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Low Carb Hasn't Worked.

C

Chez31

Member
Messages
20
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
Hi, I got an HbA1c result of 6% in Feb 2018. I got sent all the blurb about being high risk etc and would I like to go on a "healthier you" programme to learn about making changes etc.
Trouble was: I wasn't over weight (BMI 24.5) .I had been what I thought was good healthy food, and did moderate exercise. My blood pressure is low to normal and my cholesterol ratio very good (however total was7.1)Ihad figured I was doing ok till this test.
I was appalled at the pre diabetes label and the scary predictions . 9 months before I had had surgery to remove a gynae cancer . No chem or radio needed. Hopefully cured. The psychological effects of a cancer diagnosis knocked me for six and I was just coming to terms with it when I got the pre- diabetes bombshell.
Yet another nasty disease that could be waiting to progress or come back in my future ! I was determined I wouldn't let myself slide into diabetes without a fight. I hadn't survived cancer to blindly drift into diabetes!!! So I read up about low carb (30-60g) eating and stuck to it big style for 4 months. Monitoring my BG s regularly throughout. I lost 18lbs (down to a BMI of 21.9) and reduced mybody fat % down to approx 26%.i increased my exercise by doing lots of walking and cycling.
Confident I should have made some impression on my next HbA1c I was devastated when it came back 6.1% cholesterol ratio still good due to loads of HDL ( total now 7.5!).
I am now at a loss what to do and how to eat.. I could stick to the low carb eating whilst I had hope it was helping but I need to feel that the effort is worth it and my resolve is now wobbling. My doc has been pretty much a waste of time saying just eat healthy..it's probably in your genes . Gee thanks for that doc . But what is healthy food for me ?? Low carb ? Low fat? High fat? Traditional "eat well" plate portions ?
My fasting readings are currently around 6 and on low carb don't rise above 7 in the 2 hrs after meals. I really don't understand how my HbA 1C is what it is. Feeling pretty low and confused and would really love some understanding support as hubby just can't grasp how I feel .
 
How did your daily blood sugars look? Sometimes a1c can be inaccurate e.g if you have anaemia
 
My fasting readings on low carb have been between 5.4 at their best and 6.1 at worst. My post prandials have never really risen above 7 on low carb. I have occasionally done higher carb meal "challenges " since my last HbA1c and I still don't exceed 7.8 in the 2 hr period (testing every 30mins) . I asked my doc if there could be another explanation for the HbA1c . She said no. I said what about anaemia . She said I wasn't anaemic in Feb so if I've been eating well I shouldn't be now !! All she could say was perhaps it's inevitable you will get diabetes , it's one of those things !!!
 
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What was the timescale between the first and second A1c results? A one point rise basically means there has been virtually no change and at your level could be described as borderline high normal/low Pre D.

This could all boil down to insulin resistance and in your case I would personally advise (taking into account that I am not a health care professional) that you do not return to a 'healthy western diet'. Keep doing what you are doing because even though you have a result that seems to infer no change you have stopped the rise in your A1c that would have occurred or that was likely to occur.

Good news on the HDL front but how about your Triglycerides?

Edited to ask. Are you on a statin by any chance?
 
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4 months between tests my triglycerideshave come down to 1. My ldl is a little high but basically my HDL is super good so GP not worried. No talk of statins. yet. BP has always been good around 100 /60 so I'm not your typical metabolic syndrome. I could cut carbs further but would have to increase fat more as I don't need to lose any more weight. and I'm not keen to eat more sat fat due to ldl levels. The thought of restricting more is not appealling to me. I sometimes think what the hell , I may as well go down the road to diabetes happy as be miserable watching every mouthful I eat if what my gp says is true !! Feeling mightily fed up sorry.
 
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Actually chez if you were anemic your hba1c would be lower than expected.
According to Kris Kresser you could be a very healthy person now and you keep your blood cells a lot longer. Hence more sugar sticks to them in their lifetime, therefor your hba1c is better than it indicates from a simple measurement of hba1c and tracking your fasting blood glucose may be more relevant to you.
D.
 
Hi Lindisfel, you have sort of hit on my dilemma. I'm not convinced by the HbA1c after seeing my BG readings over 4 months however I have never seen my BG readings after a very high carb binge, only the odd dabble with porridge , or a white bread roll etc. I'm thinking I should have a fortnight or so of eating all the baddies and just see what happens to my bloods. If I'm just a person who has odd haemoglobin and am not really prediabetic then my sugars shouldnt change much.? I also know fasting readings can get higher on low carb so maybe I can get to see what they truly are on a carb binge ?? Do you think I should try it? If I do and get a nasty shock how hard would it be to get back to low carbs and would I have undone some of my presumed good work?
 
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There is emerging evidence that dietary sat fat may actually be protective wrt heart health. The Diet Heart myth has been debunked. PUFAs are the fats to cut down/out of your diet as these are known to be inflammatory.
 
Guzzler, what are pufas?? There is so much contradictory advice out there for carbs, fats and just about everything else , the more I research the more anxious and confused I get. I. Have cardio vascular disease history in my family as well as a diabetic history. Having cancer made me take a hard look at myself and I just honestly wanted to do the best for myself. Now I am totally confused as to what to do . I sometimes wish I never found out about that darned HbA1c result !!!!
 
