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Pre Diabetic

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.

Tilly6364

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
At risk of diabetes
Hi, I'm in my late 60's, weight 7 stones 13 lbs, height 5' 4", go to a gym 3 times a week for at least an hour. Have a very sensible diet. r
Recent blood test 42, GP advised I don't need another test for a year. Not sure what else I can do. any suggestions?
 
Hi Tilly and welcome

You are almost into the underweight category, with your BMI of 19, so one of the slim fit pre-diabetics. You say you have a sensible diet, but do you have any idea of how many carbs you are eating each day? You can get free apps online to help you measure, and weigh your portions, don't guess. If your diet is carb heavy with potatoes, rice, pasta and bread, you might consider reducing those portions and increasing your veggie portion sizes.
 
Hi Tilly and welcome

You are almost into the underweight category, with your BMI of 19, so one of the slim fit pre-diabetics. You say you have a sensible diet, but do you have any idea of how many carbs you are eating each day? You can get free apps online to help you measure, and weigh your portions, don't guess. If your diet is carb heavy with potatoes, rice, pasta and bread, you might consider reducing those portions and increasing your veggie portion sizes.
 
Thank you for your reply, however I would like to advise you that I don't eat potatoes except when my partner eats oven chips then I have 2 chips. I occasionally eat pasta/rice (small portions) and one slice of toast/pitta bread per day. I mainly eat meat (generally chicken/fish) and lots of veg. For breakfast I eat a very low sugar muesli with a few blueberries and walnuts & unsweetened soya milk. Not sure what else I can do.
 
It sounds as if you are doing all the right things with your dietary regime and that makes it harder to know where you can go with making changes. You are at the bottom end of the prediabetes zone. It may be that there are certain foods which your body is just struggling to cope with so if you were to invest in a blood glucose monitor you could test various meals to identify anything that is problematic. Inexpensive monitors and strips can be had on line the GlucoNavil being one with the cheapest strips. You can then test before you eat and after 2 hours and want to see no more than a 2mmol//l increase and no more than 8mmol/l post meal, otherwise there is something your body cannot cope with.
 
Thank you for your reply, however I would like to advise you that I don't eat potatoes except when my partner eats oven chips then I have 2 chips. I occasionally eat pasta/rice (small portions) and one slice of toast/pitta bread per day. I mainly eat meat (generally chicken/fish) and lots of veg. For breakfast I eat a very low sugar muesli with a few blueberries and walnuts & unsweetened soya milk. Not sure what else I can do.
I don't know either - it doesn't seem fair does it? :confused:
 
Thank you for your reply, however I would like to advise you that I don't eat potatoes except when my partner eats oven chips then I have 2 chips. I occasionally eat pasta/rice (small portions) and one slice of toast/pitta bread per day. I mainly eat meat (generally chicken/fish) and lots of veg. For breakfast I eat a very low sugar muesli with a few blueberries and walnuts & unsweetened soya milk. Not sure what else I can do.
Hi, I notice you are using unsweetened Soya milk on your low carb granola.
Do you prefer Soya milk to full fat cows milk or to cream (both of which are very low carb (much more than skimmed or semi-skimmed cow milk) and keep you feeling fuller for longer.

While on the subject of your breakfast, how about a mushroom omelette, poached or scrambled eggs for breakfast. Or if you don't want to cook , hard boiled eggs done the night before? All of which are less than 1gm of carbs, to start your day off in the best possible way?
 
A bit of an odd claim.
Milk is mostly the same carb content regardless, unless you plan to drink several gallons.

Personally, I'd stay with the Soya milk, which has about a fifth or less carbs per 100g, rather than simply increase your carb intake for the sake of it, as that will impact your BG adversely.

Skimmed milk 5g
Semi skimmed milk 4.8g
Whole milk 4.7g
Unsweetened Soya milk 1g

As to fat, ironically, nearly as much as whole milk.

Skimmed milk 0.1g
Semi skimmed milk 1.8g
Whole milk 3.7g
Unsweetened Soya milk 2.5g

Definitely keep the soya.


Back to the question actually asked about the increase in BG.

Have you had any colds, or covid, or any illnesses or medicines that could have pushed your BG up recently?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi, I notice you are using unsweetened Soya milk on your low carb granola.
Do you prefer Soya milk to full fat cows milk or to cream (both of which are very low carb (much more than skimmed or semi-skimmed cow milk) and keep you feeling fuller for longer.

While on the subject of your breakfast, how about a mushroom omelette, poached or scrambled eggs for breakfast. Or if you don't want to cook , hard boiled eggs done the night before? All of which are less than 1gm of carbs, to start your day off in the best possible way?
 
Re Unsweetened Soya Milk, I only use this on my breakfast cereal, for drinks tea/coffee I use semi-skimmed milk.
I do eat eggs, usually poached with avocados on toast for lunch. Will try eggs for breakfast for a change, will probably be better for me when I go to the gym at 1.30. Do you think that waiting a year for another blood test seems rather inadequate? Surely it would be better to have a test every 6 months.
 
Re Unsweetened Soya Milk, I only use this on my breakfast cereal, for drinks tea/coffee I use semi-skimmed milk.
I do eat eggs, usually poached with avocados on toast for lunch. Will try eggs for breakfast for a change, will probably be better for me when I go to the gym at 1.30. Do you think that waiting a year for another blood test seems rather inadequate? Surely it would be better to have a test every 6 months.
What toast do you eat?
Have you tried the soya milk in the tea/coffee.
It has less carbs.
 
