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J

JM9

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
At risk of diabetes
Hi, I am new to the forum and just wanted to say hello. My glucose levels have been steadily increasing despite me losing weight and increasing my activity levels. Today, my Hb1AC is 46...I am worried as I am not sure what else I can do to stop me from slipping into the type 2 category. Thank you for reading.
 
Diabetes isn't all about weight and exercise - that is just what we get told and have to find out for ourselves that diabetes is about glucose levels, and the media got it wrong. Yes you can be thin and athletic, and diabetic.
The easiest way to get control is using a blood glucose meter, check what foods make you spike and reduce or replace them with something lower in carbs. I have settled on the Spirit Healthcare Tee 2 meter as cheap to run and it seems spot on in accuracy.
 
Anitram said:
Hi. Welcome to the Forum.
Despite your rising HbA1c at least you're still in the pre-diabetes range at the moment so if you've been shedding a few lbs and exercising more the only other question is what are you eating? Can you give a quick summary of your diet?

Martin
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks for reply. I can see you are doing fantastically well at reducing your glucose level.
I don't eat meat, fish or eggs and therefore I do eat a fair amount of carbohydrate. Breakfast is a banana and cereal bar. Lunch is either a green salad with small amount of feta and some cashew nuts and a piece of fruit or ryvita with low fat spread plus fruit. Dinner is pasta or baked potato with veg or something made with various pulses. My treat most days is either 2 squares of chocolate or a biscuit.I have lost 21lbs since Jan by reducing my calories, carbohydrate intake and increasing my protein intake.
I find the whole diet thing a bit of a minefield to reduce carb intake when I don't eat meat...not sure what else to eat but carbohydrate!!
 
Drummer said:
Diabetes isn't all about weight and exercise - that is just what we get told and have to find out for ourselves that diabetes is about glucose levels, and the media got it wrong. Yes you can be thin and athletic, and diabetic.
The easiest way to get control is using a blood glucose meter, check what foods make you spike and reduce or replace them with something lower in carbs. I have settled on the Spirit Healthcare Tee 2 meter as cheap to run and it seems spot on in accuracy.
Click to expand...
Hi, thank you for reply. I did wonder about getting a blood glucose meter. I shall have a look at the one you recommend.
 
Welcome to the forum @JM9

Congratulations on your weight loss, and your increased exercise - those will be really helping.

Sorry to hear that your HbA1c has been drifting upwards.

I can see that it might be tricky for you to reduce your carb intake, but perhaps some BG readings to show you which of your meals cause the most significant disruption to your levels might give you some clues as to where some tweaks might be worth considering?

Some of our lower-carbing members might be able to suggests some swaps and switches which might help? Like using cauliflower instead of rice, and celeriac mash rather than potato?
 
JM9 said:
Hi, thank you for reply. I did wonder about getting a blood glucose meter. I shall have a look at the one you recommend.
Click to expand...
everydayupsanddowns said:
Welcome to the forum @JM9

Congratulations on your weight loss, and your increased exercise - those will be really helping.

Sorry to hear that your HbA1c has been drifting upwards.

I can see that it might be tricky for you to reduce your carb intake, but perhaps some BG readings to show you which of your meals cause the most significant disruption to your levels might give you some clues as to where some tweaks might be worth considering?

Some of our lower-carbing members might be able to suggests some swaps and switches which might help? Like using cauliflower instead of rice, and celeriac mash rather than potato?
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks for that advice. I shall def look to purchase a blood glucose machine. Can you tell me how long after eating should I wait before checking levels?
 
JM9 said:
Hi, thanks for that advice. I shall def look to purchase a blood glucose machine. Can you tell me how long after eating should I wait before checking levels?
Click to expand...

Many people check immediately before, and again 2hrs after the first bite. To begin with the numbers themselves are less important than the differences between them. Aiming for a difference of 2-3mmol/L and (eventually) ideally lower than 8.5mmol/L should see a significant improvement in HbA1c.

But keeping the ‘meal rise’ to 2-3 (where possible) will allow the overall levels to come down gradually - which is kinder on the body than rapid changes.
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Many people check immediately before, and again 2hrs after the first bite. To begin with the numbers themselves are less important than the differences between them. Aiming for a difference of 2-3mmol/L and (eventually) ideally lower than 8.5mmol/L should see a significant improvement in HbA1c.

But keeping the ‘meal rise’ to 2-3 (where possible) will allow the overall levels to come down gradually - which is kinder on the body than rapid changes.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the information. I shall give this a try and see how it goes.
 
Anitram said:
There's a lot of carbohydrate in there so you might want to think about cutting back or cutting some things out altogether to see if that helps.

Potatoes are high GI, not far behind pure glucose. Mashed is worst, and a baked potato is essentially mash in potato skin. Cauliflower or celeriac mash are good substitutes.

I eat pasta a couple of times a week but only have roughly a half-portion (40g uncooked) and use wholegrain spelt pasta rather than the regular white pasta.

Bananas, like all tropical fruits, are quite high in carbs. Berries are the lowest carb fruits (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries etc). I have Weetabix for breakfast (only one, though) and have it with chopped strawberries. No milk, unless it's almond milk or oat milk. Currently trying it with fermented natural yogurt.

Cereal bars? Have a look at the nutritional information on the wrapper. I've never found a cereal bar that isn't high carb.

One thing I and many others do is keep a food diary alongside our BG readings so that we can see what effect different meals have. Test just before eating and then again 2 hours later. If you're 2 or 3 higher after 2 hours that's OK. More than that and maybe it wasn't a good choice of meal.

Salads, pulses, cheese and green veg are all OK and are a large part of my diet, too.

