Hello, newly diagnosed pre-diabetic with some questions here

[Jan_tr]

Hi Everyone, my first post! Apologies if my questions have already been covered many times before. I have recently found out that I am pre diabetic. It wasn't a total surprise to me, I always knew that it was coming, just didn't expect it so soon (I am 40 yrs old).

I am quite familiar with the keto diet, so I know roughly what I should be doing. The problem is I have also been told that my cholesterol is high as well, so when the dr told me I needed to eat less fat this had me quite confused. As far as I can tell the information out there on fats is quite complex. Should I just ignore that information for now and just focus on loosing weight? My next blood test should tell me if I'm getting it right, right?

Hope to start a new way of eating tomorrow, wish me luck 🙂

 

[Vonny]

Hi @Jan_tr and welcome to the forum 🙂 I personally am on a very low carb and reasonably high fat diet and as I lost weight and stopped eating carbs my cholesterol dropped from nearly 6 to 5.

I'm not 100% sure about the keto diet, it seems like a bit of a black art to me! I just cut out the simple carbs which seemed to work for me. However, we are all different so what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.

As a general rule though, it's more important to cut back on the carbs than on the fats. In fact you need extra fat to make up for the lost calories in carbs.

There are loads of people here who are more knowledgeable than me, so hope someone can give you a more definitive answer. Best of luck!

 

[TinaD]

Hello Jan_tr. You can do keto without significantly increasing fat you normally eat. Drop the carbs and "build your plate" around the protein. Then consider what is the natural fat content of that element - ribeye steak, lamb and skin on duck have quite a lot of fat already. They should be tasty enough and satiating enough not to need fat adding. Chicken breast skin on is still not hugely fatty - you might want to olive oil your salad or butter your broccoli with that. I've been back on keto for 10 months and all my bloods are now within normal limits. Watching https://lowcarbdownunder.com.au/ , a site I most heartily recommend as the Ozzy doctors are entertaining as well as informed, there seems to be a strong consensus that cholesterol figures are no reason to rule out LCHF and they give sensible, well researched, guidance on the topic (basically they say that a)cholserol is essential, b) your body actually makes it c) it may go up temporarily but it comes down again and meanwhile all your other markers improve), . Diet Doctor (dietdoctor.com)seems to take the same view. Both are free sites although you can also join them - diet doctor has a mass of recipes already carb counted both for low carb and keto. All that stuff about fat bombs and coffee filled with butter is so much BS - fat is for flavour and helps make you feel full but it is much more a question of not eating low fat options and avoiding processed foods than it is about pigging out on fat.

 

[Jan_tr]

Hi @Jan_tr and welcome to the forum 🙂 I personally am on a very low carb and reasonably high fat diet and as I lost weight and stopped eating carbs my cholesterol dropped from nearly 6 to 5.

I'm not 100% sure about the keto diet, it seems like a bit of a black art to me! I just cut out the simple carbs which seemed to work for me. However, we are all different so what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.

As a general rule though, it's more important to cut back on the carbs than on the fats. In fact you need extra fat to make up for the lost calories in carbs.

There are loads of people here who are more knowledgeable than me, so hope someone can give you a more definitive answer. Best of luck!

Thank you! Well done on dropping your cholesterol level. I'll probably have to do a bit more research into cholesterol, that one took me by surprise 🙂

 

[Jan_tr]

Hello Jan_tr. You can do keto without significantly increasing fat you normally eat. Drop the carbs and "build your plate" around the protein. Then consider what is the natural fat content of that element - ribeye steak, lamb and skin on duck have quite a lot of fat already. They should be tasty enough and satiating enough not to need fat adding. Chicken breast skin on is still not hugely fatty - you might want to olive oil your salad or butter your broccoli with that. I've been back on keto for 10 months and all my bloods are now within normal limits. Watching https://lowcarbdownunder.com.au/ , a site I most heartily recommend as the Ozzy doctors are entertaining as well as informed, there seems to be a strong consensus that cholesterol figures are no reason to rule out LCHF and they give sensible, well researched, guidance on the topic (basically they say that a)cholserol is essential, b) your body actually makes it c) it may go up temporarily but it comes down again and meanwhile all your other markers improve), . Diet Doctor (dietdoctor.com)seems to take the same view. Both are free sites although you can also join them - diet doctor has a mass of recipes already carb counted both for low carb and keto. All that stuff about fat bombs and coffee filled with butter is so much BS - fat is for flavour and helps make you feel full but it is much more a question of not eating low fat options and avoiding processed foods than it is about pigging out on fat.

Thank you. I'll definitely have a look at the Australian dr's. It will be interesting to see perspectives from other countries, seen too many American ones 🙂.

 

[Leadinglights]

There is little evidence that dietary fat converts into cholesterol and in any case it is the ratios of HDL. LDL and triglycerides which is more important than the total cholesterol so you might want to ask what your ratios are. The British Heart Foundation web site explains the relevance of the ratios. The body need cholesterol for many functions, synthesising hormones, vitamin D and helps in tissue repair.
Many people find that reducing carbs and having just not low fat foods reduces their cholesterol. Making good choices on the type of fat will also help.

 

[Drummer]

Me too.
At 6 months after diagnosis, concentrating solely on eating low carb, my cholesterol had gone down, not up.
The nurse claimed it was a delayed reaction to the cholesterol lowering diet I'd been on before diagnosis.
Yeah. Right.

 

[Ditto]

Hello and welcome to the forum @Jan_tr 🙂

 

[Jan_tr]

There is little evidence that dietary fat converts into cholesterol and in any case it is the ratios of HDL. LDL and triglycerides which is more important than the total cholesterol so you might want to ask what your ratios are. The British Heart Foundation web site explains the relevance of the ratios. The body need cholesterol for many functions, synthesising hormones, vitamin D and helps in tissue repair.
Many people find that reducing carbs and having just not low fat foods reduces their cholesterol. Making good choices on the type of fat will also help.

Thank you. I have the nhs app and it's all on there. I hope one day to understand it all and to understand everything that you've just written too 🙂.

 

[Jan_tr]

Me too.
At 6 months after diagnosis, concentrating solely on eating low carb, my cholesterol had gone down, not up.
The nurse claimed it was a delayed reaction to the cholesterol lowering diet I'd been on before diagnosis.
Yeah. Right.

Lol! The results speak for themselves, well done.

 

[Jan_tr]

Hello and welcome to the forum @Jan_tr 🙂

Thank you!