David's Guide to Getting Our A1C Under 6.0

Even before 2007, when I began following a very low-carb diet, for about two years after 2005 one diabetes drug helped me reduce my A1C from 6.8 percent. I know that Byetta works to help us achieve diabetes control, especially when we eat fewer carbs, as I began to do then.

The further benefit of both a very low-carb diet and Byetta is that they will help us control our weight far better than anything else. Since more than 85 percent of all of us who have diabetes are overweight or obese, according to a survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, I have to conclude that controlling our weight is a key step in controlling our diabetes.

With diet and weight loss alone we may be able to get our A1C level down to 6.0 or better. But we can sure make it easier on ourselves if we ramp up our metabolism. Physical exercise reduces our blood glucose by improving our glucose metabolism, according to recent studies. That's the best reason for us to get at least the recommended minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week.

The other leg of diabetes control has always been to take one of the 10 classes of diabetes drugs we can use. Until we bring our A1C level down to normal, taking one of these medications is essential. I know that taking a couple brands of sulfonylureas and then metformin helped me before I was able achieve my greatest benefit from Byetta.

We tend to forget the importance of reducing the stress in our lives through readily available tools like relaxation and meditation. Likewise, we are just beginning to realize the huge role that reducing inflammation can play in getting control of our diabetes.

Even the amount of sleep that we get can help us control our weight, which probably will help us control our blood glucose level. A new study less than a week ago shows that identical twins who slept between 7 and 8.9 hour each night weigh less than those who regularly sleep either less or more.

These tools are the keys to getting our A1C levels down to normal so we can control our diabetes, instead of letting it control us. All of them are important. But nothing works better than a very low-carb diet.