I'm a 55 year old female, just diagnosed as having pre diabetes, HbA1c of 43 and a raised cholesterol of 6.1mmol, hdl/ldl ratio 3.8
This took me by surprise even though T2 is in the family, I'm 5ft 2 and 8 stone, until a few years ago I was a long distance runner and always considered my diet to be pretty good, although in retrospect I did eat white rice, noodles, white bread, crisps most days and in the build up to Christmas a lot of chocolate, oops. I only have 4 units of alcohol a week and red meat once a week, have always eaten a very low fat diet. I don't smoke and walk a minimum of 3 miles a day.
I have a close friend who is a diabetes specialist nurse who told me chances are I would have T2 already but for my lifestyle, so pretty sobering.
Last year was a very stressful one, due to my Father's ill health and other stresses and my weight dropped to 7 st 7lbs as I wasn't eating so much, by the late Summer my appetite picked up, I put a few pounds back on but started to notice I felt a lot less energetic than usual and lacked stamina, which I put down to my busy and hectic life with work (I'm a Nurse) looking after my Father, not sleeping so well etc.,
By November I started to feel hungry every couple of hours and got in the habit of snacking on little treats, crackers, cheese, the odd chocolate bar but felt more sluggish and more hungry. One day over Christmas I ate a high carb lunch followed by chocolates and a cup of tea and went out for a long walk, at one point feeling sweaty, hot and weak and having to go to the shop to buy something to eat to over come this, at this point I realised something was amiss.
My Maternal Grandfather and his Mother both had T2 and my Maternal Aunt, as does her Daughter. My Mother sadly developed pancreatic cancer at the age of 59 and my fear had always been that rather than Diabetes.
In the week since I found out I've stopped all high GI carbs, swapped to a minimal amount of wholemeal bread, brown rice, fish, chicken, cottage cheese, natural yoghurt, nuts and seeds, pulses and porridge or an omelette for breakfast and am eating a pear or small apple each day and 5 to 6 portions of veg. The difference already is noticeable, more energy and no hunger even though I'm eating way less food.
I'm trying to keep my carbs to the 120 a day mark or less and up my protein intake as my friend suggested but on reading that way less carbs is the way to go am concerned that this is to much. How do I decrease my carbs and keep myself satisfied whilst taking my cholesterol level into the equation?
Is it ok to have the odd few chocolates now and again and when should I incorporate them? Is having the odd G&T with zero calories tonic ok too. I feel I've become quite obsessional about watching everything I eat now and don't want to end up feeling hard done by but equally want to get back to a normal HbA1c.
Apologies for the twenty questions!
This took me by surprise even though T2 is in the family, I'm 5ft 2 and 8 stone, until a few years ago I was a long distance runner and always considered my diet to be pretty good, although in retrospect I did eat white rice, noodles, white bread, crisps most days and in the build up to Christmas a lot of chocolate, oops. I only have 4 units of alcohol a week and red meat once a week, have always eaten a very low fat diet. I don't smoke and walk a minimum of 3 miles a day.
I have a close friend who is a diabetes specialist nurse who told me chances are I would have T2 already but for my lifestyle, so pretty sobering.
Last year was a very stressful one, due to my Father's ill health and other stresses and my weight dropped to 7 st 7lbs as I wasn't eating so much, by the late Summer my appetite picked up, I put a few pounds back on but started to notice I felt a lot less energetic than usual and lacked stamina, which I put down to my busy and hectic life with work (I'm a Nurse) looking after my Father, not sleeping so well etc.,
By November I started to feel hungry every couple of hours and got in the habit of snacking on little treats, crackers, cheese, the odd chocolate bar but felt more sluggish and more hungry. One day over Christmas I ate a high carb lunch followed by chocolates and a cup of tea and went out for a long walk, at one point feeling sweaty, hot and weak and having to go to the shop to buy something to eat to over come this, at this point I realised something was amiss.
My Maternal Grandfather and his Mother both had T2 and my Maternal Aunt, as does her Daughter. My Mother sadly developed pancreatic cancer at the age of 59 and my fear had always been that rather than Diabetes.
In the week since I found out I've stopped all high GI carbs, swapped to a minimal amount of wholemeal bread, brown rice, fish, chicken, cottage cheese, natural yoghurt, nuts and seeds, pulses and porridge or an omelette for breakfast and am eating a pear or small apple each day and 5 to 6 portions of veg. The difference already is noticeable, more energy and no hunger even though I'm eating way less food.
I'm trying to keep my carbs to the 120 a day mark or less and up my protein intake as my friend suggested but on reading that way less carbs is the way to go am concerned that this is to much. How do I decrease my carbs and keep myself satisfied whilst taking my cholesterol level into the equation?
Is it ok to have the odd few chocolates now and again and when should I incorporate them? Is having the odd G&T with zero calories tonic ok too. I feel I've become quite obsessional about watching everything I eat now and don't want to end up feeling hard done by but equally want to get back to a normal HbA1c.
Apologies for the twenty questions!
