Hi everyone I’ve been in denial for a while now about getting diabetes but I can’t ignore it any longer as I am Pre-diabetic. I walk my dogs every day I’m not massively overweight but it is in my family and I have a chronic condition so I take a lot of medication. Would be very appreciative of advice and support to get out of this and not end up having diabetes. Thanks
-
Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
Hello
- Thread starter LouLou13
- Start date
- Status
Hi @LouLou13 and welcome to the forum.
Many people get their Type 2 Diabetes into remission by reducing the carbohydrates they eat. In your case as a pre-diabetic, you should only need to reduce the a little in order to get your Blood Glucose down further.
Note that it isn't just sugars (which are in fruits as well as table sugar), but also starches in potato and grains which turn into glucose very quickly when eaten.
Many people get their Type 2 Diabetes into remission by reducing the carbohydrates they eat. In your case as a pre-diabetic, you should only need to reduce the a little in order to get your Blood Glucose down further.
Note that it isn't just sugars (which are in fruits as well as table sugar), but also starches in potato and grains which turn into glucose very quickly when eaten.
Hi LouLou13, welcome to the forum.
It's great that you've found us at an early stage as you'll be able to make small changes to your lifestyle to prevent things developing further.
It might be useful to share what your typical meals for the week are like so we can suggest some adjustments.
Sugars and hidden carbs can be really tricky as many things that we were taught to be healthy can be difficult for diabetics so it's worth having a review of what's being consumed.
It's great that you've found us at an early stage as you'll be able to make small changes to your lifestyle to prevent things developing further.
It might be useful to share what your typical meals for the week are like so we can suggest some adjustments.
Sugars and hidden carbs can be really tricky as many things that we were taught to be healthy can be difficult for diabetics so it's worth having a review of what's being consumed.
Hello Ian thank you so much for replying to me so quickly. It’s the carbohydrate bit I’m not sure of. I’ve always thought I had a good diet but I obviously don’t. I have a chronic condition- Rheumatoid Arthritis I don’t think some of the meds I take help. Any advice is v welcome. Thank you
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hi and welcome from me too.
Maybe if you tell us what you currently eat we can suggest substitutions for the higher carb foods.
A "good" or "healthy" diet for a normal person may not be healthy for a Type 2 diabetic. So for example bananas and porridge are both considered healthy foods but both are high in carbs and may be causing your body problems. Many of us choose a few berries as our daily fruit option and have them in some natural whole milk (not low fat) Greek yoghurt with some mixed seeds and maybe chopped nuts for breakfast instead of toast or cereals or porridge.
Maybe if you tell us what you currently eat we can suggest substitutions for the higher carb foods.
A "good" or "healthy" diet for a normal person may not be healthy for a Type 2 diabetic. So for example bananas and porridge are both considered healthy foods but both are high in carbs and may be causing your body problems. Many of us choose a few berries as our daily fruit option and have them in some natural whole milk (not low fat) Greek yoghurt with some mixed seeds and maybe chopped nuts for breakfast instead of toast or cereals or porridge.
Hi Cherelle thank you for replying so quickly. I don’t eat any ready meals they’re all cooked from scratch but I like toast before bed. My husband makes sourdough and other bread and I love a slice with milk when I take my meds at night.
Hi Barbara thanks again for your quick response. I’m staggered at the porridge declaration. I love porridge and have it every morning! I drink a pint of whole milk a day
I’ve read the bit below about your diabetes is it under control now?
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The regimes that people follow do vary very much as everybody is an individual not just whether they are Type1, Type2 or one of the other types but also what meds they take or just manage by diet.
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
@LouLou13 as you are only in danger of diabetes then you could stop any risk of progressing by choosing the carbs you do eat.
I was just listening to 'a life scientific' on Radio 4 which was very interesting - there was mention of how a varied diet of different plants was a very good idea.
I used to make bread trying to reduce the carb content by using various low carb flours, milled seeds etc. I found it easier to concentrate on berries and veges as I need to stay so very low in order to keep levels normal, but there are lots of recipes on the net which are low carb.
All grains, including oats are about 2/3rds carb so rather problematic. I use double cream in coffee and drink teas without any additions - use swede rather than potato and many other coping strategies - some of them could make all the difference to you. It is very doubtful that you would need to be as cautious as I am in order to avoid becoming a full blown diabetic.
I was just listening to 'a life scientific' on Radio 4 which was very interesting - there was mention of how a varied diet of different plants was a very good idea.
I used to make bread trying to reduce the carb content by using various low carb flours, milled seeds etc. I found it easier to concentrate on berries and veges as I need to stay so very low in order to keep levels normal, but there are lots of recipes on the net which are low carb.
