HbA1c 5.3%

My type 1 son had his Hba1c done this week. It was 5.3% - his best ever result! This was achieved by, you guessed it, a low carb high fat diet. In conjunction, he has about 8 blood tests per day and is tested in the middle of the night. He wears an insulin pump which enables lots of micro corrections and boluses. I aim for a very narrow band of levels, between 4 and 5.5mmol, that is, the same as a non diabetic. I was told at diagnosis between 4-8mmol is considered normal, and that at bedtime he should be between 6 and 10mmol!!! 10mmol is double the normal level, that is you are glycating your cells at double the rate and therefore speeding up your diabetic complications.

As Dr Bernstein says, diabetics are entitled to the same blood glucose levels as non diabetics.

When his doctor saw the Hba1c results he said they, "scare me because it means you must be having lots of hypos" Oh Dear. I told him he DOES NOT HAVE LOTS OF HYPOS - HE DOES NOT EAT LOTS OF GLUCOSE, and that is why his A1c is so good. I am truly baffled as to why doctors think a good A1c equates to lots of hypos. If he did indeed eat the standard high carb diet as recommended by Diabetes Australia, he would surely have to be hypoglycemic for hours on end to get this A1c. It isn't even logical!! I swear with hand on heart, my son has never had a major hypo event since he was diagnosed 2 years ago. He every now and then goes a little low ,but usually as a result of eating something which is not cooked by me. The reason he does not go very high or very low is because he eats low carb, which means his blood glucose levels do not spike, and he is not on the typical rollercoaster I hear so many type 1s are on every day. His body is also Fat adapted, which means it prefers to burn fat as fuel, so if glucose or glycogen is in short supply there is no problem.

There is some work involved to achieve success, such as cooking everything we eat and not eating processed food, but who wants to eat processed artificial food anyway? We eat real food that is low in carbs and include healthy fat (not industrial fats) And that is the "secret" to my success.

Lisa thanks for this amazing post. I am type 2 and have recently angered a few type 1's by talking of LCHF! It's so good to read another type 1 success story.

Well done to both you and your son. This has made my day.

i agreed with Zand, what an amazing story!! you are both awesome! what a great start to the day, thankyou

Fantastic story, so glad for both of you, you must be very proud of your son.

Well done Lisa and son. As almost always it's LCHF that results in safe non diabetic numbers. In the UK 93% of type one diabetics and far too many type two's never come close to the BG numbers your son has. Wherever we look on blogs and forums LCHF is winning, the list of non LCHF success is virtually non existent.

Keep up the great work.

Eddie

Well done Lisa and son indeed!
I believe the Doc's are so used to diabetic patients who have less than perfect control(I wonder why?) and when faced with a patient who is genuinely doing well through good diet-they assume they must be being dishonest and in the case of someone on insulin-they assume low HbA1c levels must mean lot's of severe lows...We insulin using low carbers struggle sometimes when it's time to renew our driving licenses due to this attitude from HCP's in the UK.

Lisa wrote:My type 1 son had his Hba1c done this week. It was 5.3% - his best ever result! This was achieved by, you guessed it, a low carb high fat diet. In conjunction, he has about 8 blood tests per day and is tested in the middle of the night. He wears an insulin pump which enables lots of micro corrections and boluses. I aim for a very narrow band of levels, between 4 and 5.5mmol, that is, the same as a non diabetic.  I was told at diagnosis between 4-8mmol is considered normal, and that at bedtime he should be between 6 and 10mmol!!! 10mmol is double the normal level, that is you are glycating your cells at double the rate and therefore speeding up your diabetic complications.

As Dr Bernstein says, diabetics are entitled to the same blood glucose levels as non diabetics.

When his doctor saw the Hba1c results he said they, "scare me because it means you must be having lots of hypos" Oh Dear. I told him he DOES NOT HAVE LOTS OF HYPOS - HE DOES NOT EAT LOTS OF GLUCOSE, and that is why his A1c is so good. I am truly baffled as to why doctors think a good A1c equates to lots of hypos. If he did indeed eat the standard high carb diet as recommended by Diabetes Australia, he would surely have to be hypoglycemic for hours on end to get this A1c. It isn't even logical!!  I swear with hand on heart, my son has never had a major hypo event since he was diagnosed 2 years ago. He every now and then goes a little low ,but usually as a result of eating something which is not cooked by me.  The reason he does not go very high or very low is because he eats low carb, which means his blood glucose levels do not spike, and he is not on the typical rollercoaster I hear so many type 1s are on every day.  His body is also Fat adapted, which means it prefers to burn fat as fuel, so if glucose or glycogen is in short supply there is no problem.

There is some work involved to achieve success, such as cooking everything we eat and not eating processed food, but who wants to eat processed artificial food anyway? We eat real food that is low in carbs and include healthy fat (not industrial fats) And that is the "secret" to my success.

Hi Lisa .....hope you don't mind but I've re-quoted all of your post. I am not diabetic but because of Eddie being diabetic and my contact with so many other diabetics of all types I do realise what can be achieved on a low carb high fat lifestyle and how it does bring about lower Hba1c's.

And as Bernstein says, diabetics are entitled to the same blood glucose levels as non diabetics.....it's true they are, but we know many are settling for higher numbers. Possibly through ignorance, possibly through following the questionable advice from HCP's, possibly through their own choice. Whatever the reasoning, or thought, behind them not wanting to achieve safer numbers .....it is an individual's choice.

But it is also up to those who know what can be achieved to keep on spreading the good news that a low carb high fat lifestyle can bring. Many of us are not trained medical people, but we have done our own research and have read what can be achieved.

An Hba1c test does not lie it gives out a tested level........ and your son's excellent results and those of many other LCHF diabetics show this on very similar result numbers. Well done Lisa and your son.

Thanks for sharing your success with us.  

All the best Jan