Yesterday I was told I was Prediabetic.I have an appointment at the end of the month with a diabetic nurse (via phone not in person).I'm struggling and confused why I've been diagnosed with Prediabetes.I've got an active type job (full time)so I am on my feet all day,walking around,so not sedentary unless I'm on my 30 min break.Most days I practice yoga,atleast 30 mins worth,if not more.I walk to my allotment on days off,and extend the walk by taking the long way home,so am walking for an hour,if not longer.Usually do this once a week.So generally I am active,even on days off work.I'm not the type to sit around for long.Weight wise,I need to lose a stone,but as I am 59 yrs of age,I don't think this is excessive.I eat healthily too only having abit of junk type food occasionally.Really not sure how I can improve my health.Any idea's?Thanks in advance.
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Prediabetes diagnosis!
- Thread starter Massey61
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Vonny
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi @Massey61 and welcome to the forum 🙂 It must seem harsh when you do so much walking, but exercise alone doesn't reduce blood glucose, it's a combination of exercise and eating the right foods...and that is so individual that everyone has to learn what their body can tolerate. "Healthy" foods aren't necessarily the right food for everyone.
Carb heavy foods can be a serious problem for most diabetics (or pre-diabetics). Before I was diagnosed I had no idea I'd get diabetes because I hardly ate any sweet stuff. However, I was a complete carb monster and at 61 my body suddenly revolted (and was indeed revolting!) and told me "Enough!" Refined carbs are toxic for me, although I can tolerate a slice of wholemeal bread without it spiking my bloods.
It would be useful to keep a food diary to see what you are consuming, and it has to be completely honest. The fact you don't eat much junk food is a good starter. Try cutting back on the potato/rice/bread/pasta portions and include more leafy green veg. As a pre-diabetic you probably don't need to seriously calorie count unless you want to lose that stone quickly. I'm doing a combination of low carb, low calorie and have lost nearly 3 stone in the last 6 months. That includes a good couple of hours walking in addition to the diet.
You may want to purchase a blood glucose monitor to see which foods are spiking your bloods. You should test before a meal and then 2 hours after and there should be only a couple of units difference. Eg I go from 5 to 6.5 on a slice of wholemeal bread, but up to nearly 12 on a slice of white! However, as you are only pre-diabetic you may not want to go the whole hog and just see what your next blood test at the doctors shows up.
I'm sure others will be along soon to give you more pointers.
Best of luck
Carb heavy foods can be a serious problem for most diabetics (or pre-diabetics). Before I was diagnosed I had no idea I'd get diabetes because I hardly ate any sweet stuff. However, I was a complete carb monster and at 61 my body suddenly revolted (and was indeed revolting!) and told me "Enough!" Refined carbs are toxic for me, although I can tolerate a slice of wholemeal bread without it spiking my bloods.
It would be useful to keep a food diary to see what you are consuming, and it has to be completely honest. The fact you don't eat much junk food is a good starter. Try cutting back on the potato/rice/bread/pasta portions and include more leafy green veg. As a pre-diabetic you probably don't need to seriously calorie count unless you want to lose that stone quickly. I'm doing a combination of low carb, low calorie and have lost nearly 3 stone in the last 6 months. That includes a good couple of hours walking in addition to the diet.
You may want to purchase a blood glucose monitor to see which foods are spiking your bloods. You should test before a meal and then 2 hours after and there should be only a couple of units difference. Eg I go from 5 to 6.5 on a slice of wholemeal bread, but up to nearly 12 on a slice of white! However, as you are only pre-diabetic you may not want to go the whole hog and just see what your next blood test at the doctors shows up.
I'm sure others will be along soon to give you more pointers.
Best of luck
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Did they give you any more info, such as the actual result of the blood test (HbA1c test) which showed your blood glucose is now between 42 and 47?
This demonstrates that your body is now unable to deal with the carbohydrate which you eat as well as it should, so it's better to try and do something about that now rather than carry on doing everything you do now and tip over the borderline of a HbA1c result of 48+ and hence a definite diagnosis of Type 2.
It doesn't actually mean that your lifestyle resembles that of Wayne & Waynetta Slob, if you remember them from Harry Enfield. You can be fat as a barrage balloon, thin as a rake, or an Olympic Gold Medal winning rowing champion and become Type 2. It's a glitch in your metabolism. Yeah - being obese can exacerbate it and cause it to manifest itself sooner rather than later. Think of it as currently being a hairline crack in your windscreen which you've just noticed - so you get that sorted asap to stop the crack getting longer and deeper until the only thing to do is get a whole new windscreen. With the hairline crack that you know about but haven't had repaired - would you think it's a brilliant idea to go off roading?
So - cut down on the carbohydrate in your diet - all of em not just sugar itself but as sugar is almost 100% carbohydrate, reducing that is the first most obvious thing to start with, the amount of potatoes, anything containing flour (eg pastry, pasta, bread, cake) rice, root veg, some fruits (the juicier and sweeter the fruit, the higher carb content usually - bananas, other tropical fruit, ripe peaches/nectarines and lovely juicy 'William' pears are all high)
The easiest way of discovering what your body can and can't handle is as Vonny has mentioned, to invest in and use a blood glucose meter.
