New Member

[Ryedale2023]

Hello I have just joined and wanted to introduce myself.
My HbA1c has been around 37 - 40 for the past three years, however when it was done last week I learned to my surprise it had risen to 44. It was 38 three months ago. I realise that I am now pre-diabetic and I need to learn more about this condition and attempt to make changes in my lifestyle in an attempt to reverse this back within normal limits. I have been referred by my medical practitioner to the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme. I have been going to the gym three times a week for 30 minute cardio workouts and using the Diabetes UK Diet book and have gone from 80k to 76k in one week. Is there anything else I should be doing at this time?

 

[Martin.A]

Hello I have just joined and wanted to introduce myself.
My HbA1c has been around 37 - 40 for the past three years, however when it was done last week I learned to my surprise it had risen to 44. It was 38 three months ago. I realise that I am now pre-diabetic and I need to learn more about this condition and attempt to make changes in my lifestyle in an attempt to reverse this back within normal limits. I have been referred by my medical practitioner to the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme. I have been going to the gym three times a week for 30 minute cardio workouts and using the Diabetes UK Diet book and have gone from 80k to 76k in one week. Is there anything else I should be doing at this time?

Hi, and welcome to the forum. Like yours my HbA1c has been hovering just inside normal - 41, 40, 41 - for a while and I'm always anxious that my next check will put me where you now are. As I already have a good exercise regime, and am a healthy weight, my focus is on managing my diet and trying to stay below 130g carbs per day. How's your diet?

 

[Ryedale2023]

Hi, and welcome to the forum. Like yours my HbA1c has been hovering just inside normal - 41, 40, 41 - for a while and I'm always anxious that my next check will put me where you now are. As I already have a good exercise regime, and am a healthy weight, my focus is on managing my diet and trying to stay below 130g carbs per day. How's your diet?

I'm using the Diabetes UK 'eating well with diabetes' handbook.I am focused on having the suggested breakfast, lunch and dinner options together with the snack suggestions if I need them. I'm not sure how you manage to estimate how many g's of carbs you have each day! At the minute I have cut out all carbs in my diet.

 

[Felinia]

I use an app (NutraCheck although there are others) to measure my carbs. I weigh every single item I consume (no guesstimating portion size), put it in the app and it works out the carbs for me. For example today's lunch is frittata and salad. My app told me that Tesco summer edition frittata was 13gm carbs for a 150gm portion, and my Tesco salad items were 5gm carbs for 142.5 gm of salad, so 18gm carbs for my meal.
I keep digital scales, a clear glass bowl and small plate on my kitchen worktop and it takes a matter of seconds to weigh out a portion. Others will look up the carb values on packets and keep pen and paper or spreadsheet totals.
It is impossible to remove all carbs, as only water and protein is carb free - even the humble lettuce has a tiny amount of carbs, hence the carb value for my salad items. You might like to look at the Food carb/queries and recipes Forum for ideas.

 

[Martin.A]

I'm not sure how you manage to estimate how many g's of carbs you have each day!

I've built up a spreadsheet showing the carbs, calories, fats, protein, fibre and salt per 100g for the things I regularly eat, lifting the info from nutrition panels or websites, and I weigh out my portions so I know what I'm eating. Might be considered OTT but it works for me (I used to work in data analysis). As well as helping me keep my carbs in check I can also track how I'm doing with RDAs.

 

[Ryedale2023]

I've built up a spreadsheet showing the carbs, calories, fats, protein, fibre and salt per 100g for the things I regularly eat, lifting the info from nutrition panels or websites, and I weigh out my portions so I know what I'm eating. Might be considered OTT but it works for me (I used to work in data analysis). As well as helping me keep my carbs in check I can also track how I'm doing with RDAs.

It seems to have worked since you have been in remission since January 2020!

 

[Martin.A]

It seems to have worked since you have been in remission since January 2020!

Yes, but it's not a done deal. Low carb is easy in the beginning because the focus is on bringing HbA1c down, especially when you're starting from three figures, as I was. The challenge is finding a sustainable low-carb diet that keeps it down.

 

[Leadinglights]

I followed the principals in this low carb approach, https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
I don't use the meal plans as such but stick with keeping carbs to about 70g per day, It has just become my new normal way of eating. I don't have rice or normal pasta, occasionally the odd potato but do have a small amount of bread but base meals on meat, fish, eggs, cheese, dairy, veg and salads.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Ryedale2023

Glad you have found us.

If you have cut back on the obviously carby things in your menu (things like bread, pasta, rice, cereals, flour, grains, and many fruits) you will probably have made a big difference to the way your metabolism is managing your glucose levels.

Remember it is all carbohydrates, not just ‘of which sugars’ which are broken down into glucose in the blood stream (which can make the traffic-light system on the front of packs slightly misleading), and that a low carbohydrate menu doesn’t mean trying to avoid all carbs entirely. It’s about trying to find the sources of carbohydrate, and the portion sizes, that suit your metabolism well 🙂

Hopefully with the tweaks to your menu that you are making, you’ll see an improvement in your HbA1c at your next check 🙂

 

[Ryedale2023]

Welcome to the forum @Ryedale2023

Glad you have found us.

If you have cut back on the obviously carby things in your menu (things like bread, pasta, rice, cereals, flour, grains, and many fruits) you will probably have made a big difference to the way your metabolism is managing your glucose levels.

Remember it is all carbohydrates, not just ‘of which sugars’ which are broken down into glucose in the blood stream (which can make the traffic-light system on the front of packs slightly misleading), and that a low carbohydrate menu doesn’t mean trying to avoid all carbs entirely. It’s about trying to find the sources of carbohydrate, and the portion sizes, that suit your metabolism well 🙂

Hopefully with the tweaks to your menu that you are making, you’ll see an improvement in your HbA1c at your next check 🙂

With the adjustments to my diet and the increased exercise I had my fasting venous blood glucose levels checked by my GP two days ago and learned that the results were 4.4. Not sure if this is as important as the HbA1c or not?

 

[Leadinglights]

With the adjustments to my diet and the increased exercise I had my fasting venous blood glucose levels checked by my GP two days ago and learned that the results were 4.4. Not sure if this is as important as the HbA1c or not?

Personally I think fasting levels are a good indication of progress day to day, week to week, month to month were you are aiming to be in the range 4-7mmol/l but what is more important is what your levels are doing after meals, so testing 2 hours post meal and trying to keep to no more than 8-8.5mol/l is a better indication of how well you are managing your condition and whether your dietary changes are being effective.
But 4.4mmol/l is a good fasting level so it sounds as if you are making good progress.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

With the adjustments to my diet and the increased exercise I had my fasting venous blood glucose levels checked by my GP two days ago and learned that the results were 4.4. Not sure if this is as important as the HbA1c or not?

That’s a great fasting result for someone on Diet and Exercise @Ryedale2023 🙂

Some people find their waking reading to be a bit stubborn, and the last to come down, so you should be encouraged that yours is at the lower end of the recommended range.