Prediabetes

[LittleSunflower]

Hello everyone, I’m new here! Today I received my blood test results from a fasting glucose (had to be done as my HBA1C levels came back abnormal) and I’ve been told that my levels fall within the prediabetic range.
I have an appointment with my GP next week to discuss this further but I’m just wonderingif any of you could help me with meal planning and diet change in order to stop it progressing into type 2? I know it won’t be a quick or easy change but I’d like to start ASAP and need some food/meal inspiration please
Any help would be appreciated,
Thank you.
Little Sunflower

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @LittleSunflower

Hope you are not too upset by the news you e been given. Interestingly ‘prediabetes’ isn’t an official diagnosis so much as a sort of shorthand for being at increased risk of developing diabetes. So depending on your family history and genetic make-up (your non-modifiable risk factors) there is every chance that you could make changes to significantly reduce your risk of diabetes.

One of the biggest questions is going to be ‘what can I eat’ and while there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will be wanting to cut out straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including rice, pasta, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits. The really tricky thing is that blood glucose responses to food are highly individual, and it can be impossible to say which forms and amounts of carbohydrate will ‘spike’ your BG without checking for yourself.

But the good news is that it is possible to check this for yourself and tailor your own ideal way of eating that suits you and your BG levels. You can use a BG meter, checking before and 2hours after meals, and checking what the differences are. Then identify any foods that seem to be causing you difficulties and try varying or reducing them (sometimes just having things at a different time of day makes a difference)

It is quite likely that your surgery will not prescribe strips and a meter unless you are on medication that puts you at risk of hypoglycaemia, so you may need to self fund, while you are checking your diet for foods and meals which suit your BG. One of the most affordable meters members here have found is from SD, and has been recently updated to the SD Gluco Navii which has test strips at around £8 for 50

Keep asking questions, and check the ‘what did you eat yesterday’ thread if you want to browse some meal ideas from folks here

What did you eat yesterday?

It can be helpful sometimes to know what sort of things people are eating, as it might give some ideas for a more varied diet. So, I'll start off with what I ate yesterday: Breakfast - 1 slice buttered Burgen toast (my breakfast every day, I don't like to run with too much in my stomach)...

forum.diabetes.org.uk

Good luck and keep us posted with how you get on 🙂

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome

Sorry to hear about your slightly elevated levels but the good news is that it has been caught early and with some dietary changes you should be able to push it back. Basically you need to reduce your carbohydrate intake. Carbs include both sugars and starchy foods. Sugars can be added sweetness in cakes, biscuits, sweets and chocolate but also the natural sugars in fruit and fruit juice, so sometimes the "healthy foods" are not necessarily the best choice for us diabetics. Fruit juice and smoothies are particularly full of sugar, but most of us steer clear of exotic fruits and stick mostly to a few berries like rasps or strawberries or blackberries or blueberries.
Starchy carbs in bread, pasta. rice, potatoes and breakfast cereals (which are usually also full of sugar) need to be restricted. Some people even find porridge sends their Blood Glucose into orbit, but others can get away with a small portion. There are low carb bread options which might make a simple swap for you and many of us enjoy cauliflower or celeriac mash (with a good dollop of cream cheese and a spoon of mustard) instead of potato with our high meat content bangers (cheap sausages contain quite a lot of rusk which is mostly carbohydrate so look for good quality ones) or to top a cottage or fish pie. Cauli is a bit of a wonder veg for us diabetics as it can be grated and used in place of rice or couscous and even combined with egg and cheese to make a type of pastry as well as a mash substitute and of course, who doesn't love cauliflower cheese?
Eggs, meat, fish, cheese and a limited amount of nuts are all good and mushrooms and Mediterranean veg like courgettes and aubergines and tomatoes and peppers cooked in a good glug of olive oil. Green leafy veg are also great and cooking them with a good knob of butter or cream cheese makes them taste great and will help to provide you with slow release energy and help to stabilise your BG levels.

I hope that gives you some ideas. Many people here on the forum find that self funding a BG meter so that they can test their levels before and 2 hrs after a meal enables them to assess the effect various foods have on their levels and tailor their diet to their individual tastes and diabetes. They are relatively inexpensive to purchase @ approx. £15 but the on going cost of buying test strips for them can tot up. For that reason we recommend meters with the cheapest test strips. The SD Gluco Navii and the Spirit Health TEE2 are the cheapest on the market for test strips at £8 for a pot of 50 so many people here use those. Most GPs and nurses will advise against self testing but it really is the only way to know which foods your body will tolerate and which cause too much of a BG spike to be worth eating and we are all different in this respect. Some people can eat a few small potatoes but not rice whilst others can manage a little wholemeal pasta but not porridge. Obviously the most important thing is to cut out most of the none essential foods like cakes and biscuits and crisps and sweets and stop adding sugar to drinks etc

It may seem like it is going to be really hard but as a prediabetic, you should get away with just reducing portion sizes of most carbs, but even if you decided to go the whole hog and cut out bread and pasta and potatoes and rice etc altogether I can assure you that it is actually a really enjoyable way to eat, once you get your head around it and I enjoy my food far more now than I did pre diagnosis and I feel a lot healthier.

