Impact of South Beach Diet on my A1C

[Bernie]

I am a type II diabetic who has ben taking lanthus, glucophage and the
other standard diabetic medications for years. Just before this past
July, I decided to go on the South Beach Diet after seeing the
positive benefit it brought to a friend, a high A1C test, and also the
fact that my 40th college reunion was scheduled at the end of the
summer.

At the end of June, I had an A1C exam result that was my highest ever
- 10. At the end of this September, I visited my doctor to draw
blood for another A1C test . He couldn't believe it - my A1C was now
6. He was very surprised at the radical change for the better, in
fact, saying it might be too low now. He immediately reduced the
amount of daily insulin I am taking. I also lost 18 pounds over the
three month period and feel great. I did not watch portion size
during the diet and merely paid careful attention to what I was
eating. It is really not a diet since you should eat until you are
not hungry. It simply substitutes good foods for bad. I highly
recommend the diet to others.

[Peppermint Patootie]

In article
<[email protected]>,
Bernie <[email protected]> wrote:

> I am a type II diabetic who has ben taking lanthus, glucophage and the
> other standard diabetic medications for years. Just before this past
> July, I decided to go on the South Beach Diet after seeing the
> positive benefit it brought to a friend, a high A1C test, and also the
> fact that my 40th college reunion was scheduled at the end of the
> summer.
>
> At the end of June, I had an A1C exam result that was my highest ever
> - 10. At the end of this September, I visited my doctor to draw
> blood for another A1C test . He couldn't believe it - my A1C was now
> 6. He was very surprised at the radical change for the better, in
> fact, saying it might be too low now. He immediately reduced the
> amount of daily insulin I am taking. I also lost 18 pounds over the
> three month period and feel great. I did not watch portion size
> during the diet and merely paid careful attention to what I was
> eating. It is really not a diet since you should eat until you are
> not hungry. It simply substitutes good foods for bad. I highly
> recommend the diet to others.

I think that South Beach is a modified low-carb diet, so it's no
surprise it improved your numbers. I would have expected you'd have
noticed the improvement in your post-prandial readings long before
getting the A1c, though.

PP, T2

[Loretta Eisenberg]

Bernie, I am glad it worked for you. Everyone here is different and
different foods affect us differently. do yu think I like the word
different. lol

that is why we test test test.

congrats on great results

Loretta

[Alan S]

On Wed, 8 Oct 2008 11:20:48 -0700 (PDT), Bernie
<[email protected]> wrote:

>I am a type II diabetic who has ben taking lanthus, glucophage and the
>other standard diabetic medications for years. Just before this past
>July, I decided to go on the South Beach Diet after seeing the
>positive benefit it brought to a friend, a high A1C test, and also the
>fact that my 40th college reunion was scheduled at the end of the
>summer.
>
>At the end of June, I had an A1C exam result that was my highest ever
>- 10. At the end of this September, I visited my doctor to draw
>blood for another A1C test . He couldn't believe it - my A1C was now
>6. He was very surprised at the radical change for the better, in
>fact, saying it might be too low now. He immediately reduced the
>amount of daily insulin I am taking. I also lost 18 pounds over the
>three month period and feel great. I did not watch portion size
>during the diet and merely paid careful attention to what I was
>eating. It is really not a diet since you should eat until you are
>not hungry. It simply substitutes good foods for bad. I highly
>recommend the diet to others.

Congratulations on your results. You will find very few here
surprised by that change:-)

This may help you fine-tune it even more:
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/20...ew-adjust.html


Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia.
--
d&e, metformin 2000 mg
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com (Be Smart, Be Skeptical)
dLife http://tinyurl.com/54get5 (Diabetes Diet Wars)

[ray]

On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:20:48 -0700, Bernie wrote:

> I am a type II diabetic who has ben taking lanthus, glucophage and the
> other standard diabetic medications for years. Just before this past
> July, I decided to go on the South Beach Diet after seeing the positive
> benefit it brought to a friend, a high A1C test, and also the fact that
> my 40th college reunion was scheduled at the end of the summer.
>
> At the end of June, I had an A1C exam result that was my highest ever -
> 10. At the end of this September, I visited my doctor to draw blood
> for another A1C test . He couldn't believe it - my A1C was now 6. He
> was very surprised at the radical change for the better, in fact, saying
> it might be too low now. He immediately reduced the amount of daily
> insulin I am taking. I also lost 18 pounds over the three month period
> and feel great. I did not watch portion size during the diet and
> merely paid careful attention to what I was eating. It is really not a
> diet since you should eat until you are not hungry. It simply
> substitutes good foods for bad. I highly recommend the diet to others.

