Well here's another fine mess I've got myself into.....

[ToughButtercup]

HbA1c : 44.
BMI : 27.9
Age: stopped counting after 60
Love sugary things. Trying to give it up. Not working too well.
The cat jumped up on the kitchen table, walked past an open jar of marmalade - I kicked him off pronto. I could smell the sugar on his fur. Traumatised, I had toast and marmalade. God it was lovely. Trauma? What trauma?

Sugar: is it the new smoking? I gave that up last century. In comparison to eating properly, giving up the fags was easy.

Anyhow, I'm retired and building us a house: our forever house. Have been since the day I retired. Yes, building the dream. And everything, - everything - you see on Grand Designs is true. Its horrific, thrilling, hard work, funny, dangerous, sleeplessness inducing, challenging, jealousy inducing , money pit - the lot. Loads of stories to tell.

And now the NHS has written to me asking if I would like to take part in the National Diabetes Prevention Programme.

Well if I want to live in this house rather than suffer in it, I've no choice have I ?

Before you ask.... 5 more years

 

[Christy]

Welcome @ToughButtercup ! Yes, grab this opportunity with both hands! What do you have to lose? You want the best life possible and you clearly have a sense of humour so make the most of it!

 

[ToughButtercup]

Thanks @Christy . I think in my case the humour is an attempt to mask the seriousness of Diabetes - having had a job where the only way to get it done is to relieve the tension with humour - it's a habit now. Like marmalade.

 

[ianf0ster]

HbA1C of 44 is only just in the pre-diabetic range. Cutting down (rather than giving up) sugar and/or all carbs rather than complete abstinence may be sufficient. Or perhaps just prolonging your overnight fast.

The point is that you have several options any of which might work for you.
However be warned that for some it is easier to give up sweet things than to cut down on them.

 

[Drummer]

Your Hba1c is not all that high compared with mine at diagnosis. It might give you the option of baking yourself some low carb bread and eating it with marmalade. It certainly means that you were diagnosed earlier in the game than me at a Hba1c of 91 and likely to spike just by inhaling deeply when walking past a bakery shop.

 

[ToughButtercup]

'...Or perhaps just prolonging your overnight fast. ...'

That's good news @ianf0ster . I am trying that because I read somewhere that delaying breakfast until you've been hungry for a short while is a recognised technique .

@Drummer if I inhale the scent from a jar of marmalade being opened in a nearby town, I'm done for. For me bakeries aren't that problematic: don't get me wrong I love the scent of bread being baked. I was amazed at the power of mere scent to make me crave sugar.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Well your self-build looks mighty impressive! And I can only imagine it’s a lot of hard physical work which can be a real help for your blood glucose management.

As others have suggested, with an HbA1c of 44 you may find it is enough to make some fairly modest tweaks to your current eating habits. While you have a point about the marmalade, and there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will want to cut back on straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits. As an example, there‘s likely to be 5g of carbs in a teaspoon of marmalade, but there might be nearly 20g of carbs in the slice of bread.

And while sugary things typically break down and get absorbed faster than starchy things, for many people there’s not really all that much in it!

That’s not to say that you can’t ever have any of that stuff, but portion size is important (cutting back a little here and there can add up to a big difference over the course of a day), as is trying to pick things which will hit your system slower wherever you can. That will help your body metabolise the food more effectively.

Good luck and let us know how you get on 🙂

 

[ToughButtercup]

...As an example, there‘s likely to be 5g of carbs in a teaspoon of marmalade, but there might be nearly 20g of carbs in the slice of bread ...

What! I can just eat marmalade neat (without bread) occasionally! There is a God. Life is Good.

 

[trophywench]

What! I can just eat marmalade neat (without bread) occasionally! There is a God. Life is Good.

Mmmm - but ask yourself, could you actually stop at 1 tsp of the glorious stuff? Have to say I can but it has taken me the best part of some short while as the Oirish might say, to achieve this, I'm happy to just stick a knife into the jam jar vertically, then straight out of the jar again and use whatever had adhered on the knife on the toast - and it makes all the difference enough for me. Can do this with jam on a scone too. Not if it's a scone with clotted cream though, so that's a rare treat. I mean it's like fish n chips at the seaside or a soft ice cream 99 also whilst walking along the front! Had one of them (scone) in Cornwall last September. Can't give everything up always for ever!

 

[ToughButtercup]

but ask yourself, could you actually stop at 1 tsp of the glorious stuff?

Madam, I accept your challenge.
Shall we appoint Seconds?
I appoint SWMBO as mine.

So, is tomorrow at dawn acceptable?