I should add that increasing your activity levels is another important part of managing/preventing diabetes, but it doesn't have to be anything overly strenuous. A good brisk daily walk is as good as anything for lowering BG levels.

 

[Tee G]

Hi & Welcome @LittleSunflower - As you will see from my notes below im still managing with diet. So far I have lost a stone in weight - upped my exercise. I do 'brisk' 10 min walk (100steps/min) - after dinner 5 times a night and an occasional You Tube (Brit Heart Foundation) home exercise thing...I feels tons better.

i have been self testing/recording for a month now and have pretty much got my menu down to something that's suits me and my lifestyle. Im actually testing less now. Only when I come across something ive not had before do i jab myself to see how its effecting me.

A quick rundown on what i eat....Breakfast usually 1 low carb toast with either marmite, peanut butter, tinned mackerel/sardines, smk salmon. I can only have 4 tbs porridge with unsweetened almond milk/berries (anything more and my BG rises too much for my liking!)...... Lunch is generally carb free, or as near to (most veg have a carb element) so i stick to a salads and some protein like slices chicken, ham, turkey or have spiced-up cooked cold fish like piri-piri mackerel, (lidl do a delish one!)...sometimes mixed cheeses for variety. Other times i make a pot of veg soup and dip into that thru the afternoon.....Evening : I home cook everything its the usual fare and i keep it varied. Just making a few tweaks as i go e.g. 'cauliflower mash' instead or normal mash, (great ideas here on the food/carb threads, go take a look).. I keep ALL carbs (regardless of white/brown) to an absolute minimum. Upped the veg on my plate (only use those which grow above ground, as i feel they are lighter in carb values than the underground varieties - but you will find your own way with this). If i get the midnight munchies i have a boiled egg (i always keep a few in the fridge), celery with cream cheese, olives or a handful unsalted mixed nuts/seeds, or a sugar free jelly and a few berries. (I only eat fruit with 'berry' in the name - same reason as the veg i guess!

And thats how I do it.....Hope its given you a few ideas but more importantly, that being diabetic doesnt mean boring or scary. I eat chips - just 5 at a time instead of a half plate full, like I used to !.... my BG monitor shows im levelling off very nicely. So hopefully im doing ok. Have to say i was terrified at first - thought i would never get to grips with this new way of eating, but honestly, it hasnt been that bad!....and, I took a little bite of Hubby's kit-kat the other week, it was disgustingly sweet, it made my teeth literally itch!! yuck! .....and that, i thought, i would never say!

 

[Tee G]

Hi again @LittleSunflower - just wanted to ask, how you getting on these days?

 

[LittleSunflower]

Hi again @LittleSunflower - just wanted to ask, how you getting on these days?

Hello! Thank you for your reply on my posts, I appreciate your help. I had a doctors appointment last week to discuss my results etc. As Type 1 runs in my family, we are looking more towards that as a diagnosis. I am in my 20s so although I am aware of Type 1, I am still nervous about the whole situation. My diet hasn’t changed drastically, if anything I’m eating more than I have been as my weight has always been in the underweight category. Trying to cut out the sweet stuff is difficult but I’m trying to eat proper meals with nutritional value for example lean meat with vegetables cooked from scratch and then some fruit for dessert or a snack. I’d kind of just like a complete diagnosis or action plan regarding it all so I’m not left second guessing of what’s wrong.
How are you?

 

[Tee G]

Yes, thats half the battle isnt it, knowing what you are facing, makes all the difference - you can plan then. It will come soon, im sure. Until you get your proper diagnosis, Just keep mindful on eating healthy stuff. Give yourself the best chance to tackle what maybe ahead. everything in moderation and variety. You will do it - we are all here to help each other. Loads of threads on here about food - go poke around see if you find something that interests you. Lots of good ideas.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hope you get some clarity on which type you may have @LittleSunflower

There are some similarities, but the treatment and options are very different. Oddly, the phrase ‘prediabetes’ is almost never used in the context of T1 or LADA, so I’m surprised it was mentioned to you with your T1 family history.