Food Advice For Prediabetics - Help Please!

[TheClockworkDodo]

Thanks @Veenorthants - I've now sent off the chart, but I've put in a note suggesting she use it as an ideas guide rather than as a rulebook. I'll say to my Mum that if her neighbour asks for more information Mum should emphasise that at 90 and especially as she has prediabetes rather than diabetes, and has other conditions as well, she should be fine eating all the things in the fair section and if she eats something from the bad section now and again it's not likely to be a huge problem.

The trouble is, she's a bit of a worrier, so without information she's likely to worry and eat all the wrong things (or stop eating lots of things which wouldn't be a problem for diabetics), and with information she's likely to worry that her other conditions mean she can't eat some of the good things and has to eat some of the bad But without the information I'm sending she may well get her grandson to google for her, or look in an out-of-date general medical textbook, and end up with misinformation, which would be worse.

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

This is the final version I sent, btw:

And this is what I said in the note:

"I was sorry to hear that you have pre-diabetes. Mum asked me to send you some information about what diabetics (and pre-diabetics) should/shouldn't eat and drink so I'm enclosing a chart which I hope will be helpful. I realise of course that you're juggling pre-diabetes with other conditions which might mean you can't eat some of the good things and have to eat some of the bad ones, so please use it as an ideas guide not a rulebook! - any changes you find you can make should help get your blood sugar down.

Carbohydrates are the things which are a problem for diabetics (not just sugar but starchy carbs as well). So if you are looking at foods which aren't in the chart, especially something like a ready meal which has lots of different ingredients in it, it's easy to work out whether it's good/fair/bad. From the diabetes point of view you can ignore traffic lights, calories, fats, and even sugar (as that's included in carbs) - all you need to look at is total carbohydrates. For a whole meal, if the total carbohydrates are below about 20 grams per portion it's good and if they're above about 50 grams per portion it's bad - if they're in-between it's OK for a prediabetic, but the lower they are the better.

When you are eating carbohydrates combining them with fat and/or protein is a good idea, as this means your blood sugar won't rise as rapidly, so a balanced meal or balanced snack is always better than one which only contains carbs.

I hope this is helpful, and that you can get your blood sugar back into the healthy range."