Pre diabetes

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djson280

djson280

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Relationship to Diabetes
At risk of diabetes
Hello I have recently received my blood test results. I am slightly over the limit. Which puts me as a pre diabetic.

I am 60, my dad was Punjabi, so it's not really a shock.

Diabetes has been in the family for as long as I can remember.

I have cut out all sugar, like in tea, cereals etc.

Do I have to stop drinking fruit juice, yoghurt with 5% sugar?

Can I stop it progressing or is it now only possible to manage it.

Thanks for your advice.
 
There are folk here who have reversed out of pre-D. I'm hoping to be one of them!!!

Fruit juice is a bit of a no no alas, from what I've learnt here. Do you drink it neat, or diluted? good you've cut out other sugars.
 
djson280 said:
I have cut out all sugar, like in tea, cereals etc.
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That's a great start and may well be enough but remember that all carbohydrates become sugar once ingested so you might need to cut back a little more.
What was your Pre-diabetes number?
 
I'm in Spain, my number is 104 which is 4 over the limit. But I'm not sure they use the same terms here as UK.

I'm going to try a fruit juice Guayaba which is 2.4% sugar as apposed to 13% for peach.

I dilute it, with it being so hot here I need to drink more than 5l of water a day, but I find it impossible to drink that much water. Which is why I started adding juice.

Things like yoghurt which have about 5% sugar. Do I have to stop that?

I've cut out processed bread, gone over to wholegrain.

So I have to have little, rice, pasta, potatoes then? They are carbohydrates!

Does exercise help?

I also have very high cholesterol, so I'm trying to deal with that too.
 
Callista said:
There are folk here who have reversed out of pre-D. I'm hoping to be one of them!!!

Fruit juice is a bit of a no no alas, from what I've learnt here. Do you drink it neat, or diluted? good you've cut out other sugars.
Click to expand...
I dilute it , but because I can't drink enough water, I started adding juice.

I just found a different fruit juice with 2.4% sugar as apposed to 13% of the others.

So I don't need to stop all sugar?

The mad thing is that my cup of tea tastes sweeter now, with 1 saccharin than with the sugar I used to put in.

I've stopped beer which I didn't drink much anyway, to a glass of red wine.
 
djson280 said:
I'm in Spain, my number is 104 which is 4 over the limit. But I'm not sure they use the same terms here as UK.

I'm going to try a fruit juice Guayaba which is 2.4% sugar as apposed to 13% for peach.

I dilute it, with it being so hot here I need to drink more than 5l of water a day, but I find it impossible to drink that much water. Which is why I started adding juice.

Things like yoghurt which have about 5% sugar. Do I have to stop that?

I've cut out processed bread, gone over to wholegrain.

So I have to have little, rice, pasta, potatoes then? They are carbohydrates!

Does exercise help?

I also have very high cholesterol, so I'm trying to deal with that too.
Click to expand...

Exercise and weight loss made the biggest difference to me.
Cutting back on saturated fats will help with the cholesterol.
 
That is good to know, I think I'm probably 2 stone over weight, so I've started exercising a little and walking with the dog, but I did that anyway.

I'm being advised by the Dr. To walk, but I can't see that gets the cardiovascular rate up.

I only started last week, but I'll build up a little each week untill I can get the heart pounding.
 
djson280 said:
That is good to know, I think I'm probably 2 stone over weight, so I've started exercising a little and walking with the dog, but I did that anyway.

I'm being advised by the Dr. To walk, but I can't see that gets the cardiovascular rate up.

I only started last week, but I'll build up a little each week untill I can get the heart pounding.
Click to expand...

I started gently, but built it up to harder workouts in the gym with help from the NHS here.
Now I do a couple of exercise classes and three aqua aerobics sessions a week, plus walking into town occasionally.
 
djson280 said:
I dilute it , but because I can't drink enough water, I started adding juice.

I just found a different fruit juice with 2.4% sugar as apposed to 13% of the others.

So I don't need to stop all sugar?

The mad thing is that my cup of tea tastes sweeter now, with 1 saccharin than with the sugar I used to put in.

