Contridictions

[bigladneast]

The thing I have noticed in the time I was told I was pre is that the amount of contridicting information not only online but from medical staff.

Got call from a nurse to inform me of pre-diebetic result she didn't offer nay advice and just said I needed to take better care of myself.

Booked an appointment with doctor she said I needed to lose 2 stone in weight I am 6ft3 14st 13lbs she wants me 12st anything and has suggested the Newcastle diet to achieve the loss.

Visited another nurse a week in and I have lost 3lb but the nurse I saw said you don't need to lose 2 st and suggested that it was because I was stressed and was skipping breakfast she thinks if I cut sugar treats out of my diet and consistanly eat breakfast my bloods will return to normal

 

[bulkbiker]

Yes I'm afraid it happens a lot because to be fair the guidelines on treating diabetes are also pretty vague especially when it comes to trying to avoid medication.
I'd also mention that none of the people you spoke to probably have Type 2 or Prediabetes either.
If you are looking for advice I would continue skipping breakfast as well as removing all sugar from your diet as a starting point.
Do that for 3 months and get a re-test to see what impact it has had.

 

[Guzzler]

I would bet a £1 that the fella who coined the phrase 'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day' was the CEO of a breakfast cereal company.

This is just my opinion but I don't think you need to do ND if 2 stone weight loss is your doctor's idea of a good target.
Lowering your carb intake (while raising the healthy fats in your diet to satisfy hunger) eating real food should be enough to see weight loss and improved blood glucose levels.

And when all said and done, improving blood glucose levels is more important than weight loss.

 

[bigladneast]

I am going to do the ND and am going back in 3 weeks to gte my bloods checked again as this diet not only shows weight loss but improves BG and BS

Would stress and poor sleep pattern cause a high HBCA1 ? My eating habbits were poor towards sweets etc which I have removed and really don't miss.

Once I get my BS back to normal level can I still enjoy a takeaway once a week ? I am planning to do 5:2 diet after ND

 

[EllieM]

I am going to do the ND and am going back in 3 weeks to gte my bloods checked again as this diet not only shows weight loss but improves BG and BS

Would stress and poor sleep pattern cause a high HBCA1 ? My eating habbits were poor towards sweets etc which I have removed and really don't miss.

Once I get my BS back to normal level can I still enjoy a takeaway once a week ? I am planning to do 5:2 diet after ND

Stress definitely increases blood sugars but if you're prediabetic then your body isn't processing carbs correctly and you'll need to watch your carbs in the future.
As for the takeaway. I would suggest that you get a blood testing meter and see what it says.... Different people can tolerate different amounts of carbohydrates and the carbohydrate in a takeaway can vary massively....

 

[bigladneast]

what readings should i be aiming for pre and post meal

 

[Bluetit1802]

what readings should i be aiming for pre and post meal

Again, you will get contradictory answers to this question. My personal target is to stay between 4 and 7 at all times - and that includes after eating (at an hour, 90 minutes and 2 hours) I aim for normal non-diabetic levels. I also aim to keep my levels as flat as I can, so I look at the difference between the before reading and the 2 hour reading, and try to keep this under 1mmol/ at breakfast and lunch, and under 1.5 at evening meal. If you see a rise of 2mmol/ or more, there are too many carbs in that meal for your body to cope with.

 

[Resurgam]

When I started testing I set a limit of 8mmol/l at 2 hours after eating.
I got that and then saw that the numbers were going down even though - if anything - I was relaxing my vigilance very slightly.
I did find - by testing - that I got a lower average reading by eating when I first got up and then later in the day, and as that suits me better than trying to find something for lunch, it is what I do.
Just over a year from diagnosis I got a reading of 5.6 after Christmas dinner and I thought - well I've cracked that - but I am still trying to lose more weight. I am losing volume, which is good, but all my life I have had to be mindful of what I eat as I put on weight so easily.
At almost two years from diagnosis I could eat a take away style meal and not see a great spike in BG levels - but would most likely weigh a couple of pounds heavier in the following days due to the stash of glucose and the associated water.

 

[Smallbrit]

As said above, on the skipping breakfast thing - you may find you have a need to eat something in the morning to stop your sugar levels rising. My levels keep going up and up unless I have breakfast. But, if I eat a practically no-carb breakfast (eggs, bacon, spinach etc) that stops it all and numbers go down. So I have very odd readings eg 8.5 pre breakfast, 6.5 post breakfast.

