Newbie

[ASNannan]

I've been diagnosed as pre diabetic so looking for helpful suggestions to avoid becoming diabetic

 

[Leadinglights]

I've been diagnosed as pre diabetic so looking for helpful suggestions to avoid becoming diabetic

Welcome to the forum.
It depends on how close you are to the top of the prediabetic zone 42-47mmol/mol as to how much you will need to do, the closer you are the more effort will be needed but may only need to modest changes to primarily your diet.
Many find a low carb approach successful at reducing your HbA1C and also losing weight if you need to.
This link has lots of information about that approach including some menu plans to suit various tastes. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/

 

[Vonny]

Hi @ASNannan and welcome to the forum. As you are pre-diabetic, a few tweaks to your diet should help get you back below the threshold.
As well as reducing consumption of sweet stuff, be aware that starchy carbs turn to glucose really quickly, so it's best to reduce portions of potatoes, rice, pasta and bread. It's not just white bread and stuff, brown has the same amount of carbs in. Having said that, everyone is different and while I can eat a little brown bread, white spikes me. Similarly I can eat a couple of potatoes but can't manage pasta. My son (also a diabetic) is fine with rice, but I'm not too good.
One thing you will discover from this forum is the difference between what we can all eat!
I'm sure others will be along soon to give you more advice. Best of luck x

 

[s'nic]

Welcome to the forum
Kicking the sweet stuff will help a lot. Depending on your HbA1C you may only need to reduce high carb items, or eat smaller carb portions to turn things around so don't get too stressed over what to eat.

it's best to reduce portions of potatoes, rice, pasta and bread

@ASNannan breakfast cereals are also high in carbs, not only from the cereal but dried fruit as well (if it has fruit).

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @ASNannan

Lots of members have joined having been told they were at risk of developing diabetes, but made some tweaks to their menu (or some more significant changes) and have successfully steered away from the diagnosis line.

The two main approaches forum members usually use are:

• to focus on weight loss (which generally improves BG levels)

Or

• to focus on improving BG levels by reducing carbs (which generally leads to weight loss)

Good luck in finding an approach that works for you 🙂

 

[ASNannan]

Welcome to the forum.
It depends on how close you are to the top of the prediabetic zone 42-47mmol/mol as to how much you will need to do, the closer you are the more effort will be needed but may only need to modest changes to primarily your diet.
Many find a low carb approach successful at reducing your HbA1C and also losing weight if you need to.
This link has lots of information about that approach including some menu plans to suit various tastes. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/

 

[ASNannan]

Thanks for the advice, only just dipping over the pre-diabetic zone so hopefully I can get back on track. I eat wholemeal bread and pasta already. Not much rice, think I'll have to cut out the cake , biscuits and cereals !

 

[ASNannan]

Hi @ASNannan and welcome to the forum. As you are pre-diabetic, a few tweaks to your diet should help get you back below the threshold.
As well as reducing consumption of sweet stuff, be aware that starchy carbs turn to glucose really quickly, so it's best to reduce portions of potatoes, rice, pasta and bread. It's not just white bread and stuff, brown has the same amount of carbs in. Having said that, everyone is different and while I can eat a little brown bread, white spikes me. Similarly I can eat a couple of potatoes but can't manage pasta. My son (also a diabetic) is fine with rice, but I'm not too good.
One thing you will discover from this forum is the difference between what we can all eat!
I'm sure others will be along soon to give you more advice. Best of luck x

Thanks

 

[ASNannan]

Hi @ASNannan and welcome to the forum. As you are pre-diabetic, a few tweaks to your diet should help get you back below the threshold.
As well as reducing consumption of sweet stuff, be aware that starchy carbs turn to glucose really quickly, so it's best to reduce portions of potatoes, rice, pasta and bread. It's not just white bread and stuff, brown has the same amount of carbs in. Having said that, everyone is different and while I can eat a little brown bread, white spikes me. Similarly I can eat a couple of potatoes but can't manage pasta. My son (also a diabetic) is fine with rice, but I'm not too good.
One thing you will discover from this forum is the difference between what we can all eat!
I'm sure others will be along soon to give you more advice. Best of luck x

 

[ASNannan]

Thanks

Welcome to the forum
Kicking the sweet stuff will help a lot. Depending on your HbA1C you may only need to reduce high carb items, or eat smaller carb portions to turn things around so don't get too stressed over what to eat.


@ASNannan breakfast cereals are also high in carbs, not only from the cereal but dried fruit as well (if it has fruit).

