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[TinaP]

Just had my HbA1c result back which is now 47 satisfactory i'm delighted. I have succeeded this in 6 months my starting HbA1c was 117 in March 2019. I am not taking any medication just diet but I'm struggling with my carb intake and can anyone help to make this easier to make the right choices each day. I would really appreciate anyone who has the complications in their eyes, this is getting me down now my sight is getting worse. Thanks

 

[CathyB]

Hi Tina, great result in bringing your level down so well done you! I had huge problems with my eyes at the start but it did settle as my bloods came back in range so might be worth you having a chat with your doctor if you are still having problems.

 

[Greymouser]

Hi Tina, welcome to this great forum, you will not regret it. 🙂

The struggling with the diet changes will get easier, at least they have for me, but still I have my moments of annoyance at not being able to indulge my like for bread and cake!

The support is poor from the NHS sometimes, but this place sure supplements things and helps immensely. I too like many here have, or have had issues with their eyes. If you have specific questions pleas ask away, but it sounds to me as if you need to chat with your doctor, as cathy says, to see what information he can give you. But, as someone has just said to me elsewhere on this forum, don't just put it to one side. If not your doctor, see your specialist nurse, our sight is just too important to risk. I assume you have been for eye screening?

Whatever else, I hope you are feeling better in yourself soon, because you have done so well in getting your HbA1c under control, give yourself a huge pat on the back! 🙂

 

[rebrascora]

Many congratulations from me too. That is a huge improvement and you should be exceptionally proud of yourself!

Have you had retinal screening yet? If not, you should be referred for an appointment and if you haven't then ask your DN.

How are you struggling with your carb intake and what sort of help do you need. If you have managed such a huge reduction in HbA11c, you must have been doing something very right during the past 6 months! Are you just struggling to maintain a low carb diet? Have you increased your fat intake? Do you need to lose weight? These are all things which might impact advice on diet

 

[TinaP]

Hi Tina, great result in bringing your level down so well done you! I had huge problems with my eyes at the start but it did settle as my bloods came back in range so might be worth you having a chat with your doctor if you are still having problems.

Hi CathyB I am under an ophthalmologist and have had 3 injections so far with no improvement but no worse in my right eye and my sight in my left eye is getting more blurry. I have had an flourescein angiograhy which is a dye into the arm to show the damaged veins in the eyes. I have an appointment tomorrow with the ophthalmologist to see if more injections are needed and what else they can do. I have another appointment with the low vision team next Thursday. I'm off work because of my vision loss and have been for nearly 5 months. Things are not easy what kind of problems did you have Cathhy? Thanks for your reply again.

 

[TinaP]

Many congratulations from me too. That is a huge improvement and you should be exceptionally proud of yourself!

Have you had retinal screening yet? If not, you should be referred for an appointment and if you haven't then ask your DN.

How are you struggling with your carb intake and what sort of help do you need. If you have managed such a huge reduction in HbA11c, you must have been doing something very right during the past 6 months! Are you just struggling to maintain a low carb diet? Have you increased your fat intake? Do you need to lose weight? These are all things which might impact advice on diet

I not sure how to count the carbs in all the different foods. I like lots of fruit and veg so how do you add these up in a day?
I've lost nearly 3 stones since March 2019 and exercise everyday but the food problems stress me out when my glucose meter shows spikes in my levels even without eating.. I want to maintain my HbA1c results and hopefully reduce my number even lower this is my next challenge to do this I must be controlling my carbs everyday. I have the complications in both eyes and I am under an ophthalmologist and have had 3 injections so far with no improvement but no worse in my right eye and my sight in my left eye is getting more blurry. I have had an flourescein angiograhy which is a dye into the arm to show the damaged veins in the eyes. I have an appointment tomorrow with the ophthalmologist to see if more injections are needed and what else they can do. I have another appointment with the low vision team next Thursday.

 

[TinaP]

Hi, Tina. Welcome to the forum and well done with getting your BG down. We have some things in common - I was diagnosed at 114 in March but got it down to 41 last month just by diet and exercise, so very similar paths.

I just took on board all the dietary advice on this and other sites and stuck to it. I average 130g of carbs per day but some members go lower, some much lower. Which parts are you struggling with?