It doesn't work like that if I add carbs in at breakfast though. Numbers above 10 happen.

Sometimes I have to force myself to eat at breakfast as I'm not hungry generally until about 4pm now. Which is not a situation I ever imagined I'd be in back when life was full of carbs and I'd happily eat toast every morning.

 

[bigladneast]

Could the raise Hbca1 be caused by problems with pancreas I.e cancer

 

[Alexandra100]

I look at the difference between the before reading and the 2 hour reading, and try to keep this under 1mmol/ at breakfast and lunch, and under 1.5 at evening meal

Do you allow a bigger rise in the evening because your bg just does go up more then, or because you eat a bigger meal then? I am finding I can't tolerate many carbs later in the day, even eating at 4pm, so I am squeezed between almost no carbs at breakfast, when we are supposed to be at our most insulin resistant, and almost no carbs for dinner, leaving only lunch for a few more carbs, which is not the most convenient time to be cooking vegetables.

 

[LittleGreyCat]

The thing I have noticed in the time I was told I was pre is that the amount of contridicting information not only online but from medical staff.

Got call from a nurse to inform me of pre-diebetic result she didn't offer nay advice and just said I needed to take better care of myself.

Booked an appointment with doctor she said I needed to lose 2 stone in weight I am 6ft3 14st 13lbs she wants me 12st anything and has suggested the Newcastle diet to achieve the loss.

Visited another nurse a week in and I have lost 3lb but the nurse I saw said you don't need to lose 2 st and suggested that it was because I was stressed and was skipping breakfast she thinks if I cut sugar treats out of my diet and consistently eat breakfast my bloods will return to normal

I would listen to your Doctor - she seems a sensible person.

https://www.nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/Healthyweightcalculator.aspx gives you a BMI of roughly 26.1 which is over weight but not obese. At 12 stone 7 lbs your BMI would be around 21.8 which is near the middle of the healthy range, but a bit higher. A very good weight for you in my biased view.
BMI is not always accurate, because it works on averages and there are always people outside the norm. However it is usually a good rough guide.

I would be very wary about listening to that particular nurse. Still, she was correct about one thing. You don't need to lose 2 stone you need to lose 2 and a half stone.

Newcastle Diet runs for 8 weeks, and gives newly diagnosed a really good fighting chance at reversing the symptoms of diabetes. The sooner you get the weight off the sooner your body gets the chance to recover.

Be prepare for shock from friends and family when you take the weight off. I am six foot and was diagnosed when I dropped from 14 and a half stone to 14 stone very rapidly. I slowly worked my way down to around 12 stone, but I now realise that if I had managed to get the weight off very rapidly I might have a better pancreas. If I say I could do with losing a few pounds I am told "but there's hardly anything of you" and people worry. However I am above the mid healthy range of BMI and could go a lot lighter without getting anywhere near under weight.

Bottom line; listen to your Doctor and go for it!!

 

[LittleGreyCat]

Could the raise Hbca1 be caused by problems with pancreas I.e cancer

This is possible, but very unlikely. Given your weight, T2 is far more likely.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Could the raise Hbca1 be caused by problems with pancreas I.e cancer

Very unlikely. Your presentation sounds very much like pre-type 2 diabetes. (I am not a doctor). I gather from all your threads that you are a worrier and full of anxiety, and trying to pin reasons on why your HbA1c was in the pre-diabetic range. It really would help you if you forget why and how it happened, and concentrate on reversing it. Doing the ND may help a lot, but you also need to plan ahead to decide what you will do at the end of it, and research whether it will work or not.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Do you allow a bigger rise in the evening because your bg just does go up more then, or because you eat a bigger meal then? I am finding I can't tolerate many carbs later in the day, even eating at 4pm, so I am squeezed between almost no carbs at breakfast, when we are supposed to be at our most insulin resistant, and almost no carbs for dinner, leaving only lunch for a few more carbs, which is not the most convenient time to be cooking vegetables.

I eat my main meal in the evenings and that is when I eat the majority of my carbs. I have zero carbs at breakfast apart from a dash of milk in my tea, very few at lunch time, the rest in the evening. My BG goes down as the day progresses. Before tea tonight I was 4.2, and I checked that twice.

PS I don't eat vegetables except on Sundays unless you count mushrooms and tomatoes, a few baked beans or peas.

 

[bigladneast]

Update on the Newcastle diet nearly two weeks in and I have lost 7lb