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Started very low carb.

G

gowest12

Well-Known Member
Messages
133
Hi I have posted here before regarding the problem with my belly waist to hip ratio but almost underweight. I will state I’m female aged 49 and weigh 7 stone 5 and I’m 5ft. So was shocked at the prediabetes diagnosis but not that shocked as I had high blood pressure which I suspected was linked to insulin resistance. So to update I’ve done what I was advised to do go very low carb and I’m testing 2 hours after eating but my readings don’t give me much hope!!! Even after eating simply a mackerel salad in olive oil with lettuce leaves olives and cheese I get a reading of 6 and i thought if we are very low carb like that we would be a lot lower after 2 hours. I’m really getting down about all this. I’ve started exercising. Up until last week I was eating things like low carb bread lentils and beans but now am going without those carbs and just using carbs from vegetables. I feel like I’m going to be defeated if I can’t get any lower readings than 6! 6 after 2 hours is not good at all??? Makes me wonder if they made a mistake hba1c 42 it sounds like full diabetic!!! I’m really scared now. It’s an ongoing battle for me I check my waist still 29 inches! And hips still 34 making me still high risk! If I lose more weight I will be underweight!!! Amy advice please??? I thought starting to exercise would help but not seeing any reduction in waist size. Other people tell me I’m skinny but clearly I’m not. Just to add to the conversation my mum was type 2 diabetic and my sister is prediabetic with hba1c of 47 and she’s same problem as me with the waist to hip ratio but she weighs more than me
 
Hi, I think it's early days. A reading of 6 is bang normal after food and you should focus on that success rather than thinking it should be lower. In my early keto days I regularly had readings up to and over 7 after food, even though there was next to no carbs in what I'd eaten. I started high and finsihed a bit higher. After a few months all the readings came down but over three years in I still expect to see a 6 or more every so often.

If your A1c is 42 then that is in "normal" 38-42 range. Low carbing is not a crash diet and while BGs should come down and fat should come off it doesn't happen overnight. Keep calm and carry on?

The other thing is that a lot of the estimates about what weight you should be for your height, waist size, whatever, rely on people being standard sizes and shapes. If you're not a standard shape (I'm definitely not) the measure won't work well for you.
 
So 6 is ok?? It doesn’t sound like my hba1c may be wrong??? It just made me think it may be higher than 42?
 
gowest12 said:
So 6 is ok?? It doesn’t sound like my hba1c may be wrong??? It just made me think it may be higher than 42?
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And can I ask to get these good readings on low carb am I right in thinking I need to not eat any slow release carbs either like lentils or beans???
 
gowest12 said:
Even after eating simply a mackerel salad in olive oil with lettuce leaves olives and cheese I get a reading of 6
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You don't say what your pre meal reading was, the actual numbers are not as important as the difference in the before and after results. It's the difference between the two that tell you how that particular meal affected your sugar levels.
As you probably know, the meters are really not that accurate (+/-15%) that's a 30% margin of error. All the meters can give us is a rough idea of what range our levels are at. And as @KennyA said, 6mmol/L after food is just about as normal as you can get.

gowest12 said:
feel like I’m going to be defeated if I can’t get any lower readings than 6! 6 after 2 hours is not good at all???
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How low do you want it to be, in the 5's? well if you consider the 15% accuracy, a reading of 6 means that your actual sugar level could have been anywhere between 5.1 and 7
Would you be happier if it had read 5, then your real level could be 4 to 6.5, do you see what I'm getting at. Even with a reading of 5 your level could actually be higher than you think it is when you got a 6.
gowest12 said:
Makes me wonder if they made a mistake hba1c 42 it sounds like full diabetic!!! I’m really scared now.
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The HbA1c and your meter are measuring different things you really can't compare them. Why are you scared? It's better to avoid becoming a full blown T2 if you can, but it's not the end of the world. I've been a fully paid up member of the T2 club for almost a decade, I'm sill alive and kicking, fitter than I was ten years ago and enjoying life. Do your best to be healthy but don't ruin your today's by worrying about tomorrow.
 
gowest12 said:
And can I ask to get these good readings on low carb am I right in thinking I need to not eat any slow release carbs either like lentils or beans???
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Both in one go - your A1c is 42. There is no evidence it "should" be higher. The meter reading of 6 (error being accepted) is consistent with your A1c. That is all good news.

The second question isn't straightforward. Yes, legumes and lentils are carb heavy. However, you don't know how you handle them until you eat and test. After avoiding legumes for 2 years I gave broad beans a go in something, tested before and after, and had only a small and very acceptable BG rise. Repeated the procedure with cannellini, kidney beans etc and confirmed that I seem to be able to tolerate legumes. Potato, bread or anything flour based like pastry or pasta still sends me unaccptably high - I can go from 4.5 to 8 or above on a very small quantity which tells me that long term these items can't be part of my standard diet.

And we're all different, so while anyone can tell you which foods have carbs in them and therefore you should at least be cautious, nobody can really tell you what will work for you - you have to establish that yourself.
 
