Hi, I am a 54 yo female who has just been told that I am pre diabetic AND have raised cholesterol of 5.55. I am SO confused now. I am looking for support and information as to what on earth I should be eating now to get both numbers down. I exercise a LOT, both resistance and cardio so need decent protein too. I thought my diet was pretty good until I heard this news. I've been trying REALLY hard over the last 8 months to get weight off and to strengthen muscles to delay the need for a second hip replacement. I eat small but regularly through the day eg. banana at 08:00, boiled eggs or fish at 10:00, oatibix with seeds and almonds with almond milk at 12:00-13:00 then a red grapefruit at 14:00-15:00. As I eat really well during the day and workout hard when I get home I allow myself to pretty much have what I want for dinner but it always involves lots of veggies or salad (yes, I eat that rainbow!!) but I have usually had a chocolate biscuit or piece of cake afterwards. Other than the snack and dinner I'm at a loss as to what else I should be doing differently. Am I missing something or do I need to really evaluate my evening meal even more now? Sorry to sound rambling but I thought I was doing pretty much most stuff right.....but obviously I'm not.
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Pre diabetes and higher than normal cholesterol....very disheartened
- Thread starter Sooz007
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Hi @Sooz007, welcome to the forum. 🙂
Sorry to hear that you're at risk of diabetes and feel frustrated by the results despite all the progress you are making. It's great you have been paying attention to your diet and keeping physically active. I think you should be proud of the achievements you have made so far, it might just be a case of having to make some tweaks here and there. Did you share your meal plans and exercise routine with your doctor/nurse? Did they give you any specific advice and/or goals (e.g. weight loss target)? Are you taking any medication?
You might find the Food/carb queries + recipes section of the forum useful for ideas and advice. Please feel free to get involved and ask any questions (and ramble!), you're not alone!
Sorry to hear that you're at risk of diabetes and feel frustrated by the results despite all the progress you are making. It's great you have been paying attention to your diet and keeping physically active. I think you should be proud of the achievements you have made so far, it might just be a case of having to make some tweaks here and there. Did you share your meal plans and exercise routine with your doctor/nurse? Did they give you any specific advice and/or goals (e.g. weight loss target)? Are you taking any medication?
You might find the Food/carb queries + recipes section of the forum useful for ideas and advice. Please feel free to get involved and ask any questions (and ramble!), you're not alone!
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
@Sooz007 If you can't cope with carbohydrates then to eat multiple times and to eat high carb foods is just increasing the difficulties.
To keep my type 2 diabetes under control I do the opposite - I eat twice a day and select from foods with under 11 percent carbs. Maybe evaluate just how much carbohydrate you actually need and reduce your meals, so you reduce how much glucose your metabolism is trying to cope with.
To keep my type 2 diabetes under control I do the opposite - I eat twice a day and select from foods with under 11 percent carbs. Maybe evaluate just how much carbohydrate you actually need and reduce your meals, so you reduce how much glucose your metabolism is trying to cope with.
Welcome What can I say. I could have written your post myself. I am twenty years older than you and was given the exact same diagnosis as yourself back in July and told to lose weight. The only help from the GP Surgery was to refer to Diabetes UK on line. Since then I have altered my ways cutting out the occasional biscuit or cake. Since that time I have managed to just loose 2lbs and realise I have no understanding of carbs. fortunately following a telephone call this morning with the team in charge of this site I have an on-line introduction on Wednesday. Perhaps you could sign up to this as well. Like you I accept the warning I . have been given and intend to hopefully do all I can to reverse.
D
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You sound like you are doing the right things.
Small meals, throughout the day has many benefits over a large meal at a couple of sittings.
Type 2 is normally an insulin resistance, so if you eat a small meal, you won't be overloading your body with a large amount of glucose in one hit. Just small amounts that can be processed before the next small amount.
That is what I used to do.
I also got out of the habit of sweet foods, usually that's a simple sugar, or white flour, and it's digested a lot faster than complex carbs.
Carbs are all different!
Saturated fat really messed up my cholesterol, lean meat, and other proteins are good.
And exercise really made a difference to my BG.