I've stopped beer which I didn't drink much anyway, to a glass of red wine.
Click to expand...
Dietary changes are going to have most impact and getting an understanding of what carbohydrates are will help you choose better meals. It is not just sugar you need to be careful of but things like potatoes, rice, pasta, noodles, bread, breakfast cereals and pre-prepared sauces, tropical fruits and fruit juices but other foods are intermediate in carbs so maybe OK for you and then there are foods like meat, fish, eggs, cheese, dairy, green veg and salads and fruit like berries which are pretty low in carbs. It is all a matter of balance between them all.
Many people use Greek yoghurt and add their own seed, nuts or berries.
I don't know if you can get where you are but still or sparking flavoured water is refreshing or fruit tea.
This link may help you with some ideas of what you can and what is not so good to have. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/

I'm not sure how your result converts to the units we use in the UK as you haven't said what units it is. But some modest changes are probably all that is needed if you are in the prediabetes zone.
 
Leadinglights said:
Dietary changes are going to have most impact and getting an understanding of what carbohydrates are will help you choose better meals. It is not just sugar you need to be careful of but things like potatoes, rice, pasta, noodles, bread, breakfast cereals and pre-prepared sauces, tropical fruits and fruit juices but other foods are intermediate in carbs so maybe OK for you and then there are foods like meat, fish, eggs, cheese, dairy, green veg and salads and fruit like berries which are pretty low in carbs. It is all a matter of balance between them all.
Many people use Greek yoghurt and add their own seed, nuts or berries.
I don't know if you can get where you are but still or sparking flavoured water is refreshing or fruit tea.
This link may help you with some ideas of what you can and what is not so good to have. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/

I'm not sure how your result converts to the units we use in the UK as you haven't said what units it is. But some modest changes are probably all that is needed if you are in the prediabetes zone.
Click to expand...

Spain - 104 is most probably a fasting test, so 104, or 5.8mmol/L
 
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djson280 said:
That is good to know, I think I'm probably 2 stone over weight, so I've started exercising a little and walking with the dog, but I did that anyway.

I'm being advised by the Dr. To walk, but I can't see that gets the cardiovascular rate up.

I only started last week, but I'll build up a little each week untill I can get the heart pounding.
Click to expand...

Wife lost 5 stone after being told she was prediabetic, that was 5 years ago & all blood results since have been normal, so losing that 2 stone might turned things around for you.
 
Welcome to the forum @djson280

Glad you have joined us. 🙂

Sounds like you are off to a flying start making changes to your menu! If you are unsure about which foods and which portion sizes are suiting your diabetes, you might consider getting a blood glucose meter.

The most affordable meters members here have found are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 - which both have relatively affordable test strips - it is the strips which will end up costing you the money.

In the UK the recommendation for people with T2 diabetes would be 70-125mg/dl (4-7mmol/L) before meals, and no more than 150mg/dl (8.5mmol/L) by 2hours after eating.

Additionally you can check how you react to different meals and portion sizes of carbs by taking a reading immediately before, and again 2hrs after the first bite - ideally you would be looking for a rise of 35-55mg/dl (2-3mmol/L) at the 2hr mark - and can tweak meals based on the responses and ‘meal rise’ you see

Let us know how things go 🙂
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Welcome to the forum @djson280

Glad you have joined us. 🙂

Sounds like you are off to a flying start making changes to your menu! If you are unsure about which foods and which portion sizes are suiting your diabetes, you might consider getting a blood glucose meter.

The most affordable meters members here have found are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 - which both have relatively affordable test strips - it is the strips which will end up costing you the money.

In the UK the recommendation for people with T2 diabetes would be 70-125mg/dl (4-7mmol/L) before meals, and no more than 150mg/dl (8.5mmol/L) by 2hours after eating.

Additionally you can check how you react to different meals and portion sizes of carbs by taking a reading immediately before, and again 2hrs after the first bite - ideally you would be looking for a rise of 35-55mg/dl (2-3mmol/L) at the 2hr mark - and can tweak meals based on the responses and ‘meal rise’ you see

Let us know how things go 🙂
Click to expand...
It depends where you start.
As you say,

If you have type 2 diabetes

before meals: 4 to 7mmol/l

two hours after meals: less than 8.5mmol/l.

It's not really worth trying to chase a low rise of 2 to 3mmol/l if you are starting at 4.
Or do you mean if you start high, at say 7, and then try to keep the end number in single figures
 
travellor said:
Or do you mean if you start high, at say 7, and then try to keep the end number in single figures
Click to expand...

I think it can be helpful where people are newly diagnosed, and are
starting at high levels - perhaps even 9-10mmol/L before meals (160-180mg/dl). By keeping the meal rises small you can still see positive changes of meal adjustments, even if your absolute numbers are still all technically out of range.

But I still think the principle of aiming for meals that give a 2-3 rise helps even when starting below mid range.

4-7 makes 5.5 as a midpoint and 3 above that still keeps you within the target range of 8.5 at 2hrs.

If some of your meals always give you a rise of 5, you’d need to know you were below midrange before eating, to hit that 8.5 maximum.

But if you’ve tweaked your menu to fairly consistently raise BG by 3 or thereabouts, you can just drop back to occasional maintenance checks a few times a week once you‘ve got your menu working. No need for constant pre-meal checks. Or changing your plans if your BG is inconveniently not low enough for the meal you are cooking.

🙂
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
I think it can be helpful where people are newly diagnosed, and are
starting at high levels - perhaps even 9-10mmol/L before meals (160-180mg/dl). By keeping the meal rises small you can still see positive changes of meal adjustments, even if your absolute numbers are still all technically out of range.

But I still think the principle of aiming for meals that give a 2-3 rise helps even when starting below mid range.

4-7 makes 5.5 as a midpoint and 3 above that still keeps you within the target range of 8.5 at 2hrs.

If some of your meals always give you a rise of 5, you’d need to know you were below midrange before eating, to hit that 8.5 maximum.

But if you’ve tweaked your menu to fairly consistently raise BG by 3 or thereabouts, you can just drop back to occasional maintenance checks a few times a week once you‘ve got your menu working. No need for constant pre-meal checks. Or changing your plans if your BG is inconveniently not low enough for the meal you are cooking.

🙂
Click to expand...
Looking at the info from the op, if it is a fasting BG of 5.8mmol/L, a few tweaks, exercise and weight loss should get the pre meal numbers down hopefully.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
everydayupsanddowns said:
Welcome to the forum @djson280

Glad you have joined us. 🙂

Sounds like you are off to a flying start making changes to your menu! If you are unsure about which foods and which portion sizes are suiting your diabetes, you might consider getting a blood glucose meter.

The most affordable meters members here have found are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 - which both have relatively affordable test strips - it is the strips which will end up costing you the money.

In the UK the recommendation for people with T2 diabetes would be 70-125mg/dl (4-7mmol/L) before meals, and no more than 150mg/dl (8.5mmol/L) by 2hours after eating.

Additionally you can check how you react to different meals and portion sizes of carbs by taking a reading immediately before, and again 2hrs after the first bite - ideally you would be looking for a rise of 35-55mg/dl (2-3mmol/L) at the 2hr mark - and can tweak meals based on the responses and ‘meal rise’ you see

Let us know how things go 🙂
Click to expand...
Hello thank you for the information.

I am 104 mg/dL.

The limit here is 100.

Would I therefore be corrected in understanding that a UK Dr. Would not consider this bad?

Although better make the changes now.

I have been reading a little regarding food.

I have started exercising a little, but I have Rheumatoid arthritis as well.

However I'm not in much pain right now, I take medication for that almost daily.

Onwards and upwards
 
djson280 said:
Would I therefore be corrected in understanding that a UK Dr. Would not consider this bad?
Click to expand...
In the UK pre-diabetes is diagnosed based on 3 month average readings, it wouldn’t be diagnosed based on a one off reading of 104 no.
 
Good morning

I have been doing a little exercise, walking and exercise machines. (There are some exercise machines in the park)

I was thinking of going to a gym, however the only time I have is in the mornings.

In the mornings my joints are painful.

So I'm going to try walking more without any exercise machines.

How far should I try to walk and how fast?

Thanks
 
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