Hello, I’m a newbie here

[Sam Sweet]

Hi, I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes before Christmas, and I’m trying to get my head around eating. I have to a low carb diet, with things like whole milk, full fat yoghurt etc. We’ve bought low fat food for years, so this is a real change for me.

 

[Thebearcametoo]

Hi and welcome

 

[Sam Sweet]

Thank hou

 

[Toucan]

Hello Sam
Welcome. There will be a lot of things for you to get used to, so I hope you find some help on the forum. If you have a look at the thread at the top of the Newbies section, ' Useful links for people new to diabetes' and scroll down to 'Type 2' section, you may find some links that are useful.
It is good that you are pre-diabetic, and some care with your lifestyle now will hopefully let you stop the problem developing further.
if you follow a healthy eating plan, and ensure that you increase your exercise then that should form a good basis. Do you know what your Blood Sugar reading is, and how much you are trying to reduce it by?
There are many people on the forum that can help with any questions you may have, so please ask, and let us know how you are getting on.

 

[Ljc]

Hi , welcome to the forum. I’ve never gone low fat myself, but it must seem very strange to you.
Feel free to ask any questions you have about diabetes .
With pre diabetes you stand a very good chance of turning this around.

 

[Sam Sweet]

Hello Sam
Welcome. There will be a lot of things for you to get used to, so I hope you find some help on the forum. If you have a look at the thread at the top of the Newbies section, ' Useful links for people new to diabetes' and scroll down to 'Type 2' section, you may find some links that are useful.
It is good that you are pre-diabetic, and some care with your lifestyle now will hopefully let you stop the problem developing further.
if you follow a healthy eating plan, and ensure that you increase your exercise then that should form a good basis. Do you know what your Blood Sugar reading is, and how much you are trying to reduce it by?
There are many people on the forum that can help with any questions you may have, so please ask, and let us know how you are getting on.

Hi Kay

When I saw my nurse, she said to be diabetic I had to be 6.5, and I was a good 6. She’s put me forward for a free NHS course, and I’ve bought the 7 day Low Carb Kickstarter book. I also have a Fitbit coming tomorrow too.

the weird thing for me is to eat full fat things, which I’ve not eaten for years, and things I’ve eaten for years I now can’t. All topsy turvey to what I’m used to. I’ll have a good look around the forum,and will shout if I have any questions.

thank you for your help

 

[Ralph-YK]

Welcome to the forum Sam.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome

Wow, I am impressed. You must have a forward thinking GP practice to be recommending low carb, higher fat (LCHF) diet. Most are still stuck in recommending the low fat "healthy eating plate" guidance, even for us diabetics, which can set people back.

It is strange when we have spent our whole lives being told that fat is bad and makes you fat and gives you heart disease, but there is a growing wave of modern scientific thinking that this advice was based on flawed research 70years ago and in fact the low fat way of eating may be partly responsible for the surge in people being diagnosed with diabetes now. If you remove most of the fat from products they don't taste very good, so sugar was added to make them more pleasant to eat and the more sugar you eat, the more you want, whereas fat takes longer to digest and therefore keeps you fuller for longer, so you are less likely to over eat.

Learning how to eat low carb and higher fat takes time as it is pretty alien to most of us, but once you get your head around it, it is a very enjoyable way to eat. I was a serious sugar addict pre diagnosis and I also ate lots of bread and potatoes and pasta, albeit wholemeal varieties. I love the fact that I no longer crave sugar or even carbs that much. I almost never eat bread (maybe once a month if I go out for a meal) and I just eat a small portion of potatoes once or twice a week and even more rarely do I eat pasta, even the wholemeal variety spikes my BG for 8-10hrs and balancing it with insulin is very difficult. I was never keen on rice so I don't bother with that at all.
I enjoy cream in my morning coffee and I treat myself to a chunk of nice cheese at least once a day and I cook leafy green veg with a good knob of butter or dollop of cream cheese and cauliflower cheese or mashed cauli with cream cheese is a yummy staple of my menu. I have always enjoyed fatty meat like lamb chops and belly pork, so I can eat those guilt free these days and oily fish like salmon and mackerel are good and plenty of nuts and eggs (I have my own chickens) and salad with coleslaw and avocado, and ratatouille made with lots of lovely olive oil. These are all ways of increasing fat intake.
For info, Lidl do a really nice litre bucket of Creamy Natural Greek Yoghurt which is the lowest carb yoghurt I have found so far and many of us have it with a few berries like raspberries and strawberries for a dessert or as breakfast..... And Nature Valley Salted Caramel Protein Bars (just under 10g carbs per bar) or Aldi Gluten Free Nut Bars (5.9g carbs per bar) both of which come in a 4 pack are firm favourites here with low carbing members of the forum, if you fancy a sweet and satisfying treat occasionally. You will get used to reading the carb content on the back of labels and be able to quote the carb content of foods off the top of your head after a while. Once you figure out a basic shopping list of low carb foods, the whole process becomes a lot easier.
Anyway, that's just a few tips to help you get started. Since you are just pre-diabetic (HbA1c of 42-47) you should manage to push your HbA1c back into the normal range with minimal changes, whereas some of us needed to take a much more radical approach (My HbA1c at diagnosis was 112 so I had to be pretty strict)
Increasing your level of activity is also important and a good brisk 10-15min walk every day is as good as anything, so don't feel like you have to do anything too exertive, unless you are already pretty fit and doing more.
Good luck and keep us posted with your progress and ask whatever questions you have. Most of them will have cropped up at some point and we have a wealth of friendly, knowledgeable and experienced people here on the forum to answer them.

