Prediabetes Six months on and still so confused, whingefest

[SlimLizzy]

Feeling pretty useless as after over six months am still almost as confused.
Have been posting in what have you eaten today.
Tonight cant be bothered, feel like giving up all efforts to control this pernicious condition. Am trapped into a way of life and thought that I dont want and cannot escape. All day its what to eat? how much of it? In which combination? Was that enough? How long since last meal? My brain aches with the complexity of it.
Is it ok to have a cup of tea? As if a simple pleasure like a cup of tea now has to be rationed, doled out at appropriate times only. Or is a source of guilt. Possibility am not getting enough fluid as a result. How can I live like this for the rest of my life? Have I got to give up bread? museli, pastry, potatoes, pasta, rice, cakes, bicuits, most fruits and some vegetables. Have never dieted. Never needed to. Naturally slim all my life. Did not especially like cooking and now sick of the "home cooked is the only way to go" mantra. Those who spout it have never tasted my cooking! Its ok, but thats all. My lack of interest or enthusiasm shines through. Now am cooking three sometimes four times a day, drives me mad, all that time in the kitchen - and the washing up - never ending. No more onepot rice meals.
Weight at diagnosis (July 2018) was 9st 4lb, 58.9 kg. Now 49.8kg feel as am stuffing myself all day yet still losing weight.
Doctor is not concerned, come back in six months for HbA1c.
Better understanding of how diabetes affects most people but still not sure how to apply it to myself. I NEED to get this sorted, its driving me mad.
Bought a meter and an Ap.
Have been testing and discovered that BG is often highest at one hour after a meal.
Why is two hours the recommended time?
Is a rise of just under two points after two hours mean its an acceptable food/portion, even if at that point the BG is coming down from a four-five point rise?
What is good for breakfast ? Something that isn't cooking.
Nearly all the advice is cut carbs and lose weight. Well, have done that, even though it wasn't intentional. My new nickname is BonyBird.
How do people stop losing weight once they get to target?
Dinner at parents house. Mother is type2, yet still has meringue roulade as the pudding. It had been a favourite of mine, I gave in. Am sure thats why it was there. They think I am too thin - am begining to feel that myself.
Today too stressed and depressed to eat at for hours. Then its reversal, full on Stuff it am going to have that Pain au Raisin, glass of wine and Creme Caramel. 40g carbs in that tiny little pot Umm maybe not... Rationality returns. If not good humour Glass of wine instead.
Sorry for whngefest peeps, its feeling really tough and the hard stuff hasn't even happened yet. Thats all to come in the next few weeks.

 

[Guzzler]

I understand completely. If memory serves (and it often doesn't! ) you have a problem with fats (is it gall bladder?). This makes things doubly problematic and I have, sorry, no answers for you except to say that eventually my weightloss stopped after adding in more fats and protein. Like you, I was becoming alarmed at how thin I had become but eventually I just had to accept that this is my body's preferred weight.
So, Bonybird meet your friend Scrawnybird.

 

[Emily D.]

Hi Slim, I can identify with a lot of that, you phase it well. .... has happened I suppose and we have to deal with it or not. Some days it is easy, some days not. I have higher readings one hour after eating too and I too wonder, if this is normal and not to worry about it?
At the beginning when I looked down the road, I was overwhelmed. My brother said "one day at a time or you will go mad". Some day I am going to have the creme caramel or the apple crumble or the black shiny grapes, I am just chosing not to have them today. Nothing is off my menu forever, writing this I'm dreaming of full fat club orange. I'm in control though and I am putting myself first (at least for now) and that is reassuring and somehow happy making. It's hard bloody work but we are able to do it.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

You're prediabetic, not diabetic. A cup of tea? I drink gallons a day! So please don't worry about that! It's water, it's not going to do harm! To answer your question, yeah, an hour after a meal we're high, but the important thing to know if whether our bodies cope with it, and you know THAT at two hours... And if it's not higher than 2.0mmol/l from where you started, your body's doing fine, coping with the little rise it had beforehand, as it should be.