A bit of an odd claim.
Milk is mostly the same carb content regardless, unless you plan to drink several gallons.

Personally, I'd stay with the Soya milk, which has about a fifth or less carbs per 100g, rather than simply increase your carb intake for the sake of it, as that will impact your BG adversely.

Skimmed milk 5g
Semi skimmed milk 4.8g
Whole milk 4.7g
Unsweetened Soya milk 1g

As to fat, ironically, nearly as much as whole milk.

Skimmed milk 0.1g
Semi skimmed milk 1.8g
Whole milk 3.7g
Unsweetened Soya milk 2.5g

Definitely keep the soya.


Back to the question actually asked about the increase in BG.

Have you had any colds, or covid, or any illnesses or medicines that could have pushed your BG up recently?
 
OK, but I can only tolerate soya milk on my breakfast cereal as I don't like the taste of it in tea/coffee. Also, I haven't had any colds, covid or other illnesses and don't take any medication. My weight has been is more or less the same every morning for the past year the only fluctuation being one pound more/one pound less. I'm quite fit, had a personal trainer for several months. I'm also borderline for my Thyroid function but no medication required.
 
OK, but I can only tolerate soya milk on my breakfast cereal as I don't like the taste of it in tea/coffee. Also, I haven't had any colds, covid or other illnesses and don't take any medication. My weight has been is more or less the same every morning for the past year the only fluctuation being one pound more/one pound less. I'm quite fit, had a personal trainer for several months. I'm also borderline for my Thyroid function but no medication required.

That rules out most things.
Illnesses, flu, colds, some medicines can all push up you BG.
You sound like you are doing everything right.
It's worth getting a BG monitor, and testing before food, and two hours after to see if anything is spiking you.
It's worth doing this before making ad hoc changes, and then work out what, if anything, you need to look at.
 
Re Unsweetened Soya Milk, I only use this on my breakfast cereal, for drinks tea/coffee I use semi-skimmed milk.
I do eat eggs, usually poached with avocados on toast for lunch. Will try eggs for breakfast for a change, will probably be better for me when I go to the gym at 1.30. Do you think that waiting a year for another blood test seems rather inadequate? Surely it would be better to have a test every 6 months.
Personally I avoid Soy unless its fermented, so didn't realise unsweetened Soy 'milk' was so low in carbs though now I've googled it I see it's only twice as high in carbs as Almond 'milk'.

Frequency of HbA1C tests is quite an emotive subject and it really depends upon how well you are keeping your BG low.
in my area it is either every 3 months (if your HbA1C is well over 48) to every 12 months (in practice 13 months) if you are considered to be in remission as I am.
Personally I don't find much use in the HbA1C tests except to confirm that what I see on my finger-prick tests is truly representative.
 
Personally I avoid Soy unless its fermented, so didn't realise unsweetened Soy 'milk' was so low in carbs though now I've googled it I see it's only twice as high in carbs as Almond 'milk'.

Frequency of HbA1C tests is quite an emotive subject and it really depends upon how well you are keeping your BG low.
in my area it is either every 3 months (if your HbA1C is well over 48) to every 12 months (in practice 13 months) if you are considered to be in remission as I am.
Personally I don't find much use in the HbA1C tests except to confirm that what I see on my finger-prick tests is truly representative.

Yup, bad advice to increase the carbs by a factor of five without checking first then?
There is more to diabetes than just trying to get more fat in the diet, if it pushes carbs up too.
(For future reference, unsweetened Soya milk can actually be less than 0.5g of carbs, so much the same as almond milk)
I've made yoghurt out of every sort of milk in the past.
 
Yup, bad advice to increase the carbs by a factor of five without checking first then?
There is more to diabetes than just trying to get more fat in the diet, if it pushes carbs up too.
(For future reference, unsweetened Soya milk can actually be less than 0.5g of carbs, so much the same as almond milk)
I've made yoghurt out of every sort of milk in the past.
Yes, though on ethical grounds I feel Soy products should be avoided and on health grounds (at least by men). Also Almonds and Almond products on ethical grounds.
 
OK, but I can only tolerate soya milk on my breakfast cereal as I don't like the taste of it in tea/coffee. Also, I haven't had any colds, covid or other illnesses and don't take any medication. My weight has been is more or less the same every morning for the past year the only fluctuation being one pound more/one pound less. I'm quite fit, had a personal trainer for several months. I'm also borderline for my Thyroid function but no medication required.

Hemp milk is another very low carb milk I've used.
 
It sounds as if you are doing all the right things with your dietary regime and that makes it harder to know where you can go with making changes. You are at the bottom end of the prediabetes zone. It may be that there are certain foods which your body is just struggling to cope with so if you were to invest in a blood glucose monitor you could test various meals to identify anything that is problematic. Inexpensive monitors and strips can be had on line the GlucoNavil being one with the cheapest strips. You can then test before you eat and after 2 hours and want to see no more than a 2mmol//l increase and no more than 8mmol/l post meal, otherwise there is something your body cannot cope with.
Thank you, I will try strips and see what happens.
 
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