Hi everyone. Im new and i am prediabetic wishing to reverse this status.

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bond007

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Hi everyone. Im new and i am prediabetic wishing to reverse this status.
 
Hi, welcome to the forum. There are a number of us here with pre-diabetes. what was your HbA1C score?
I'm also looking to reverse my score, and am cutting sugars, reducing carbs, and losing weight to try get there.
 
Hi. I don't know my score. I was just told I'm prediabetic. My GP did nothing. I'm looking to Diabetes UK and members for help in reversing the condition and losing a weight.
 
ok, when you have chance it would be a good idea to ask your surgery what the result of your HbA1C was (the number) - that way folks here can give more specific advice, and it will also help you as you know where you are starting from.

Anything from HbA1C 42 to 48 is prediabetic. Above 49 would be diabetic. A higher score means sugar is more likely to affect you. For a prediabetic like you or me, it means if sugars are not kept in check then a future reading may be high enough to be diagnosed as diabetic.

The good news is we may be able to reduce that number.
The obvious bit is limiting/avoiding sugars (remember they are also in fruits). Since I don't know your score I'd just say avoid sugars mostly
Also Carbohydrates get converted into sugar by your body when eaten. So smaller portions of carbohydrates should also help reduce blood sugar. That's breads, cereals, potato, rice, pasta, cakes, pastries, biscuits etc.

An adult's waist should measure less than half of their height. If it is larger then there may be a possibility that you may be insulin resistant. If so then losing weight will help your body process sugar better. So for example, if you are 180 cm tall, then it would be best if your waist was 90cm or less around. While BMI is not a perfect way of evaluating weight, it is generally deemed best to aim for a BMI of 25 (or less).
A lot of folks here follow a reduced / restricted carb diet, and quite a few have found it has helped them lose weight.
 
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I'm only 7-8 weeks into my diagnosis, so not an expert like some folks here, but I have been reading up as I also want to lose weight and bring my HbA1C sore down.

You will find good help and advice here tho (my doctors wasn't much good either).
 
s'nic said:
ok, when you have chance it would be a good idea to ask your surgery what the result of your HbA1C was (the number) - that way folks here can give more specific advice, and it will also help you as you know where you are starting from.

Anything from HbA1C 42 to 48 is prediabetic. Above 49 would be diabetic. A higher score means sugar is more likely to affect you. For a prediabetic like you or me, it means if sugars are not kept in check then a future reading may be high enough to be diagnosed as diabetic.

The good news is we may be able to reduce that number.
The obvious bit is limiting/avoiding sugars (remember they are also in fruits). Since I don't know your score I'd just say avoid sugars mostly
Also Carbohydrates get converted into sugar by your body when eaten. So smaller portions of carbohydrates should also help reduce blood sugar. That's breads, cereals, potato, rice, pasta, cakes, pastries, biscuits etc.

An adult's waist should measure less than half of their height. If it is larger then there may be a possibility that you may be insulin resistant. If so then losing weight will help your body process sugar better. So for example, if you are 180 cm tall, then it would be best if your waist was 90cm or less around. While BMI is not a perfect way of evaluating weight, it is generally deemed best to aim for a BMI of 25 (or less).
A lot of folks here follow a reduced / restricted carb diet, and quite a few have found it has helped them lose weight.
Click to expand...
 
That's very helpful. Thank you. I just checked my medical record and my result was
HbA1c 41 mmol/mol
My BMI is 36 and I'm 5ft 3 and weigh 14st
12 lbs. I am 78 years old. I am reducing cards, sugars and processed food. I only use a minimum.of olive oil in cooking.
 
bond007 said:
That's very helpful. Thank you. I just checked my medical record and my result was
HbA1c 41 mmol/mol
My BMI is 36 and I'm 5ft 3 and weigh 14st
12 lbs. I am 78 years old. I am reducing cards, sugars and processed food. I only use a minimum.of olive oil in cooking.
Click to expand...
An HbA1c of 41 is normal, not prediabetic.
 
As martin says, you are not actually prediabetic yet, however weight which includes a larger waistline could indicate you are moving towards it. So reducing sugars plus losing weight would no doubt be of benefit to you. No need to worry excessively about sugar at the moment though

Strangely enough olive oil is ok, and is part of the 'mediteranean diet' which doctors tend to direct people to
 
Martin.A said:
An HbA1c of 41 is normal, not prediabetic.
Click to expand...
I wad told it was. Nevertheless I need to lose weight and hopefully it will go down further. I'm going to stick around here to get the helpful information that you are all offering.
 
That's very encouraging. I will carry on with losing weight and keeping low on carbs.
 
s'nic said:
As martin says, you are not actually prediabetic yet, however weight which includes a larger waistline could indicate you are moving towards it. So reducing sugars plus losing weight would no doubt be of benefit to you. No need to worry excessively about sugar at the moment though

Strangely enough olive oil is ok, and is part of the 'mediteranean diet' which doctors tend to direct people to
Click to expand...
I have got a large waistline, so I'm interested in learning how to get that level and my weight down.
 
One way to look at the weight issue (busy losing it myself), is to remember, your body can burn fat as fuel, it can also burn sugars as fuel. So if a meal ends up being high in fat and sugar ... that's like throwing both wood and coal on a fire.

Naturally it's not worth using more fuel than you can burn. The human body will store unused fuel as fat as we evolved as hunter gatherer's who needed fat stores for when food was scarce.

A few different diets are advised by different people, the key thing is to choose one you can live with as a lifestyle change. Personally I'm not following a specific diet, I'm simply keeping fats and sugars lower so I'm not taking on excess fuel to store as fat. Also I have high cholesterol at the moment so reducing (saturated) fat is something I need to do.

Our bodies need some fats daily so no need to avoid all fat, just remember both fats and sugars are fuel, and we store the excess as fat. We just need a little thought about what we eat, and how fuel heavy some foods can be.

Edit: oh yeah, because carbs get converted to sugar I'm working on eating less carbs too, replacing carbs is something I still need practice on 🙄
 
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This low carb approach has been successful for many in losing weight and reducing blood glucose. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
In your case the weight loss is the more important for your general health as you HbA1C shows you as normal especially considering your age where guidelines are that threshold for diagnosis are more lenient for those of more mature years unless there are risk factors.
 
bond007 said:
I am reducing cards, sugars and processed food. I only use a minimum.of olive oil in cooking.
Click to expand...
Sounds like you are making some positive changes @bond007

One of the biggest questions when trying to reduce your risk of developing 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.

That doesn’t mean you have to avoid those things entirely, but being careful about portion sizes, looking for lower carb swaps and alternatives, and choosing say berries (the most BG friendly fruits) rather than oranges, bananas, and tropical fruit can all really add up.

Incidentally, regarding olive oil, fats in your menu will not have any effect to raise your blood glucose levels. But they can be important to watch regarding heart health. Just another part of the puzzle! Eg you may see some members saying they opt for full fat dairy options, because those are often marginally lower in carbohydrate, and also help you feel fuller for longer. So sometimes people take a view in balancing BG-friendly options with other heart-health choices (based on results from things like their cholesterol levels and personal or family history of heart disease).
 
bond007 said:
That's very helpful. Thank you. I just checked my medical record and my result was
HbA1c 41 mmol/mol
My BMI is 36 and I'm 5ft 3 and weigh 14st
12 lbs. I am 78 years old. I am reducing cards, sugars and processed food. I only use a minimum.of olive oil in cooking.
Click to expand...

Sure Hba1c results can increase with age, at 41 your just below prediabetic range anyway.

Shifting excess weight will help matters & make you feel better in yourself.
 
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