How I knocked 0.7% off my HbA1c by doing almost nothing

Hi

I've only just stumbled across this, but just wanted to say thank you, Sam. I'm still hunting for hidden highs, and although I've discovered my major culprit to be overnight, you've inspired me to hunt them in the 1hr post-prandials.

Thanks!
Abi

With the advice from here and a chat with my GP I believe my Hba1c should be down from 8 to....???? Test tomorrow.... Results next week.... Ill let you know how I've got on. Thanks everyone.

Thats great Sam! This is a reason why even though i'm t1 and on insulin i rarely eat high sugar foods, If i was to eat a handful of sweets, at 1 hour i would be around 18mmol, but at 2 hours i'd be down to 6mmol, so if i only tested 2 hours after those i wouldn't know how horrendous the spike would be! :silent:

Quick update from me.... Knocked 0.5 off my HBa1C in 2 months..... 62 mmol /7.8%.....
I'm keeping it going. Thanks again for the advise so far. Nikki x

I struggle to keep my two hour post prandials under the recommended levels, let alone my one hour pps, and yet my HbA1c comes back at around 6.2%. I appreciate that people are saying that these spikes cause damage but I'm not convinced they actually make that much difference to the HbA1c. I suspect that overnight levels might be to blame.

SamJB said:

Incidentally, I had an appointment with a consultant a month or so before I got my HbA1c, where I told him about my peak 1 hour after eating and what I was doing about it. No word of a lie, he told me not to worry if I'm going high 1 hour after eating as "it doesn't matter so long as they come down 2 hours after". Pretty unbelievable coming from a diabetes consultant.

Evidence from my HbA1c reduction shows that you can't "eat anything you want, so long as you carb count". A "normal healthy diet" is very subjective!

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Well done, sounds like you have found out another thing in the step to better control, good on you.

However i would take exception to teh idea that going up to 7 after meals is particularly bad. I would say your consultant is running a fine line between recommending targets that are obtainable for a broad range of people. I personally would not be too concerned with a "spike" going up to 7 one hour after a meal but to each their own and if you have found a way not to then mores the better.

I think that for most people a 1 hour reading of 7 and returnign to 5 two hours later would be considered a sucess. I also low GI but i tell you what if i found myself pre-meal level 2 hours later i would be going low later on. I think the key here is there is no magical rule for anyone person.

I think you also have to be careful comparing yourself to T2. IMHO T1 and T2 are so different they shouldn't even be called diabetes. For a T2 a spike to 7 is unacceptable as they have resistance to insluin and so it will be more difficult to bring it down. For a T1 7 is a very manageable level from which to come down because T1s have, in most cases, near normal sensitivity and so insulin does the job.

In short, well done to you but be careful about your assertions of what is reasonable and what is not, it can be both missleading and disheartening for newly diagnosed people to see 7 as a failure when they are struggling with double figures!

Klang, I read it that Sams spike was up by 7mmol... not his reading. So say he was originally 7mmol before eating, after an hour, it had shot up to 14mmol...


I think I read that right anyway..!

Do you find that Brown rice a) tastes better and b) is faaaaaaaar more filling than the white variety? Was informed a few years ago that the bleaching agents used in making flour "White" is the same agent scientists use to induce diabetes in lab rats .... scary or what?

bennyg70 said:

Klang, I read it that Sams spike was up by 7mmol... not his reading. So say he was originally 7mmol before eating, after an hour, it had shot up to 14mmol...


I think I read that right anyway..!

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Hey Benny

Thanks for that, i think you're right. I will crawl back into the hole from wence i came.

Still, good work OP.

SamJB said:

That's right Benny, my levels were increasing by 7 mmol/l - I'm perfectly happy with a post-meal of 7.

I can't disagree with Klang or I0vaduck though - everyone's different. What worked for me here might not for someone else. I'm always striving to bring my HbA1c down to the recommended levels and going low GI worked well for me. Since this post in June I've gone low-carb and reduced my HbA1c to 6.5%.

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This post makes so much more sense now that i realise what you meant Sam. I was really wondering how someone with only 7 post meal spikes would have an HBa1C of 7 as i would have thought it would be more like 5 but now it makes sense. Apologies for the lecture but well done in any case.

