Kicking Diabetes: Update

Three months ago, my doctor told me that I officially passed over the “prediabetes” (impaired fasting blood glucose) level to Type 2 diabetes. Talk about a sobering moment! My blood glucose level (fasting) was 140 (over 125 is considered diabetic). My A1C (3-month average blood-sugar level) was 6.5 (over 6.5 is considered diabetic). I just tipped the scales to becoming a diabetic. SIGH.

Check out my blog about this and how eating a raw vegan diet for 4 weeks changed everything for me. In addition to eating a raw vegan diet for 4 weeks, I also lost 6 pounds and worked out for about 15 minutes a day. This brought my blood glucose level down to 55, which was actually a bit low.

For the next 2 months, I introduced meat and seafood but continued to not eat dairy, grains (rice, wheat, quinoa, corn), beans (soy products, legumes), and fruit (except berries). I started to weed my landscape and build steps down the hillside by myself to get more cardio exercises in each week. 

Working out in the gym wasn’t cutting it because I kept thinking about other things that I should be doing and I’d cut the sessions shorter each day. But digging a dirt path with the goal to complete it before events that we planned to host was a real goal, and I enjoyed doing it. 

I was really curious to see what my A1C level was but I wanted to continue this Paleo diet and exercise plan for 2 months so the A1C would really reflect all of the changes I made. So although I monitored my daily blood glucose levels and was super happy with the 80-105 levels (under 100 is normal; 101-125 is prediabetic), I didn’t get the full blood panel done until today. My A1C is now 5.8 — down from 6.5 just 3 months ago! That means that I am at the lowest “prediabetic” level now. I also lost another 5 pounds! I plan to reduce my fruit intake to get my A1C down to below 5.7 so I will be at the non-diabetic level. 

I’m not sure what the exact formula is to drop my glucose levels and A1C, but some sort of combination of vegan and Paleo with no grains, dairy, processed foods, or sugary fruit seems to do the trick for me. I’ve been keeping a food diary so I can check trends and hope to determine exactly what triggers my glucose levels. I do hope that I can eat rice and popcorn someday. If you’ve been managing your diabetes, what has worked for you?