 

[Theo]

I was told my blood sugars were higher than usual on 10 January this year and have followed what I think is a decent diet. As I am new to this and have only my diet nurses advice to follow. I have cut out cakes , pastries, biscuits, chocolate, white bread even make my own soup. I am trying to keep my carb intake to under 130 grams per day following advice on this website. I know I have lost weight by doing this but then don’t want to lose anymore so find that difficult to understand as what to eat to keep my weight at a reasonable level. I eat fish , Steak. Chicken plus other meats plus plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit. So think I’m eating a healthy diet. One more thing I’m not sure about is how long I should leave it before having my sugar level tested as would love to know if all this hard work has paid off. The nurse just said to have it checked at my next blood test but that’s not until next January.
I’d love to know before then to give me some confidence that I can do it.
Suppose I’m also frightened that it isn’t working as I would then be devastated that all my research and hard work wasn’t doing any good.
Scared to go and have a test.

 

[Leadinglights]

Usually people should be offered a HbA1C test 3-6 months after their diagnosis and then every 12 months after than.
As you say you want to know if what you have been doing is working which is why many self fund a home testing glucose monitor to keep a check day to day, week to week seeing if their blood glucose is within the range 4-7 mmol/l fasting, as if it is consistently there then that would indicate a normal HbA1C, as long as2 hour post meal readings were below 8mmol/l.

If you want a more 'formal' meal plan then look at this link. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/

 

[s'nic]

I was diagnosed at the end of january, and also have to wait until next january til my next hba1c.
I may see if they are willing to include a hba1c when i have my 6 month blood test in july for kidneys and cholesterol. I will have lose quite a lot of weight by then.

 

[Leadinglights]

I was diagnosed at the end of january, and also have to wait until next january til my next hba1c.
I may see if they are willing to include a hba1c when i have my 6 month blood test in july for kidneys and cholesterol. I will have lose quite a lot of weight by then.

NICE guidelines state
Your diabetes care team should discuss this with you, and together you should agree a personal HbA1c target to aim for. Your HbA1c should be tested every 3 to 6 months. It might be done more often if your blood glucose levels are changing quickly. You should be told your HbA1c result after each test.

I think then the frequency can be reduced once your levels are stable.

 

[s'nic]

NICE guidelines state
Your diabetes care team should discuss this with you, and together you should agree a personal HbA1c target to aim for. Your HbA1c should be tested every 3 to 6 months. It might be done more often if your blood glucose levels are changing quickly. You should be told your HbA1c result after each test.

I think then the frequency can be reduced once your levels are stable.

Is that the same if it's prediabetes rather than diabetes? It seems Theo and I were both told 1 year for our next hba1c, and we are both prediabetic.
To the best of my knowledge I have no actual diabetes care team, I just discussed a full set of blood tests with my doctor, and since my kidney and cholesterol results were a lot worse than my blood sugars the 10 minutes was mostly spent on those two.
If it applies to prediabetes equally that's awesome, I can use it to push for an earlier test.

 

[Leadinglights]

Is that the same if it's prediabetes rather than diabetes? It seems Theo and I were both told 1 year for our next hba1c, and we are both prediabetic.
To the best of my knowledge I have no actual diabetes care team, I just discussed a full set of blood tests with my doctor, and since my kidney and cholesterol results were a lot worse than my blood sugars the 10 minutes was mostly spent on those two.
If it applies to prediabetes equally that's awesome, I can use it to push for an earlier test.

It is not very clear (could be because I am struggling to see having just returned from my retinal eye screen) but I have also found this
(2) Check your HbA1c levels 4 times a year (every 3 months) if your blood sugar levels aren't consistently within your target range. (3) Also test HbA1c levels 4 times a year if you've recently adopted a different treatment plan, as this will help you and your doctor determine how well the new treatment is working.

If you are making changes to your lifestyle then It would seem logical for the test to be done when you have the others done, as the outcome could well impinge on the other results.

 

[s'nic]

It is not very clear (could be because I am struggling to see having just returned from my retinal eye screen) but I have also found this
(2) Check your HbA1c levels 4 times a year (every 3 months) if your blood sugar levels aren't consistently within your target range. (3) Also test HbA1c levels 4 times a year if you've recently adopted a different treatment plan, as this will help you and your doctor determine how well the new treatment is working.

If you are making changes to your lifestyle then It would seem logical for the test to be done when you have the others done, as the outcome could well impinge on the other results.

Thanks, I'll try push for it with the other 2 tests, they have to take bloods anyhow.