Cooking from scratch is best, technically. But I felt off today and we ordered in. Had fried chicken and gyros, both really low carb, with mayo, also low carb, but ooh, I'm stuffed. And didn't lift a finger in the kitchen. I'm no stranger to McD's or BK either. (I just order stuff without the bun and extra bacon and greens) When I just started out I was really strickt, like you're being, but after a while you find out what works for you and what doesn't, and work-arounds, like the chicken/gyros take-out. I think you can cut yourself a break here and there, you know... You're being careful, you can check with your meter how you're doing and if you're going way off course, and you know how to correct it if you do. Don't be miserable, if you don't have to be. One merengue isn't going to kill you. (Or make you an instant T2). Moderation... And keep an eye on yourself. Oh, and nuts stall my weightloss, they might do the same for you.

In the end, this has to be do-able, sustainable, for a long period of time. I think if you allow yourself a treat here and there (and I'll probably get crucified for this), it'll be a lot better for your emotional well-being. Diabetes, and pre-diabetes, are very personal, as is their treatment. It has to work for you, on ALL fronts. So if being really strickt isn't working out for you... Be a bit less strickt. You're not a T2 yet, and may never be one either, since you know what's what... Have a little faith in yourself. Breathe. Relax. Do what's right for you.

*hugs*
Jo

 

[SlimLizzy]

I understand completely. If memory serves (and it often doesn't! ) you have a problem with fats
Problem with fats is IBS and amazingly it is easing, following advice to increase very gradually.
My previous normal weight would be about 12 pounds higher than now. Around 8st.8lb. That was normal for about four decades. Then very gradual increase for another two decades. To 9st 4lb.

 

[SlimLizzy]

Hi Slim, I can identify with a lot of that, you phase it well. .... has happened I suppose and we have to deal with it or not. Some days it is easy, some days not. I have higher readings one hour after eating too and I too wonder, if this is normal and not to worry about it?
At the beginning when I looked down the road, I was overwhelmed. My brother said "one day at a time or you will go mad". Some day I am going to have the creme caramel or the apple crumble or the black shiny grapes, I am just chosing not to have them today. Nothing is off my menu forever, writing this I'm dreaming of full fat club orange. I'm in control though and I am putting myself first (at least for now) and that is reassuring and somehow happy making. It's hard bloody work but we are able to do it.

Hi Emily, if you can cope with fruit, have made a low carb topping for apple crumble recently. Used unsweetened tinned apple slices. Topping was butter, ground almonds, and coconut flour, with a tiny bit of sugar added ( you could use sweetener)
Day by day is how I have been playing it. But that is not working. Every morning its Whats for breakfast? Lunch? dinner?
Think whats needed is a few whole day menus, enough for two weeks. As a base to work from. Dinner is easy enough, but breakfast and sometimes lunch are more problematic. In summer will be lot of salad, simple.

 

[HSSS]

I hear the kitchen stress complaint loud and clear. I feel all I do some days is prepare food, shop for food, clear up after food and think about the next round of the saga! It’s not the food I hate. It’s having to cook for my mob, all having different needs , from bloody scratch.

Last night I had donner kebabs without the pita, extra salad. I can do Indian takeaways without the rice and bread but extra sides or a quick home cooked cauliflower rice. Tonight was stifado with turnips not potato and lots of left overs for lunches.

Breakfast is often a fancy scrambled that takes two mins someone on here suggested. I hat normal scrabbled as it has an odd taste to me but 2 eggs, a coup,e of tbsp double cream, a handful of grated cheese and a teaspoon or so of mustard. 2 mins in the microwave. Done.

Every now and then I do a grain free granola (ditch the carbs.com) and have this with Greek yogurt.

Or I skip breakfast but have a much bigger lunch which is often leftovers to save cooking again.

