Prediabetes

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Gannett

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At risk of diabetes
I've just been diagnosed with prediabetes and am struggling with carbs. Can I have a small amount at lunch and dinner?
 
Welcome to the forum @Gannett

Sorry to hear about your increased risk of developing diabetes. Were you told the result of your HbA1c? This cane help you understand how close to the diagnosis line you are, and how much your metabolism is struggling with your current menu.

Many newcomers who are at risk of diabetes who want to try a low carb approach find that portion control and some swaps and exchanges are very helpful. Low carb is not NO carb.

In fact a no carb diet is almost impossible as there are small amounts of carbs in all vegetables, eggs, and even cheese! (veg, eggs, and cheese are central parts of low carb menus for members here!)

So I’d suggest you don’t try to avoid carbs entirely - as you’ll end up with a menu so restrictive that it’s hard to maintain.

Many members here opt for a total carb intake of 130g per day. Total carbs is much more helpful than ‘of which sugars’ on the whole.

Good luck, and let us know how things go 🙂
 
Welcome to the forum @Gannett

Sorry to hear about your increased risk of developing diabetes. Were you told the result of your HbA1c? This cane help you understand how close to the diagnosis line you are, and how much your metabolism is struggling with your current menu.

Many newcomers who are at risk of diabetes who want to try a low carb approach find that portion control and some swaps and exchanges are very helpful. Low carb is not NO carb.

In fact a no carb diet is almost impossible as there are small amounts of carbs in all vegetables, eggs, and even cheese! (veg, eggs, and cheese are central parts of low carb menus for members here!)

So I’d suggest you don’t try to avoid carbs entirely - as you’ll end up with a menu so restrictive that it’s hard to maintain.

Many members here opt for a total carb intake of 130g per day. Total carbs is much more helpful than ‘of which sugars’ on the whole.

Good luck, and let us know how things go 🙂
My reading was 47 - very high apparently
 
My reading was 47 - very high apparently

Ah yes, the ‘at risk’ range is usually 42-47mmol/mol, with either 1 or 2 readings above 48 being the cut-off for a diagnosis with diabetes.

There’s a low carb meal plan here that might give you some ideas?
 
My reading was 47 - very high apparently
47 is not very high at all but you do need to get it lower to avoid T2 diabetes. I have carbs at every meal but try to eat no more than 130g per day. I manage about 100g. Good luck
 
Welcome to the forum @Gannett

Sorry to hear about your increased risk of developing diabetes. Were you told the result of your HbA1c? This cane help you understand how close to the diagnosis line you are, and how much your metabolism is struggling with your current menu.

Many newcomers who are at risk of diabetes who want to try a low carb approach find that portion control and some swaps and exchanges are very helpful. Low carb is not NO carb.

In fact a no carb diet is almost impossible as there are small amounts of carbs in all vegetables, eggs, and even cheese! (veg, eggs, and cheese are central parts of low carb menus for members here!)

So I’d suggest you don’t try to avoid carbs entirely - as you’ll end up with a menu so restrictive that it’s hard to maintain.

Many members here opt for a total carb intake of 130g per day. Total carbs is much more helpful than ‘of which sugars’ on the whole.

Good luck, and let us know how things go 🙂
How do I count 130g of carbs a day as I find carbs and sugar amounts very confusing as I’m not sure how to do this.
 
How do I count 130g of carbs a day as I find carbs and sugar amounts very confusing as I’m not sure how to do this.
Read the nutrition panel on food packaging. It gives carbs per 100g and sometimes per portion, eg per slice if it's bread. Ignore 'of which sugars', it's the carbohydrate number that matters. For loose product supermarket online grocery ordering sites give the same information. Weighing portions will enable you to see how many carbs your meal contains.
 
Welcome to the forum
How do I count 130g of carbs a day as I find carbs and sugar amounts very confusing as I’m not sure how to do this.
Sugars are a type of carb, so in the 'per 100g' info just look at total carbs.
For example cornflakes have 84g carbs in 100g, if you ended up eating 50g that would be 42g just from breakfast.
You can see from this that you can do a rough estimate for specific food items. So for a main meal, you could just look at the info and think, by the time I eat 300g or so of that, it's too much carbs.
As Martin says, weighing food is the only totally accurate way, but if it suits you then you can start with estimates and will soon get to know roughly which maximum per 100g figure is best for you.
 