Is there any advice regarding how many carbs we should be eating in a day?? Any advice on what to eat can I find any info on this site about that?
 
gowest12 said:
Is there any advice regarding how many carbs we should be eating in a day?? Any advice on what to eat can I find any info on this site about that?
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Use your meter to figure out the best diet for you.
Test immediately before eating, then again 2hr afterwards, it is the difference between the two that matters. If your level is 2mmol or more above your pre meal level the there were too many carbs in that meal for you to handle.
For example your mackerel salad, I would wager had very little effect on your levels. You asked about lentils, make a note of the portion size, cook them and eat them, test before & after. Let's say for example before you were at 5.5 mmol and 2hrs afterwards 8.5, a 3mmol rise, then you know there were too many carbs. You can cut down the amount and try again. Eventually through trial and error you will know what amount you can have or if you need to cross lentils of the menu altogether.
No one can tell you what to eat or how much to have, we are all different, just looking at lentils sends my levels high, you need to find out how you react to different foods,
By using your meter this way you will eventually design a diet that's suitable for you, just don't get too hung up on the actual numbers, the meters are just a guide.
 
gowest12 said:
Is there any advice regarding how many carbs we should be eating in a day?? Any advice on what to eat can I find any info on this site about that?
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That’s a piece of string kind of question. It depends on so many factors. Your size weight metabolism activity degree of insulin resistance etc etc The post above this one by catinthehat explains how to work out what works for you right now. Even that could change in time.
 
Ok so today I tested before lunch and my level was 5.8 is this high premeal reading? I need to check 2 hours after what the reading is but 5.8 sounds high to me for hba1c of 42
 
gowest12 said:
Ok so today I tested before lunch and my level was 5.8 is this high premeal reading? I need to check 2 hours after what the reading is but 5.8 sounds high to me for hba1c of 42
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To answer your question - no, 5.8 on fingerprick before eating is normal for someone without diabetes and not high for an A1c of 42.

If you look at the blood glucose levels chart here https://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/blood-sugar-level-ranges.html
you'll see that 5.8 is within the normal pre-meal range for people without diabetes.

You really cannot take a single fingerprick reading (particularly a normal one) and predict what the A1c is going to be either today or in three months. The A1c looks back around three months: it won't tell you how you're doing today, or in the last week. The fingerprick today by itself will have no bearing on what your A1c will be in April. If you had (say) a month's worth of data from testing before and after meals, you might have a much better chance of estimating a subsequent A1c.

Although food is the biggest factor for most people there are a large number of other things - eg illness, stress, medication, exercise, ambient temperature - that can affect your blood glucose levels.
 
Ok thank you. Is it worth me doing it for a month before and after meals?? While I’m starting low carb??
 
gowest12 said:
Ok thank you. Is it worth me doing it for a month before and after meals?? While I’m starting low carb??
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That's really a decision for you. You have a normal A1c of 42, and as far as I'm aware you have no diabetic symptoms. I'm attaching a graph that shows the distribution of A1c values for non-diabetic people. Bear in mind that to be diagnosed as T2 on the basis of HbA1c you would need to be at a confirmed level of 48, so you are quite some way below that.

I found, as do many people, that low carb/keto will reduce both blood glucose and body fat.

You may want to lose some body fat. If you're only interested in fat loss, the meter readings won't be a lot of use. If you want to track your blood glucose levels, and are happy paying for the strips, then you would have to test more than daily. If you do, I would suggest that you keep a written record of your results alongside a food and events diary that links your results to what you ate and any other relevant thing - such as a cold or fever.
 

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@gowest12 if it helps here is a study of what happened when 159 healthy non diabetics wore a cgm

Continuous Glucose Monitoring Profiles in Healthy Nondiabetic Participants: A Multicenter Prospective Study - PMC

Use of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is increasing for insulin-requiring patients with diabetes. Although data on glycemic profiles of healthy, nondiabetic individuals exist for older sensors, assessment of glycemic metrics with new-generation ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Bear in mind that US figures in mg/dL can be converted to mmol/L by dividing by 18.

Overall, the mean of the individual average 24-hour glucose was 99 ± 7 mg/dL (5.5 ± 0.4 mmol/L), and the mean of the within-individual coefficient of variation (CV), a metric of glucose variability, was 17 ± 3% (Table 2). Overall, median percentage of time spent between 70 and 140 mg/dL (3.9 to 7.8 mmol/L) was 96% (IQR, 93 to 98). The mean average glucose level was 98 to 99 mg/dL (5.4 to 5.5 mmol/L) for all age groups except those ≥60 years old in whom mean average glucose was 104 mg/dL (5.8 mmol/L; P < 0.001 comparing those ≥60 years old with those younger). Similarly, median time spent in the glucose range of 70 to 140 mg/dL was lowest at 93% in adults ≥60 years of age (P < 0.001). Overall, median time spent with glucose levels >140 mg/dL was 2.1% (30 min/d) and <70 mg/dL was 1.1% (15 min/d). Sensor glucose values >180 mg/dL (10.0 mmol/L) and <54 mg/dL (3.0 mmol/L) were uncommon. However, 28% of participants had at least one hypoglycemic event.

I don't personally think a reading in the 6s after a meal is in any way abnormal.
 
gowest12 said:
So 6 is ok?? It doesn’t sound like my hba1c may be wrong??? It just made me think it may be higher than 42?
Click to expand...

I am happy with anything up to 7.8 at the two hour mark. If it’s something like 6.9 I celebrate. I think the damage does not occur below 7.8. There is no stress on the system. I am sorry I do not have the link to the science article, but you rock!
 
Is that right about 7.8 being ok for no damage being done? I’ve been on some American sites and they claim damage is being done at 120 in their measurements which I think is about 6.8 i think. I always thought up to 7.8 was ok but then I read on those sites that say it’s bad to go over 120!
 
You need to check really carefully on US sites what measurements they are using. You particularly need to watch out for readings as percentages being confused with readings in mmol/l.

120mg/dl is about 6.6mmol/l, which is normal. With the best will in the world, some of the stuff you're reading does not appear to be that well informed. You shouldn't stress about normal readings and necessary changes in blood glucose levels.
 
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