How I lowered my A1C

[Twinkle06]

Newly diagnosed 1 yr ago April. On meds 17 days. Taken off meds due to bad reaction. Had to do everything through diet.
Initially went low glycemic index, however, went too far and hair started falling out and got hot flashes...
Switched to eating beans for carbs.
Had to cut out grain and fruit due to intolerance test. Well, cut them back, especially the grain.
Substitute unsweet almond milk for regular milk.
Eat eggwhites with tabouleh as a quick morning omlette.
Frozen veggies and kale chips are a staple.
Crab claw with horseradish and sauerkraut occasionally.
Pickles, olives as garnish.
Raw onion as snack.
Mushrooms, berries, bananas, trail mix...
Unsweetened herbal tea, daily.
Occasionally let pain de fluer crisp bread with reduced sugar jam and no sugar peanut butter.
Had to cut back on nuts for my LDL. Used to have a lot of walnuts and pecans.
Applegate turkey sausage.
Some chicken here and there.
Hummus is good when I need the calories. Otherwise soaked and cooked kidney beans, great northern beans and navy beans. They are good in the almond milk with berries and nuts as a non grain cereal.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Hello and welcome,

What was your HbA1c and what is it now?

 

[Rachox]

I agree with @Bluetit1802 we like numbers here!
EDIT. Oh just noticed this is your first post. Welcome to the best corner of the internet!

 

[bulkbiker]

Newly diagnosed 1 yr ago April. On meds 17 days. Taken off meds due to bad reaction. Had to do everything through diet.
Initially went low glycemic index, however, went too far and hair started falling out and got hot flashes...
Switched to eating beans for carbs.
Had to cut out grain and fruit due to intolerance test. Well, cut them back, especially the grain.
Substitute unsweet almond milk for regular milk.
Eat eggwhites with tabouleh as a quick morning omlette.
Frozen veggies and kale chips are a staple.
Crab claw with horseradish and sauerkraut occasionally.
Pickles, olives as garnish.
Raw onion as snack.
Mushrooms, berries, bananas, trail mix...
Unsweetened herbal tea, daily.
Occasionally let pain de fluer crisp bread with reduced sugar jam and no sugar peanut butter.
Had to cut back on nuts for my LDL. Used to have a lot of walnuts and pecans.
Applegate turkey sausage.
Some chicken here and there.
Hummus is good when I need the calories. Otherwise soaked and cooked kidney beans, great northern beans and navy beans. They are good in the almond milk with berries and nuts as a non grain cereal.

Any particular reason why not much meat?

 

[britishpub]

Applegate turkey sausage certainly isn’t

 

[Twinkle06]

Was 7.7.
Is 5.6.

 

[Twinkle06]

Bulkbiker... My Endo recommended a plant based diet, however, due to my food intolerances leaving me not much to eat, went with less meat.

 

[Twinkle06]

Britishpub, is there an issue with the Applegate brand I should be aware of?

 

[Resurgam]

Bulkbiker... My Endo recommended a plant based diet, however, due to my food intolerances leaving me not much to eat, went with less meat.

Meat, fish shellfish eggs and most cheese are what most diabetics can eat without raising blood glucose or insulin levels.
What we can't cope with, being diabetic, are carbohydrates, starches and sugars.
Fat is fairly neutral.
I don't understand what food intolerances are - nor - if it is some sort of allergy why cutting back would help. Any at all would be bad news if you react badly to them.

 

[bulkbiker]

Bulkbiker... My Endo recommended a plant based diet, however, due to my food intolerances leaving me not much to eat, went with less meat.

Is your endo a vegetarian or vegan perhaps.. ?

 

[Twinkle06]

My Endo likes Neal Barnard and Joel Fuhrman diets. There seems to be some evidence that high fat results in diabetes. And therefore my endo wanted me to reduce animal fats. The diabetes dietician also said something alial the same lines that high fat is bad for the pancreas. She wanted me to cut out my bakers chocolate snack. I do still have a bite every now and again. Just to deal with my chocolate cravings.

 

[Twinkle06]

I ended up prioritizing my meats to things that swim before things that fly. And things that fly before things that walk. And reducing meal portion size to the size of my palm. And reducing how often I have meat. But I still have it.

 

[Twinkle06]

I eat 4 meals daily, test two hours after eating, and walk to reduce my blood sugar. I also test in the morning before eating anything. Try not to snack between meals but that is hard for me. If I think my bs is up, I lower it by walking before eating again. Sometimes I only need to walk 15 minutes to lower my bs between 10 and 20 points. I try to manage the bs spikes because of the neuropathy.

 

[bulkbiker]

My Endo likes Neal Barnard and Joel Fuhrman diets. There seems to be some evidence that high fat results in diabetes. And therefore my endo wanted me to reduce animal fats. The diabetes dietician also said something alial the same lines that high fat is bad for the pancreas. She wanted me to cut out my bakers chocolate snack. I do still have a bite every now and again. Just to deal with my chocolate cravings.

Thought so... Sorry to say there is little evidence that dietary fat is the problem (none?). Although fat and carbs together are certainly very bad.
Some ultra low fat diets may have some merits but are notoriously hard to stick to whereas low carb high fat (where you don't fear fat) is far easier. Eating too often is also not good as you will tigger insulin responses which as you are Type 2 and resistant to insulin aren't great either. If you up the fat content of your meals then you will feel fuller for longer so the urge to snack will go and you might even find yourself fasting without thinking about it. Which is a win win situation.

 

[Twinkle06]

Bulkbiker, high fat diets and lipid overload are no good for the pancreas, nor the heart. Have you had your cholesterol checked?

 

[bulkbiker]

Bulkbiker, high fat diets and lipid overload are no good for the pancreas, nor the heart. Have you had your cholesterol checked?

Oh yes I have educated myself about cholesterol too.. I'm afraid those old myths don't frighten me much. I have also had a coronary artery calcium scan so have actually had my arteries looked at rather than use cholesterol as a bad proxy.
I would also question that high fat diets are no good for the pancreas as I would seem to have reversed/put into remission/ controlled my Type 2 by eating fats I'm afraid I'm a poster boy for ketogenic eating. Greger/Fuhrnam/Barnard eat your hearts out.

 

[Resurgam]

I have too - I eat Low Carb High Fat - my cholesterol went down, and the ratios were good normal or ideal, my blood glucose is normal and so was my Hba1c when it was last checked - I'm afraid that so much accepted 'healthy' advice is not backed up by anything positive.

 

[Twinkle06]

Bulkbiker do you limit saturated fats?

 

[bulkbiker]

Bulkbiker do you limit saturated fats?

Nope I bath in them.

Edit to add.. that is slightly misleading.. I don't avoid eating fat from butter, meat, dairy. I do not have vegetable or seed oils and cook with animal fat or butter. If you eat any fat you will eat some saturated fat as so far as I am aware everything with fat has some saturated fat in it. It is not possible to eat fat (without which we would be dead) without eating some saturated fat. A fact that quite a few people seem happy to ignore.

 

[Twinkle06]

Bulkbiker, I can appreciate how that works for you, however, I do not intend to go high fat diet myself.