I had a blood test last week to try to find the reason for my tingling/burning lips. I was shocked to hear from the doctor that I have a Hba1c reading of 42 making me prediabetic. I'm 5'3" and weigh 9 stone, 61 years old taking quite a lot of exercise (1 hour active walk every day and a 2 or 3 mile run 3 times a week- including Parkrun, and yoga/pilates 5 times a week). I've never been any heavier, never smoked and generally eat very healthy (little red meat, regular vegetarian meals, wholemeal bread/pasta etc). Only weakness is chocolate biscuits and chocolate. So I'm very worried to have the test results. Life has been very stressful the last few weeks as my husband had a serious accident in November and I have been caring for him, would this have contributed to the reading? I have been reading lots of advice online which I have found quite confusing, so I'd love some ideas to help me to reverse this before it gets worse (if that's possible).
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Hello
- Thread starter Tass
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rebrascora
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Hi and welcome
Sorry to hear about your pre-diagnosis and your husband's accident. Yes it should be possible to push it back with some dietary changes.... it sounds like you already have the exercise aspect covered.
I'm afraid the choccy biscuits may have to go but find something low carb and equally satisfying to replace them..... good cheese (blue stilton being a favourite) and olives and nuts are my go to treats now and a packet of pork scratchings if I am going to be really naughty!
Unfortunately, wholemeal versions of starchy carbs can be just as bad as the white versions. Wholemeal pasta will spike my Blood Glucose for 8-10 hours, so that any carbs I have at my next meal will spike on top of that and my BG just steadily climbs. Porridge and bread have a similar effect, so I no longer eat them and only very small portions of potatoes (even sweet potatoes).
Since you are only prediabetic reducing your portion size and cutting out the biscuits should see you back into the normal range but you will almost certainly have to maintain dietary control to keep it there.
Many people here on the forum find that self funding a Blood Glucose meter and self testing, enables them to tailor their diet to their body's response to particular foods and their individual tastes. They are relatively inexpensive to purchase @ approx. £15 for a meter but it is the on going cost of purchasing test strips which can run up the finances and for that reason the 2 meters with the cheapest test strips are recommended by membersof the forum here. They are the SD Gluco Navii and the Spirit Health TEE2 Blood Glucose Meters. Test strips for those cost £8 for a pot of 50 as oppose to between £15 and £25 for some other brands.
Stress will definitely impact your BG readings as can some medications, like steroids.
Sorry to hear about your pre-diagnosis and your husband's accident. Yes it should be possible to push it back with some dietary changes.... it sounds like you already have the exercise aspect covered.
I'm afraid the choccy biscuits may have to go but find something low carb and equally satisfying to replace them..... good cheese (blue stilton being a favourite) and olives and nuts are my go to treats now and a packet of pork scratchings if I am going to be really naughty!
Unfortunately, wholemeal versions of starchy carbs can be just as bad as the white versions. Wholemeal pasta will spike my Blood Glucose for 8-10 hours, so that any carbs I have at my next meal will spike on top of that and my BG just steadily climbs. Porridge and bread have a similar effect, so I no longer eat them and only very small portions of potatoes (even sweet potatoes).
Since you are only prediabetic reducing your portion size and cutting out the biscuits should see you back into the normal range but you will almost certainly have to maintain dietary control to keep it there.
Many people here on the forum find that self funding a Blood Glucose meter and self testing, enables them to tailor their diet to their body's response to particular foods and their individual tastes. They are relatively inexpensive to purchase @ approx. £15 for a meter but it is the on going cost of purchasing test strips which can run up the finances and for that reason the 2 meters with the cheapest test strips are recommended by membersof the forum here. They are the SD Gluco Navii and the Spirit Health TEE2 Blood Glucose Meters. Test strips for those cost £8 for a pot of 50 as oppose to between £15 and £25 for some other brands.
Stress will definitely impact your BG readings as can some medications, like steroids.
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
For a type two diabetic the problem is the starch and sugars touted as healthy these days.
We can deal with meat, fish, seafood, eggs, cheese, yoghurt and other low carb dairy, but grain potatoes and legumes are just too high to cope with unless in very small amounts. Better to replace starchy and sugary foods with salad stuff, low carb veges roasted or as stirfries.
As you are only just in the prediabetic range you have most likely got a lot more freedom to eat carbs, but cutting back the right things will put things right - with any luck.
We can deal with meat, fish, seafood, eggs, cheese, yoghurt and other low carb dairy, but grain potatoes and legumes are just too high to cope with unless in very small amounts. Better to replace starchy and sugary foods with salad stuff, low carb veges roasted or as stirfries.
As you are only just in the prediabetic range you have most likely got a lot more freedom to eat carbs, but cutting back the right things will put things right - with any luck.
Hi @Tass Welcome to you. Shock hit me too, was completely unexpected. The doctor gave me 3 months and told me to cut out all obvious sugar, i went further and thre out all hidden sugar too (ketchup,sauces etc) Started properly reading labels. Cut my portion size too. I made an effort to reduce the carbs on my plate replacing them with salads or more veg, (the one that grown above ground are good for me) and my level came down pretty quickly. However i got sloppy over Xmas, it crept back up to just inside the diabetic range again. It sounds like you are pretty active already. Maybe have a look at the carbs? how many biscuits? There are some really good topics on here and very knowledgeable people, talk, ask questions, there's always someone around to help you and remember, dont panic, you will learn in time what suits you best and make a few tweaks that im sure will yield good results for you. Let us know how you are getting on.
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Hello @Tass
Welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear about your diagnosis with pre diabetes.
It doesn’t sound like you are carrying much weight at all, and you certainly seem to be keeping active!
Stress can elevate blood glucose, but only usually if your metabolism is a bit on the fritz. Do you happen to know if your surgery took a ‘spot check’ fingerstick BG as well as the HbA1c? It would be interesting for you to know what your response is to foods, and how quickly or slowly any ‘spike’ in BG returns to the normal range.
Type 2 is often assumed when a person is older, but some aspects of your case seem slightly atypical. It may be worth bearing in mind that there are other types of diabetes that can arrive at any age, certainly if your prediabetes begins to change and doesn’t seem to respond if oral medications are recommended. LADA (a form or slowly emerging T1) is quite tricky to spot, and is often mistaken for T2.
However, it’s best to deal with the information you have to date and act on the basis of T2. In which case some small changes to your diet in terms of moderating your carbohydrate can be very helpful. Some people on the forum (like @Drummer) have always been very sensitive to carbs, and have to reduce their intake dramatically, while for others a moderate or moderate-low intake of perhaps 100g-150g per day may help your metabolism deal effectively with the food, without elevating BG too much. As has been suggested, one of the most effective strategies can be to use a BG monitor to examine your diet and make tweaks and changes to reduce glucose variation after meals.
There are plenty of folks here who can help you understand what the numbers mean and what changes you can consider if you decide to try self monitoring.
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