Martin

I not sure how to count the carbs in all the different foods. I like lots of fruit and veg so how do you add these up in a day?
I've lost nearly 3 stones since March 2019 and exercise everyday but the food problems stress me out when my glucose meter shows spikes in my levels even without eating.. I want to maintain my HbA1c results and hopefully reduce my number even lower this is my next challenge to do this I must be controlling my carbs everyday. I have the complications in both eyes and I am under an ophthalmologist and have had 3 injections so far with no improvement but no worse in my right eye and my sight in my left eye is getting more blurry. I have had an flourescein angiograhy which is a dye into the arm to show the damaged veins in the eyes. I have an appointment tomorrow with the ophthalmologist to see if more injections are needed and what else they can do. I have another appointment with the low vision team next Thursday.

 

[TinaP]

Many congratulations from me too. That is a huge improvement and you should be exceptionally proud of yourself!

Have you had retinal screening yet? If not, you should be referred for an appointment and if you haven't then ask your DN.

How are you struggling with your carb intake and what sort of help do you need. If you have managed such a huge reduction in HbA11c, you must have been doing something very right during the past 6 months! Are you just struggling to maintain a low carb diet? Have you increased your fat intake? Do you need to lose weight? These are all things which might impact advice on diet

I not sure how to count the carbs in all the different foods. I like lots of fruit and veg so how do you add these up in a day?
I've lost nearly 3 stones since March 2019 and exercise everyday but the food problems stress me out when my glucose meter shows spikes in my levels even without eating.. I want to maintain my HbA1c results and hopefully reduce my number even lower this is my next challenge to do this I must be controlling my carbs everyday. I have the complications in both eyes and I am under an ophthalmologist and have had 3 injections so far with no improvement but no worse in my right eye and my sight in my left eye is getting more blurry. I have had an flourescein angiograhy which is a dye into the arm to show the damaged veins in the eyes. I have an appointment tomorrow with the ophthalmologist to see if more injections are needed and what else they can do. I have another appointment with the low vision team next Thursday.

 

[CathyB]

Hi CathyB I am under an ophthalmologist and have had 3 injections so far with no improvement but no worse in my right eye and my sight in my left eye is getting more blurry. I have had an flourescein angiograhy which is a dye into the arm to show the damaged veins in the eyes. I have an appointment tomorrow with the ophthalmologist to see if more injections are needed and what else they can do. I have another appointment with the low vision team next Thursday. I'm off work because of my vision loss and have been for nearly 5 months. Things are not easy what kind of problems did you have Cathhy? Thanks for your reply again.

I’m sorry you are having so much worry over this but completely understand why, must be awful for you, hope they can resolve it soon. For me it was fluctuations in my vision, one minute I needed reading glasses, 5 minutes later I could see better without them, blurred vision would appear suddenly and clear just as quickly, it made driving a nightmare. The sudden changes had me scared stiff, thought I was going mad. At the same time my emotions were all over the place, I would be fine, then feel an unreasonable fury building over nothing, I would be in tears over such stupid things. Lastly the thirst, no matter how much water I guzzled, I just needed more and more.

 

[Wirrallass]

Just had my HbA1c result back which is now 47 satisfactory i'm delighted. I have succeeded this in 6 months my starting HbA1c was 117 in March 2019. I am not taking any medication just diet but I'm struggling with my carb intake and can anyone help to make this easier to make the right choices each day. I would really appreciate anyone who has the complications in their eyes, this is getting me down now my sight is getting worse. Thanks

Hi TinaP you've done an amazing job to control your bgls so well done you

To help you manage your diabetes I can highly recommend a book entitled the CARB & CALORIE COUNTER which you'll find enormously helpful. It has over 1700 coloured photographs of a wide range of popular food & drink items. The carborhydrate ~calorie ~ protein ~ saturated fat ~ and fibre values are clearly displayed in coloured-coded circles below each photo. This highly visual approach makes it incredibly quick & easy to see the nutrient content of the food and drink you consume. The book is also the perfect support tool for weight management ~ portion control ~ and general healthy eating and can be purchased from DUK ~ or Amazon.

