Pre Diabetic and Worried

I just got retested and am not prediabetic anymore, so diet def works! To do this, I stopped eating sugar in any form, not even fruit ( but I have allowed myself wine twice a week)

Still have to lose weight for health reasons...but a step in the right direction.

Ah I love aquarobics too but also can't go. I do zumba at home via youtube. Eggs are brilliant! It sounds like our diets are really similar

Lavazza1st Thanks . I used to do Zumba 3 times a week, plus aqua aerobics but none of those classes have started up again since the lockdown. I occasionally do a Zumba dvd at home. Yes, I know about almonds. Walnuts too, but I don't like them. I love pecans, brazils and cashews. I've been having eggs each morning, often with tomatoes and mushrooms. Lunchtime is usually sardine salad, and the evening meal is fish or chicken, with lots of green vegetables.

That's great @PinkCakes ! I love zumba too, well done on your fab weightloss! I cook from scratch so I know what goes into everything, never make cakes anymore though!

Did you know that almonds are beneficial for blood sugar? I've started eating some every day. Really need a kick up the bum to get my blood sugar retested to find out if all my efforts are working though! :D

I'm not Diabetic, but I am a few stone overweight and sick of looking so fat and feeling so unfit (I go to Zumba but it's a struggle at times).

I started the FAST 800 diet by Dr Michael Mosely, only last Friday, and have lost 1/2 a stone already!

The diet is suitable for Diabetics, vegans, anyone wishing to lose a decent amount of weight. It's very low (or no) carbohydrates, but fats, proteins (not processed stuff such as burgers, sausages, pies, etc), vegetables (raw or cooked), some fruits, some cereals. I can honestly say I haven't felt hungry or deprived of anything. In the evenings, instead of sitting here scoffing biscuits, cake or chocolate, I've had nuts or a couple of boiled fruit sweets.

I am prediabetic and overweight. I've lost 16lbs but have a way to go before being considered a healthy weight.

Another snack that's high protien and can be salted is popped pumpkin seeds. I just put them in an oiled pan on a low heat and heat gently shaking them, til they pop. Then salt them.

I am finding a high protien, low carb diet is helping, but I am yet to go and get my blood sugar checked. All the best Scentsia and I hope we are all able to turn this around with diet.

Been told I'm prediabetic since January this year. Only just in this category but I know why. Last year my diet had not been good whilst looking after my father at the end of his life. I just didn't look after myself well, it was a difficult time.
I'm doing the 5:2 now and losing the extra pounds but feel the diagnosis is a misinterpretation of a difficult year. My HbA1c is back to normal and I do feel labelled with this condition even though my reading are now normal. No family history of diabetes, just ate too many carbs and sweets 4 months before a health check. At 62, the docs just have to find something wrong. I'm otherwise fit and well.

I am also vegan and although I am healthy weight and have a below average BMI , as I have got older I do have to watch my carbohydrate intake. Carbs are easy to eat, and a comfort food particularly when I feel lazybircstressed. I have to work harder at eating more vegetable proteins and vegetables instead of carbs but generally I feel much better on less carbs than I used to eat. I have not eliminated carbs as it is too tiring, as I need some for enery. Levels. Balance is key.

Thanks Growstuff I will have to try that as I realise my diet is really mainly carbs and I guess it's the reason why I don't lose weight, and I've been in the pre diabetic range.

BlueSky

I know everybody says about cutting back carbs for pre diabetes, weight management etc but as a vegetarian I find it hard. I know I would benefit for the above reasons as my diet is mainly potatoes and pasta. I also don't eat eggs but eat cheese. No sweet stuff whatsoever.

It's quite difficult to be a vegetarian, especially vegan, diabetic.

I don't eat much meat (mainly chicken), but I do eat fish, eggs and dairy, which provide much of my protein.

Could you cut down your portion sizes of pasta and potato and maybe replace with nuts, avocado or more simply cooked veg?

