Marie lynchdi

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Marie lynch

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At risk of diabetes
Hi I’m a newbie. Lost and bewildered . I know every little a diabetes’
even though I read a lot from items on i pad. And through other sources about food and exercise. I believe that losing weight can reverse the condition. But I’ve tried to lose weight and I’m fighting a losing battle.
I’ve been diagnosed as pre-diabetes but tomorrow I have a appointment with my doctor to discuss my diagnosis.
whats sort of question should I be asking so early of being diagnosed. I have no idea how this will affect my life. i should mention that I turned 80 a few days ago. But I’m still every active. And enjoying life and intent to do so.
 
I found that I had lost loads of weight during my return to normal numbers - I reduced the amount of carbs I was eating (used the GPs diet sheet to light the barbecue the day after diagnosis) and lost weight without even thinking about it until my clothes started to slide south when I stood up or stretched to reach a shelf.
It is a belief commonly held that it is the weight gain which causes the diabetes, but I suspect it is the reverse.
 
Marie lynch said:
Hi I’m a newbie. Lost and bewildered . I know every little a diabetes’
even though I read a lot from items on i pad. And through other sources about food and exercise. I believe that losing weight can reverse the condition. But I’ve tried to lose weight and I’m fighting a losing battle.
I’ve been diagnosed as pre-diabetes but tomorrow I have a appointment with my doctor to discuss my diagnosis.
whats sort of question should I be asking so early of being diagnosed. I have no idea how this will affect my life. i should mention that I turned 80 a few days ago. But I’m still every active. And enjoying life and intent to do so.
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Hi, and welcome to the forum. The first question you should ask is what your HbA1c is. For someone pre-diabetic it will be a number in the range 42 to 47. An HbA1c of 48 and above is diabetes, so what you need to know is how close to 48 you are. This will determine what happens next.

Being overweight or obese is widely recognised as a risk factor for Type 2 Diabetes so if you are either of those it will be suggested that you lose weight as part of any treatment plan. Likewise your diet, specifically your intake of carbohydrates.
 
There is a school of thought that the HbA1c diagnostic threshold for diabetes should be raised for those of mature years due to the red blood cells not being replaced as frequently and therefore the ones measured have hung about in the blood longer attracting glucose molecules. If this is in fact correct, then you being prediabetic may not actually be any thing to worry too muc about and may not be an indication that you are at risk of developing diabetes.
That said, if you are carrying excess weight then this will put you at risk of numerous health conditions and put a strain on your joints, so losing a bit of weight would of course benefit your all round, however we all know it isn't always easy, especially if you have been trying for a lot of years and not succeeding. If that is the case, then what dietary approaches have you tried? ie. Have you mostly followed conventional weight loss advice regarding low fat and calorie restriction. If so, it might be worth trying a low carb moderate fat approach which should improve your diabetes situation if indeed there is a situation at all, as well as perhaps kick start your weight loss.

I am however mindful that you are 80yrs old and quality of life including enjoying your food should be an important consideration, not that going low carb can't be enjoyable, but it does take time and effort to undo the habit of a lifetime of basing all our meals on carbs. I have plenty of treats on my low carb way of eating but they are very different to the treats I had before and you have to think about how you plan and cook meals. All that said, it has benefitted many more health conditions than just my diabetes, so I am very committed to remaining low carb even though I don't need to. I just think you have to balance up the upheaval of changing your diet to the potential benefits and with an HbA1c result somewhere in the prediabetes zone, is there really any need to make any changes or anything more than very moderate changes, which likely won't see you lose weight but may prevent the diabetes progressing.

Not sure I have been totally coherent in this post, but I think what I am saying is that
a) You may not actually be at risk of developing diabetes at all but just that your red blood cells are not being replaced as quickly as a younger person so that makes it "appear" that you are "at risk".
b) If you are overweight, losing some will benefit your general health and perhaps a low carb way of eating might work where conventional low calorie diet hasn't.
c) No disrespect but at 80 do you really need to be worrying about this at all as you may not even be at risk of diabetes at all and if you are relatively fit and have a moderately good diet then why not just continue as you are hopefully enjoying life without dietary restriction.

I think it would be a very different matter if your HbA1c levels were significantly higher and very obviously diabetic, but to me at this level you are possibly worrying about nothing at all. If it gives you some context, as a well managed Type 1 diabetic, I struggle to maintain my HbA1c below 50 and in fact my consultant would prefer me not to try. This is still above the diagnostic threshold of 48 and I am hoping to maintain this level for the next 20-30 years if I am lucky and do not anticipate that those slightly elevated levels will cause me any undue issues.
 
Drummer said:
I found that I had lost loads of weight during my return to normal numbers - I reduced the amount of carbs I was eating (used the GPs diet sheet to light the barbecue the day after diagnosis) and lost weight without even thinking about it until my clothes started to slide south when I stood up or stretched to reach a shelf.
It is a belief commonly held that it is the weight gain which causes the diabetes, but I suspect it is the reverse.
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Diabetes definitely causes weight gain but its hard to budge once its there . In type 2. Even with low carb I lost at first but since I went on the Empagliflozin it is really really slow.
 
Fantastic that you remain active at 80 and I hope you continue to be so but as said losing a bit of weight would benefit you. Keeping your blood glucose from increasing which is probably more appropriate than striving to reduce it then making some modest changes to your diet will help. For example keeping cakes to occasional treats, having 1 biscuit instead of 2, having more veg and less potatoes, a sandwich with 1 slice of bread and extra filling.
If you like puddings sugarfree jelly with berries and cream or Greek yoghurt and berries and keep other puddings as treats though chocolate eclairs are OK
Have a read of this link to see if it gives you some ideas, it is a low carb approach aimed at those diagnosed with diabetes but has been successful for those needing to lose weight. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
 
Welcome to the forum @Marie lynch

How did your appointment go on Wednesday? Did you get some helpful pointers?

Were you given any suggestions to get you started?
 
trophywench said:
NB - it's the fresh cream choc eclairs that are OK - not the sort with commercially produced mega sweet artificial cream.
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Oh not eclairs with that cream but fresh cream slices with confectioners cream. My mouth waters and my tears fell. Mum would buy me the confectioners one special as i was skinny then and that was one thing she knew id eat. Saturdays by the fire before we went to grans . i can even smell it. Mums long gone i left home years ago did not even think those things existed anymore. Don't recall when we last bought shop cake as I am always on some kind of diet.
 
Your choice is known by me as a custard slice - certainly not fresh cream, unlike a mille feuille which should be fresh cream but wasn't often available in the 50s/60s - which oh yes I enjoyed ! but the custard slice was/is simply far too high carb since August 1972 for me.
 
trophywench said:
Your choice is known by me as a custard slice - certainly not fresh cream, unlike a mille feuille which should be fresh cream but wasn't often available in the 50s/60s - which oh yes I enjoyed ! but the custard slice was/is simply far too high carb since August 1972 for me.
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No custard slice today is definitely different. This was a confectioners cream bun. I like custard slices too . They used to used Sugar in carnation milk and whip until thick. However that was old times Mum used to make cream horns and strawberry tarts cor what they would amount too. With that sugary jam …. I am reminiscing back to 60/ 70’s in Scotland too always behind. What I would really die for is a coffee bun or a Paris bun no cream with them but yum .
However today ill have ham salad with beetroot lol we shall see and strawberries with cream fir lunch . yum.
 
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