How do I count 130g of carbs a day as I find carbs and sugar amounts very confusing as I’m not sure how to do this.
My reading was apparently 47 but told by gp that by cutting down on certain foods I should be able to get back to normal range. I do read carbs and sugar per 100 grams on labels so should i weigh out my food . Otherwise how do I know that I’m sticking to 130g of carbs per day
 
My reading was apparently 47 but told by gp that by cutting down on certain foods I should be able to get back to normal range. I do read carbs and sugar per 100 grams on labels so should i weigh out my food . Otherwise how do I know that I’m sticking to 130g of carbs per day
Thanks for that info. Sorry posted my question before I read your replies.
 
My reading was apparently 47 but told by gp that by cutting down on certain foods I should be able to get back to normal range. I do read carbs and sugar per 100 grams on labels so should i weigh out my food . Otherwise how do I know that I’m sticking to 130g of carbs per day
I count my carbs through an app. (I use NutraCheck). It has thousands of foods and I simply search for the particular food, find the appropriate portion size and add it to my daily plan. It takes a matter of seconds for each item, and does the maths for you!! It shows breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, snacks, totals up each meal and gives you a daily total.

This is from my lunch today. The column headed 393 is the calorie total, the one headed 9.2 is the total carbs, and the column headed 0.7 is the "of which sugars". The other columns measure fats, fibre, salt)


LUNCH
3939.20.724.47.833.12.32.52
fiveaday.gif
Waitrose Button Mushrooms 200g

75g
100.30.20.40.11.40.80.02
Bacon Rashers, Grilled, Back

2 Rashers (50g)
1440.00.010.84.111.60.01.74
Warburtons Medium Sliced Wholemeal 400g

Per average slice (23.8g)
558.90.60.70.12.51.50.22
Fried Eggs, Cooked without Oil

[2x] Very large egg
1840.00.012.53.517.60.00.
 
Is the app free of charge
No. An annual subscription is currently £27.99. The monthly subscription is £5.99. If you change your mind within 7 days you can get a full refund. Not sure if they are still offering a 7-day free trial.
MyFitnessPal is free I believe, but it is USA based so you may not get the range of UK foods. Someone else might know. There is also Cals and Carbs, but I don't know anything about that app.
 
I have a Carbs and Cals book from Diabetes UK, although I generally just google "carbs in xyz" because it's so quick. And if it's from Google it must be true!!! 😉
 
Sorry to hear about your pre-diabetes. I was a few years ago, got back to the higher side of normal but back to square one again at 42 this time.

People have given very good advice already. What I did was give up bread, potatoes, pasta, rice and sweet stuff which I didn't eat that much of anyway - the sweet stuff that is. I ate far too much of the high glycaemic carbs. I also gave up tropical fruits like bananas, pineapples and mangoes as I was advised on here that they were very high in sugar.

No idea what has gone wrong again this time. I am going to test more regularly again. There must be something I am eating that I think is OK but isn't. I eat out quite a bit but always go for salads, meat or fish with veg or omelettes or soup if it is lunchtimes.

My GPs are not too concerned about it but are testing again next year.

Good luck with getting your reading down.
 
No. An annual subscription is currently £27.99. The monthly subscription is £5.99. If you change your mind within 7 days you can get a full refund. Not sure if they are still offering a 7-day free trial.
MyFitnessPal is free I believe, but it is USA based so you may not get the range of UK foods. Someone else might know. There is also Cals and Carbs, but I don't know anything about that app.
Thanks
 
Cronometer has a very generous free version. Counts micronutrients as well as protein, carbs and fat, and includes many UK branded foods. Helps me no end
 
I've recently been diagnosed as borderline diabetes and am struggling with the diet. If I cut out carbs twice a week and cut back on others will that be enough?
 
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