Hello, I have been diagnosed with borderline diabetes and am devastated. I exercise and only eat freshly prepared food and home made bread. Of course I occasionally might have something sweet! I am certainly not overweight. I am quite bewildered, I now have to wait 3 weeks to see the practise nurse for advice on diet and exercise. What can she say that I don't already know and do?? I am very worried!!
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New diagnosis of borderline diabetes
- Thread starter Theresa61
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Windy
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Morning @Theresa61 . I've recently found out I'm a T2 diabetic. I've been put on a DESMOND (Diabetes Education and Self Management for Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed) course by the diabetic nurse, the course isn't until early next month, but it's meant to cover what you should/should eat etc. Can you phone your surgery and ask for a referral for a course?
I've not had any guidance on diet or exercise myself, but have bought a few second hand copies of books on diabetes from Amazon. If you look on the forum recommended books there's some on there to start with. I've read one of Professor Roy Taylor's books on diabetes, and bought the "blood sugar diet recipe book" by Dr Clare Bailey to get recipe ideas from.
I've cut out bread, cakes, crisps, parsnips, potatoes and other starchy food from my diet, as they're meant to increase your blood sugar.
But ask lots of questions on the forums here. There's a wealth of "lived experience" from the forum members.
Also, see if your area offers Low calorie diet treatment plans that aim to put your potential diabetes into remission. Sadly, it's not available where I live, but I'm trying to emulate it with home made soups etc.
I know it's all a bit scary at first, but the more you learn about it, the better you can manage.
Sarah
I've not had any guidance on diet or exercise myself, but have bought a few second hand copies of books on diabetes from Amazon. If you look on the forum recommended books there's some on there to start with. I've read one of Professor Roy Taylor's books on diabetes, and bought the "blood sugar diet recipe book" by Dr Clare Bailey to get recipe ideas from.
I've cut out bread, cakes, crisps, parsnips, potatoes and other starchy food from my diet, as they're meant to increase your blood sugar.
But ask lots of questions on the forums here. There's a wealth of "lived experience" from the forum members.
Also, see if your area offers Low calorie diet treatment plans that aim to put your potential diabetes into remission. Sadly, it's not available where I live, but I'm trying to emulate it with home made soups etc.
I know it's all a bit scary at first, but the more you learn about it, the better you can manage.
Sarah
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Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
If you have been diagnosed borderline then that gives you a good opportunity to make some changes to your diet to prevent any further increase in blood glucose levels. I assume your HbA1C would have been somewhere between 42 and 47 mmol/mol as 48 would have given you the diabetes diagnosis.
Many people think they have a healthy diet but if your body has a problem metabolising carbohydrates then some of the things considered healthy are not so.
Bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, cereals, starchy veg and tropical fruits can all be problematic as well as more obvious cakes, biscuits, pastry and sugary drinks. But it is often portion sizes that people eat of those things which are too high. The average jacket potato served in a cafe would be far more carbohydrate than most Type 2 people could tolerate.
Focusing your meals on protein, healthy fats, vegetables and salads, fruit like berries with smaller amounts of the high carb foods should help to get your levels down.
Buying a home blood glucose monitor would help you identify any problem foods, by testing before you eat and after 2 hours aiming for no more than a 2mmol/l increase and no more than 8mmol/l. If so then that meal was too carb heavy.
Have a read of the Learning Zone to give you a better understanding of the condition and please do ask any questions you have.
Welcome to the forum by the way.
Many people think they have a healthy diet but if your body has a problem metabolising carbohydrates then some of the things considered healthy are not so.
Bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, cereals, starchy veg and tropical fruits can all be problematic as well as more obvious cakes, biscuits, pastry and sugary drinks. But it is often portion sizes that people eat of those things which are too high. The average jacket potato served in a cafe would be far more carbohydrate than most Type 2 people could tolerate.
Focusing your meals on protein, healthy fats, vegetables and salads, fruit like berries with smaller amounts of the high carb foods should help to get your levels down.
Buying a home blood glucose monitor would help you identify any problem foods, by testing before you eat and after 2 hours aiming for no more than a 2mmol/l increase and no more than 8mmol/l. If so then that meal was too carb heavy.
Have a read of the Learning Zone to give you a better understanding of the condition and please do ask any questions you have.
Welcome to the forum by the way.
Thanks, that is helpful. Can you recommend a monitor please?
janw
Much Missed Member.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Yes it is £9.99 on Amazon for starter kit, exact same price on their website HERE. I don't know if the test strips are the same - you will need to order extra of those and lancets as the set only gives you 10 of each. Test strips is dependant on how many you want, sometimes cheaper on Amazon, sometimes dearer, but I think there is a discount code you can use on the home site (which also comes in the box from Amazon) - I will have to get my head round that later as I need to order some more strips soon.
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Test strips - to begin with you need to test both before and 2hrs after all meals & also on waking so that's 7 strips a day without anything unusual occurring causing you to test more. Hence 10 strips is nowhere near enough to find anything whatsoever out about your body's reaction to various foods.