All grains, including oats are about 2/3rds carb so rather problematic. I use double cream in coffee and drink teas without any additions - use swede rather than potato and many other coping strategies - some of them could make all the difference to you. It is very doubtful that you would need to be as cautious as I am in order to avoid becoming a full blown diabetic.
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Milk contains lactose which is a sugar so whilst whole milk is slightly lower carb than skimmed milk it is probably not a good idea to be drinking a whole pint every day. A pint normally lasts me a week, but I eat/drink other dairy like cream and cheese and creamy natural Greek style yoghurt which are lower carb but provide dairy benefits and of course taste good.
Porridge oats are about 63% carbohydrate, so your portion size and what you have with it and even the type of porridge oats can all be very relevant with diabetes because the carbohydrate in your food is all broken down into glucose by your digestive system and absorbed into your blood stream where we then have problems as diabetics. Reducing the amount of carbs you eat will reduce your BG levels far more effectively than almost any medication, so simply swapping your breakfast porridge for a lower carb alternative breakfast like yoghurt and cutting back on that pint of milk you drink could be all you need to do to improve your chances of not progressing to diabetes.
Of course there may be other areas of your diet where you could make carb reductions instead and it is all about figuring out where you can make reductions that you are happiest with and can live with long term.
I used to eat porridge with dried fruit and sugar for breakfast pre diagnosis along with a milky coffee with at least 2 sugars. Now I really enjoy my natural Greek yoghurt with a few berries or this morning it was sour cherries, mixed seeds, cinnamon, and chopped nuts and I drink my coffee with double cream which is lower carb than milk. I always said that I would rather not drink coffee as drink it without sugar, but my sugarless coffee with cream on a morning is now something I absolutely love and I really enjoy my breakfast yoghurt and it is surprisingly filling and often keeps me going all day until my evening meal. So those lower carb swaps were big wins for me as I really enjoy the new lower carb alternatives.
Learning to read nutritional information labels (usually in very small print on the side or back of packaging) is key to understanding where your carbs are coming from and therefore figuring out where you can make reductions and using scales to measure portions of carb rich foods like breakfast cereals/porridge oats, pasta, rice couscous etc. Keeping a food diary is another way of helping to find areas where you can reduce a few carbs here and there quite easily.
Many people find a Blood Glucose meter an invaluable investment as it allows them to identify the foods which cause them the most BG turmoil and it can be highly individual. Some people can get away with a small portion of porridge whilst others find it spikes their BG levels really high. Others find potatoes cause them real problems, particularly mashed or baked whereas others can get away with a small portion. Being able to test before eating and 2 hours afterwards gives you the ability to see how your body coped with the food you ate and enables you to tailor your diet to your individual body's response to foods and your particular tastes.
Porridge oats are about 63% carbohydrate, so your portion size and what you have with it and even the type of porridge oats can all be very relevant with diabetes because the carbohydrate in your food is all broken down into glucose by your digestive system and absorbed into your blood stream where we then have problems as diabetics. Reducing the amount of carbs you eat will reduce your BG levels far more effectively than almost any medication, so simply swapping your breakfast porridge for a lower carb alternative breakfast like yoghurt and cutting back on that pint of milk you drink could be all you need to do to improve your chances of not progressing to diabetes.
Of course there may be other areas of your diet where you could make carb reductions instead and it is all about figuring out where you can make reductions that you are happiest with and can live with long term.
I used to eat porridge with dried fruit and sugar for breakfast pre diagnosis along with a milky coffee with at least 2 sugars. Now I really enjoy my natural Greek yoghurt with a few berries or this morning it was sour cherries, mixed seeds, cinnamon, and chopped nuts and I drink my coffee with double cream which is lower carb than milk. I always said that I would rather not drink coffee as drink it without sugar, but my sugarless coffee with cream on a morning is now something I absolutely love and I really enjoy my breakfast yoghurt and it is surprisingly filling and often keeps me going all day until my evening meal. So those lower carb swaps were big wins for me as I really enjoy the new lower carb alternatives.
Learning to read nutritional information labels (usually in very small print on the side or back of packaging) is key to understanding where your carbs are coming from and therefore figuring out where you can make reductions and using scales to measure portions of carb rich foods like breakfast cereals/porridge oats, pasta, rice couscous etc. Keeping a food diary is another way of helping to find areas where you can reduce a few carbs here and there quite easily.
