Bugger!
Blood test results are back. My blood sugar (HbA1c) is 41, back to where it was 9 years ago. I’ve made significant lifestyle changes since then – sugar consumption massively reduced, potatoes and rice almost absent from my diet, cakes and biscuits (except oatcakes) on special occasions only, and so on. Fruit and veg consumption up (average so far this year is 6.2 a day). 2 “veggie” and one “fish” days a week, bread usually homebaked (45% white, 45% wholemeal, 10% oatmeal). Gentle exercise continues to increase … just over 5,600 steps average in the Light months (ie British Summer Time) so far this year.
Being realistic, I don’t see what further changes I can make that will be sustainable. As I wrote nine years ago I’m in the condition of “normal, if only marginally so” which has been so common in all aspects of my life!
Also in the condition of “normal, if only marginally so” is total cholesterol and cholesterol ratio. The GP’s pharmacist has arranged to ring me next week, which I suspect is to discuss this. They increased my daily simvastatin from 10mg to 20mg last year (40mg is the usual maximum). As above, my diet is pretty healthy (I cook with rapeseed or olive oil, and so on), but I do normally have full-fat soft cheese at lunchtime. As an experiment, I’ve ordered ricotta, soft goat cheese, and low-fat Leerdammer for tomorrow’s Waitrose delivery – all of these are (per serving) about half the fat of the cheeses I’ve been having. Also on the order is Benecol blueberry drink with plant stannols (cholesterol-lowering), instead of the Actimel pro-biotic drink I’ve been having. Bacon or sausages once a week may have to be moved to once a fortnight … but otherwise, I think there are few changes possible. Perhaps a bit more chicken and less pork, though I do choose lean cuts most of the time. Sadly, organic chicken is fiendishly expensive, and there’s something in non-organic supermarket chicken that makes me ill (I suspect residual traces of antibiotics).
Meanwhile, I may have to say goodbye to these:
