Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, whichever applies to you.

Welcome to Episode 5 of the Prevent and Reverse Naturally Type 2 Diabetes podcast

I am your host, Mark Ashford, I am a Type 2 diabetic.

This is the first episode of 2024, let’s start with an update

I am still without medication. There has not been any need to take meds, which was an option given by my doctor.

I go back for another consultation in February, my goal for now is to make sure I remain of medication. Let’s see what happens!

The A1c home test kit available on Amazon.ca is now $408:73 up from #350 when I bought mine back in November.

I have not completed a successful test yet.

◦                The kit is designed to provide 20 tests, not 10 as I referred to before. The kit is designed to complete 20 tests and only 20. 

◦                It contains 

◦                A blood collection tool

◦                A bottle of reagent the blood must be mixed with by shaking

◦                A reader that gives the result. The result is only retained for 15 minutes to record it quickly if you are going to do so.

◦                A plugin for the reader accepts the blood/reagent mixture for processing.

◦                Except for the reader, all pieces are disposable after a reading has been completed.

◦                The components are bar coded and when you receive the kit, you must confirm the parts have the same bar code. If not, the kit cannot be returned.

◦                When the individual parts of the components for a test have been opened, they cannot be resealed, reused or kept for later use.

◦                I opened everything to complete a test and found the finger pricker and lancets I had purchased did not generate sufficient blood for the test. Apart from the reader, all the other parts had to be thrown away.

Blood.

◦                Test kit requires more blood, not much more, but still more than compared to the regular Finger Pricker used by Type 1 diabetics and some Type 2 diabetics to verify their blood glucose levels.

◦                The finger prick and lancet I had purchased did not generate sufficient blood for the A1c test.

◦                I sourced a different finger pricker that promised a greater range of depth options and 28-gauge lancets intended for someone with “thick skin.”

◦                Before opening a second set of test components, I have experimented with pricking my skin to generate sufficient blood for a test. So far, I have not been successful.

◦                Most Finger prickers sold with lancets on Amazon come with 30-gauge lancets, 28-gauge lancets are recommended for “thick skin” but have not done the trick.

◦                Any thoughts?

◦                Coming off metformin coincided with the end of a COVID infection and a rather long, and intense bout of Diabetes burnout.

◦                Monitoring Blood Glucose with my CGM has been effective in maintaining and understanding my body’s reaction to foods without a drug to assist it.

◦                There have been no big swings in glucose readings.

◦                I have noticed that when there is a peak it remains within the green range of 3.9 to 10 mmol/L. 

◦                The shape of the peak is a little different to when I was using Metformin. The peak is reached quickly and falls equally quickly.

◦                There is no plateau

◦                Even when I am out of range, into the yellow, that is 10.01 to 13.3, the peak is not maintained for long.

◦                Christmas!

◦                I enjoyed Christmas, taking the huge positive of being off Metformin as being my Christmas Gift to myself.

◦                I was cautious, and careful with what I consumed this Christmas. 

◦                At Christmas Dinner:

◦                I controlled the quantity of food eaten, and not going back for seconds stopped me from feeling bloated and heavy after the meal. I certainly did not want to go to sleep!

◦                In addition to limiting the quantity of what I consumed, I limited foods that obviously had sugar, such as the Christmas Log cake. The cake was made by a popular, local, Italian bakery and was delicious. But it brought home the fact you do not need a lot of sugary cake to enjoy a celebration.

◦                Yes, I was out of range by the time I got to my car to drive home. An hour later, I was back in range.

◦                They say there is no food a diabetic cannot eat, there are foods a diabetic should not eat.

◦                I have been out of range for the past few days.

◦                I have been above normal.

◦                Ironically, this is not because I have been eating food I should not be eating. Chocolate-covered sponge cookies do not peak my blood sugar unless I eat more than one. The nutrition label provides information on 1 cookie.

◦                The blood sugar peak was because of a combination of other foods.

◦                Taking regular CGM readings and understanding what I consumed and that pushed me over the normal range has given me something to correct and control my intake.

◦                My book, Prevent and Reverse Naturally Type 2 Diabetes has been updated and expanded. It is now 249 pages, up from 142, and has new pictures and tables. It is now available on Amazon.ca and other Amazon book market places.

That’s it for now!

See you next time.

Music from Epidemic Sound - Langvaga – by Strom

·       The Amazon links are:

Paperback – 

https://www.amazon.ca/Prevent-Reverse-Naturally-Type-Diabetes/dp/B0CJ4B47G3/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1VG81EANVVUK2&keywords=prevent+and+reverse+naturally+type+2+diabetes&qid=1705774163&sprefix=prevent+and+reverse+matutrally+type+2+diabetes%2Caps%2C77&sr=8-2

eBook – 

https://www.amazon.ca/Prevent-Reverse-Naturally-Type-Diabetes-ebook/dp/B0CJ6S1TN1/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1VG81EANVVUK2&keywords=prevent+and+reverse+naturally+type+2+diabetes&qid=1705774163&sprefix=prevent+and+reverse+matutrally+type+2+diabetes%2Caps%2C77&sr=8-5