Many people find a Blood Glucose meter an invaluable investment as it allows them to identify the foods which cause them the most BG turmoil and it can be highly individual. Some people can get away with a small portion of porridge whilst others find it spikes their BG levels really high. Others find potatoes cause them real problems, particularly mashed or baked whereas others can get away with a small portion. Being able to test before eating and 2 hours afterwards gives you the ability to see how your body coped with the food you ate and enables you to tailor your diet to your individual body's response to foods and your particular tastes.
Hi @LouLou13 My Blood Glucose was only actually at diabetic levels for a very short time. In fact probably less than 2 weeks. Then it was at pre-diabetic levels (before getting into the non-diabetic range) for a few months due to my liver needing to adjust to my body having normal Blood Glucose levels again. The liver actually makes glucose and dumps it into the blood stream in order to give us an energy boost when it thinks we need it - the most famous time of it doing this is before breakfast and is called 'Dawn Phenomenon' or 'Foot On The Floor' where the liver dumps glucose into our blood to give us the energy a cave dweller need to go and hunt or gather their first meal. Livers don't know about larders, fridges and supermarkets.
Our bodies like balance and stability and this makes changing something like weight or Blood Glucose more difficult because the body will do its utmost to keep it the same. When you consider how small a difference in food eaten per day adds up in calories over 1yr you would think it's impossible for humans to have stable weight. All else being equal you would only need to eat 10 calories less per day to lose 1lb of weight per year or eat 10 more to gain 1lb per year - that's a about 1/8th of an apple.
D
Deleted member 21371
Guest
Do you take steroids for your rheumatoid arthritis?
These can cause a rise in BG in their own right.
And if you have any other conditions, as you did say you are on a lot of medication, you need to consider them before making drastic changes to your diet, rather than following advice initially focusing on one specific concern
Thanks that’s really useful and much appreciated.
Yes I take 5mg prednisilone only for two years but I think that’s what’s causing this and other health problems. I’d love to come off them I hate taking them but it’s not that easy. Thanks you’ve given me a lot to think about.
I mean, for a single item how would I judge what’s too much?
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Some people try to only eat foods with a carb content of less that 10g/100g ie 10% Some people like myself just try to avoid almost all grain products and potatoes, so no bread, pasta, rice, couscous, wholegrains, pastry, breakfast cereals as well as exotic fruits and just stick to meat/fish/eggs/dairy and lots of yummy low carb veggies. That may seem restrictive but it's not once you get your head around it.
Low carb is generally considered less than 130g per day and you can split that up any way you like. It can be helpful to keep breakfast as low carb as possible because many people are quite insulin resistant in the morning so carbs a breakfast will sometimes spike levels higher for longer, whereas in the evening many people are often more sensitive to insulin so having the majority of your carbs in the evening might be a good idea. However those are just general guidelines and testing your BG levels before eating a meal and then 2 hours afterwards wil tell you what your body will tolerate at particular times of day. Some people get away with 130g carbs but I think most people need to keep it below 100
g per day and some need to go as low as 40-50g par day. Some even go full keto at no more than 20g per day but that is quite extreme.
Low carb is generally considered less than 130g per day and you can split that up any way you like. It can be helpful to keep breakfast as low carb as possible because many people are quite insulin resistant in the morning so carbs a breakfast will sometimes spike levels higher for longer, whereas in the evening many people are often more sensitive to insulin so having the majority of your carbs in the evening might be a good idea. However those are just general guidelines and testing your BG levels before eating a meal and then 2 hours afterwards wil tell you what your body will tolerate at particular times of day. Some people get away with 130g carbs but I think most people need to keep it below 100
g per day and some need to go as low as 40-50g par day. Some even go full keto at no more than 20g per day but that is quite extreme.
A rough way of deciding is to set a limit below which you assume that everything is OK for your body and that above a certain % of carbohydrates you assume that your body will react badly to it. So everything in between those levels needs testing with a Blood Glucose meter in order to know in which category it fits.
This gets more complicated because some thing (like sauces, spices, flavourings) we only eat a small amount compared with other things like vegetables. So even a high carb sauce is OK if you only eat a little of it with your meal.
For me my rough guides are: Below 10gms per 100gms I assume it is OK for me.
Over 20gms per 100gms I assume that I need to avoid it
In between I need to test how my body reacts to it (I use a Spirit Healthcare TEE2+ Blood Glucose meter to do this).
So for example taking Cholate, for me no chocolate below 10gms of carbs per 100gms tastes edible and the vast majority are over 30gns of carbs. But I found Lindt 90% Cocoa chocolate (a dark chocolate without artificial sweeteners) so I tried some, found it edible (for me) and found it didn't raise my GB too much. So I added it to my list of foods/snacks/treats that is OK for me!
- Status