I would just like to add my little tip to the mix, i say mine, but it is really Gary Schneiers, do some exercise after your meal. I now go for a 8-10min walk after every meal and i cannot believe how it smoothes out your post meal spike! With the same meal it would make a 4-5mmol difference easily and often more! I think it gets the insulin moving around and working effectively.

So with a delay between your bolus and your meal alongside a walk afterwards you can really keep your levels quite flat. Give it a try, i promise you that you won;t be disappointed and i feel so different when i don't do it!

Klang180 said:

SamJB said:

That's right Benny, my levels were increasing by 7 mmol/l - I'm perfectly happy with a post-meal of 7.

I can't disagree with Klang or I0vaduck though - everyone's different. What worked for me here might not for someone else. I'm always striving to bring my HbA1c down to the recommended levels and going low GI worked well for me. Since this post in June I've gone low-carb and reduced my HbA1c to 6.5%.

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This post makes so much more sense now that i realise what you meant Sam. I was really wondering how someone with only 7 post meal spikes would have an HBa1C of 7 as i would have thought it would be more like 5 but now it makes sense. Apologies for the lecture but well done in any case.

I would just like to add my little tip to the mix, i say mine, but it is really Gary Schneiers, do some exercise after your meal. I now go for a 8-10min walk after every meal and i cannot believe how it smoothes out your post meal spike! With the same meal it would make a 4-5mmol difference easily and often more! I think it gets the insulin moving around and working effectively.

So with a delay between your bolus and your meal alongside a walk afterwards you can really keep your levels quite flat. Give it a try, i promise you that you won;t be disappointed and i feel so different when i don't do it!

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Its something that only hit me the other day... Why dont I spike on a weekend, but I do when im sat at work doing nothing. Then I realsied... Weekends are spent running after the mrs and her kid, walking the dog and doing stuff , keeping physically active and I really think this makes a massive difference...

I havent yet tried to implement a 10 minute walk into my regime at work! Im sure ill think of a good excuse though..."Just popping too the loo!" ... Could get quite embarrasing!!

Great job, and though your story is anecdotal, there are so many similar anecdotes these days it is infuriating and indefensible that the NHS still pushes a high carb diet down our throats. I tried to have a serious discussion about diet with an NHS diabetes consultant and it was simply embarrassing to him and to me. He knew perfectly well that his recommendations to me were not working and would not work. But he is in politically controlled organisation and is not allowed to have an opinion of his own if it is inconsistent with the NHS party line. He was literally staring at his feet in frustration and embarrassment.

So do your own research since the NHS is not doing it for you. Test your bloods after trying new kinds of carbs to see what works best for you. I am a big fan of those little German breads that look like bricks. Toasted and buttered they are delicious and low GI. Also, look into sweetening with fructose (fruit sugar or agave). Many of the newer low-fat yogurts use fructose and aspartame which is a low-GI sweetening combo that tastes great. You can mix your own fructose-and fresh-berry-sweetened plain yogurt, which is better than the pre-mixed kind. There are loads of diet paths that can make you happy and healthy. You need to find them through experimentation and research. Our national health service has left us on our own here, so forums like this one are our best hope for useful advice. Another great source of low GI recipes (and science) is GI News at http://ginews.blogspot.com/#GIKitchen.

I have good HBA1cs, by eating what i like but not too much sweet food, and carb counting. Type 1 diabetic for 27 years. Average HBA1c is 7% on MDI.

I think anything which gets people's HbA1c down is good. I honestly think though that doctors are limited in their in depth knowledge, and understanding of our problems. I am T2 diagnosed 2 years ago. I have retired in the Philippines so diabetic consultants, are either hard to find or don't exist where we live. From memory my early HbA1c was around 6.7%. I am on Vildagriptin 50 mg, Glucophage 750 mg. As soon as I found out I was T2, I cut out white bread rice and potatoes. My HbA1c dropped to 6.2%, then 4.7%, doctor's reaction "Oh good that's normal". Next time my HbA1c was 4.4 % Her reaction stop the Glucophage. In other words the "why" was not addressed. I did but my FBS went too high for me, so I am taking it again, see what the next HbA1c is.
Hope everyone hasd a good and safe Christmas.