newley diagnosed maybe

[aard]

I'm confused by my blood readings.

I've been pre-diabetic for about 10 years, I suffer all the symptons of diabetes badly but this has always been dismissed by various doctors as not being due to diabetes as my Hbac1 have always been 6-6.5%.

Anyway recently got diagnosed after hbc1 test(6.7%), then undiagnosed and asked to do a second test.
Not surprising as for the last 3 months I've been living of crisps and coke, also stopped going gym, for reasons I wont bore you with. Also I've always suspected I am genetically prone to diabetes (all my grandparents, parents, cousins ,aunts etc have it).

Anyway this spurred me on to try a low carb diet which I've been doing for 2 weeks and I've started taking my blood checks at home as well going back to gym.

The ratings I'm getting are confusing. Generally they are 5 -5.5 with two exceptions after meal (2 hours)when they were 8.4. Now I put that down to bread esp white, I usually have brown but had to have white as shops ran out of brown.

What I don't understand is the day before I had a whole bar of chocolate and my blood level never went above 5.5. Yesterday for the first time in 2 weeks I had pint milk and coke(litre )& 6 packets of crisps plus mini choc rolls in the space of an hour (just clearing out the cupboard). My blood level never went above 5.5, I though it would be soaring.

Is this normal? I know diff food affect different people in different ways but the only thing that seems to be affecting me is bread?
I've mostly stopped eating potatoes but the few times I had them my blood levels never went above 5.5.

Even yorkshire pudding ready meal only sent me to 6.4 (I'm beginning to suspect wheat is a killer for me).

Also how does anyone get to the recommended 2200 calories on low carb diet? cutting out all carbs and using a food track app I am getting 1500 calories despite having 3 meals a day and two snacks. I mean I literally cant eat more than a salad bag a day and this gives hardly any calories. And fish, turkey, chicken don't give that many calories

 

[Rachox]

Hi aard and welcome to the forum.
Your HbA1c of 6.7% (or 49.7 mmol/mol) is just in the diabetic range as quoted on this page:
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/hba1c-test.html
Do you know why after initially being diagnosed the diagnosis was withdrawn? You need to ask why so you know how to proceed with your diet etc...
With regard to adding calories when eating low carb, you need to add healthy fats to your diet. Put a knob of butter on your vegetables. Snack on olives, nuts etc...

 

[HSSS]

Can we just check when after the foods you list you check your blood? Is it just once or several times spaced over some time?

 

[Daibell]

Hi. Forget calories and any recommended level. It is marketing nonsense. As long as you eat lower-carb and have enough fats and proteins to keep you feeling full that's all you need to worry about. Your body should largely find a stable weight level. It's the carbs that largely influence weight gain and blood sugar levels and not the fats.

 

[Debandez]

I don't bother counting calories. In my opinion If you are pre diabetic then best be on a low carb diet to avoid this progressing. Medium protein and high healthy fats. I've done this since diagnosis and it's worked a treat for controlling blood sugars. Never feel hungry. Lost my love of sugar and sweet things almost immediately. I dont have the same relationship with food at all, in a good way.

Also re testing. It does depend on when you test to get accurate results. I dont test as much now as I generally know what the food I eat does to my bs. I suggest testing before you eat then 2 hours after. Also 3 as sometimes depending on what you are eating there is a delay to the spike. At the beginning i even did 4!