I see we're both up at silly o'clock

. I'm still waiting impatiently for the testosterone to kick in

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It seems insulin resistance is insidious and often shows up many years before it's detectable by blood sugar levels alone (as much as 30 years). It's almost impossible to get the direct test in this country so HbA1c and an oral glucose tolerance test are used as proxies. HbA1c is the most common and I read yesterday that it misses 73% of cases of diabetes

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190323113744.htmPersonally I wouldn't be concerned about cholesterol (unless it's too low). Higher cholesterol levels are protective, particularly in older women anyway. Triglycerides and HDL are far more important than LDL (hence why they rarely measure them on the NHS

) and the markers will all improve if you fix insulin resistance (with some exceptions - some people are hyper-responders to saturated fat, although it doesn't seem to correlate with poor health outcomes and isn't the cause of fatty liver).
I apologise, I'd forgotten that you mentioned previously that you'd had eating disorders. Although there can be long term implications, I have read so much that reassures me that you can make huge strides towards optimum health through diet at any age. As you can guess, I find the whole area fascinating and have seen my OH's health and attitude to food transformed. Less so for me as menopause has put a bit of a spanner in the works

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Right, I really must try and get some sleep!!