Well it was Ok once we had got the technical bit sorted seems that my lap top is too old to cope with Zoom - its only 8 years old but in techno terms its old!
The course teacher (for want of a better word) was young and friendly obviously delivering an off the shelf package. The first session was just explaining risk factors, the aetiology of diabetes and the anatomy. She then went on to setting a realistic goal for oneself for the first four weeks focusing on your own specific risks. Overall very comfortable and good to have a plan.

I'm starting the NHS on line Diabetes Prevention Course this morning at 10.00 with a one hour webinar. I'll let you know how it goes - wish me luck.

I know everybody says about cutting back carbs for pre diabetes, weight management etc but as a vegetarian I find it hard. I know I would benefit for the above reasons as my diet is mainly potatoes and pasta. I also don't eat eggs but eat cheese. No sweet stuff whatsoever.

I have my bloods taken yearly by the GP to check certain conditions. I had a pre diabetic result some years ago. I changed my diet after seeing a dietitian and have been normal ever since.
The meter test is only showing your blood sugar covering the time you take it. 5.6 is not pre diabetic. If you take a daily test you do it after eating at 2 hours then take the test. If it is roughly under 7.2 you are OK.
The 3 month test will be done by your GP it will give a more accurate test showing over that period.
Having a few extra pounds of weight doesn't mean you will be diabetic it doesn't work like that.
If you have any concerns regarding this you should be speaking to a health care professional not asking for advice on this site.

No, you CANNOT reverse established diabetes! You can manage it, so that blood sugar levels remain stable/low, but you cannot reverse the damage which diabetes does to the nerves, blood vessels, heart, kidney, etc. Diabetes is about much more than sugar levels.

Low carb and sugar free food is the way to go. Cook everything from fresh. I follow the Ketogenic way of eating, you can also do this if you are vegan, but the Pioppi Diet might suit you better. Google Dr Aseem Malhotra, he is amazing. There is a FB page called The Pioppi Diet incorporating the 21 day immunity plan. You can reverse your diabetes plus there are a lot of other health benefits, including a better chance against COVID-19. Good luck.

Scentia

This is where I got my info from to think I was pre diabetic. I have since done a risk test and been accepted in to a diabetes prevention programme run by the NHS

One plasma test will not tell you whether you're prediabetic. As the website says, you need your GP to carry out further tests to confirm the diagnosis. Pre-diabetes isn't a clinical condition anyway. Blood glucose levels are a continuum. All a blood so-called pre-diabetic result is telling you is to be aware. It could mean that you are insulin-resistant, in which case do more exercise or it could mean that your pancreas isn't working as well as it should (and it does wear out with age), so cutting carbs from whatever level you currently eat is a good idea. You could be both. There really is no need for a faddy diet, unless it makes you happy and you can stick with it for life.

Hi Scentia, it sound like you're conscious of your weight and want to avoid diabetes. I found it easy to shift 6lbs (I'm now 8 stone 2lbs and 5 foot 3 inches) by simply "fasting" for 18 hours which is easier than it sounds. I stop eating after 6pm and have my 1st meal of the day at 12 noon. That means 2 meals a days instead of 3 and I've given up snacking on crisps which, like you, I love. The TV Dr Michael Mosley's book is fascinating where he advocates the 5:2 diet (eat normally 5 days a week, cut your calories to around 600 calories for the other two days). He lost 20lbs (9kgs) and reversed his diabetes. One of the Hairy Bikers also reversed his diabetes following the 5:2 diet after Professor Roy Taylor (who co-wrote the book with Dr Mosley) saw Dave Myers at the TV studios, told him he was prediabetic and advised him to do the 5:2 diet! Dave did, lost 4 stone and is fitter and slimmer than he's been in years. Good luck Scentia and think how great you'll feel when you drop a dress size and out of the pre-diabetes zone :-). K

This is where I got my info from to think I was pre diabetic. I have since done a risk test and been accepted in to a diabetes prevention programme run by the NHS

I'm not sure why you think y o u are pre-diabetic, under 7 is perfectly healthy, but the test that is used to diagnose diabetic is a test that is done at the doctors and measures the average over the last 3 months.

