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ExWiganer

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At risk of diabetes
Hello I have just joined, been told I have pre diabetes hopeing to find any advice to help with reversing my diagnosis
 
What was your HbA1c level that led to the diagnosis?

Many of us find that by reducing our dietary carbohydrate intake we can lower blood glucose levels pretty quickly.
 
I just wrote a whole paragraph but it suddenly disappeared.
This is a good link for giving you same ideas for reducing your carbohydrate intake.
https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
It is suggested that no more than 130g total carbs per day is a good starting point to reducing blood glucose, it does not mean NO carbs.
The book or app Carbs and Cals is useful for giving you the carb value of a whole range of foods with pictures a portion sizes so helps with making better food choices.
 
Hi @ExWiganer, and welcome to the Forum 🙂

Sorry you've had to join us, but hopefully you can get some advice from the forum. It's a great community of friendly people who have a wealth of knowledge around diabetes.

The diabetes UK website has some information around managing your risk, the following resource might prove useful for you: https://www.diabetes.org.uk/preventing-type-2-diabetes/can-diabetes-be-prevented
as well as what other members have replied with 🙂

Just checking in to say we're all here to support, and please do ask any more questions you may have 🙂
 
Thank you for your reply, it was abit of a shock to see the results from my bloods showing up as pre diabetic, I had just done veganuaray hopeing to improve my health, not sure if my change of diet could of caused the results, guess I will have to cut out the sugar and carbs now...
Still waiting to hear from the doctors for a referral to a prevention diabetic clinic..
Thank you for the links I will have alook
Ann
 
ExWiganer said:
Thank you for your reply, it was abit of a shock to see the results from my bloods showing up as pre diabetic, I had just done veganuaray hopeing to improve my health, not sure if my change of diet could of caused the results, guess I will have to cut out the sugar and carbs now...
Still waiting to hear from the doctors for a referral to a prevention diabetic clinic..
Thank you for the links I will have alook
Ann
Click to expand...
Vegan foods are not necessarily low carb as many meals are rice, pasta and pulses which are all high carb foods, certainly more so than meat and fish and eggs.
I think it is still possible to have a vegan or veggie diet and manage blood glucose but it is that bit harder.
Your change probably didn't 'cause' the result as the HbA1C is an average over the precious 3 months.
 
bulkbiker said:
What was your HbA1c level that led to the diagnosis?

Many of us find that by reducing our dietary carbohydrate intake we can lower blood glucose levels pretty quickly.
Click to expand...
The blood test results showHbA1c as 42 to 47 which I belive is the grey area for pre diabetic, just waiting for the doctors response, if I need to be referred to the prevention clinic it suggests on the results. I have been cutting out sugar and trying to reduce carbs to. Thanks Ann
 
ExWiganer said:
The blood test results showHbA1c as 42 to 47 which I belive is the grey area for pre diabetic, just waiting for the doctors response, if I need to be referred to the prevention clinic it suggests on the results. I have been cutting out sugar and trying to reduce carbs to. Thanks Ann
Click to expand...
Yes that is the range that is designated as pre-diabetic but you should have been given a specific number as where about you are in the range will indicate how much you will need to change your diet.
There is lots to learn here, do have a look at the link I posted above.
Are you vegan or veggie or was it just a short measure that you did vegan.
 
Leadinglights said:
Vegan foods are not necessarily low carb as many meals are rice, pasta and pulses which are all high carb foods, certainly more so than meat and fish and eggs.
I think it is still possible to have a vegan or veggie diet and manage blood glucose but it is that bit harder.
Your change probably didn't 'cause' the result as the HbA1C is an average over the precious 3 months.
Click to expand...
I'm still not eating any red meat and just eat plant based cheese & butter, but I do think I ate more carbs, hopefully I can reverse the levels. Thanks Ann
 
ExWiganer said:
I'm still not eating any red meat and just eat plant based cheese & butter, but I do think I ate more carbs, hopefully I can reverse the levels. Thanks Ann
Click to expand...
I think people who have a restricted diet for whatever reason benefit from having a home testing blood glucose monitor to check which foods and meals they can cope with without sending blood glucose into orbit. Testing before you eat and after 2 hours will tell you if your meal is OK if the increase is no more than 2-3mmol/l or no more than 8-8.5 mmol/l
Inexpensive monitors can be bought on line, those with the cheapest test strips are the GlucoNavii or Spirit TEE2. You get a few strips and lancets with the kit but should buy more at the outset. Lancets can be reused (unofficially)
It gives you the tools to manage your condition.
Also the book or app Carbs and Cals is a useful resource as it gives carb value of a whole range of foods with portion sizes.
 
