Confused as always - pre diabetic for over 35 years

[Mummaspice]

I was first diagnosed with prediabetes at the age of 24 and have remained in this position now for 35 years, i have always eaten healthily, exercise regularly but just can't seem to ever escape this diagnosis. The conversation is always followed with change your diet, lose more weight (I am a healthy weight) exercise? I lived in Spain for many years and still eat the Mediterranean way
What can i do to improve my situation - any suggestions

 

[Deleted member 27171]

Hi @Mummaspice

Welcome to the forum. You're certainly doing something right to manage to prevent your pre-diabetes diagnosis becoming a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis for so long, but can understand your desire to get your HbA1c below that point.

There are elements of diabetes risk which you can influence, such as weight/diet/lifestyle and others which you cannot, such as age, family history and ethnicity - so the most you can do is try to control those risk factors that have the ability to.

Keeping at a healthy weight and staying active are the main priority. Many people find that adjusting their already healthy diet to include less carbohydrate can help as well.
Has there been much of a change to your HbA1c over that time?

 

[Mummaspice]

Hi @LucyDUK
It is all a bit of a mystery really. My family were part of a research project into family history, several members with diabetes. We knew at the time that my mother, sister and a couple of cousins all had positive diagnoses. At the time i was 25 - professional dancer - very fit - very slim - very healthy. when the results came back that i was borderline I was flummoxed.
Did not have gestational diabetes with any of my three children yet still this pre diabetic diagnoses on every blood test. I fluctuate - i don't test daily or anything but at each review they say whether it is higher than before or not, then the usual comments, watch your diet, exercise, etc.
I would just like to understand where i am going wrong with this - is there some foods i should really stay clear of - i have also been diagnosed with early onset glaucoma and have regular eye check ups - just all a bit confusing.

Sorry if i am rambling but i would just like to see something change.

 

[ianf0ster]

How we get T2 diabetes is a mystery, since some T2D are, and were always slim like me, though most were overweight/obese at least by the time they were diagnosed.
T2 D itself isn't so mysterious since it is merely an intolerance of carbohydrates, though it varies from person to person as to which carbohydrates and how much of them it takes to spike the Blood Glucose.

The famed Mediterranean diet doesn't exist- there are lots of very different diets consumed around the med. Some are high in carbs (Rice, Pasta) , some higher in Seafood, some high in Meat and Dairy. About the only things they have in common (going back 2 or 3 decades) is that they are:
1. Low in highly processed foods
2. Low in Seed Oils, using traditional animal fats or Olive oil instead.

If you want an HbA1C lower then the prediabetic range, just cut the carbs and eat more protein and more traditional fats.
Even if you actually eat more total calories this way then you, like me, may find you lose a few lbs. This will all be excess fat and some fluid - not lean muscle.

 

[trophywench]

@Mummaspice - what actually was your last HbA1c blood test ?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Mummaspice

Well done for keeping your prediabetes at bay for three and a half decades!

I just wonder, since you were so slim and young when this all started... have you ever had your cPeptide checked?

That is a measure which can assess how much insulin your body is able to produce, and if it’s lower than normal it would be an alternative explanation to your raised BG than the insulin resistance that usually happens in T2.

 

[Deleted member 27171]

I would just like to understand where i am going wrong with this

It doesn’t sound as though you are going wrong - unfortunately family history is a huge determination of likelihood to have (pre) diabetes and there’s not much you can do about that. However, that doesn’t mean Type 2 diabetes is inevitable as you have shown by managing to stave it off for so long, your diet and lifestyle will have helped with that immensely - had you not been so fit and healthy you may have moved from pre-diabetic to diabetic by now. As other‘s have suggested lowering your carb intake (if possible) may help to reduce your HbA1c further but everyone’s different and you may eat low carb already.
Whatever the case, what you are doing seems to be working to me. 🙂