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Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
Why Am I here
- Thread starter Progyan
- Start date
Hi @Progyan welcome to the forum. If you are looking for help or ideas about how to reduce your risk of developing diabetes type 2 then this is the place. I have made the assumption about type 2 as your info says you are at risk.
If you could provide a little more information, to the extent you are happy, then people can give some pretty good advice about how they have managed to reduce their HbA1c reading both where the readings confirmed diabetes and where it simply put them at risk.
If you could provide a little more information, to the extent you are happy, then people can give some pretty good advice about how they have managed to reduce their HbA1c reading both where the readings confirmed diabetes and where it simply put them at risk.
CoolShot44
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- He/Him
hello and welcome
mashedupmatt
Moderator
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hello everyone. I am here because I want to share my experiences with others with similar conditions. I have been diagnosed as prediabetic for a couple of years now. My blood level taken from a test in Feb this year was 45. I subsequently decided to cut out all the sugar I could by not snacking on any biscuits or cake and I substituted these with nuts. So you can imagine my shock when receiving the result from my test on Monday which read 44. Still pre-diabetic! Now wondering what the next course of action should be. Anyone else out there with a similar experience?
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The trouble is is that it is not just sweet foods but all carbohydrates that convert to glucose so if you haven't been reducing food like potatoes, bread, rice, pasta, breakfast cereals, some fruits and fruit juices which are all high carbohydrate then your body is still struggling.
Have a look at this link for some good explanation and meal plans and recipes. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Welcome to the forum @Progyan
Sorry to hear you didn’t see much impact from the significant efforts you have made so far.
Cutting out those sweet and sugary things will certainly help, but part of how effective that can be will depend on how many of those things you were eating, and how frequently.
As a next step you may want to consider looking at portion sizes of more starchy carbohydrates in your meals. The modern Western diet can figure fairly heavily with starchy carbs - which is fine is you have a fully functioning metabolism, but once your body starts to struggle a little, it can benefit from some portion reductions, swaps and alternatives.
At a level of 45mmol/mol it’s likely that there’s no need to “throw the baby out with the bathwater”, but some tweaks, changes and choosing slightly different proportions of foods on your plate could help a great deal.
Many find it helpful to keep a food diary for a week or two, noting down everything you eat and drink, along with a reasonable estimate of the total carbohydrate content (rather than “of which sugars”). It might feel like a bit of a faff, and will involve some squinting at packets, and perhaps getting out weighing scales, but seeing which meals are your “big hitters” can really help.
Sorry to hear you didn’t see much impact from the significant efforts you have made so far.
Cutting out those sweet and sugary things will certainly help, but part of how effective that can be will depend on how many of those things you were eating, and how frequently.
As a next step you may want to consider looking at portion sizes of more starchy carbohydrates in your meals. The modern Western diet can figure fairly heavily with starchy carbs - which is fine is you have a fully functioning metabolism, but once your body starts to struggle a little, it can benefit from some portion reductions, swaps and alternatives.
At a level of 45mmol/mol it’s likely that there’s no need to “throw the baby out with the bathwater”, but some tweaks, changes and choosing slightly different proportions of foods on your plate could help a great deal.
Many find it helpful to keep a food diary for a week or two, noting down everything you eat and drink, along with a reasonable estimate of the total carbohydrate content (rather than “of which sugars”). It might feel like a bit of a faff, and will involve some squinting at packets, and perhaps getting out weighing scales, but seeing which meals are your “big hitters” can really help.
Thanks for your advice. I can see that the carb element of this journey is going to be the tricky one. I have been using the Oviva app for a couple of months and find it educational if a little clunky. It does drive it home how difficult it is to reduce carbs and equally how difficult it is to increase fibre. It's as if carbs are inhaled given the rate at which they increase by simply eating some rice or potatoes. I find substituting these items the most difficult. I will check out the link in your previous message.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Popular forum replacements for potato include swede and especially celeriac (which can be mashed, roasted, or chipped). Lots of T2s here also find grated cauliflower very lightly cooked to be a servicable rice replacement. Many supermarkets sell pre-prepared frozen pouches.
There are a few ideas on other possible swaps and changes here:
