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Cacal

Cacal

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At risk of diabetes
Hi, I have changed my diet and eat healthy on most days, eating brown bread and pasta but can’t seem to get my blood level below 45. It has stayed the same as when I was eating white food As well.
 
Welcome to the forum @Cacal

Switching from white versions of carbs to wholewheat versions can have a slight effect on absorption speed, and has the benefit of additional dietary fibre, but it is important to remember that the amount of carbs in brown vs white is almost the same.

So wholewheat pasta has just as much potential to raise BG as white pasta, and getting the portion size right is key in helping your metabolism cope well with the meal.

Often this involves reducing portion size of the starchy carbs, and bulking out with more veggies or sauce.

Alternatively there are lower carb options eg pasta made from beans rather than flour, or even swapping out spaghetti and using shredded cabbage, or spiralised courgette for example to carry the sauce.

If your HbA1c is at 45mmol/mol, that’s a pretty good level, and probably just a modest reduction in portion sizes may be all that is required?
 
People are not being served best in being told by their GP or nurse to swap white carbs for brown ones as they are all about the same in terms of the carbs, and will make very little difference to an HbA1C result. They may make a bit of difference to what people see if finger pricking because the profile of how they are metabolised may be different.
 
Leadinglights said:
People are not being served best in being told by their GP or nurse to swap white carbs for brown ones as they are all about the same in terms of the carbs, and will make very little difference to an HbA1C result. They may make a bit of difference to what people see if finger pricking because the profile of how they are metabolised may be different.
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Brown carbs are considered better for everyone, whether diabetic or not, but it would be good if GPs and DNs also told us that we need to cut our portion sizes at the same time, which is the usual caveat. Otherwise, as you say, it will make barely any difference.
 
There are better sources of fibre than grains, which are much lower carb, so I prefer to use those sources of fibre and avoid the high carb grain products (whatever the colour) as much as possible.
 
Cacal said:
Hi, I have changed my diet and eat healthy on most days, eating brown bread and pasta but can’t seem to get my blood level below 45. It has stayed the same as when I was eating white food As well.
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Unfortunately 'healthy' is not what we need.
If you eat the same amount of carbs then your blood glucose will be the same.
By reducing the amount of sugar and starch you eat, making swaps or having smaller portions until you get into normal numbers, all should be well.
I can't promise that your HbA1c will go down in exact synchrony though.
I found that by eating fewer carbs when my HbA1c was 42, at the end of a year, it was still 42. I did have raised glucose levels for some time before diagnosis - I was just never told and encouraged to eat a 'healthy' diet for the next 10 years, during which time I piled on weight and felt unwell. Maybe things would not have become so broken if I'd only known my situation.
As you have been alerted whilst still in the prediabetic range a good diet might be all that it takes to sort it out completely.
 
Cacal said:
Hi, I have changed my diet and eat healthy on most days, eating brown bread and pasta but can’t seem to get my blood level below 45. It has stayed the same as when I was eating white food As well.
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Out of interest, does your diet still contain other carb-heavy things, eg potatoes or rice, that might explain why things are pretty static despite the changes you've made? Like many on here I follow a low carb diet, ie less than 130g per day, and in the beginning I was staggered to find that it would involve ditching favourites like flavoured yogurts, baked beans, baked potatoes, crisps, pizza, breakfast cereal and every type of cake and biscuit that we had in the larder.
 
Martin.A said:
Out of interest, does your diet still contain other carb-heavy things, eg potatoes or rice, that might explain why things are pretty static despite the changes you've made? Like many on here I follow a low carb diet, ie less than 130g per day, and in the beginning I was staggered to find that it would involve ditching favourites like flavoured yogurts, baked beans, baked potatoes, crisps, pizza, breakfast cereal and every type of cake and biscuit that we had in the larder.
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Martin, that post makes it all sound incredibly bleak, which admittedly, it did seem at first but i think it is nice to balance it with all the yummy things we still eat and drink.... for instance I have real double cream in my coffee every morning and lots of lovely cheese and steak and chips is still on the menu but the chips are made from celeriac instead of potatoes and cottage pie is topped with mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potato (no peeling spuds and it cooks quicker and mashes easier..... and then topped with a generous amount of your favourite grated cheese and browned in the oven. Same with bangers and cauliflower mash. Add a good dollop of cream cheese and a spoon of wholegrain mustard and serve with broccoli and green beans. Bolognaise sauce can be served on a bed of shredded cabbage sweated in butter, or courgettes or broccoli sprouts or stir fried veg. Once you start looking for other options, there are loads of low carb foods which can replace those higher carb options and are actually more tasty! It just takes time to get your head around it.
 
Also worth saying that 'brown' bread is not the same as 'wholemeal or whole grain'. They all have the same number of carbs but brown bread can just be coloured white bread.
 
rebrascora said:
Martin, that post makes it all sound incredibly bleak, which admittedly, it did seem at first but i think it is nice to balance it with all the yummy things we still eat and drink.... for instance I have real double cream in my coffee every morning and lots of lovely cheese and steak and chips is still on the menu but the chips are made from celeriac instead of potatoes and cottage pie is topped with mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potato (no peeling spuds and it cooks quicker and mashes easier..... and then topped with a generous amount of your favourite grated cheese and browned in the oven. Same with bangers and cauliflower mash. Add a good dollop of cream cheese and a spoon of wholegrain mustard and serve with broccoli and green beans. Bolognaise sauce can be served on a bed of shredded cabbage sweated in butter, or courgettes or broccoli sprouts or stir fried veg. Once you start looking for other options, there are loads of low carb foods which can replace those higher carb options and are actually more tasty! It just takes time to get your head around it.
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Just get konjac noodles and rice, no carbs and few calories. Also, this fibre obsession is absolutely way out of hand. I believed it and went higher and higher and got worse and worse IBS until I scaled back hugely and got my life back.
 
Turnbullissimo said:
Just get konjac noodles and rice, no carbs and few calories. Also, this fibre obsession is absolutely way out of hand. I believed it and went higher and higher and got worse and worse IBS until I scaled back hugely and got my life back.
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I think it may depend upon the type of fibre as to whether it helps the gut or aggravates it. Konjac noodles and konjac rice are high in fibre, so if you can manage those then that suggests it isn't all fibre that is a problem. I use them occasionally but what puts me off is that they are quite highly processed and I am trying to eat less processed food. I find psyllium husk and chia seeds both really good for my gut and bowel health. They are both high in soluble fibre like konjac and that can be beneficial for lowering cholesterol as well as promoting gut health.
 
rebrascora said:
Martin, that post makes it all sound incredibly bleak
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Fair point, but I did say "in the beginning". Maybe I could have softened it a little by adding "Fortunately...." and then listing the things in my new diet that I enjoy, especially the substitutions like celeriac chips, cauli or celeriac mash, cauli rice and so on.
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Welcome to the forum @Cacal

Switching from white versions of carbs to wholewheat versions can have a slight effect on absorption speed, and has the benefit of additional dietary fibre, but it is important to remember that the amount of carbs in brown vs white is almost the same.

So wholewheat pasta has just as much potential to raise BG as white pasta, and getting the portion size right is key in helping your metabolism cope well with the meal.

Often this involves reducing portion size of the starchy carbs, and bulking out with more veggies or sauce.

Alternatively there are lower carb options eg pasta made from beans rather than flower, or even swapping out spaghetti and using shredded cabbage, or spiralised courgette for example to carry the sauce.

If your HbA1c is at 45mmol/mol, that’s a pretty good level, and probably just a modest reduction in portion sizes may be all that is required?
Click to expand...
Thanks for reply, I will now look at other ways of replacing carbs. Cabbage sounds good.
 
Cacal said:
Thanks for reply, I will now look at other ways of replacing carbs. Cabbage sounds good.
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I have always liked cabbage just cooked plain with a knob of butter but just recently I have been experimenting with different ways of cooking it including currying it (essentially cabbage bhaji which I used t get from the takeaway but turns out it is really easy to make yourself). There is a thread about frying cabbage in the "Food and carbs" section, which has rather taken off with different recipe ideas... see link below
 
When I used print outs of some of the 'healthy' diets to light the barbecue shortly after being told I was diabetic it was a wonder that the top of my head did not fall off, so wide was my grin.
I have a section in the freezer full of things to use in low carb baking, as I bought in bulk and realised that I just didn't need to use much as I am so content on low carb veges with berries - but just once in a whole I get the urge to make something baked - bread, cake, buns or biscuits can all be low or at least lowish carb.
 
I love my pasta and rice but will be making an effort to only eat it on occasions to lower my sugar level.
 
I'm no longer low carb, but the one low carb substitute i still eat is cauli rice. Tasters good and quicker to cook than rice.
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Welcome to the forum @Cacal

Switching from white versions of carbs to wholewheat versions can have a slight effect on absorption speed, and has the benefit of additional dietary fibre, but it is important to remember that the amount of carbs in brown vs white is almost the same.

So wholewheat pasta has just as much potential to raise BG as white pasta, and getting the portion size right is key in helping your metabolism cope well with the meal.

Often this involves reducing portion size of the starchy carbs, and bulking out with more veggies or sauce.

Alternatively there are lower carb options eg pasta made from beans rather than flour, or even swapping out spaghetti and using shredded cabbage, or spiralised courgette for example to carry the sauce.

If your HbA1c is at 45mmol/mol, that’s a pretty good level, and probably just a modest reduction in portion sizes may be all that is required?
Click to expand...
Thanks for reply, I’m going to make an effort and cut down and try the shredded cabbage.
 
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