High five!
Just can't resist proclaiming it to the world!!!!
It's been just about a year since I decided to get serious about diabetes control, and started limiting carbs. That does NOT mean going "no carb" nor as low as Bernstein suggests -- I've been aiming at around 60g a day. It also does not mean resisting occasional treats, an occasional piece of fruit, a restaurant meal, or an occasional bit of grain here and there, including wheat.
So I got my lab results today. The easy stuff first: A1c of 5.8, which I was expecting. For me, being a low glycator, this is NOT "excellent" but it IS good enough. :-)
Now for the stuff I have ALWAYS had problems with: cholesterol. I inherited the genes for lousy cholesterol from my father, who was thin, and had no diabetes in his family. So, voila!
Total: 170 (range 100-199)
Triglycerides 77 (range 0-149) First time EVER in the normal range
VLDL 15 (range 5-40) I've NEVER had it this good
HDL 65 (range >39) >59 is supposed to be protective, but again, I've NEVER had it this high! And I DON'T run marathons!
LDL 90 (range 0-99) I read somewhere that LDL really shouldn't go below 25, and that diabetics should be under 70, but given the above results, I really think I'm not going to worry about it.
Vitamin D was low normal range, but I can supplement a little more in order to be mid-normal.
My TSH was still low and my T4 was still high, but that's because my body was really screwed up after the coma, and they raised my thyroid dose a lot, and still haven't brought it down to where it was before the coma, which was 125 ug. When I see the APN, I'm going to suggest that -- it's a pretty normal dose for my size.
The only conclusion I can draw from my year-long experiment is that for MY metabolism, it works. I don't have any trouble staying on this plan, and am confident I can keep it up long term. I'm not having weight or hunger issues, I'm not using excessive doses of insulin, I'm feeling good, and I really can't think of any cons or disadvantages. I'm NOT craving carbs, and I haven't lost any brain power as far as I can tell!
Everyone is different, and I'm definitely not telling anyone what to do, just reporting on what has worked for me. I'll take it! :-)
It's been just about a year since I decided to get serious about diabetes control, and started limiting carbs. That does NOT mean going "no carb" nor as low as Bernstein suggests -- I've been aiming at around 60g a day. It also does not mean resisting occasional treats, an occasional piece of fruit, a restaurant meal, or an occasional bit of grain here and there, including wheat.
So I got my lab results today. The easy stuff first: A1c of 5.8, which I was expecting. For me, being a low glycator, this is NOT "excellent" but it IS good enough. :-)
Now for the stuff I have ALWAYS had problems with: cholesterol. I inherited the genes for lousy cholesterol from my father, who was thin, and had no diabetes in his family. So, voila!
Total: 170 (range 100-199)
Triglycerides 77 (range 0-149) First time EVER in the normal range
VLDL 15 (range 5-40) I've NEVER had it this good
HDL 65 (range >39) >59 is supposed to be protective, but again, I've NEVER had it this high! And I DON'T run marathons!
LDL 90 (range 0-99) I read somewhere that LDL really shouldn't go below 25, and that diabetics should be under 70, but given the above results, I really think I'm not going to worry about it.
Vitamin D was low normal range, but I can supplement a little more in order to be mid-normal.
My TSH was still low and my T4 was still high, but that's because my body was really screwed up after the coma, and they raised my thyroid dose a lot, and still haven't brought it down to where it was before the coma, which was 125 ug. When I see the APN, I'm going to suggest that -- it's a pretty normal dose for my size.
The only conclusion I can draw from my year-long experiment is that for MY metabolism, it works. I don't have any trouble staying on this plan, and am confident I can keep it up long term. I'm not having weight or hunger issues, I'm not using excessive doses of insulin, I'm feeling good, and I really can't think of any cons or disadvantages. I'm NOT craving carbs, and I haven't lost any brain power as far as I can tell!
Everyone is different, and I'm definitely not telling anyone what to do, just reporting on what has worked for me. I'll take it! :-)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on -
Holy crap, you almost beat me. I'd better get my butt in gear...
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Permalink Reply by Judith on -
Oh my dear kind friend---this is fantabulous. I'm so happy for you. Give yourself a decadent treat to celebrate and then stick with what works for the Queen of Diabetes Weird!!!.....xx000
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Permalink Reply by Melitta on
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Wow, Natalie, awesome results! And I can vouch for the fact that your brain power is powerful :)
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Permalink Reply by Zoe on -
Congratulations, Natalie on finding what worked, turning things around and basically traveling space shuttle type distances in achieving your goals. It is so valuable to look at how far we've come. It's so easy to focus instead on what we have yet to accomplish. You have a right to toot your own horn! Keep up the good work!
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Permalink Reply by still_young_at_heart on -
Nice labs :-) Congratulations on a year well spent!
