not peanuts or cashews) and occasionally some berries. The results - as well as having A1cs of 38 and below for the last three years, I've lost more than 25kg. I'm back playing sports I had to give up eight years ago.

Incidentally - I know a fell runner who does very low carb, who had to stop running a few years ago because of T2-induced weight gain. He went extreme low carb, lost the weight and corrected his blood sugars, and says his times have improved over what he used to be capable of in his thirties.

Best of luck.

cratat said:

Hi would you be willing to share some examples of meals mainly breakfast and lunch I'm not to bad with dinner. Thanks Craig

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Yes no problem. I generally eat only one (substantial) meal a day (OMAD). I am never hungry the way I used to be, and (for instance) because I was on the move a lot in the last few days I didn't eat much at all between Wednesday night and Friday night.

I don't often have breakfast, unless four coffees with cream counts. When I do, it's usually a mix from eggs, bacon, black and white puddings, 98% meat sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes. Bit of carb from oatmeal in the puddings but that's all. I do use SRSLY low-carb 'bread' rolls (2g a roll) and they're more than OK for bacon sandwiches, better if fried in the bacon fat. If I do this I won't eat again that day (because I won't be hungry) although I might have something in the evening that looks more like a lunch.

Lunches (if I have one) will be a mix and selection from cold ham, chicken, salami, sausage, cheeses, olives, nuts - maybe some lettuce etc. Cold tandoori fish masala is a new lunch discovery with a bit of mayo and some green salad.

Evening meal - meat heavy. Any sort of meat, including fish. I do different sauces, some cream based, some not. Mushrooms, and green veg, from cabbage, kale, cauliflower, spinach, etc. Glass of wine or two, or a zero-sugar beer. Maybe a whisky later on.

That usually brings me in around 20g a day, most coming from veg.

My other half isn't diabetic but she doesn't eat a lot of carb these days - it's easy to add a bit of bread, rice or pasta to most of these meals for her.

Hope that's helpful. We have around three weeks of different meals so nothing gets too repetitive.