It’s good to hear you’re coping a bit better with the fats. I think in your case this is the answer to avoiding weight loss and maybe regaining some but it’s a slow steady increase. Do you eat enough protein? Have you tried increasing this at all? I know for some it affects glucose but for many it doesn’t. Maybe worth a try.

 

[SlimLizzy]

You're prediabetic, not diabetic. A cup of tea? I drink gallons a day! So please don't worry about that! It's water, it's not going to do harm! To answer your question, yeah, an hour after a meal we're high, but the important thing to know if whether our bodies cope with it, and you know THAT at two hours... And if it's not higher than 2.0mmol/l from where you started, your body's doing fine, coping with the little rise it had beforehand, as it should be.

I like my tea with milk. Thats the difficulty, messes with the two hour/before meals figures, same with coffee. No sugar in either. Summer drink water, but in winter, warm drinks are needed.
Thank you for the clarification about two hour test results. This is what I needed to understand.
Perhaps I will be able to relax a bit now? Sometimes do have a little treat. On my own terms.
Its being ambushed with the meringue I didnt like. Especially as I may have to live with my parents for a couple of weeks soon. Do eat nuts, every day, even if its only peanut butter. Thank you for being so compassionate.

 

[Redshank]

I am also a slim pre-diabetic who had difficulty avoiding weight loss.
If you enjoy tea - drink it! (presumably without sugar!)
I sympathise with the feeling that you have to eat more and more but still lose weight.
I had to find out how many calories I needed to maintain weight of the sort of food that I eat
There is a general formula, but it does not apply to each individual.

I found having to think about each meal frustrating. I have worked out a breakfast I have every day. Boring - possibly, but it leaves space in my thinking for other things. Looking through your very helpful posts in the "what have you eaten today" thread, you appear to tolerate nuts and greek yoghurt.
I have a breakfast that consists of
20g Hazelnuts
20g Brazils
20g Almonds
40g Pecans
All of these are chopped in a food processor. (obviously any mix of the low carb nuts will do)
However I make a week's worth in one go (i.e. 7 times this amount) and keep it in a plastic box.
Each day I take a portion, add about 100g of Greek Yoghurt and a small handful of berries.

Calories per portion around 750, carbs about 11g. It is a bit like eating muesli, and takes no effort at all on 6 morningsof the week. (on the 7th I throw some nuts into the food processor). For me my blood sugar is fine 2 hours after eating this but I recognise each individual is different
When I was trying to regain weight I would add some double cream or some almond butter or hazelnut butter (meriden - just nuts nothing else added but gives a different taste)

Once I knew I was starting the day with a good number of calories, I could relax slightly with other meals., but This one may not work for you finding something easy, calorific and that you can eat for one meal a day reduces the pressure (and the mental space it all takes up)

 

[Pinkorchid]

You are prediabetic so why are you being so strict with your diet it should be enough just to lower or stop the starchy carbs. You do not need to cook three or four times a day. Both myself and my husband have T2 and I only cook once a day from scratch for our main meal, lunch time we do not have anything cooked just whatever cold meat we have with some salad We don't eat pasta or rice and are low on bread and potatoes and of course nothing with sugar in. Breakfast for my husband is porridge and a slice of Bergen toast that is what he has always had and he is not about to change at 86 years old and his HbA1C tests are fine 37 at the last one. My breakfast is whatever is in the fridge cold meat salami hard boiled egg cheese and cherry tomatoes avacado and olives.

 

[SlimLizzy]

I hear the kitchen stress complaint loud and clear. I feel all I do some days is prepare food, shop for food, clear up after food and think about the next round of the saga! It’s not the food I hate. It’s having to cook for my mob, all having different needs , from bloody scratch.

Last night I had donner kebabs without the pita, extra salad. I can do Indian takeaways without the rice and bread but extra sides or a quick home cooked cauliflower rice. Tonight was stifado with turnips not potato and lots of left overs for lunches.

