Medicaton and prediabetes

Am I wrong then? Wouldn't it be simpler to give high sugar and high carb foods a miss ( except on rare occasions) ?

It's not insensitive to ask up the question, but perhaps some people are over sensitive when it comes to their diet, especially if they have had type 1 diabetes from an early age and have had to give up most foods that others are allowed - that I can understand.

What on earth to you mean by 'messing about with GI'??? All foods have a GI value- so understanding which have a higher value, and how to make better choices, cook in a way that lowers the value, etc- is surely the way to go. Not talking about cakes and sweets here either, which indeed should be for very special occasions- but even then, choosing a pud or cake with low/er GI makes sense. It's hard enough being a young diabetic, without having to eat such a limited and restricted diet anyhow. Where fo you put the line at what foods should be avoided or not? Very insensitive it seems and shows little understanding of the issues.

I'm going to read about GI durhamjen. I'm not overweight, diet exactly as advised by the practice nurse (well almost exactly, the chocolate and cakes are no longer part of my life), exercise etc but my pancreas is feeling it's age it seems.

Anyway, I was mentioning the GI Vegetarian book to Eloethan, whose husband has been warned he might get type 2 diabetes even though he is underweight and is vegetarian.
It's a useful thing to think about in that case. Nobody has to bother about GI if they do not want to.

Why is it messing about?
Having lived with a type 1 diabetic for over 45 years, it's second nature to read food labels, and I still do it now, even though he died over three years ago.
If a diabetic eats high GI food on even rare occasions, s/he could end up in hospital.

I'm trying to lower the sugar in my diet, which wasn't high by many standards anyway. I've eaten brown rice, pasta and bread for years, eat meat about twice a week, fish twice and other meals are veg. I walk for an hour a day so was fed up to discover my blood sugar levels are creeping up. The pancreas and auto immune conditions are at its root I suppose, but Anya - I'd love a slice of toasted fruit loaf with a cup of tea right now

Why would anyone want to eat fruit loaf anyway?

Surely, rather than messing about with GI all the time, many of these foods are simply better avoided or only eaten on rare occasions?

And brown rice and pasta are lower GI than white.
Jeanie, I have just read the list of foods you do not eat, and you have put yourself on a low GI diet without knowing it.
A slice of fruit loaf would be a low GI cake.

Agreed- just wanted to point out that cooking and the type both affect the GI content. For cooking, it also makes a huge difference to the GI if you wash pasta and rice in cold water AFTER cooking and reheat.

Granjura, the GI content of potatoes depends on how you cook them as well as the type of potato. The GI range is from 56 to 89. Highest GI values are in those freshly boiled and mashed or instant mash, if anyone still has that. The difference is in the structure of the starch. I've never understood why basmati rice is lower than other rices, apart from the fact that sticky rice does not have the starch washed away.

The higher the GI of your diet, the greater the risk of type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is often only diagnosed after the pancreas is worn out, and cannot maintain enough insulin production to normalise blood glucose. Eating a low GI diet can improve the function of the pancreas and improve glycaemic control and can therefore prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. There have been lots of studies worldwide to show that a high GI diet makes people almost twice as likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
Apparently following a low GI diet can be as effective at lowering blood glucose as taking tablets, and it can also help to prevent the onset and progression of diabetes complications.
Low GI foods can minimise the peaks and troughs in blood glucose. Being slowly digested and absorbed, low GI foods reduce the demand for insulin.

An acquaintance of mine with type 2 regularly has readings in the high teens. When she was admitted to hospital recently her reading was (allegedly) 28!

durhamjen, my understanding of the difference on high and lower GI for potatoes is to do with the starch content. So new potatoes are much lower GI than old fluffy potatoes (used for baked or jackets). Same for rice- risotto (sticky rice) is much higher than basmati- again to do And again for oats, large oats have less GI than small ones.