IMHO - South Beach is too high in carbs for me. I typically run about 30
to 50 grams of carbs per day. My last A1C was 5.6 - down from 11 at
diagnosis. I do 4x500 metformin and exercise as well. For me, all three
components are very important - oral meds, low carb diet and exercise. If
I ease off on any one of the three my BG soars. For further info on low
carb diets you might want to look at Dr. Richard Bernstein's "Diabetes
Solution" and possibly some diet books on glycemic index.

[Oleg Lego]

On Wed, 8 Oct 2008 11:20:48 -0700 (PDT), Bernie posted:

>At the end of this September, I visited my doctor to draw
>blood for another A1C test . He couldn't believe it - my A1C was now
>6. He was very surprised at the radical change for the better, in
>fact, saying it might be too low now.

Don't let him tell you it's too low without challenging it and
discussing why he thinks so. Recently my doctor informed me that my
A1C of 5.2 was too low, and when I asked him why he thought so, he
cited the ACCORD (and another) study, saying that I was risking heart
attacks and worse.

I countered that ACCORD was flawed, in that the patients were fed
high-carb diets, and then brought into the under 6.0 readings with
excess medication. I gathered some info from the web, and when I asked
him for his email address so I could send him the rebuttals, he said
he had done some reading, and that he agreed with me.

> He immediately reduced the
>amount of daily insulin I am taking. I also lost 18 pounds over the
>three month period and feel great. I did not watch portion size
>during the diet and merely paid careful attention to what I was
>eating. It is really not a diet since you should eat until you are
>not hungry. It simply substitutes good foods for bad. I highly
>recommend the diet to others.

My experience is very similar. I brought my A1C down to 5.1 from 8.1
in three months, and have kept it there for about a year. DUring the
first six months, I dropped from 247 lbs. to 185 lbs, and have stayed
there ever since. All of this was from strictly limiting my carbs. FOr
the most part, I ignore portion size (unless it's carb portions), fat
content, and calories. I don't think my experience is at all unique.

Keep up the good work!

--
Larry, T2, Saskatchewan, Canada.
DX 24 Aug 07. D&E
Metformin 500mg, Ramipril, Simvastatin
Dx A1c 8.1 - Latest 5.2 (3 Sep 08)

[Michelle C]

"Bernie" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I am a type II diabetic who has ben taking lanthus, glucophage and the
> other standard diabetic medications for years. Just before this past
> July, I decided to go on the South Beach Diet after seeing the
> positive benefit it brought to a friend, a high A1C test, and also the
> fact that my 40th college reunion was scheduled at the end of the
> summer.
>
> At the end of June, I had an A1C exam result that was my highest ever
> - 10. At the end of this September, I visited my doctor to draw
> blood for another A1C test . He couldn't believe it - my A1C was now
> 6. He was very surprised at the radical change for the better, in
> fact, saying it might be too low now. He immediately reduced the
> amount of daily insulin I am taking. I also lost 18 pounds over the
> three month period and feel great. I did not watch portion size
> during the diet and merely paid careful attention to what I was
> eating. It is really not a diet since you should eat until you are
> not hungry. It simply substitutes good foods for bad. I highly
> recommend the diet to others.

Good job, Bernie! And while your doctor was correct to adjust your insulin
accordingly, an A1c of 6.0 is not too low. The type 2's on this newsgroup
strive to have A1c's in the 5.0's. (For Type 1's the 5.0s can be
problematic.)
--
Best regards,
Michelle C., T2
diet & exercise
BMI 21.5

[Willy]

"Bernie" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I am a type II diabetic who has ben taking lanthus, glucophage and the
> other standard diabetic medications for years. Just before this past
> July, I decided to go on the South Beach Diet after seeing the
> positive benefit it brought to a friend, a high A1C test, and also the
> fact that my 40th college reunion was scheduled at the end of the
> summer.
>
> At the end of June, I had an A1C exam result that was my highest ever
> - 10. At the end of this September, I visited my doctor to draw
> blood for another A1C test . He couldn't believe it - my A1C was now
> 6. He was very surprised at the radical change for the better, in
> fact, saying it might be too low now. He immediately reduced the
> amount of daily insulin I am taking. I also lost 18 pounds over the
> three month period and feel great. I did not watch portion size
> during the diet and merely paid careful attention to what I was
> eating. It is really not a diet since you should eat until you are
> not hungry. It simply substitutes good foods for bad. I highly
> recommend the diet to others.



Great job Bernie, and congrats. I go for a1c next week and am VERY anxious
to see how much I've improved. Hopefully it will be similar to your
experience. I follow a very low carb diet, less than South Beach, but if
your body allows you to get away with the extra carbs (and it obviously
does) then rejoice and enjoy!!!

Wes