First doctor's appointment since diagnosis
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JaceyMarieS
Posts: 692 Member
I joined MFP in October after seeing an old high school friend post about his success on Facebook. I never looked at it after joining.
I was diagnosed as diabetic in January with a A1c of 7.3 Lipid panel results at that time were
cholesterol 207, HDL 37, LDL 136, Triglycerides 169. My weight was 322. Constant back pain (2 herniated discs leading to a diagnosis of degenerative disc disease), IBS. Basically, I was a mess, except for blood pressure, which has always been quite good.
It was time to re-visit MFP and get serious. Research showed that a low-carb diet helped control blood sugar, so I made some drastic lifestyle changes. I try to keep my carbs between 50-75 grams spread over the course of a day. i concentrated on getting my carbs from vegetables and some berries. No more fruit juice, no grains. I have some food intolerances that I had previously ignored (wheat, corn, soy, peanuts and shellfish) so it wasn't as painful as I had imagined. Cutting grains had the added bonus of clearing up eczema that has plagued me since high school. IBS improved drastically, even with the addition of Metformin, which is known to cause intestinal distress.
Today, i weigh 237. A1c is down to 5.5. Total cholesterol is now 172, with HDL of 40, LDL of 109 and triglycerides at 116. I need to continue to improve the HDL:LDL ratio and I'd like to get the triglycerides below 100. Blood pressure was 108/67 which is unchanged from previous check-ups.
While the low-carb approach has been extremely successful in lowering my post-prandial numbers ( generally a 10-20 point rise at peak and back between 85-95 at 3 hours), I continue to struggle with fasting blood glucose numbers. The morning number ranges from 101-112 and I can't seem to get below 100 more than once a week. I asked to try increasing metformin to 1500 mg (up from 1000mg) in an effort to lower my fasting blood glucose numbers further, so we'll see if that works.
I didn't think I was eating a ton of saturated fat, but there's probably some room for improvement there. While my bacon and butter consumption is pretty moderate, I do love cheese. I don't really have time to increase my exercise more than the hour I already do, but I could probably sqeeze in another 15-30 minutes per day.
Anyone got any HDL-raising, LDL-lowering tips? Oatmeal is not an option at this point as a serving raises my blood glucose more than is optimal. Fish is OK, although I absolutely detest salmon. I do not want to consider a statin due to their affect on blood glucose and other side effects including liver damage. My doctor agreed with that at this point
I was diagnosed as diabetic in January with a A1c of 7.3 Lipid panel results at that time were
cholesterol 207, HDL 37, LDL 136, Triglycerides 169. My weight was 322. Constant back pain (2 herniated discs leading to a diagnosis of degenerative disc disease), IBS. Basically, I was a mess, except for blood pressure, which has always been quite good.
It was time to re-visit MFP and get serious. Research showed that a low-carb diet helped control blood sugar, so I made some drastic lifestyle changes. I try to keep my carbs between 50-75 grams spread over the course of a day. i concentrated on getting my carbs from vegetables and some berries. No more fruit juice, no grains. I have some food intolerances that I had previously ignored (wheat, corn, soy, peanuts and shellfish) so it wasn't as painful as I had imagined. Cutting grains had the added bonus of clearing up eczema that has plagued me since high school. IBS improved drastically, even with the addition of Metformin, which is known to cause intestinal distress.
Today, i weigh 237. A1c is down to 5.5. Total cholesterol is now 172, with HDL of 40, LDL of 109 and triglycerides at 116. I need to continue to improve the HDL:LDL ratio and I'd like to get the triglycerides below 100. Blood pressure was 108/67 which is unchanged from previous check-ups.
While the low-carb approach has been extremely successful in lowering my post-prandial numbers ( generally a 10-20 point rise at peak and back between 85-95 at 3 hours), I continue to struggle with fasting blood glucose numbers. The morning number ranges from 101-112 and I can't seem to get below 100 more than once a week. I asked to try increasing metformin to 1500 mg (up from 1000mg) in an effort to lower my fasting blood glucose numbers further, so we'll see if that works.
I didn't think I was eating a ton of saturated fat, but there's probably some room for improvement there. While my bacon and butter consumption is pretty moderate, I do love cheese. I don't really have time to increase my exercise more than the hour I already do, but I could probably sqeeze in another 15-30 minutes per day.
Anyone got any HDL-raising, LDL-lowering tips? Oatmeal is not an option at this point as a serving raises my blood glucose more than is optimal. Fish is OK, although I absolutely detest salmon. I do not want to consider a statin due to their affect on blood glucose and other side effects including liver damage. My doctor agreed with that at this point
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Replies
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How do statins affect blood glucose? I've never heard that before!0
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KDIPAZZ,
I started limiting my fruit to before noon and have been more successful keeping my morning BG lower.
Since you are almost there, you might consider Paleo or Primal. In three months, I lowered my Trigs from 275 down to 101, raised my HDL from 38 to 48. I eat Primal which is less restrictive because I loves my cheese. I eat no grains, process sugar, processed/boxed foods or industrial oils, just lean meat and farmers market fruits and veggies.
If you are interested, check out:
http://www.archevore.com/
http://eatingacademy.com/
http://everydaypaleo.com/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/
http://robbwolf.com/
http://thepaleodiet.com/
http://nomnompaleo.com/
There is also a Paleo/Primal group on MFP.
Statins almost destroyed my quality of life and I refused to take them after my lipids turned out good.0 -
KDIPAZZ,
I started limiting my fruit to before noon and have been more successful keeping my morning BG lower.
Since you are almost there, you might consider Paleo or Primal.
As it turns out, I do only eat fruit before noon :-) I also eat no grains, no processed food (well,almost none as I do enjoy hot sauces and the topping from take-out pizza on occasion) and no legumes. Beef is grass-fed when i buy it - we usually eat venison. Dairy is limited to cheese, Greek yogurt and occasionally some cream cheese or butter.0 -
It sounds like you are doing very well. I think even my Dr. would be happy with your improvement. Keep with it and see what your readings are in three months.
Good luck.0 -
Welcome. You numbers are great, even your fastings are really good. I would not cut down on cheese if you love it. With low carb you need your fats. I was doing 25 grams a day trying to get my BG down (was stil around 135 fasting and 165 pp though so got more drugs instead) and without fats I couldn't get out of bed. I use a lot of olive oil and eat nuts and avocados to get healthy fats. My cholesterol numbers are in a normal range but not stellar. But high cholesterol runs in my family and I have to take a statin or else it shoots up. Another thing that helps my fasting number is a fatty snack like a piece of cheese or some nuts before bed. Now that I have new drugs I've added carbs to that but the key is protein/fat.0
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Glad I read your post to the end... LOL those were all my suggestions. Only thing left off my list was exercising. Maybe a thirty min walk would do the ticket. Omega 3 - fatty acids are in salmon but there are some great sauce recipes that you could possible try in an effort to tolerate salmon. Then theres the Salmon cakes which can be tasty. Not sure but isn't Tuna similar?
All that aside ... I still think congratulations is in order for the work you've done so far. excellent numbers!0