The test the GP does looks at blood glucose levels over a three month period, the prick test I do is what my blood glucose is at that moment in time.

I know the foods now that are best for me so don't need to test regularly, I just test when I think it is necessary.
I do check out the GI index yes.

I have found there is no such thing as a Diabetes diet it's what works for you as an individual.

I never eat potatoes mashed or otherwise it takes my blood level up.

The 11.2 is very high it's diabetes level but it was high at the time I was taking Steroids and Antihistamines.

The initial statement I made was just to say you need to consider medication if you are pre diabetic or diabetic as this can alter your readings I was just saying this as a consideration.

Eloethan, the book I have is The Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook by Dr Jennie Brand-Miller. It has recipes and menus for vegetarians and vegans.
I like doing recipes out of it when I have people over for a meal. Most of the time just for me it's a stir fry with various noodles or chickpeas.

How often do you test yourself, Jeanie?

Do you use the glycaemic index to check on foods? It was developed for diabetes and is a useful system. I actually eat sweet potatoes rather than ordinary potatoes. The GI of potatoes depends on how you cook them, with mashed potatoes being the worst.

11.2 is very high and almost certainly due to the steroids - no amount of careful eating can counter the effect of steroids.

But the last sentence of her last post said that she had managed to keep to a low level so far.

That's why she was shocked...

Jeanie, you said you did a fasting prick test in your opening staement and it was 11.2. I always thought that was quite high.

I do not understand your statement about yogurt.
Every food has 100%. If fat is reduced from 6% to 2%, for example, that 4% has to be either protein, fibre or carbohydrate. Just by taking fat out, the other values have to go up.
I have two pots of Alpro soya yogurt. One has almonds in, the other is plain. The sugar content is the same, but the almond one has a higher carbohydrate content. It has higher fat, and fibre just by adding 1.3% almonds. It all adds up to roughly 10% because the rest is water which is not measurable on nutrition labels.

You will not be encouraged by the GP to test most pre diabetes are told you shouldn't need to but to hell with that. I wanted to take control of my body and felt I was quite capable of making the choices about what foods were best for me and the only way to do this is test.

You will not be provided with a meter on the NHS so will need to buy it together with the strips and lancets.

I use Codefree blood glucose monitoring system the meter lancets and strips buying them from Amazon they seem to be the cheapest.
You buy the strips and lancets as you need them.

Leave a message on the Pre diabetic page and you'll get plenty of answers to any of the questions you might have.

Food wise for me these are the no no
Potatoes, sweet corn, parsnips,pineapple

I eat sweet potatoes small amounts,cauli, brocolli,cabbage etc
but you need to keep the carbs down to what you can get away with.

No white bread or white flour, or white rice, or white pasta
I eat soya and linsead bread and small amounts of brown rice and pasta

No pastries, cakes, pies, or foods with over 3 g sugar per 100g
I do have the occasional cake but not every week just use common sense.

Some people can eat larger amounts of fat but I can't as I have a farely high cholesterol.

I eat yogurt and have to read all the labels because most companies up the fat when reducing sugar so watch out for this.

These are just a few of the foods I have to consider, but these foods are the ones that effect me they may not raise your husbands blood sugar level.

I have managed to do this with the help of my meter so I think it is worth it, oh and I keeps records of my readings for future information for the GP and have managed to keep to a low level so far.

Probably not, but if he's prediabetic he would not need one. Far too much testing goes on. If he knew what his bloodsugar was, it'd probably put up his blood pressure, and that would be just as bad.

I think Eloethan's DH is pre-diabetic and as such would he qualify for an NHS funded kit?

You shouldn't need to buy a blood testing meter. If you need one it should be on the NHS.
I still have a Bayer Contour one which is very easy to use, as sold by the diabetic association.
If the diabetes nurse feels your husband needs one, then he should be given one. One of the problems was that type two diabetics used to complain about not being given enough testing strips and often had to buy those, but not the meter itself.