Hello I’m new to the group. Merry Christmas to everone. I had my Hba1c results back and it is 83mmol/mol. I am now looking at reducing this. Starting with my diet. Can someone please tell me how many carbs I should be consuming a day. I think these blood results are high? Thank you all.
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Hba1c readings
- Thread starter Scott1875
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Sorry to hear you’ve had to join our select band.
83 is well into diabetes territory, so I can understand why you want to begin to address your diabetes straight away.
When it comes to managing your diabetes, it can be wise to make changes to your menu gradually over a period of weeks and months - partly because they need to be sustainable long term, but also because very rapid and sudden changes to blood glucose levels are harder on the fine blood vessels in your eyes and supplying nerve endings, and changing things more gently will give your body time to adapt and help to avoid potential problems.
One of the biggest questions when trying to get to grips with your diabetes is often ‘what can I eat’ and while there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will want to cut out straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits.
There are a variety of Meal Plans here which you could browse through
www.diabetes.org.uk
Though you may decide to start with a brutally honest food diary for a week or two, and then begin changing a meal or two at a time to phase in your new way of eating, or simply consider a sequence of portion-size reductions over a number of weeks?
83 is well into diabetes territory, so I can understand why you want to begin to address your diabetes straight away.
When it comes to managing your diabetes, it can be wise to make changes to your menu gradually over a period of weeks and months - partly because they need to be sustainable long term, but also because very rapid and sudden changes to blood glucose levels are harder on the fine blood vessels in your eyes and supplying nerve endings, and changing things more gently will give your body time to adapt and help to avoid potential problems.
One of the biggest questions when trying to get to grips with your diabetes is often ‘what can I eat’ and while there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will want to cut out straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits.
There are a variety of Meal Plans here which you could browse through
Meal plans and diabetes
Eating nutritious, healthy and downright delicious food is that bit easier with our meal planners. We've created multiple different weekly meal plans to suit all types and tastes. They're nutritionally balanced, are calorie and carb counted, and can help if you want to lose weight. They also...
Though you may decide to start with a brutally honest food diary for a week or two, and then begin changing a meal or two at a time to phase in your new way of eating, or simply consider a sequence of portion-size reductions over a number of weeks?
harbottle
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Not the Xmas present you wanted, I guess!
Mine was 83.
I went straight into a low carb/low calorie diet and probably did < 50g of carbs a day.
I didn’t cut carbs completely, and still ate fruit and a lot of vegetables: onions, tomatoes, oranges, apples (in small amounts), fennel, berries, peppers, celery, cauliflower and broccoli. I have small portions of potato and also make daal with lentils.
Within two weeks my eyesight returned back to normal (It has been getting blurry.) and all the symptoms of high blood sugar (mine was leg pains) had gone.
Note: I did it very quickly, but some people here say it should be done slowly. I had no idea of that that at the time!
I try to keep saturated fat low, so only have modest portions of things like cheese and don’t eat red meat at all.
Mine was 83.
I went straight into a low carb/low calorie diet and probably did < 50g of carbs a day.
I didn’t cut carbs completely, and still ate fruit and a lot of vegetables: onions, tomatoes, oranges, apples (in small amounts), fennel, berries, peppers, celery, cauliflower and broccoli. I have small portions of potato and also make daal with lentils.
Within two weeks my eyesight returned back to normal (It has been getting blurry.) and all the symptoms of high blood sugar (mine was leg pains) had gone.
Note: I did it very quickly, but some people here say it should be done slowly. I had no idea of that that at the time!
I try to keep saturated fat low, so only have modest portions of things like cheese and don’t eat red meat at all.
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Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Interesting as I was just the opposite, I cut my carbs to 70g per day and started to get blurred near vision after a few weeks which took several months to return to normal and I only started at 50mmol/mol.
I only realised the reason by reading on here.
harbottle
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- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I'm short sighted (Quite badly) and probably need varifocals now (The opticians was quite surprised I'd managed to get to 50 without needing them!)
As my Dad had T2 I was always on the lookout for the 'popular' symptoms (toilet, thirst, etc.) and didn't realise there was an effect on eyesight. During the summer I started to notice I was struggling to read number plates and menus in takeaways and stuff in the distance looked blurred. I thought it was just natural changes in my eyesight as I'd not had a test for 2 or so years... It was only after getting diagnosed as T2 that I found the eyesight link. (I wear glasses, and have done since I was a child.) Strangely, my near vision had got better (The optician was right, I was struggling.)
I can still remember the day I was walking up to my local shops with the kids and realised that the skyline of the city centre was extremely clear as were number plates and road signs. This was before I'd even started the second metformin tablet. I guessed then that my BG levels had come down (I wasn't doing any testing - didn't do any for 3 months.)
As my Dad had T2 I was always on the lookout for the 'popular' symptoms (toilet, thirst, etc.) and didn't realise there was an effect on eyesight. During the summer I started to notice I was struggling to read number plates and menus in takeaways and stuff in the distance looked blurred. I thought it was just natural changes in my eyesight as I'd not had a test for 2 or so years... It was only after getting diagnosed as T2 that I found the eyesight link. (I wear glasses, and have done since I was a child.) Strangely, my near vision had got better (The optician was right, I was struggling.)
I can still remember the day I was walking up to my local shops with the kids and realised that the skyline of the city centre was extremely clear as were number plates and road signs. This was before I'd even started the second metformin tablet. I guessed then that my BG levels had come down (I wasn't doing any testing - didn't do any for 3 months.)
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Eyes are weird things, I have worn glasses since I was 10 and varifocals for 35 years, first pair from the optician at Cannon Park. But as you get older you tend to become less short sighted but unless I have ultra thin lenses then they are just too thick so of course they cost an arm and a leg. They are outside to range that can be got from the on-line suppliers but anyway with varifocals it is CRITICAL they fit properly.
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