LJP1 as a Diabetic Type2 I can assure you that you CAN'T eat unlimited fruit, all fruit contains natural sugars & should be limited to 2 portions per day ie 1 Apple/2 Plums/Handful of Grapes etc. Bananas should be green rather than ripe as ripe ones contain more sugar.

PaperMonster

growstuff

I don't eat much processed food (and never have). The fats and salt in processed food, although not good for other reasons, won't affect diabetes.

The trouble is with "official advice" is that it still recommends eating more carbs than I (or many other diabetics) could tolerate.

The advice assumes that everybody eats a rubbish diet, but it doesn't have anything to say if you already eat healthily. Diabetic nurses and dieticians just assume that a patient is lying about what they eat, which I find very frustrating.

This absolutely! I had quite a switched-on dietitian when I was Pre-D when it came to the role of carbs and diabetes but she suggested that sweet potatoes would be fine. I’d cut out normal potatoes/bread/pasta/oats/beans etc but still ate sweet potatoes- which was enough to tip me into Diabetic levels. It was only getting a monitor which opened my eyes to other foods which sent my levels up, which included fruit and some veg.

I was the same! I was diagnosed when I was in my mid 30s. I wasn't overweight and didn't eat rubbish food. I was a bit of a puzzle, which was why I was referred to a consultant and invited to participate in research. Thirty years ago, there was a lot less knowledge than there is now.

Twice I've had episodes when my blood plasma level shot up to over 20. The first time it was probably related to a breakdown and the second time to a heart attack. It's now known that hormones such as cortisol play a part in regulating metabolism. In my case, there was a suspicion that extreme physical and mental stress had a role, which is why I took up yoga. I've suffered from insomnia all my life too and it appears there's a link between lack of sleep and T2 diabetes.

Most diabetes nurses and GPs really aren't very clued up about the latest research. If you don't tick the boxes for being overweight and not doing exercise, they're stumped. They still go on about eating what I call the porridge and brown pasta diet. I've been told about sweet potatoes, but I can't eat them either. My big downfall, unbeknown to me, was fruit. I munched my way through bags of apples and clementines and I ate huge bowls of fruit salad. Apart from liking fruit, I thought I was being ever so virtuous, whereas fruit is basically fruit in water with a few vitamins and sometimes fibre.

If you're overweight, it's a good idea to try and lose weight anyway, but I wish people would stop calling T2 diabetes a lifestyle disease, when it isn't always. There's a lot more to T2 diabetes than just having too much glucose in your blood.

Life’s too short not to have a bag of crisps..... 5.6 is totally acceptable.

Paddi1948

Iam diabetic (type 2) and really it is not that bad! 2 shots of insulin per day..my blood level is supposed to be 5 first thing in the morning, oddly it is always lower if I've had 2 glasses of wine with dinner. I just eat slightly less than I used to but can't quit the crisps! I do not like most veg so I'm a bad diabetic but I'm 71 so no too worried. My sugar levels before dinner can be pretty horrible! Good luck and don't worry before you have to.
Luv P

Alcohol lowers blood sugar levels, which is why T1 diabetics have to be careful of having hypos if they've been drinking.

growstuff

I don't eat much processed food (and never have). The fats and salt in processed food, although not good for other reasons, won't affect diabetes.

The trouble is with "official advice" is that it still recommends eating more carbs than I (or many other diabetics) could tolerate.

The advice assumes that everybody eats a rubbish diet, but it doesn't have anything to say if you already eat healthily. Diabetic nurses and dieticians just assume that a patient is lying about what they eat, which I find very frustrating.

This absolutely! I had quite a switched-on dietitian when I was Pre-D when it came to the role of carbs and diabetes but she suggested that sweet potatoes would be fine. I’d cut out normal potatoes/bread/pasta/oats/beans etc but still ate sweet potatoes- which was enough to tip me into Diabetic levels. It was only getting a monitor which opened my eyes to other foods which sent my levels up, which included fruit and some veg.