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Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
I have just be diagnosed as pre diabetic and don’t know where to start. I’ve been sent the link to this site and advised to research. I am not overweight and feel I eat a mainly healthy diet. I tend to not eat much during the day and always skip breakfast.
Do I have to restrict my carbs?
What is a healthy diet for a non diabetic, is not necessarily so good for a pre diabetic or Type 2 diabetic. Restricting carbs is usually suggested, but as you are not overweight you would need to supplement your food with more protein, to keep your calories up. You might wish to keep a food diary of everything you eat and drink. I use an app as it does all the hard work for me. If your daily carb intake is above 130gm per day, I suggest you slowly reduce your carb portions to below 130gm a day. Being pre diabetic, you probably only need a few tweaks.
I have just be diagnosed as pre diabetic and don’t know where to start. I’ve been sent the link to this site and advised to research. I am not overweight and feel I eat a mainly healthy diet. I tend to not eat much during the day and always skip breakfast.
Do I have to restrict my carbs?
Welcome to the forum, pre diabetic is a wake up that you are at risk of developing diabetes because your body is struggling to cope with carbohydrates in your diet. All carbs convert to glucose and if you don't produce enough insulin or your body does not use the insulin effectively then that is when blood glucose is too high for comfort. So the logical thing is to reduce your intake of carbs.
As you are not overweight then you need to make sure you have plenty of protein and healthy fats to maintain weight when you reduce the carbs.
Some modest changes are probably all that is needed, cutting out cakes, biscuits, pastry, sugary drinks and reducing portions of other high carb foods like potatoes, rice, pasta, breakfast cereals and being careful of fruits as some are also high carb.
Have a look at this link for some ideas for a low carb approach, this is aimed at folk with a TYpe 2 diagnosis but the principals still apply to your situation. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
Welcome to the forum
Even if not overweight it may affect you. Any weight carried around the tummy contributes to the possible presence of insulin resistance.
To avoid these issues they say your waist should be half your height, eg for 160cm height the waist should be 80 cm
What was your HbA1c? As others have said, small tweaks my be enough, eg ditching sweet stuff and smaller carb portions.
To check carb content you can read the food info on the back of the pack. "Total Carbohydrates" is the key one to check, and "per 100g" will allow you to easily compare one product to another.
I have just be diagnosed as pre diabetic and don’t know where to start. I’ve been sent the link to this site and advised to research. I am not overweight and feel I eat a mainly healthy diet. I tend to not eat much during the day and always skip breakfast.
Do I have to restrict my carbs?
Sorry to hear you’ve been told you are at risk of developing diabetes @John2105
We have had many members over the years who have successfully managed to turn their glucose levels around from being ‘at risk’ to steer away from a possible diagnosis. Some have aimed for weight loss, while others have opted for sustainable reductions in their carbohydrate intake
Many new members find it can be a helpful start to keep a brutally honest food diary for a couple. Note down everything you eat and drink, along with a reasonable estimate of the carbohydrate content in your meals and snacks (total carbohydrate, rather than ‘of which sugars’) - it doesn’t have to be gram-perfect, the nearest 5-10g is fine.
It might sound like a bit of a faff, and will involve weighing portions, squinting at the fine print on packaging, and possibly looking up things on the internet, but it will give you a really good idea of which foods are the main sources of carbs in your menu. Once you can see which meals or snacks are your ‘big hitters’, and where carbs might be unexpectedly lurking, the process might also suggest some likely candidates for swaps, portion reductions, or using lower carb alternatives (eg celeriac or swede mash, or cauli ‘rice’).
It’s quite likely that a few modest changes, and a little bit of portion control could really help your metabolism process your menu more effectively. You could aim for a certain number of carbs per day based on a percentage reduction from the average totals you observe in your food diary?
Welcome @John2105🙂 I’d start by making a food diary that lists an average day’s food for you prediagnosis. Then look at ways you can improve it. Reducing carbs a little should help as should exercise (even walking is good). Small, sustained changes should help.
