Lowering cholesterol and controlling blood glucose - do you find my story hard to believe?

leosmith66

I posted the following at a diabetes forum, and was told by some members in a not so pleasant way that they find it hard to believe. This really happened to me - does it sound fabricated?

"About 2 years ago I went to the emergency care unit suffering from what I though were food poisoning symptoms. They couldn’t find anything, and prescribed a short term BRAT diet. That made the symptoms go away, but when I went back on my normal diet (very high in processed carbs), they came back. So I tried plant-based with no luck. Then I tried paleo and thrived. It’s worth noting that my plant-based diet included lots of processed carbs, and paleo had much less.

About a year later I had some labs done and my cholesterol was very high (409), and I had an a1c of 5.8, which made me pre-diabetic. I tried 2 or 3 variations of low carb diets, one of which was ketogenic, but that didn’t help. My total cholesterol was now 527, a1c 5.9 and I had frequent leg cramps.

At that point I got a new doctor, and he said my cholesterol was much more concerning than my a1c. He said because we have very little data, it may turn out that my blood sugar has been at this level for years, and that it’s not progressing. He suggested that I wait for several months to check it again. So I took his advice, and I also started to eat a diet low in fat and high in complex carbs (Fuhrman’s diet for diabetics). This was just before taking a 6 month vacation overseas.

My leg cramps went away a couple weeks into my vacation. My most recent labs were last month, and my total cholesterol was 261 (LDL 177/HDL 74/ TGL 30). My a1c was 5.8.

I don’t know if following Fuhrman’s diet controlled my bg, or if my doctor is right in saying that my bg is just naturally holding steady in what’s considered the pre-diabetic range. Bottom line is it looks like I can live my life like I am without fear of progressing into diabetes. Regarding cholesterol, it was definitely diet that fixed that."