I’ve been following the BSD for 5 months and feeling brilliant on it. At the start my fasting glucose was 6.4 so pre diabetes but last week it was measured during a health check that I asked for and it was 6.6. I know that it’s not a huge change but having cut all starchy cars and added sugar from my diet I was expecting a radical improvement not a slightly worsening! Any advice??

Try cutting your carbs even further, try as low as 20 grams per day. Do that for a few weeks then add carbs back in (good carbs like veggies) and evaluate to find your own carbohydrate threshold.
Every body tolerates them differently and you might be one of the carb-sensitive types,
Also, increase your muscle building exercise — your muscles take in and use excess carbohydrate — a good weight lifting program would be quite helpful. Let us know how you get on!

Thanks Californiagirl, my carbs are really low (I’m still doing the 800 calls per day) so I’ll have a go at increasing muscle strength. This is something I’ve neglected so a good suggestion. My sleep isn’t great and I’m really stressed at work. Does that affect blood sugars? Good news is that my BP is much better though so not all bad, thanks for your reply.

Hi Mookey,
I think the research-answer to your question is “yes”. Stress increases cortisol production and has profound effects on blood sugar. Lack of sleep is similar and so you might be experiencing a double-whammy with regard to blood sugar.
I am thinking that the weight lifting exercise will help in all regards — it will relieve stress, improve sleep and drop your blood sugars.
That said, is there a solution to the “really stressed at work” part? I have “been there done that” and it was life sucking to experience. Because we need our work and our income, it has unique pressure when it isn’t going well.
I hope this sorts out quickly for you — you have done so well and have worked so hard for so many months! Take care.

Was this a one-off reading or an HBA1c? A one off means very little. Post a typical day’s food and let’s see what that shows.

In the couple of days after I started the diet, my fasting BSL was in the same range as yours. That was actually a huge improvement as I was on three metformin tablets a day and still had morning readings of 13 – 18. I reduced and stopped the metformin after starting the diet as my blood sugar dropped so quickly. When I stopped the metformin it bumped up slightly to the same range as yours and I started going for a walk after dinner. Just a couple of kms to get the blood pumping and raise a little sweat. That dropped my fasting BSL down into the normal range in the mornings when I check it.

Since I started doing that I haven’t had a reading over 5.5 although I’m quite new to all this and have only been on the diet for a couple of weeks, it seems that for me at least, “when” I exercise is as important as “how much” I exercise. So I’m doing a short core strength routine after breakfast, a walk after lunch and a walk after dinner. Seems to help control the blood sugar levels.

PS, for most blood sugar meters, I would have said that 6.4 and 6.6 would probably be within the experimental error of the instrument and well within daily variations in the human body as well so I wouldn’t be too worried about that slight rise.

Interestingly exercise can have unexpected effects. Long gentle exercise (walking ) tends to lower sugars. Intense exercise (a fast run) can raise them. Why? Because the body releases extra sugars when you place high demand on it to provide extra energy to power your muscles. Perfectly normal so don’t worry . So two points: 1) You can’t out run a bad diet and 2) Exercise has an enormous range of benefits in terms of physical and mental health and significantly reduces you risk of type2.

Thanks to everyone who replied. Great info and support. Firstly I have had the HbA1c measured and it was 38 but I really want to reduce these pecky blood sugars no matter how they are measured. A fairly typical day’s food would be full fat Greek yog with 4 raspberries and 3 blackberries plus pine nuts. Lunch might be a cheese omlete with tomatoes and for evening salmon with a really good leafy salad. Also 3 cups not mugs of strong coffee minimal milk and no sugar and loads of sparking water. I’ve started pilates and signed up for a body conditioning class at the gym and am trying to talk steps to manage work stress… Although working in NHS is not that easy 😉. Poor sleep could also be to do with being menopausal…. But I’m trying to change what I can. Am I missing anything?

Don’t worry too much about the fasting blood sugars, if the HbA1c is reading okay. I know some of the very early successful posters like Bill (read his ‘This has to work for me’ thread for one of the forums earliest complete type 2 remissions) he used to have the dawn effect a lot so basically used to ignore the fasting readings. Search for Dawn effect for plenty of other discussion. The food choices look great, so keep it up.

Hi Mookey: so if you are losing weight and you’re HBA1c is 38 what are you worried about? You might do better now to concentrate on improving quality and quantity of sleep (aim for 8 hours) and ways to de-stress? Good luck, Graham