Advice

[matt45]

Hi,

I had a routine health check-up today. My Fasting Plasma Glucose reading was 106 mg/dl and my HBA1C was 5.6%. The doctor said that it means that I may develop diabetes in the future. Having checked on the internet, my readings seem to indicate pre-diabetes.

The doctor said I should get my readings checked again in 3 months and told me to eat less sugary foods, however I guess that isn't the whole story with regards to what I should and shouldn't be eating. Please could you give me some advice about this?

I am 35 years old and am generally fit and healthy. My Body Mass Index is 22.5 and I exercise 3 to 4 times per week.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks,

Matt

[Squire Fulwood]

Your doctor is treating it lightly because quite frankly your readings are not that bad BUT you are correct to be concerned because diabetes usually progresses if you don't do something about it.

From reading many posts on here the medical profession is likely to give you the feeling that they don't understand that you are going to worry about your health. You may get casual advice about sugar etc. Here is a little bit more information.

Your body converts lots of different foods into sugar which it uses for fuel. The problem is your body is getting less able to process the sugar it makes. Eating less carbohydrates (food which can be converted to sugar) or possibly pacing yourself when you do eat them will help enormously.

Without a meter to follow what is going on you can begin with this list. Sugar, flour, rice, potato. Eat smaller portions of these items and anything made from them. With a meter you could be a little more precise but in the meantime the advice given by your doctor to eat less sugary things is not as helpful as it could be and paying attention to the other major carbohydrates is a lot better than doing nothing.

[dawnmc]

Hi Matt, as you workout a fair bit, you might want to google paleo and low carb, its a good idea as Squire says to cut out the white crap, take care of yourself and you may not yet join the club.

[matt45]

Thanks for your advice Squire and Dawn. I have been eating a fair amount of white rice (normally twice a day) so I will reduce the quantities and try to convert to brown rice. I will also cut out the sugary snacks. I don't eat potatoes and I have only one slice of brown bread each day.

I don't want to lose weight, so I guess I should increase my intake of other foods such as meat, fish, eggs, nuts, etc, as per the low carb or paleo diets. Would these be the right foods to eat to maintain my weight?

Sorry if it seems a silly question. This is all a bit new to me.

[dawnmc]

Yep thats the best idea, do cut out the white rice and go for brown, takes longer to cook but it does taste much better, nutty.
Oily fish would be better than meat its got more Omega 3, meat has more Omega 6. Good fats like avocado and flax seeds are good too. Use real butter, margerine is one molecule short of plastic ewwwww.
Basically if it came from a factory its not going to do you any good.

[Squire Fulwood]

One thing that you should be aware of is that if you change what you eat to something you are not really happy with then you may not keep it up. I usually mention the carrot juice at a health farm. The point I am making is if you like white rice but don't like brown then just eat smaller portions of it. If you like brown rice then OK. Your numbers are not so bad that you have to go entirely without. You have the right idea of not going hungry. Yes, if you reduce the portion of (say) rice then certainly eat more meat and veg.

Personally I find that flour is the worst thing for raising blood sugar. This is mainly because there are a number of processed foods out there that have flour as a component and you may not be aware of this. You may find that the obvious ones like bread and cake can easily be cut down on.

As to weight loss. I am not an expert on that but I do find the following applies to me. Eating fewer carbohydrates in my meal does not affect my weight much. If I eat things with glucose in I get heavier and when I stop I get lighter. This means that sugar, sweets, chocolate and sugary drinks will raise your weight. Since the sugar is already converted to glucose it goes straight to fat via the liver. I learned that from someone on this board. It seems to be true in my case.

[matt45]

Thank you both for your further advice. It's very helpful. I will make some changes and see what the result is when I get tested again in a few months.

Thanks again,

Matt