Last year I had a rude shock: my HBa1c (normally in the forties or fifties - goodish) had risen to 71 - on the border between poor and very poor. I was on a gram of metformin twice a day and a gliclazide twice a day, so another gliclazide was added in. Four months later I’d actually gone up to 77. Another gliclazide and this time I took a long hard look at diet. Out went the vanilla soy drink that I was adding to Huel and out went the crackers that supported my suppertime cheese. In came regular glucose testing and calorie/carb counting.
I have peripheral neuropathy so life is pretty much sedentary and I’m a bit of a shortarse at 165cm, so I reckoned my calorie intake should have a ceiling of 1800. The first problem I had was that after making it with the soy drink, Huel was pretty meh. Yes I could have gone from 300ml soy to 100ml or less, but I’d increased to 300ml by “accident”: my wrist just got a little relaxed when pouring - the soy drink had to go. A little extra sweetening in my Huel didn’t cut it. Brainwave time - cream soda. It’s sweet (some would say cloyingly so), it’s vanilla flavoured, and supermarkets have it in their own name brands with no, or very little, sugar. And it works with Huel.
Revised diet: a 500 calorie Huel twice a day (I tried 400 calorie, but it doesn’t work for me), and then maybe a pack of Birds Eye meat-free burgers or chickenless bits or a Huel, or if I’m not so hungry just some broadbeans to snack on. A few ounces of finely sliced cheddar for supper with peanuts for snacking. Last autumn my Hba1c was 35, so I started having a couple of packs of samosas in my supermarket delivery…
This morning Dr HIV phoned for my quarterly appointment and it occurred to me that when I’d seen her for bloods in January she’d said she’d do an Hba1c “just to be sure”. The clinic runs a no news is good news policy, and I’d forgotten to email and ask about my bloods. In January my Hba1c was 29 - off the bottom of the scale and time to think about reducing my meds.
Damn it sounds like you had a rough year Steve. I can tell from your message you kept it really positive which is awesome to see. It is fabulous that your bloods have gone the other way! If your doc happy?!
Wait. You mean like the fizzy soda you used to get at parties, tastes like a coke float (ice cream plus cola)? This is madness. Do you make it flat first? I really want to try this!
I’ve been through a hell of a lot worse, to be honest… Dr HIV was gobsmacked: most antiretrovirals carry a risk of hyperglycemia (indeed my diabetes was a present from some of the early HIV drugs) so I think they tend to expect people with HIV and diabetes to have generally higher numbers than would be ideal. I was so surprised that I dropped an f-bomb when she gave me the number
“Wait.”
Yep. Years ago someone on the forums had joked about making up Huel with beer, which led to me trying it with Monster (not good!). Well, you never know until you try, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned from living with HIV it’s just that. I use a short burst in a full-size blender to mix my Huel, using a bit extra pop to swill it out (waste not…). The result is a drink that has that slight tickle of a carbonated drink, but obviously it’s no longer fizzy (sorry, Julia). But, it works for me…
I’m looking into “Carnivore vs diabetes” theory. Curious, is carnivore or cv-adjacent a strategy you’ve tested for at least some months to look to reverse diabetes markers?
No. For a number of reasons the best diet for me is vegetarian. I’d say vegan, but a good mature cheddar is my “treat” food. When we learn how to match that using only plants, I’ll be vegan.
I quite like the cathedral city cheddar. It is the only supermarket vegan cheese that actually tastes like cheddar but alas still not the extreme mature cheddar that is so far elusive.
