Hello I’m new to the forum I’ve lurked but never registered. Apologies for the long intro but am feeling really down today. Last year I had an hbac of 42.1 and cholesterol of 4.4 I attended a pre diabetes group for a year lost a bit more weight. Fast forward a year blood test results hbac 44 and cholesterol 6.7 my bmi is now 23 I exercise 3 times a week have cut carbs but my results are worse. Not spoken to the drs yet as they’ve put no further action on the hbac tho they have on the cholesterol. I have replaced things like cereal with Greek yoghurt and eat cheese etc so maybe that’s affected the cholesterol. I’ve got the Freshwell app and food scanner. Any suggestions do I need to cut carbs further? Try low fat alternatives? Use one of those blood sugar checkers? Any recommendations? I have been stressed but I’m not sure how big an impact that would have. Any advice gratefully received.
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Newbie pre diabetic advice please
- Thread starter LynnJ
- Start date
Inka
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Welcome @LynnJ 🙂 The good news is that that’s a very neglible increase in your HbA1C so don’t be too disheartened. As for the cholesterol, yes, it might be connected to a change in your diet. I managed to reduce mine simply by dietary changes (eating very low fat), so that’s something you could consider.
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hello and welcome to the forum from the underworld of lurkers. So pleased you have popped along to say hello but really sorry to hear that your results have not gone as expected despite your hard work. That must feel like a real kick in the teeth.
Stress can certainly push your HbA1c up and probably your cholesterol as well. However an increase from 42 to 44 is fairly insignificant but I do understand that it must be totally disappointing when you have put so much effort into lowering it.
I follow a low carb, higher fat way of eating (like you lots of cheese and cream in my morning coffee and my cholesterol over the past 6 years has remained in the mid 4s. I think weight loss can increase cholesterol temporarily.
I find/believe soluble fibre is helpful/important with cholesterol. I think this is particularly important if you remove a lot of wholegrains from your diet by going low carb. I used to eat porridge and wholemeal bread and whoelmeal pasta pre diagnosis, so I lost those from my diet quite suddenly when I was diagnosed and went low carb. I use psyllium husk and chia seeds which are both very low in carbs to replace that fibre and I make a fibre drink with them by adding 10mls each to a glass of flavoured water (I use a dash of apple cider vinegar and balsamic vinegar and a couple of inches of diet cola in my drink.... Sounds yuk, I know, but I like the sweet and sour flavour and vinegar can be helpful with managing BG levels) It effectively makes an equivalent of Fibrogel which is a branded product often prescribed by doctors to keep the bowels regular, although that just has psyllium husk in it whereas chia seeds are a bit of a super food because they contain quite high levels of omega 3 Fatty Acids which are the same as those found in oily fish, as well as lots of soluble fibre, so the combo of the two is better.
Taking both these things with fluid is really important because the fibre absorbs the water and forms a sort of gel which moves through your gut taking everything with it. It is a very gentle way of keeping you regular but if you don't take them with water they can absorb water in your gut and form a blockage, I put them in soups and stews to thicken them and some in my morning yoghurt if I am using defrosted berries as they tend to collapse and make it a bit runny, You can also use them in low carb cakes and puddings.
I buy my psyllium online but I get my chia seeds from Lidl. I always buy the whole ones as I once bought the milled ones once and they don't keep well and they started smelling fishy (think cod liver oil) when I was halfway through the pack, whereas the whole ones don't taste or smell of anything really.
There are other things like anaemia which can cause a minor increase in HbA1c so it might be worth checking that your blood results don't show that assuming full blood work was done.
Stress can certainly push your HbA1c up and probably your cholesterol as well. However an increase from 42 to 44 is fairly insignificant but I do understand that it must be totally disappointing when you have put so much effort into lowering it.
I follow a low carb, higher fat way of eating (like you lots of cheese and cream in my morning coffee and my cholesterol over the past 6 years has remained in the mid 4s. I think weight loss can increase cholesterol temporarily.
I find/believe soluble fibre is helpful/important with cholesterol. I think this is particularly important if you remove a lot of wholegrains from your diet by going low carb. I used to eat porridge and wholemeal bread and whoelmeal pasta pre diagnosis, so I lost those from my diet quite suddenly when I was diagnosed and went low carb. I use psyllium husk and chia seeds which are both very low in carbs to replace that fibre and I make a fibre drink with them by adding 10mls each to a glass of flavoured water (I use a dash of apple cider vinegar and balsamic vinegar and a couple of inches of diet cola in my drink.... Sounds yuk, I know, but I like the sweet and sour flavour and vinegar can be helpful with managing BG levels) It effectively makes an equivalent of Fibrogel which is a branded product often prescribed by doctors to keep the bowels regular, although that just has psyllium husk in it whereas chia seeds are a bit of a super food because they contain quite high levels of omega 3 Fatty Acids which are the same as those found in oily fish, as well as lots of soluble fibre, so the combo of the two is better.
Taking both these things with fluid is really important because the fibre absorbs the water and forms a sort of gel which moves through your gut taking everything with it. It is a very gentle way of keeping you regular but if you don't take them with water they can absorb water in your gut and form a blockage, I put them in soups and stews to thicken them and some in my morning yoghurt if I am using defrosted berries as they tend to collapse and make it a bit runny, You can also use them in low carb cakes and puddings.
I buy my psyllium online but I get my chia seeds from Lidl. I always buy the whole ones as I once bought the milled ones once and they don't keep well and they started smelling fishy (think cod liver oil) when I was halfway through the pack, whereas the whole ones don't taste or smell of anything really.
There are other things like anaemia which can cause a minor increase in HbA1c so it might be worth checking that your blood results don't show that assuming full blood work was done.
Thank you so much for your reply it’s so helpful you’re right I do feel a bit disheartened but it could be worse and folk have a lot more to deal with than me! I’ve got some chia seeds lurking ( like me lol) in the cupboard and will give them a try I will have a look for psyllium husk as I was going to get some to try in recipes from Freshwell ☺️
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
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- He/Him
Felinia
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
In addition to taking Fybogel, or the equivalent every day, I also take one of the cholesterol lowering drinks. Benecol is 67ml, whereas other products can be up to 100ml, so slightly higher in carbs. That regime lowered my total cholesterol from 7.8 to around 6. I can't tolerate statins but now take Ezitimibe, which has lowered my cholesterol to 4.6 without side effects.