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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.
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Leadinglights
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Welcome to the forum. A prediabetes diagnosis means your HbA1C will be between 42mmol/mol and 47mmol/mol, normal being below 42. Depending on where you are in that zone will indicate how much work you need to do from som very modest changes to your diet to something a bit more than that but it is a wake up call to do something. Reducing the amount of all carbohydrates not just sugar as many people think as they convert to glucose.
Have a look at this link for some ideas where you can make some savings and substitutions. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/, it is a low carb approach with some sensible food changes.
Cataract surgery is very straightforward these days when that is required. But certainly reducing your blood glucose will help with your eye health.
Do fire away with any questions.
The Learning Zone here will give you some other links and lots of information
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Welcome to the forum @Tips
Sorry to hear you’ve been told you are at risk of diabetes, and about the rapid changes in your eyes
One of the biggest questions when trying to get to grips with being at risk of diabetes is often ‘what can I eat’ and while there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will want to cut out straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits.
Many new members find it can be really helpful to keep a completely honest food diary for a week or two. Note down everything you eat and drink, along with a reasonable estimate of the total carbohydrate content in your meals and snacks - not just ‘of which sugars’, it’s the total carb figure that is more helpful. It might sound like a bit of a faff, and will involve weighing portions, squinting at the fine print on packaging, and possibly looking up things on the internet, but it will give you a really good idea of which foods are the main sources of carbs in your menu.
Once you can see which meals or snacks are your ‘big hitters’, and where carbs might be unexpectedly lurking, the process might also suggest some likely candidates for swaps, portion reductions, or using lower carb alternatives (eg celeriac or swede mash, or cauli ‘rice’).
Alongside the brilliant Learning Zone that @Leadinglights has already mentioned, members here frequently recommend Maggie Davey’s Letter to the newly diagnosed and Gretchen Becker’s book T2 Diabetes, the first year, which you can work through gradually and will give you a solid starting point.
Good luck, and let us know how things are going 🙂
Sorry to hear you’ve been told you are at risk of diabetes, and about the rapid changes in your eyes
One of the biggest questions when trying to get to grips with being at risk of diabetes is often ‘what can I eat’ and while there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will want to cut out straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits.
Many new members find it can be really helpful to keep a completely honest food diary for a week or two. Note down everything you eat and drink, along with a reasonable estimate of the total carbohydrate content in your meals and snacks - not just ‘of which sugars’, it’s the total carb figure that is more helpful. It might sound like a bit of a faff, and will involve weighing portions, squinting at the fine print on packaging, and possibly looking up things on the internet, but it will give you a really good idea of which foods are the main sources of carbs in your menu.
Once you can see which meals or snacks are your ‘big hitters’, and where carbs might be unexpectedly lurking, the process might also suggest some likely candidates for swaps, portion reductions, or using lower carb alternatives (eg celeriac or swede mash, or cauli ‘rice’).
Alongside the brilliant Learning Zone that @Leadinglights has already mentioned, members here frequently recommend Maggie Davey’s Letter to the newly diagnosed and Gretchen Becker’s book T2 Diabetes, the first year, which you can work through gradually and will give you a solid starting point.
Good luck, and let us know how things are going 🙂
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