This demonstrates that your body is now unable to deal with the carbohydrate which you eat as well as it should, so it's better to try and do something about that now rather than carry on doing everything you do now and tip over the borderline of a HbA1c result of 48+ and hence a definite diagnosis of Type 2.
It doesn't actually mean that your lifestyle resembles that of Wayne & Waynetta Slob, if you remember them from Harry Enfield. You can be fat as a barrage balloon, thin as a rake, or an Olympic Gold Medal winning rowing champion and become Type 2. It's a glitch in your metabolism. Yeah - being obese can exacerbate it and cause it to manifest itself sooner rather than later. Think of it as currently being a hairline crack in your windscreen which you've just noticed - so you get that sorted asap to stop the crack getting longer and deeper until the only thing to do is get a whole new windscreen. With the hairline crack that you know about but haven't had repaired - would you think it's a brilliant idea to go off roading?
So - cut down on the carbohydrate in your diet - all of em not just sugar itself but as sugar is almost 100% carbohydrate, reducing that is the first most obvious thing to start with, the amount of potatoes, anything containing flour (eg pastry, pasta, bread, cake) rice, root veg, some fruits (the juicier and sweeter the fruit, the higher carb content usually - bananas, other tropical fruit, ripe peaches/nectarines and lovely juicy 'William' pears are all high)
The easiest way of discovering what your body can and can't handle is as Vonny has mentioned, to invest in and use a blood glucose meter.
Docb
Moderator
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi @Massey61 and welcome to the forum. You are not the first, and won't be the last to be given a prediabetes diagnosis and then left to wonder what it is all about!
First off the simple stuff. Your system runs on glucose. It is generated by various routes and gets absorbed in your blood stream which carries it around your body. This allows all your systems to access it so that they will function. Too little glucose in your blood and the system collapses. Too much glucose and the system gets damaged and also might collapse. The human body has an inbuilt way for keeping blood glucose neither too high or too low so that all is well. When this system starts to underperform, then the blood glucose level tends to get higher than is wise, and that is what is called diabetes.
How is it diagnosed? Normally done on the basis of something called a HbA1c test. This is a blood test which returns a number normally between 30 and 40. The higher the number the harder your system is finding it to control the upper limit of your blood glucose. The guidelines say that once this number exceeds 48, then a diagnosis of diabetes is given and actions put in place to reduce it. The actions depend very much on how high the number is. When it gets close to 100 or above then it should set alarm bells ringing because the long term consequences of not getting it down are something best avoided.
One of the characteristics of HbA1c is that when they start to rise, they will continue to do so. Not an absolute rule but something to be aware of. It is for that reason the idea of prediabetes was introduced. If your HbA1c is below 48 but above 42, then you are given the prediabetes label. It is a warning flag which is saying start thinking now to avoid problems for later.
One of my bugbears is that everybody with elevated HbA1c levels is dumped into the same Type2 box, no matter what the reason for it. So maybe you have some fat build up in the wrong places, maybe your pancreas is not working as well as it used to or maybe the mechanism whereby glucose is absorbed from the blood is impaired. You can be fit, active and eat "healthily" and still be prediabetic. Whatever is going on, it is all treated the same.
Hope that gives you some background. The prediabetes label means you do not have to panic. What it is saying is that a few simple changes now might eliminate problems down the line. If you read around the forum you will find a lot of emphasis on reducing carbohydrate in the diet as a means of controlling blood glucose. Small tweaks are generally sufficient for somebody at the prediabetes level - the heavy lifting is only needed if your HbA1c is up in the red zone.
Read around and ask questions is the message!
First off the simple stuff. Your system runs on glucose. It is generated by various routes and gets absorbed in your blood stream which carries it around your body. This allows all your systems to access it so that they will function. Too little glucose in your blood and the system collapses. Too much glucose and the system gets damaged and also might collapse. The human body has an inbuilt way for keeping blood glucose neither too high or too low so that all is well. When this system starts to underperform, then the blood glucose level tends to get higher than is wise, and that is what is called diabetes.
How is it diagnosed? Normally done on the basis of something called a HbA1c test. This is a blood test which returns a number normally between 30 and 40. The higher the number the harder your system is finding it to control the upper limit of your blood glucose. The guidelines say that once this number exceeds 48, then a diagnosis of diabetes is given and actions put in place to reduce it. The actions depend very much on how high the number is. When it gets close to 100 or above then it should set alarm bells ringing because the long term consequences of not getting it down are something best avoided.
One of the characteristics of HbA1c is that when they start to rise, they will continue to do so. Not an absolute rule but something to be aware of. It is for that reason the idea of prediabetes was introduced. If your HbA1c is below 48 but above 42, then you are given the prediabetes label. It is a warning flag which is saying start thinking now to avoid problems for later.
One of my bugbears is that everybody with elevated HbA1c levels is dumped into the same Type2 box, no matter what the reason for it. So maybe you have some fat build up in the wrong places, maybe your pancreas is not working as well as it used to or maybe the mechanism whereby glucose is absorbed from the blood is impaired. You can be fit, active and eat "healthily" and still be prediabetic. Whatever is going on, it is all treated the same.
