By making a lot of changes to my diet I was able to drop my A1C from 14.1 to 5.9 in about 4 months. My fasting blood sugar went from 366 to almost normal readings in less than 2 months. This is how I control my blood sugar. I just spent several hours updating it. This is my story.
I was Diagnosed Type 2 on 26 Feb. 2009. My fasting blood sugar was 366, A1C was 14.1, cholesterol was 300. Blood Pressure 145/95. The doctors put me on 500mg Metformin twice a day, 10mg Lisinopril, 40mg Simvastatin and 81mg Aspirin once a day.
On March 1st 2009 I purchased a meter and started testing before and two hours after each meal.
I stopped eating sugar, using salt, drinking coffee, soda, beer and wine right away. I started eating salads, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, pickles, sauerkraut and homemade coleslaw. Lots of coleslaw.
I also started to drink at least 8 cups of water per day. I drink about 2 ½ cups while driving to work, 2 ½ cups at lunch and 2 ½ cups on the way home.
Over the next several weeks I stopped eating bread, crackers, noodles and anything that contained any kind of grains. No flour at all. I check the labels on everything I buy and will not purchase any product with more than 5 or 6 net carbs per serving with the exception of chana dal.
When I wake up in the morning I test my blood sugar and drink a low carb protein powder drink mix. I used to use homemade soymilk to mix with the protein powder. I now use homemade almond or walnut milk. The nut milks are a lot easier to make.
I eat 1oz of sunflower seeds for a mid morning snack along with the sugar free Equate Fiber Therapy supplement. Lately have been drinking a cup of coffee at this time. Used to drink tea.
Recently I found that my blood sugar spikes at different times for different meals. A few weeks ago I tested about 20 minutes after eating lunch and my blood sugar reading was 175. I was a bit surprised. I haven’t had blood sugar readings that high in a long time unless I did something I shouldn’t have done. Well I found that I peak about 45-50 minutes after drinking my protein drink in the morning and peak about 25 minutes after eating lunch and about 1 to 1.25 hours after eating dinner. I have been doing a lot of testing lately and will have to decide pretty soon when I’m going to be testing my blood sugar.
For lunch I now eat a hard-boiled egg. 2 ounces of chicken breast or beef. Then will eat my ground turkey sloppy joe with about 20 grams of salsa, hot sauce and cheese. I now mix my low carb vegetables (mostly broccoli and cauliflower) with my chana dal topped with hot sauce and cheese. When I remember I add a few teaspoons of ground flaxseeds. I then will eat a small piece of chocolate soy cake. Last I will eat 1 oz of peanuts. I then take 1000mg vitamin C, 4000iu’s vitamin D, 1 B-Complex, 1 Multi Vitamin for adults over 50, 200mg CoQ10 and 3000mg Fish Oil concentrate.
For supper I eat 3 oz’s of salad. I use a low carb dressing and add about 2-3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar. I now make my own pasta out of soy flour. It doesn’t taste too good but when you top it with ¼-½ cup no sugar added pasta sauce along with some hot sauce and graded cheese it doesn’t taste to bad. For desert I eat my homemade Greek yogurt ice cream. I think it tastes pretty good. Last week I bought some low carb hot dogs and have been eating a Chile dog for the last few days. I usually will drink what I call chocolate water. I mix 2-3 tablespoons of nut milk with 1 tablespoon of sugar free chocolate syrup and add 10 oz of Seltzer Water topped with some low carb whipped cream. I think it taste good. It tastes better with heavy cream but I found the cream has a lot of saturated fat and will raise my cholesterol.
In the evening I now will drink a few Low carb beers or a little wine before going to bed. I have found that I can eat a little more carbs when drinking alcohol than with out it. I will eat 1-2 serving of almonds. Lately have been eating lumpia. Either cheese or pork lumpia. Sometimes will eat a serving of soy crisps with French onion dip. I try and not to eat too much at night. My morning blood sugar will be in the 90’s if I eat too much before going to bed.
When eating out I find myself eating chicken, beef and broccoli a lot. Chicken wings I seem to eat most of the time when we want something fast. They also come with celery and blue cheese.
On the weekends and days I don’t work I pretty much eat the same except my mid morning snack, I will eat some turkey bacon, fried egg, soy pancake with sugar free jam and 2 cups of coffee.
My morning blood sugar slowly dropped from the 200-300 range, to an average of about 85. After about seven weeks of taking the meds I couldn’t tolerate the side effects any more and quit taking them. My blood sugar continued to drop week after week, my blood pressure has averaged around 110/70 and my cholesterol has remained below 200 since I stopped taking the meds. My A1C dropped to 5.9 in four months and seven months after being diagnosed it was 5.6. The last few tests my A1C was 5.4 last January, 5.8 last April and 5.2 on 9/13/2010.
Kevin