Maurie
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Permalink Reply by Natalie ._c- on -
Post script:
I went to the cardiologist today for a routine appt. and he was duly impressed. He said that I must be eating right! Little does he know! I actually didn't take the time to tell him about my eating patterns, which include normal-fat dairy (propaganda: the opposite of low-fat should be high-fat!), red meat maybe 2ce a week, sometimes chicken or tuna, normal-fat Greek yogurt, a large salad of either shredded cabbage or baby spinach with shredded carrots and diced celery, and cashews or peanuts; occasionally alfalfa sprouts or cucumbers, sometimes a ham and cheese roll-up made with low-carb lavash bread (thanks, Gerri!), sometimes cottage cheese with sweetener and cinnamon, green beans or eggs, rarely miso soup with tofu, or an apple. I am a picky eater AND have food allergies, and and while I don't like a lot of foods in each category, at least I like some, and I've found a way to eat comfortably. Mentally I place no limit on vegetables, because that seems to be the one thing that everyone agrees is healthy. I'm really never ravenously hungry, but when I do get hungry, which is at pretty predictable times, I eat enough to feel satisfied. That was my big bugaboo with the dietitian-recommended meal plan -- I was hungry all the time! No one should be expected to live that way. Oh, and the cardiologist said that most of the time, he recommends LDL in the 70's for people with diabetes, but because my other numbers were so good, and I had no blockages or calcium deposits on my angiogram, he was OK with 90. :-)
My insulin sensitivity has improved, and my total daily dose has gone down -- I'm averaging about 28-29u a day. That's actually just about a textbook-perfect amount for someone of my weight (about 63-64 kg. -- sounds better than 140-143 lb.!!)
An aside about a friend on another forum who is taking about 100u a day -- the insulin doses he described are not atypical for an insulin-resistant Type 2. Insulin-using Type 2's are walking a tightrope, because insulin IS a fat storage hormone, and their bodies may be genetically (or epigenetically) programmed to apportion more to the energy-storage bucket than to the energy-use bucket. They have a horrible issue between getting enough food not to feel hungry, keeping their BGs under control, and not gaining weight. It's no picnic.
The reason I didn't mention my food habits to the cardio is that I'm much more interested in reaching the dietitians than the MDs, because dietitians have more time to educate people about food. The "My Plate" propaganda now being put out out in the US is actually not as bad as the food pyramid which placed grains on the bottom was. If you're going to eat carbs, I think fruit is probably better than grain, but as Alan S. on another forum said, portion control is crucial.
Meanwhile, I'm planning to just go my merry way -- I was skeptical for a long time, but I have the proof before my very eyes.
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Permalink Reply by Peetie on -
High 5 Natalie! Congratulations on all those fabulous numbers! All your hard work and research has paid off. Enjoy! Joanne
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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth on -
Excellent work! You're smart to go w/full fat dairy -- most of the natural health folks I know say that the processing to strip out fat actually makes low-fat worse for people with cholesterol issues. Two questions/thoughts for tweaking your regimen: 1) how's your fiber intake? You ever try psyllium fiber to see how that might affect both your BG numbers & cholesterol numbers? could also help with keeping away the hungries, so might be worth looking into... and 2) how's your vitamin K intake? there's great research out there to show that vitamin K2 in its MK-7 form is helpful at preventing arterial calcification. You get it from fermented greens, like natto or sauerkraut. K1 helps too (comes from fresh greens) but it isn't quite as effective as K2. Also REALLY good for preventing osteoporosis, which is something PWD are prone to :(
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Permalink Reply by Natalie ._c- on
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Thanks for your reply, Elizabeth. My rationale for both fats and carbs is that they must have other nutritional advantages. Milkfat DOES have fat-soluble vitamins, and probably other nutrients that the nutrition field is still unaware of -- they aren't researching it very much right now, because their focus is on phytonutrients. Although I did read one paper that said that milkfat is valuable in preventing Type 2 diabetes!
I'm getting my fiber from those vegetables that I do eat. I do like cabbage and carrots and celery and cucumber and baby spinach, and there is some fiber in the low-carb lavash bread. I mostly don't take psyllium, because it's very unpleasant to drink that orange-flavored, hyper-sweet gooey stuff. And, as it stands, I really DON'T get the hungries.
Having lived in Japan, and been exposed to natto, you couldn't get me to touch it with silver chopsticks! LOL! But I do like sauerkraut on occasion. Osteoporosis does not run in my family on either side, but you are right that PWDs are more prone to it, and I'm also on PPIs for GERD, and that increases the risk, too. I had a normal DEXA scan when I was 55, so I'm hoping my luck will hold up!
And I hope Eric is feeling much better today! :-)
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