Breakfast is often a fancy scrambled that takes two mins someone on here suggested. I hat normal scrabbled as it has an odd taste to me but 2 eggs, a coup,e of tbsp double cream, a handful of grated cheese and a teaspoon or so of mustard. 2 mins in the microwave. Done.

Every now and then I do a grain free granola (ditch the carbs.com) and have this with Greek yogurt.

Or I skip breakfast but have a much bigger lunch which is often leftovers to save cooking again.

It’s good to hear you’re coping a bit better with the fats. I think in your case this is the answer to avoiding weight loss and maybe regaining some but it’s a slow steady increase. Do you eat enough protein? Have you tried increasing this at all? I know for some it affects glucose but for many it doesn’t. Maybe worth a try.

It’s having to cook for my mob, all having different needs, from bloody scratch.
Oh dont I know it. Have had to cope with dairy free child, then different child dairy/egg/yeast free. Me low fat diet. Now husband, low potassium diet, grandchild gluten free diet and again, Me Low carb diet. Sick of all the restrictions. Cooking? Who loves it ?. Certainly not me.
Dont think there is a shortage of protein.
Have just looked up recipe for grain free granola, going to buy ingredients tomorrow. Perhaps this is the answer to my brealfast dilemnas?

 

[Grant_Vicat]

I admire anybody who goes on a diet. Having people in my family who struggle to keep their weight down, suffer from lipidema, have gall stones, are coeliac, I always felt that in the days of Type 1, I had an easier deal, ridiculous as that may sound. All I had to do was count carbs and adjust insulin (not always that simple!) and that meant that I could eat anything (except grapefruit) in measured amounts. To be suffering from Lipidema and gall stones makes food options depressing, let alone pre-diabetes or any other variant. It is the constant attention to body fuel in Type 2 that strikes me as particularly wearing. Reading all the above reminds me of what a nephrologist said to me not so long ago "Stop beating yourself up!" It was a very welcome bit of advice at that moment...

 

[SlimLizzy]

I am also a slim pre-diabetic who had difficulty avoiding weight loss.
If you enjoy tea - drink it! (presumably without sugar!)
I sympathise with the feeling that you have to eat more and more but still lose weight.
I had to find out how many calories I needed to maintain weight of the sort of food that I eat
There is a general formula, but it does not apply to each individual.

I found having to think about each meal frustrating. I have worked out a breakfast I have every day. Boring - possibly, but it leaves space in my thinking for other things. Looking through your very helpful posts in the "what have you eaten today" thread, you appear to tolerate nuts and greek yoghurt.
I have a breakfast that consists of
20g Hazelnuts
20g Brazils
20g Almonds
40g Pecans
All of these are chopped in a food processor. (obviously any mix of the low carb nuts will do)
However I make a week's worth in one go (i.e. 7 times this amount) and keep it in a plastic box.
Each day I take a portion, add about 100g of Greek Yoghurt and a small handful of berries.

Calories per portion around 750, carbs about 11g. It is a bit like eating muesli, and takes no effort at all on 6 morningsof the week. (on the 7th I throw some nuts into the food processor). For me my blood sugar is fine 2 hours after eating this but I recognise each individual is different
When I was trying to regain weight I would add some double cream or some almond butter or hazelnut butter (meriden - just nuts nothing else added but gives a different taste)

Once I knew I was starting the day with a good number of calories, I could relax slightly with other meals., but This one may not work for you finding something easy, calorific and that you can eat for one meal a day reduces the pressure (and the mental space it all takes up)

Hello Redshanks ( do you watch birds?) Thank you for your suggestion for breakfast, will be trying that. Lets hope it works. You are so right about the mental space. Several major stress events coming up, need to at least have breakfast sorted.

 

[Emily D.]

