From A1c 11.3 to 5.8
I have a blood sugar problem, and I don’t exactly know why
I have always thought of myself as “healthy”
I have never been overweight, at least according to these recommendations, and I have always been health conscious and active.
That said, last July I had a blood sugar reading close to 350 and an A1c of 11.3. YIKES. My doctors (GP as well as Endocrinologist) were baffled but concerned. For them it was black and white: either I was Type 1 and needed insulin, or I was Type 2 and needed to be more health conscious which I already was. I felt frustrated, confused, and stuck.
This made me spring into action. A few things I did immediately:
- Tested for Type 1 antibodies (GAD; IAA; Zinc Tranporter). All negative.
- Began continuous glucose monitor for convenience monitoring. I highly recommend a CGM even if you don’t have a prescription as it really provides a peace of mind and a real time way of assessing how your body reacts to certain things.
- Committed to an exercise regiment. Specifically weight training. There is alot of compelling research indicating that muscle mass absorbs sugar
- Began medication (metformin). I personally don’t want to rely on medication so my goal was to have a plan to get off of it. Further, I had some negative side effects with metformin.
- Got serious about diet. And really started to experiment with what works and what doesn’t leveraging my glucose monitor to verify. A few diets I have tried are: plant based, carnivore, and low carb no sugar. I plan to share my experience with all of these, and what I have found to be most optimal
- Time restricted eating. Aka Intermittent fasting. I now only eat in an 8 hour window throughout the day, typically between 10:30 am — 6:30 pm
- Supplementation. I take a variety of supplements, and look forward to sharing those with you
- Meditation. Cant recommend it enough. I use the Calm app because its so convenient
- Improving Sleep. I will share alot on sleep. There is a ton of research proving the correlation between poor sleep and impaired glucose metabolism. I will be sharing alot on the subject and what works for me, but I would encourage you to check out Ben Greenfields 10–3–2–1–0 routine for now
In 8 months I have brought my A1c down to, most recently, 5.8 not using medication. I’d like to share my journey, and provide information to people who may be in a similar state. I will be sharing proven strategies that work for me. These strategies may not work for everyone — completely understand. But I hope they can provide some good information and hope for folks who are really wanting to improve their metabolic health.