Lots to take in I know but I hope this helps.

Martin
Click to expand...
Thank you for such a comprehensive answer. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment but will figure things out eventually.
 
You can balance out some of the fast activity of carbs (ie slow down the speed at which fast acting carbs like rice, spuds, bread etc hits the bloodstream as glucose) by not being scared of fat. I don't mean 'start eating things swimming in fat' whatsoever - just don't deliberately avoid it.
 
Hi JM9 I think I was probably doing the same as you, I thought I was eating healthy, lots of pulses and beans, porridge for breakfast etc but since a HbA1c of 49 I joined here, and have since started carb counting and can’t believe the amount of carbs I was actually eating!! I use an app to calorie/carb count and this helps. Since switching to a low carb diet and eating more fats I have reduced HbA1c and also lost 12lbs in about 7 weeks.
It might help to have full fat instead of low fat options as this will make you feel fuller and not need as many carbs?
 
Hi JM9, May I ask whether you don't eat meat, fish, eggs because of ethical or religious reasons? - Or is it just because you don't like the taste/texture of them?
I ask this because it is much more difficult for a vegan to control diabetes by diet/lifestyle alone because almost everything they eat for Protein also contains a lot of Carbohydrates. Do you eat Whey protein powder?- I know that some low carb people use that for added protein without the carbs, but it is hard to add it to everything!

I see that at least you eat cheese, which is one of my staples. I eat Cheddar (probably the lowest in carbs), grilled Halloumi, and Feta. Don't be afraid of natural fat in things like cheese, eggs, meat, fish, avocado, olives etc. Although fat is high in calories, you can actually lose weigh (as well as lower blood glucose) by just cutting carbs and substituting Protein and natural fats to make up the calories. For most people there is no need to either cut calories or do more exercise unless they want to do that.
 
trophywench said:
You can balance out some of the fast activity of carbs (ie slow down the speed at which fast acting carbs like rice, spuds, bread etc hits the bloodstream as glucose) by not being scared of fat. I don't mean 'start eating things swimming in fat' whatsoever - just don't deliberately avoid it.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that tip. How do you get this information? Can you recommend anything I can read? I am a physiotherapist so have a good understanding of the body but this nutritional stuff is a bit of a minefield!!
 
Diet is only a problem because so many preconceptions have been repeated as an act of faith rather than accepting what is reported by those who cannot deal with carbs.
The reaction to carbs is variable, when what is wanted is something ubiquitous, which of course is never going to work - no matter how much people get shouted at and derided.
Watch out if you check carb content on line, as sites based in the US include the 'fiber' in the total carbs shown, but in the UK the 'fibre' is shown separately. The spelling usually shows which is which.
 
Perfect10 said:
Hi JM9 I think I was probably doing the same as you, I thought I was eating healthy, lots of pulses and beans, porridge for breakfast etc but since a HbA1c of 49 I joined here, and have since started carb counting and can’t believe the amount of carbs I was actually eating!! I use an app to calorie/carb count and this helps. Since switching to a low carb diet and eating more fats I have reduced HbA1c and also lost 12lbs in about 7 weeks.
It might help to have full fat instead of low fat options as this will make you feel fuller and not need as many carbs?
Click to expand...
Thanks for that info. I think you have absolutely hit the nail on the head in that by changing my diet to lose weight I have inadvertantly increased my carb intake!! Today, I have looked at the packaging on items in my cupboards and I am shocked. So, onwards and upwards with a new set of scales and will have a look at apps for recording my food intake. I so want to reduce this HbA1c. Thanks for the advice.
 
ianf0ster said:
Hi JM9, May I ask whether you don't eat meat, fish, eggs because of ethical or religious reasons? - Or is it just because you don't like the taste/texture of them?
I ask this because it is much more difficult for a vegan to control diabetes by diet/lifestyle alone because almost everything they eat for Protein also contains a lot of Carbohydrates. Do you eat Whey protein powder?- I know that some low carb people use that for added protein without the carbs, but it is hard to add it to everything!

I see that at least you eat cheese, which is one of my staples. I eat Cheddar (probably the lowest in carbs), grilled Halloumi, and Feta. Don't be afraid of natural fat in things like cheese, eggs, meat, fish, avocado, olives etc. Although fat is high in calories, you can actually lose weigh (as well as lower blood glucose) by just cutting carbs and substituting Protein and natural fats to make up the calories. For most people there is no need to either cut calories or do more exercise unless they want to do that.
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks for your advice. I have no reason for not eating meat etc other than I just don't like them. Reading these replies today I need to go right back to basics and work out how much of each food group I should be aiming to have and then adjust my intake to suit. I am such a worrier and don't like this feeling of not being in control and not fully understanding what I should be doing with my diet. This forum has been hugely helpful already. Thanks.
 
Drummer said:
Diet is only a problem because so many preconceptions have been repeated as an act of faith rather than accepting what is reported by those who cannot deal with carbs.
The reaction to carbs is variable, when what is wanted is something ubiquitous, which of course is never going to work - no matter how much people get shouted at and derided.
Watch out if you check carb content on line, as sites based in the US include the 'fiber' in the total carbs shown, but in the UK the 'fibre' is shown separately. The spelling usually shows which is which.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip, I shall pay attention to that point on line.
 
How do you get this info? - by joining a very useful site like this and picking up any useful info someone posts on here, which I've now been doing since early internet News Groups were changed into forums as we know them. Our first venture was into an early one for owners of Triumph motorbikes - Pete my husband bought himself a (Hinckley) Trophy - and off we went!
 
PS - 'Add & weigh' kitchen scales are jolly useful.
 
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