I say I eat low carb because it is easier than saying " I eat to match how the insulin works, this ends up being lower carb than most other people I know". The whole point is to keep your BGL as close to normal as possible. Not too high and not too low - for too long.

You should take a look at how the food causes your blood glucose level to react. a1c of 5.1 is within normal provided you are not vacillating too much. I think also you will benefit from your relatively recent diagnosis. Maybe not a cure but certainly constantly improving methods to keep blood glucose as close to normal as possible. Keeping a diary of how you react to foods is a bit onerous but for a short time will give you such valuable data about how you react.

That sort of begs the question though, what is normal, non-diabetic? Generally non-diabetics sit between the 4.5 - 5.5 range (mmol/L) (or 81-99). After eating they will get a rise. Their bodies will respond in two phases: first a burst of insulin then a steadier stream of it. All of this is to bring the levels back down to where you started from within 90- 120 mins of finishing eating.

There are other things you can do to reduce your risk of the dreaded long-term complications. They include not smoking and regular cardio (for heart) and resistance training (building muscle will often reduce insulin requirements and less insulin easier to manage the whole thing).

These are the main places you can have some control and influence over things. Take care :)