ExWiganer said:
I had just done veganuaray hopeing to improve my health, not sure if my change of diet could of caused the results
Click to expand...
Could be on another forum there were quite a few recently diagnosed vegetarians and vegans. It's not the free pass for diabetes that many believe it to be.
Unless you have some moral reason for doing it you can now have real cream and butter.... one of the many benefits of being diagnosed!
 
ExWiganer said:
Thank you for your reply, it was abit of a shock to see the results from my bloods showing up as pre diabetic, I had just done veganuaray hopeing to improve my health, not sure if my change of diet could of caused the results, guess I will have to cut out the sugar and carbs now...
Still waiting to hear from the doctors for a referral to a prevention diabetic clinic..
Thank you for the links I will have alook
Ann
Click to expand...
Unfortunately a vegan diet is not all that good for controlling blood glucose levels if you can't cope with carbohydrate dense foods.
The easiest way to get back into normal numbers is eating meat, fish, cheese, eggs, full fat dairy with low carb veges and berries. They do not have the high starch and sugar content which got us into high numbers in the first place.
I started off with a Hba1c of 91 and was back at the top end of normal in 6 months without really trying very hard.
As you are only just into the early stages, a few swaps could reverse the problem - would you like to post the sort of foods you are going to be eating and we could suggest some swaps - though if you are intent on remaining on a plant based diet it could be difficult to get really low numbers.
 
Leadinglights said:
I think people who have a restricted diet for whatever reason benefit from having a home testing blood glucose monitor to check which foods and meals they can cope with without sending blood glucose into orbit. Testing before you eat and after 2 hours will tell you if your meal is OK if the increase is no more than 2-3mmol/l or no more than 8-8.5 mmol/l
Inexpensive monitors can be bought on line, those with the cheapest test strips are the GlucoNavii or Spirit TEE2. You get a few strips and lancets with the kit but should buy more at the outset. Lancets can be reused (unofficially)
It gives you the tools to manage your condition.
Also the book or app Carbs and Cals is a useful resource as it gives carb value of a whole range of foods with portion sizes.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reply I will have alook for a monitor online, it's all a new learning curve for me I guess, deffo watch the carbs now.
 
ExWiganer said:
The blood test results showHbA1c as 42 to 47 which I belive is the grey area for pre diabetic, just waiting for the doctors response, if I need to be referred to the prevention clinic it suggests on the results. I have been cutting out sugar and trying to reduce carbs to. Thanks Ann
Click to expand...

HbA1c of 42-47 covers the ‘at risk of diabetes’ zone. We have had many forum members who have successfully steered away from a diabetes diagnosis with a few modest tweaks to their menu.

One member @Inka has links to some research about positive results from a plant-based diet for diabetes management which some can find very effective.

As with most things diabetes-related, different approaches suit different people (and can be adapted and adjusted for others). So it’s a question of working out what works for you as an individual 🙂
 
Thank you I will take alook at the link I've been eating fish and abit of white meat for the protien.
 
Hi @ExWiganer Apologies for the delay in replying (internet issues). Many people find a plant-based diet can help them increase their insulin sensitivity and lose weight too. A low fat whole food plant-based diet is generally what’s used. Some proponents eg Joel Fuhrman, stretch this a bit and allow small amounts of protein foods such as lean chicken, but generally the diet plans are vegan.

My internet is still playing up so I’m going to put some links in individual posts because I keep losing what I’m writing.
 
These two men have a plant-based diet to improve insulin sensitivity:

https://www.masteringdiabetes.org/book/

They have a course you have to pay for, but you don’t have to do that - just look at the free resources or Google or look up the book elsewhere.
 
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