Take a look at the following link as there's plenty of info within it which will be helpful to you:~

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/useful-links-for-people-new-to-diabetes

Hi CathyB I am under an ophthalmologist and have had 3 injections so far with no improvement but no worse in my right eye and my sight in my left eye is getting more blurry. I have had an flourescein angiograhy which is a dye into the arm to show the damaged veins in the eyes. I have an appointment tomorrow with the ophthalmologist to see if more injections are needed and what else they can do. I have another appointment with the low vision team next Thursday. I'm off work because of my vision loss and have been for nearly 5 months. Things are not easy what kind of problems did you have Cathhy? Thanks for your reply again.

I have tagged @Kalyz as I think she will be able to help you re your eyes.
Take care
WL

 

[Drummer]

It is a bit concerning that you like lots of fruit and veges - you could be spiking your blood glucose levels after eating them.
Hba1c is an average - so you might be going fairly low and fairly high.
I avoid higher sugar and higher starch foods - so do not have to try to count the carbs, but I developed the menu I stick to by looking for foods with 10 percent carbs or less.
If you have modern kitchen scales it is easy to find out the exact weight of a portion of food or piece of fruit, multiply the weight divided by 100 by the percentage of carbs and you know the carbs in what you have in front of you.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi again.
So sorry to hear about your eyes. It sounds like you are getting good treatment but I can understand that it must be very worrying.
You really have done incredibly well to lose so much weight and bring your HbA1c down such a long way, so the important thing is to keep doing what you are doing and just make minor modifications..... so maybe swapping a piece of fruit for lower carb options like nuts or olives or celery and dips or a lower carb fruit like raspberries or split your fruit in half, so if it is a apple, eat half in the morning and half in the afternoon. If you are eating a banana, just have a small one and again split it over 2 days and have it with a little cream as this will slow the speed at which the sugars from the fruit hit the blood stream. Tropical fruits like bananas and pineapple and mango etc are higher in natural sugars than native fruits like raspberries and blackberries. Grapes are pretty high and easy to just sit and eat a whole bunch without realising how many carbs you have consumed. A kiwi fruit is only about 5g carbs so that might be something to go for instead of an orange or banana or an apple.

Perhaps if you give us an idea of a typical day's food for you, we could suggest some minor tweaks to help you.

One of the things that I found most difficult to get my head around was cutting back on carbs and eating more fat. All our lives we have been encouraged to believe that fat is bad and that we should pile our plates up with carbs. It is a hard habit to overcome and I still feel guilty about the amount of fat I eat but I feel so much better than I did when I was eating carbs and my weight is now stable at a normal BMI and I feel satisfied by the food I eat and do not suffer the cravings I did when eating a carb heavy diet.
This morning I had a chunk of cheese and a coffee with cream for breakfast.... would never have believed that I could drink coffee without some form of sweetener but with cream I just don't need it. For lunch I had what is often a breakfast choice for me of a mushroom, onion, courgette, pepper and cheese 2 egg omelette cooked in a good amount of olive oil with a huge side salad of lettuce leaves, cucumber, a tomato, avocado and cheese coleslaw. Tonight I may eat out as we have to attend a meeting but will make a low carb choice. Otherwise it would have been a beef burger (Lidl do a gorgeous Aberdeen Angus premium burger 2 pack) with a large portion of ratatouille and green beans. Another favourite is high meat content (80% meat +) sausages with cauliflower cheese and whatever other vegetables I have available. Eat as much green leafy veg as you like.... they are usually improved by the addition of a knob of butter or cream cheese. Don't be frightened that this will make you put on weight. It is the easily digested sugars and starches from carbohydrates that the body happily stores as fat, so if you are not eating those then the body will use the fat you eat for energy.

I hope that gives you a bit of an idea of how to go forward. A low carb high, fat diet is now recognised by quite a few professionals in the health and food field as something that is beneficial and not just for diabetics. I don't worry about calories or anything else except eating foods which are low in carbs, in the same way as @Drummer does.... she was my inspiration for getting into low carb eating. Despite being a total sugar addict when I was diagnosed 7 months ago, I am happily eating a diet that is almost devoid of it now and enjoying my food more than I have in years and best of all, I am in control and I don't suffer from those horrible, all consuming cravings. I can even eat a small square of dark (70%) chocolate every now and then as a treat without wanting to eat the whole bar!