PUFAS are the poly unsaturated fatty acids - the unnatural man made ones.
There is more evidence now that the natural fats found as part of foods are beneficial rather than doing damage.
I don't understand why you got any sort of red light with Hba1c of 6 percent - that is only just into the prediabetic range, but it seems that the lack of assistance from HCPs has put you into the frame of mind where high carb binges can happen - and you eat bread and porridge from time to time, both those would elevate my BG.
I believe that the 'normal' diet we are advised to eat is really not a good thing, and that eating foods which are low in carbs but high in nutrients such as fresh veges or berries in moderation will prove to be far more beneficial to our well being. I tried to eat low carb for decades before diagnosis of type two diabetes because I felt so well when I did.
I have no idea what the situation might be medically - but eating a low carb diet is no bad thing, and hopefully it will help until things become clearer. There might be a possibility that it is the failure of your pancreas to make insulin that is the problem, rather than insulin resistance leading to type two - but it is not possible to diagnose those over the internet.
 
Resurgam, I was tested with the HbA1c initially as part of a blood screen to do with possible cancer recurrence symptoms. Thankfully this was not the case ! The hba1c result came back to me via an admin person along with a leaflet saying I was very high risk of getting diabetes unless I made serious lifestyle changes!!! I was flabbergasted and phoned the doc who said talk to the practice nurse !. It took 3 weeks to get an appt . By this time I'd done my own research and decided to try low carb. My doc wanted to retest in a year but I persuaded the nurse to test me again in 4 months time.
 

I too have a strong familial history of heart disease in my family and so pay an especial interest in heart health. Polyunsaturated fats are found in vegetable cooking oils (seed oils) and in an awful lot of processed foodstuffs so I avoid these and stick to fruit oils such as olive oil and coconut oil and to the solid animal fats.
I keep my carbohydrate levels low as carbs in higher numbers are inflammatory.
 
You are at the very lowest level of prediabetes - why anyone would claim that is very high risk I really do not know - maybe they like scaring people.
I am perhaps rather blaze about it as I went from fully blown diabetic to normal in 6 months of low carbing - one reason a advise people to stick to it as I am confident that it can help.
 
A low carb state is a much better position to assist cancer remission, as cancers love higher insulin and glucose. Your trigs at 1 are good, but indicate perhaps a higher carb amount that is optimum for you (mine are almost half that, but this could be an individual thing). Again by todays standards 26% body fat is good, but you may need to be closer to 15 to clear your liver if this is fatty. As your BMI is so low, in your shoes I would bias towards resistance training to metabolise some of the 26% fat to lean tissue (your BMI would increase, but lean mass is healthier than fat so no issue).

I did a A1CNow+ test today and got a 5.2% and 4.9% (and similar on around 8 other tests this year), yet my official HbA1c is 5.6%. On my Accu-Chek Mobile, my 90 day combined average is 4.3 with 116 measurements. For the last 2 weeks I have a Freestyle Libre with the following:



I have a meeting with my DR try to understand why all of my units indicate a lower HbA1c and how could the Libre results be 16% better than last year (and consistent 90 day results on 4 different manufacturer glucometers registered 4.3 / 4.4 averages) be wrong). I am not that bothered, as my meters have shown lower numbers pre and post meals, I am leaner and fitter, but as a techy this is a niggle.

Anyway these may assist you on cholesterol:



 

Have you seen @Bluetit1802 thread on HbA1c tests carried out at two different labs on the same blood draw?
Her findings are similar to your own.
 
Hi Chez, If all your other markers of metabolic syndrome are getting better, I wouldn't throw it all up just have a check to see if food influences my hba1c.
Best wishes for your health situation.
D.

 
If triglycerides are down, your diet definitely is helping! And yes, even just slowing the glucose/hba1c is a good thing. Not sure why you are disheartened? Might be worth reducing carbs a bit more. We aim for a limit of 10g per meal, and that's helped a lot.
 
Thanks everyone for your support x Basically I am just probably still a bit in denial that I am actually pre diabetic. My numbers are all borderline to normal. Low carb, weight loss and exercise has not changed my HbA1c . They have probably helped my overall fitness though and I'm not about to give up on those gains yet. The thing is, I only started testing my blood glucose AFTER I had done low carb for 3 weeks. I never knew what was really happening before I went lo carb. I think that what I need to do is to eat the "old way " for a short while (perhaps a couple of weeks at least to let my pancreas readjust to higher carbs)and then check my bloods regularly. If the levels go haywire then I definitely know I have a problem with glucose control and I can finally have a big cry and come to accept that I have a "real"problem and return to carb control with more committment. If by some miracle I don't have a horrendous reaction to increasing my carbs then I would have lifted this awful weight of dread that has descended over me since being tested by the doc and then abandoned by her to my own devices !!! i blame my scientific background I suppose, that makes me just want to test to see if this diet really has had an effect ...bit like stopping a drug to see if the symptoms return lol. Anyone else done this after starting low carb?
 
Isn't HbA1c an indicator of past 3 month's average sugar level? How does it vary as mentioned above in a single day?
 
Intermediate fasting could work wonders for you. Continue with exercise, diet etc. But collapse all your food intake in two meals a day and absolute nothing before, after, or between the meals except plenty of water if you feel hungry or thirsty. No solids or even other liquids in between, at all. Not even a toffee, chewing gum, cooldrink etc in between. Doing this will reduce your insulin resistance, as every occasion of slightest food intake generates insulin that goes towards making you insulin resistant. My HbA1c level dropped 8.1-6.9-5.9-5.2 percent in consecutive months this way. Try for couple of months at least, and if it works, continue with it.
 
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