Small meals, throughout the day has many benefits over a large meal at a couple of sittings.
Type 2 is normally an insulin resistance, so if you eat a small meal, you won't be overloading your body with a large amount of glucose in one hit. Just small amounts that can be processed before the next small amount.
That is what I used to do.
I also got out of the habit of sweet foods, usually that's a simple sugar, or white flour, and it's digested a lot faster than complex carbs.
Carbs are all different!
Saturated fat really messed up my cholesterol, lean meat, and other proteins are good.
And exercise really made a difference to my BG.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Welcome to the forum @Sooz007
How frustrating for you! You are clearly putting a lot of care and atrention into you meals and exercise routine, so I can only imagine how upsetting and disheartening it must have been to get the news.
Does anyone in your close family live with diabetes?
I wonder if getting hold of a BG meter and checking immediately before and again 2hrs after your meals might help you fine-tune things? People’s reactions to foods can be surprisingly individual, and not necessarily follow reputations of slow (or fast) releasing carbs. But before/after BG checks can help you see what’s happening for you. Ideally you’d be looking for a rise of 2-3mmol/L or less.
It’s quite likely that your menu is pretty much right, but you might just need to make a few small tweaks here or there.
If you need to self fund your BG meter, the most affordable meters members here have found are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 - which both have test strips at around £8 for 50
Good luck, and let us know how things go 🙂
How frustrating for you! You are clearly putting a lot of care and atrention into you meals and exercise routine, so I can only imagine how upsetting and disheartening it must have been to get the news.
Does anyone in your close family live with diabetes?
I wonder if getting hold of a BG meter and checking immediately before and again 2hrs after your meals might help you fine-tune things? People’s reactions to foods can be surprisingly individual, and not necessarily follow reputations of slow (or fast) releasing carbs. But before/after BG checks can help you see what’s happening for you. Ideally you’d be looking for a rise of 2-3mmol/L or less.
It’s quite likely that your menu is pretty much right, but you might just need to make a few small tweaks here or there.
If you need to self fund your BG meter, the most affordable meters members here have found are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 - which both have test strips at around £8 for 50
Good luck, and let us know how things go 🙂
nonethewiser
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Weight to lose try joining group like Slimming world, peer support & good advice on balanced nutrition, that's what wife did when told pre diabetic then lost 5 stone & reversed condition, 2 years on bloods still normal & weight kept off.
Hi Cameron, Yes, I did share my diet/exercise routines with the HCA and pretty much the only advise I had was to look at this website. I am hoping you're right and that I only need to 'tweak' a few things to get my number down again. I have lost over 2 stone since February and admittedly could do with losing one more realistically. However, the HCA did say that my numbers may well have been higher pre-February but there's no other blood tests to compare it to. She reckons they could well be on their down with all I'm doing right now.
I am going to cut out the last remaining 'bad' stuff from my diet and see what effect that has.
Thank you for taking time to reply🙂
Hi Beachlady, I am hoping that my numbers are on their way down as there were no previous tests to compare with. I shall cut out what little 'bad' stuff I can from my diet and see how that goes. I have to re-book for more bloods in 3 months. I am looking at trying to get assistance through my workplace Health Scheme first to see if they can help with advice too. Carbs are very confusing especially when trying to work out low fat stuff at the same time
Thank you for replying.
I have actually done Slimming World in the past so know the theories of it really well and actually have been applying these pretty much. That's why I'm finding it so frustrating.
I only have one sister left of my close family (neither parent died from anything to do with diabetes) and she is fine. I think it's a really good idea to see if my body just doesn't respond well to certain foods. Thank you for the suggestions. I will definitely look into getting a BG meter.
nonethewiser
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Still 2 stone weight loss is some achievement & proves diet works. Sure my wife hit plateau around 3 stone mark, yeah it's frustrating but persevere.
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I really recommend getting a meter to test how you are coping with the carbohydrates you are eating. I discovered that I spiked after eating beans or peas, - so have just half portions these days.
There are big differences between individuals and I was constantly pushed to eat the 'healthy' carbohydrates for decades, even though I repeated that they made me feel ill at every appointment. At least with the evidence of a BG meter there isn't much scope for argument.
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