Blood Sugar and A1C levels: Tips and Insight for Staying in Range

I'm new to diabetes. I'm working hard to not be diabetic.I have my numbers under 125 and have lost 15 lbs. I take Metformin. I find that I am very hungry and have to get up every night to eat a small bowl of cereal. I eat fruit a lot along with eggs for breakfast and protein for dinner. I checked my blood sugar as the Dr said before I eat in the night. It was 154. She thought it would be low. I'm not sure what to do.

Hi @loaks An official Welcome to Connect and on posting your first post. You'll notice that I moved your message to this related discussion called "How can I get my sugar levels below 100?" Where other members are discussing how to lower their sugar levels and sharing helpful advise. What was your physicians response to the change in your level?

Hi, @loaks I too welcome you to Connect. I have type 2 diabetes, diet controlled. @dorisena has some great advice there, she deals with this more than I do, my diabetes seems to be pretty mild. It really improved with a weight loss, which is pretty typical. Did you find that helped with you?
As dorisena commented, exercise is important too and I try hard to get a good amount in daily which has been harder now that we are self-isolating, but there are many excellent exercise videos on Youtube. If you are over 50 there are really good ones by
Jenny McClendon - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jenny+mcclendon+exercise and also
Schellea Fowler https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiWPU83VmOXjQ6xY0gIrhIQ plus if you are on Facebook there are exercises by Silver Sneakers.
I generally alternate my breakfasts between plain yogurt with granola and berries added to it - there are some low carb granolas out there but you do need to check the nutrition info which I always do. The other breakfasts I have are oatmeal, with some chopped walnuts and berries added to it, and a couple of times a week I have an egg with cheese and a low-carb English muffin. Fiberone makes some decent ones. There is another brand also but they get very hard in the toaster.
I almost always have a salad for lunch and for dinner meat or fish and vegetables or salad.
I do manage to squeeze in some treats like dark chocolate but I try to keep most of the treats low carb.
Fruit is great but it does tend to be high in carbs so you do need to keep an eye on the amount of it that you eat.
I hope some of this will be helpful to you. Please feel free always to ask questions.
JK

I really like your food recommendations, JK, but have different restrictions because of my thyroid removal and the need to take replacement. I can't have yogurt, walnuts, or grapefruit in the morning, which I really would like to eat because of taking the thyroid medicine. However my doctor never mentioned this to me and I found out by studying on the web. Four hours after the pill I can have my beloved foods, so I take the pill at 6:00 a.m. and go back to bed, usually. I must wait at least one half hour before eating after taking the thyroid medicine, so when I do get up I can eat right away because I am hungry. I also eat some dark chocolate with low sugar. I bake All-Bran muffins with the cereal and can eat one of those instead of bread and I don't eat white bread at all. All these little changes really make a difference without considering yourself "sick" or not able to get well. You are what you eat. Dorisena

I have checked my suger deffirent time fasting mostly less then 100 ,94 91 90 one or two time above 100 ,106 114,109 and after meal 130 119 134 110 and one time 150 and one time 165 please guide me what i do my English is weak

Hi @asifalimalik I'd like to welcome you to Connect. I moved your post into a current conversation "How can I get my sugar levels below 100?" where members are discussing blood sugar levels. Perhaps you can read through the posts above and see what others are suggesting.

I would like to mention that Mayo Clinic Connect is a patient-to-patient community – the most important ingredient of Connect is its members, like you. It is not designed to be a community for medical experts to give advice, but is a place to learn from all your shared experiences, insights, suggestions, and tips.

Here is some information that @hopeful33250 shared with us earlier.
She looked up some information on Mayo Clinic's website and shared the link,
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20371451.
It says, "A fasting blood sugar level less than 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L) is normal. A fasting blood sugar level from 100 to 125 mg/dL (5.6 to 6.9 mmol/L) is considered prediabetes."

Many members of Connect have mentioned higher numbers in the morning. Here is a discussion about that,
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/how-do-i-lower-my-morning-fasting-glucose-levels/

Asifalimalik, Have you been diagnosed with diabetes? Can you tell us a little more about your situation?

@dorisena I can't have grapefruit, pomegranate, or Seville oranges due to incompatibility with my medications. I think Seville oranges are actually a hybrid with grapefruit.
I also take levothyroxine and have to wait an hour after my immunosuppressants, which works for my levothyroxine too, before eating. I have read that although you can eat a half-hour after taking thyroid medicine that you should not drink coffee for an hour. I have no idea if that is true, I never thought to ask my endocrinologist.
I too rarely eat white bread, usually just when dining out if I have a roll. I made some really delicious muffins yesterday with oat bran, whole wheat flour, cinnamon, banana, dates, and shredded carrots. It does have a half cup of yogurt in it too, could you have that baked in something? I am lactose intolerant so I used lactose-free yogurt. I made the muffins for my husband and he loves them. He will not eat yogurt so I hid that from him. It's not a problem for him, just a personal aversion.
If those are things you can eat and you would like the recipe, let me know.
JK

Type 1 diagnosed after having children in my late 30s. For 3 years my A1C was 13 even though I constantly checked my blood and followed endocrinologists directions on insulin dosing-finally dr realized it wasn't user error and tested for celiac which I addressed thru diet and now my A1C is stuck at 9 and my endo thinks it is again user error but I follow what should be an effective regiment- I have highs and lows often for a few months then steady for a few months over and over. Other than things like stress and exercise (which stay constant) has anyone had an experience like this and have any suggestions for what I might look at, try? Could it be another food allergy? My dr is not going to play detective with me- it is always going to be user error so this is my last shot before giving up on my goal of 7. Thank you

Hi @sh1 I see that you joined last year, but this is your first post, so welcome! We sure do have a lot of members today struggling with their numbers. You will see that I added your conversation to this group "Blood Sugar and A1C levels: Tips and Insight for Staying in Range" https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/sugar-levels/ and modified the title so we could include you in the discussion.
I encourage you to click VIEW & REPLY and read through the past posts.

I did find an article that had some helpful tips in lowering A1C including looking into a continuous glucose monitor so you can look at your 7-day, 30-day, and 90-day data to see if you can spot any trends. https://diabetesstrong.com/how-to-lower-your-a1c/

What is the effective diet regimen that you are currently on?

Yes, I would like the muffin recipe. I eat Medihool dates for my fiber but they are high sugar, so they would replace the sugar in the muffins, I think. I can eat dairy anytime but in the morning. I really love yogurt. Dorisena