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Prediabetes

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Proper71

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Hi all, I’ve just been told I’ve got prediabetes, so I purchased a blood monitor and was around 7.9 before a meal. I’ve been told not to eat carbs, so no bread, pasta,rice, potatoes. I woke this morning and tested my blood and it was 9.0. The day before I’d eaten fish, bulgur wheat, salad, eggs, and few biscuits before bed. I though it would’ve come down rather than gone up?
 
Dawn phenomenon.
The liver produces glucose in the morning due to hormonal changes.

Dawn Phenomenon - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

In people with pre-diabetes/diabetes, this rise is not dealt with due to lack of insulin/insulin resistance (In the liver, mainly, which continues to produce glucose even though levels are already high.)

What was your hba1c?
 
harbottle said:
Dawn phenomenon.
The liver produces glucose in the morning due to hormonal changes.

Dawn Phenomenon - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

In people with pre-diabetes/diabetes, this rise is not dealt with due to lack of insulin/insulin resistance (In the liver, mainly, which continues to produce glucose even though levels are already high.)

What was your hba1c?
Click to expand...
Hi it was 56
 
Proper71 said:
Hi it was 56
Click to expand...

That's diabetic, not pre-diabetic, which fits in with the pre-meal readings and morning readings you are seeing.
 
56 isn't far into the diabetic zone.

It might take time, but biscuits and bulgur wheat are both high in carbs.
It sounds like you have made some good changes though (I also cut out pasta and rice and other bulk carbs and levels came down to normal eventually.)
 
harbottle said:
56 isn't far into the diabetic zone.

It might take time, but biscuits and bulgur wheat are both high in carbs.
It sounds like you have made some good changes though (I also cut out pasta and rice and other bulk carbs and levels came down to normal eventually.)
Click to expand...
I see you’ve done excellent. What else can I do? I’ve had little guidance as of yet from my GP, and they don’t want to see me for over a month. My father was type 2.
 
Proper71 said:
I see you’ve done excellent. What else can I do? I’ve had little guidance as of yet from my GP, and they don’t want to see me for over a month. My father was type 2.
Click to expand...

My Father was type 2 as well.

When I was diagnosed I was overweight, so I cut carbs and calories and lost a lot of weight in 3 months.
This seemed to get things back to normal. I didn't do any testing for that 3 months.

I used recipes from cookbooks by Giancarlo & Katie Caldesi. Giancarlo developed T2D and went low carb to get back to normal. This one is the one I used most:


I have other books by him (And others). I pretty much eat chicken/fish and veg plus nuts, yoghurt, berries these days.
Although I have found that I can handle oats and potato and am no as strict with my diet anymore.

Last night I made a delicious dish which was fish in a sauce made from leeks, onions, garlic, tomatoes and parsley. This was from another Caldesi book.

Some people do a 'shake' diet, but I tried a shake once, and decided I prefer proper food. The Caldesi recipes are extremely tasty.
 
Last edited:
harbottle said:
My Father was type 2 as well.

When I was diagnosed I was overweight, so I cut carbs and calories and lost a lot of weight in 3 months.
This seemed to get thinks back to normal. I didn't do any testing for that 3 months.

I used recipes from cookbooks by Giancarlo & Katie Caldesi. Giancarlo developed T2D and went low carb to get back to normal. This one is the one I used most:


I have other books by him (And others). I pretty much eat chicken/fish and veg plus nuts, yoghurt, berries these days.
Although I have found that I can handle oats and potato and am no as strict with my diet anymore.

Last night I made a delicious dish which was fish in a sauce made from leeks, onions, garlic, tomatoes and parsley. This was from another Caldesi book.

Some people do a 'shake' diet, but I tried a shake once, and decided I prefer proper food. The Caldesi recipes are extremely tasty.
Click to expand...
Wow that’s excellent. I’ve test my blood again after porridge and it’s come right back down to 7.8. I’ll try simple diet way I think like you said. Meat, fish, veg. Any fruits I should avoid, as I love berries with natural yoghurt .
 
Hi Welcome from me also
Yes you are definitely in the diabetic zone.
Having an understanding of which are the high carb food will help you cut out of reduce portion size of the right things.
Many do find a low carb approach successful, it is suggested that no more than 130g per day carbs not just sugar is a good starting point. It is not No carbs but making good choices of which carbs you have.
I find it easier to look at it as a certain amount of carbs per meal and have them spread between meals.
This link has some good suggestions and menu plans if that is what you prefer though you can just do your own thing.
lowcarbfreshwell.com

Freshwell Low Carb Project - Home

lowcarbfreshwell.com lowcarbfreshwell.com

A good strategy to start with is to test before you eat and after 2 hours so you can see the effect of your meal, an increase of no more than 2-3mmol/l is what to aim at. Once you are achieving that then your morning readings will start to come down. It sounds as if it is early days so just be patient, it is better for levels to come down slowly as it is kinder on your eyes and nerves.
 
Proper71 said:
Wow that’s excellent. I’ve test my blood again after porridge and it’s come right back down to 7.8. I’ll try simple diet way I think like you said. Meat, fish, veg. Any fruits I should avoid, as I love berries with natural yoghurt .
Click to expand...

Berries with natural yoghurt is my go to breakfast. This morning I had it with oats, Chia seeds, and Walnuts.
I avoid fruits like bananas, but will occasionally have an Apple.
 
For my journey i found that cooking more meals from scratch has helped me to get my levels in a good range , and purchasing a soup maker , and for me i don't eat anything after 6pm until the next day at 10 am when ill have a light breakfast normally scrambled eggs or overnight oats it gives my body enough time to use up some of the glucose in my blood and it seems to work for me but everyone's different. My levels are around 5 on a morning now but its taken 7 months to lower my own levels i struggled for months to lower it from high 6s and a low carb has worked out ok for me .
i also use spices in my food a'lot more now especially the ones that are supposed to be good for managing diabetes .
 
Welcome to the forum @Proper71

Hopefully the tweaks and changes you have been making will have a positive impact on your follow-up HbA1c.

Let us know how you get on 🙂
 
hello @Proper71 welcome to the best place to get help and support,
as @harbottle said a Hba1c of 56 isn’t to far into the Diabetic zone and a few adjustments you may well be back in the Pre-Diabetic Zone

you will find many of us were possibly at very high numbers when we were diagnosed myself over 100 (still unsure exactly how high it was) in those days didn’t care / understand what was going on

anyway looks like you’ve already got some great advice to start you off, and I’m sure plenty more will come from the wealth of knowledge and experience that gets shared here on this great forum
 
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