Hope that gives you some background. The prediabetes label means you do not have to panic. What it is saying is that a few simple changes now might eliminate problems down the line. If you read around the forum you will find a lot of emphasis on reducing carbohydrate in the diet as a means of controlling blood glucose. Small tweaks are generally sufficient for somebody at the prediabetes level - the heavy lifting is only needed if your HbA1c is up in the red zone.
Read around and ask questions is the message!
Thankyou all so much for the informative easy to understand replies.My blood test results were HbA1c-41.Reading your replies,it seems the carbs are probably my main issue diet wise.Everyday I consume a wholemeal bread sandwich,and either potatoes or rice with dinner.I can probably get around the lunch type carbs by either having a salad or soup,but will have to make further cuts to my potato/pasta/rice intake.I'm hoping I don't end up continually hungry! How do you all manage?
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
It is the carbs which make you hungry - since abandoning my 'healthy' diet with brown carbs and low fat everything I have gone from being a very bad diabetic to a Hba1c of 42, which is the top end of normal. I eat twice a day, as the foods which are low carb seem to be very nourishing. In the morning I avoid the problem of what to have as breakfast by having a lunch type meal, in the warm weather I was having salads, but now it is turning colder I have something hot - if I am feeling lazy I make scrambled egg, add grated cheese and put a thinly sliced tomato on top.
There are low carb breads, which you can probably cope with as two sandwiches using 4 of the rather small slices would be 20 gm of carbs - I use Livlife or a protein bread from Asda.
In the evening I replace the higher carb foods with cauliflower, swede, or other lower carb veges, and even eating 40 gm of carbs a day maximum I am sometimes unable to even think about having a dessert.
grovesy
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
You will need to ask the Doctor.
Thankyou!Not sure I really do understand the numbers tbh.I was 41,and pre diabetic is 42-47,so I'm only 1 digit away from that.Please don't think I'm wishing this condition on myself.I really am not,I detest taking meds of any kind,avoid the dr's like the plaque (excuse pun)and hate the thought of continually monitoring my food intake.So numbers wise,is 41 in diabetic terms a long way off of 42-pre diabetic?
grovesy
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Well medication is not usally used to treat pre-diabetes!
ConfusedCraig
Active Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Your Hb1ac is basically an average of how much sugar was in your blood over the last 2 to 3 months. Hb1ac is the term for glycated hemoglobin, which is how much of the hemoglobin in your blood is impregnated with sugar. There's a bunch of reasons why this starts to elevate, normally revolving around you not producing insulin enough or your body becoming resistant to insulin (insulin lets your body metabolise the sugar in your blood)
41 isn't that far off of 42 however. Even people with well controlled diets have thier hb1ac fluctuate by a couple to several points over the course of a month or two.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
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Welcome to the forum @Massey61
You’ve already had some thorough and informative replies, and it sounds as though your slightly elevated BG levels have been ide tified early.
Was there a reason why your HbA1c was taken? Were you having symptoms or getting checked for something else?
It sounds like moderately reducing your carb intake and perhaps returning to a ‘normal healthy fats’ / Mediterranean approach rather than the widespread ‘fat is poison’ view, along with a little extra protein (both fat and protein keep you feeling fuller for longer) should see you turn this around.
Great to hear you already have a lot of activity built into your routine. 🙂
You’ve already had some thorough and informative replies, and it sounds as though your slightly elevated BG levels have been ide tified early.
Was there a reason why your HbA1c was taken? Were you having symptoms or getting checked for something else?
It sounds like moderately reducing your carb intake and perhaps returning to a ‘normal healthy fats’ / Mediterranean approach rather than the widespread ‘fat is poison’ view, along with a little extra protein (both fat and protein keep you feeling fuller for longer) should see you turn this around.
Great to hear you already have a lot of activity built into your routine. 🙂
Thankyou all for the lovely replies,I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.Yes I am aware being prediabetic does'nt involve meds,just wanted to ensure I could do something about this to avoid that road.I originally went to the docs because my blood pressure was a little high,and was asked to make an appt.Since then my BP has dropped and is surprisingly good for my age group.Since that appt,I've been more careful what I eat (I need to lose about a stone)and increased my walking (power walking not just strolling lol).Hopefully in a few weeks my 41 will decrease,and I'll be a happy lady! 😉
Update:So I had my phone appt this morning with a diabetic nurse.Apparently my HbA1c number is'nt 41 as told to me by the nurse practitioner told me,its 42 which makes me pre diabetic.Went through my diet,all fine there which I figured it would be due to being abit of a health nut for years.Was suggested to me that citrus fruits should only be consumed once a week,to use cinnamon on porridge as opposed to a little golden syrup/sugar which I did use occasionally.The cinnamon changes the glucose in your system apparently! My mum had type 2/my cousin on mum's side type 1 diabetes.So basically I am at risk of developing diabetes due to genetics.Unless I present with any diabetes symptons,I have to have another blood test in 6 mths,to check my HbA1c number.
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