 

[CathyB]

Welcome Sam, its not so bad once you get your head around it. You will get loads of support and help here 🙂

 

[Neens]

Hi Sam, I was recently diagnosed with Type 2 and am having to get used to the nutritional aspects (having only followed low fat diets before) - for me I am missing apples. I know we can have them. I have started to buy unwrapped rather than a pack of 6 that I have no hope of getting through. I am a fruit beast so it is new to curb my portion control there too. I have stopped using a fruit bowl - far too tempting!
Good that you have supportive and clever GP!

 

[Neens]

Thanks for the info. Barbara - I discovered Lidl/Greek Yog and mixing berries on Day 1 (just under 3 weeks ago) but this info:

And Nature Valley Salted Caramel Protein Bars (just under 10g carbs per bar) or Aldi Gluten Free Nut Bars (5.9g carbs per bar)

is gold dust! I am often 'on the go' and need to find grab snacks that are okay and fit.

Cheers

Hi and welcome

Wow, I am impressed. You must have a forward thinking GP practice to be recommending low carb, higher fat (LCHF) diet. Most are still stuck in recommending the low fat "healthy eating plate" guidance, even for us diabetics, which can set people back.

It is strange when we have spent our whole lives being told that fat is bad and makes you fat and gives you heart disease, but there is a growing wave of modern scientific thinking that this advice was based on flawed research 70years ago and in fact the low fat way of eating may be partly responsible for the surge in people being diagnosed with diabetes now. If you remove most of the fat from products they don't taste very good, so sugar was added to make them more pleasant to eat and the more sugar you eat, the more you want, whereas fat takes longer to digest and therefore keeps you fuller for longer, so you are less likely to over eat.

Learning how to eat low carb and higher fat takes time as it is pretty alien to most of us, but once you get your head around it, it is a very enjoyable way to eat. I was a serious sugar addict pre diagnosis and I also ate lots of bread and potatoes and pasta, albeit wholemeal varieties. I love the fact that I no longer crave sugar or even carbs that much. I almost never eat bread (maybe once a month if I go out for a meal) and I just eat a small portion of potatoes once or twice a week and even more rarely do I eat pasta, even the wholemeal variety spikes my BG for 8-10hrs and balancing it with insulin is very difficult. I was never keen on rice so I don't bother with that at all.
I enjoy cream in my morning coffee and I treat myself to a chunk of nice cheese at least once a day and I cook leafy green veg with a good knob of butter or dollop of cream cheese and cauliflower cheese or mashed cauli with cream cheese is a yummy staple of my menu. I have always enjoyed fatty meat like lamb chops and belly pork, so I can eat those guilt free these days and oily fish like salmon and mackerel are good and plenty of nuts and eggs (I have my own chickens) and salad with coleslaw and avocado, and ratatouille made with lots of lovely olive oil. These are all ways of increasing fat intake.
For info, Lidl do a really nice litre bucket of Creamy Natural Greek Yoghurt which is the lowest carb yoghurt I have found so far and many of us have it with a few berries like raspberries and strawberries for a dessert or as breakfast..... And Nature Valley Salted Caramel Protein Bars (just under 10g carbs per bar) or Aldi Gluten Free Nut Bars (5.9g carbs per bar) both of which come in a 4 pack are firm favourites here with low carbing members of the forum, if you fancy a sweet and satisfying treat occasionally. You will get used to reading the carb content on the back of labels and be able to quote the carb content of foods off the top of your head after a while. Once you figure out a basic shopping list of low carb foods, the whole process becomes a lot easier.
Anyway, that's just a few tips to help you get started. Since you are just pre-diabetic (HbA1c of 42-47) you should manage to push your HbA1c back into the normal range with minimal changes, whereas some of us needed to take a much more radical approach (My HbA1c at diagnosis was 112 so I had to be pretty strict)
Increasing your level of activity is also important and a good brisk 10-15min walk every day is as good as anything, so don't feel like you have to do anything too exertive, unless you are already pretty fit and doing more.
Good luck and keep us posted with your progress and ask whatever questions you have. Most of them will have cropped up at some point and we have a wealth of friendly, knowledgeable and experienced people here on the forum to answer them.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Sam Sweet 🙂