DIY A1c Management
From my Aunts Garden
I don’t believe in restriction … I believe in purging. I believe in adding in so much of the good stuff that the bad stuff is purged from your cravings and your body.
I’m a big fan of DIY healthcare. And one thing I know for certain is that prediabetes can be reversed with the right food. It’s not inevitable that it’ll progress into diabetes. And you aren’t destined to have diabetes just because it “runs in your family.” Those are examples of throwing in the towel before the match starts.
My 81-year-old mother was at 6.1, which is less than half a point away from being fully diabetic; she reduced her A1c to 5.9... at 81! She did this with food; not medication. She’s not out of the woods yet but she’s headed in the right direction now.
Below 5.7 gets you out of the “prediabetes” woods. That’s the normal range.
I was prediabetic as well and reduced my A1c out of that range completely! With food; not medication. Although I do have an amazing doctor who promotes doing the work yourself. In fact those were her exact words to me “sooner or later you’re going to have to do the work.” I’ll never forget that!
In the gallery below you’ll find snips of our blood test results from last year.
I don’t believe in restriction … I believe in purging. I believe in adding in so much of the good stuff that the bad stuff is purged from your cravings and your body.
The answer in this situation is vegetables! They don’t have to be raw but don’t cook them to death either. This is an important point… when you overcook your food, especially vegetables, you destroy the nutrients in them.
The obvious goal is reducing your blood sugar which means reducing your intake. We all know the obvious culprits but keep in mind that the following are also sugars that look like food: bread; rice; pasta; anything in a box that goes in the freezer or the cupboard. START THERE!
And don’t mix your vegetables in with these sugars, you’re defeating the purpose.
While there are many more sugars that look like food, I think getting too hard core can sabotage your motivation and your commitment. Fruits and some vegetables are forms of sugar but they’re good foods. They didn’t go through a manufacturing process of any kind. That’s the thing to remember. Reduce them when your A1c is high but don’t cut them out altogether.
And never forget, it can go right back up again if you fall off the wagon. It’s a commitment.
Here’s a good source of detailed information about A1c:
From the Cleveland Clinic https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/9731-a1c
An A1C test measures the average amount of sugar in your blood over the past few months. Healthcare providers use it to help diagnose prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes and to monitor how well your diabetes treatment plan is working.