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
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- She/Her
I would suggest a good buy is 100 strips for £14 from Amazon for the GlucoNavil, remember you do not need to pay VAT so tick the box I am diabetic.
janw
Much Missed Member.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Yep - after much use of calculator and deciding 100 would be the best option, I ordered from Amazon about 10 minutes ago. They take a while to get delivered, even on prime, so keep that in mind - earliest mine are due to arrive is Thursday, so if ordering the meter, order extra strips at same time.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
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- He/Him
Another meter which several forum members like is the Spirit Tee2 - which also has test strips at around £8 for 50
Many members use pairs of before and after meal BG checks to see how their body and metabolism have handled the carbs in the meal. Ideally you’d want to see a BG rise of no more than 2-3mmol/L (in a sense the numbers themselves are almost less important than the amount of rise to begin with). Where you see meals or sources of carbs which consistently push your BG up more steeply than that, you can try adjusting portion size, or experiments with carb swaps or lower-carb alternatives.
As you have been told you are ‘at risk’, it’s quite likely that some reasonably modest tweaks to your meal plan could see some very positive changes to your blood glucose management.
Good luck, and let us know how you get on 🙂
Many members use pairs of before and after meal BG checks to see how their body and metabolism have handled the carbs in the meal. Ideally you’d want to see a BG rise of no more than 2-3mmol/L (in a sense the numbers themselves are almost less important than the amount of rise to begin with). Where you see meals or sources of carbs which consistently push your BG up more steeply than that, you can try adjusting portion size, or experiments with carb swaps or lower-carb alternatives.
As you have been told you are ‘at risk’, it’s quite likely that some reasonably modest tweaks to your meal plan could see some very positive changes to your blood glucose management.
Good luck, and let us know how you get on 🙂
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Essex
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi Theresa,
I have also recently been diagnosed just in Type 2 levels
I don't know enough to be of much use in terms of technical help, but my experience so far has shown me that the people on here know what they are talking about and are really friendly and helpful - so you are in the right place!
I'm now already not worried - I now know what's wrong and I am finding out that with a not too great an effort I can deal with it. For me, my life will now be better than if I didnt know.
Also, what I always thought was healthy for me, turns out not to have been totally so, and am finding out that everyone is different.
I have just got a BG meter finger-prick thingy (I am in Portugal, so brands are different from UK) and have already found it really, really helpful.
It seems that I dont actually have to change that much (even my food is now tastier, both because my diet has changed and my taste buds too I think), and am already feeling much better / in control.
Anyway, my aim here was not to offer advice, but more of a 'your not alone and its not that bad' post
Best wishes 🙂
Leigh
I have also recently been diagnosed just in Type 2 levels
I don't know enough to be of much use in terms of technical help, but my experience so far has shown me that the people on here know what they are talking about and are really friendly and helpful - so you are in the right place!
I'm now already not worried - I now know what's wrong and I am finding out that with a not too great an effort I can deal with it. For me, my life will now be better than if I didnt know.
Also, what I always thought was healthy for me, turns out not to have been totally so, and am finding out that everyone is different.
I have just got a BG meter finger-prick thingy (I am in Portugal, so brands are different from UK) and have already found it really, really helpful.
It seems that I dont actually have to change that much (even my food is now tastier, both because my diet has changed and my taste buds too I think), and am already feeling much better / in control.
Anyway, my aim here was not to offer advice, but more of a 'your not alone and its not that bad' post
Best wishes 🙂
Leigh
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It is true your tastes change and things that you happily ate now taste incredibly sweet. Also I find that some things taste more salty even though before I found things not salty enough.
If you use dry rubs or herbs for flavouring then those high carb bought sauces can be ditched. No need for bland flavourless foods just because you are reducing the carbs. In fact most carbs have very little flavour anyway.
If you use dry rubs or herbs for flavouring then those high carb bought sauces can be ditched. No need for bland flavourless foods just because you are reducing the carbs. In fact most carbs have very little flavour anyway.
At the weekend, I met a chap who caught covid pretty bad last year. Whilst he was in hospital, one of the doctors mentioned in conversation "as you have diabetes, ...." This was the first time this guy was told but it explained his 8 litre a day Pepsi max habit.
His HBA1C was 158.
In the last 18 months, he has lost 80kg, changed his diet and seen his HbA1C drop to 105 then 53 and last week it was 36.
We says he doesn't miss the carby food he cut out, feel much healthier (although he has long term issues with his leg related to covid) and is grateful for the comment about diabetes to give him the chance to turn his life around.
His HBA1C was 158.
In the last 18 months, he has lost 80kg, changed his diet and seen his HbA1C drop to 105 then 53 and last week it was 36.
We says he doesn't miss the carby food he cut out, feel much healthier (although he has long term issues with his leg related to covid) and is grateful for the comment about diabetes to give him the chance to turn his life around.
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