Learning to change our diet

[MrsSG]

Hi, I’ve joined as my partner has been diagnosed as ‘pre diabetic’. This came as part of a diagnosis of heart problems and high cholesterol. It all came as a shock as he runs a lot and isn’t overweight, no smoking and little drinking. So now we are trying to grapple with finding new ways of eating to improve his situation.
Looking forward to learn from those who already have experience.

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi, I’ve joined as my partner has been diagnosed as ‘pre diabetic’. This came as part of a diagnosis of heart problems and high cholesterol. It all came as a shock as he runs a lot and isn’t overweight, no smoking and little drinking. So now we are trying to grapple with finding new ways of eating to improve his situation.
Looking forward to learn from those who already have experience.

Welcome to the forum.
My otherhalf got on board with the dietary changes I made and although he had a few extras he also lost weight which he wanted to do but it basically meant we had the same meals.
I followed the principals in this link which is a low carbohydrate approach based on real food. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
However as he is only prediabetic some modest changes may all that is needed, cutting out things like cakes, biscuits, sugary drinks including fruit juice and reducing portion size of high carb foods making up the difference with protein, healthy fats and veg.

 

[MrsSG]

Welcome to the forum.
My otherhalf got on board with the dietary changes I made and although he had a few extras he also lost weight which he wanted to do but it basically meant we had the same meals.
I followed the principals in this link which is a low carbohydrate approach based on real food. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
However as he is only prediabetic some modest changes may all that is needed, cutting out things like cakes, biscuits, sugary drinks including fruit juice and reducing portion size of high carb foods making up the difference with protein, healthy fats and veg.

Thank you for the tips. x

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @MrsSG

Sorry to hear about your partner’s risk of diabetes

Do they have anyone with diabetes in their family? Or has this come out of the blue? Have their been any symptoms or signs?

Has there been any weight loss?

Were you told the result of any HbA1c checks? This can help you understand where you are starting from

 

[MrsSG]

Welcome to the forum @MrsSG

Sorry to hear about your partner’s risk of diabetes

Do they have anyone with diabetes in their family? Or has this come out of the blue? Have their been any symptoms or signs?

Has there been any weight loss?

Were you told the result of any HbA1c checks? This can help you understand where you are starting from

Hi, thanks for your reply. He’s had no symptoms at all, no weight loss and no family history. He’s a 64 year old runner and realised he’d got a problem when , in a matter of weeks, he went from running 120 miles in a month to only managing a mile or two when he went out. He was diagnosed with heart disease and the pre diabetes came as a result of all the blood tests. We rarely eat processed food (I cook majority of meals from scratch), very little fried food etc. We do both have a sweet tooth but have tried to reduce that now. He had a blood test with a result of 40 - no one explains what the test is except that it means he is prediabetic. He’s on the NHS app programme but we have found it of little help. He’s been told to reduce sugar and carbs and has been given modules to read but it’s not that helpful when trying to meal plan.
Ironically, I have diabetes both sides of the family and been managing hyperglycaemia for years.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

He had a blood test with a result of 40 - no one explains what the test is except that it means he is prediabetic.

This could be HbA1c. There is information about that here:

What is HbA1c?

HbA1c is your average blood glucose (sugar) levels for the last two to three months. If you have diabetes, an ideal HbA1c level is 48mmol/mol (6.5%) or below. If you're at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, your target HbA1c level should be below 42mmol/mol (6%).

www.diabetes.org.uk

And if so, it’s only quite modestly raised. Being at risk of diabetes (sometimes called prediabetes) is usually suggested at levels between 42 and 47.

It doesn’t sound like he has a lot of weight to lose, but may still be the type of person who gets a build up of visceral fat around organs like the liver and pancreas. So it’s good that you are taking action.

Good to hear you are cutting back on the sweet things. Reducing portion sizes of starchy carbohydrates will help his metabolism too.

 

[Leadinglights]

An HbA1C of 40 really is below the prediabetes diagnosis but I can see that improving the diet will be beneficial to his heart condition. Just being careful about portion size of high carb foods. There are recipes for things like cakes and biscuits which are low carb and should satisfy a 'sweet tooth' on the website sugarfreelondoner which look fantastic when somebody posts their weekly bakes.

 

[MrsSG]

Thank you for all the replies - all helpful and reassuring.
My husband was also told that various blood tests over the years have shown he has high cholesterol. Sadly, this info had not ever been passed on to him. I think this is a result of the surgery not being proactive in giving test results.

 

[Leadinglights]

Thank you for all the replies - all helpful and reassuring.
My husband was also told that various blood tests over the years have shown he has high cholesterol. Sadly, this info had not ever been passed on to him. I think this is a result of the surgery not being proactive in giving test results.

I think these day people have to be proactive in following up results and not wait for the surgery to contact them. If you have on -line access which some surgeries offer then you usually see then within a week.

 

[MrsSG]

I think these day people have to be proactive in following up results and not wait for the surgery to contact them. If you have on -line access which some surgeries offer then you usually see then within a week.

 

[MrsSG]

Even being personally pro-active doesn’t ensure the correct results are related as it is left to the receptionist at our surgery. Despite contacting them there has been at least one occasion he has been told ‘it’s all clear’ when it apparently wasn’t.