Hi Emily, if you can cope with fruit, have made a low carb topping for apple crumble recently. Used unsweetened tinned apple slices. Topping was butter, ground almonds, and coconut flour, with a tiny bit of sugar added ( you could use sweetener)
Day by day is how I have been playing it. But that is not working. Every morning its Whats for breakfast? Lunch? dinner?
Think whats needed is a few whole day menus, enough for two weeks. As a base to work from. Dinner is easy enough, but breakfast and sometimes lunch are more problematic. In summer will be lot of salad, simple.

Wow, thanks, I must try that. I can handle one piece of fruit at a time, I will usually spike if i have 2 pieces. I have a daughter who says "what's for dinner?" and generally groans when she hears the answer. I then go into mother mode "food doesn't have to entertain". It's a bit like that for me too now, food just isn't so entertaining. For breakfast I often have an orange, brazil nuts and a chunk of parmesan regiano. I haven't mastered this yet, still haven't built up the urge to cook a big plate of greens, stir-fry etc. though I do like veg. A menu plan would be good, it's just finding the will to make one. Shopping so that there are always rashers, berries, cheese and nuts in the house means that when you eventually eat there is something there. I never liked dark chocolate but have now developed a taste for Godiva 72% and I seem to tolerate it well. I roast and salt almonds too, which are good, though I think I need to add a little oil, to make the sea-salt stick to the nuts better. I went to bereavment counselling once and she told me that at six months you feel that you are going mad because that is when reality bites. Maybe you are grieving and are coming to a full realization, that this is for life and not just for a little while?

 

[SlimLizzy]

I admire anybody who goes on a diet. Having people in my family who struggle to keep their weight down, suffer from lipidema, have gall stones, are coeliac, I always felt that in the days of Type 1, I had an easier deal, ridiculous as that may sound. All I had to do was count carbs and adjust insulin (not always that simple!) and that meant that I could eat anything (except grapefruit) in measured amounts. To be suffering from Lipidema and gall stones makes food options depressing, let alone pre-diabetes or any other variant. It is the constant attention to body fuel in Type 2 that strikes me as particularly wearing. Reading all the above reminds me of what a nephrologist said to me not so long ago "Stop beating yourself up!" It was a very welcome bit of advice at that moment...

maybe i have got it a bit out of proportion

 

[Mr_Pot]

It’s having to cook for my mob, all having different needs, from bloody scratch.
Oh dont I know it. Have had to cope with dairy free child, then different child dairy/egg/yeast free. Me low fat diet. Now husband, low potassium diet, grandchild gluten free diet and again, Me Low carb diet. Sick of all the restrictions. Cooking? Who loves it ?. Certainly not me.
Dont think there is a shortage of protein.
Have just looked up recipe for grain free granola, going to buy ingredients tomorrow. Perhaps this is the answer to my brealfast dilemnas?

Why has everything got so complicated? My mother just put food on the table and my dad and four children ate it, no choices no special requirements. What has gone wrong? Or is it just me?

 

[Grant_Vicat]

maybe i have got it a bit out of proportion

I really don't think so. The relentless grind would get to any sane person. I hope you find more space before too long.

 

[HSSS]

Why has everything got so complicated? My mother just put food on the table and my dad and four children ate it, no choices no special requirements. What has gone wrong? Or is it just me?

Massive amounts of choice now that just didn’t exist then, and awareness of them. It was hard to be complicated when there no alternative.
Also far better idea of nutrition now and how different foods have different effects. Ignorance was simplicity at least.
Better awareness of allergies and intolerances now.
More concern shown to personal preferences across life now, not just diet.
Different attitudes towards kids being seen and not heard and being entitled to opinions.

Some changes for the better, others less so. But whatever you think of those changes it’s pretty much impossible to go back to how life used to be, because it’s not like that as soon as you step outside the front door even if you manage to recreate it inside.

 

[Grant_Vicat]

Why has everything got so complicated? My mother just put food on the table and my dad and four children ate it, no choices no special requirements. What has gone wrong? Or is it just me?

If we take just one example - peanut allergy. When I was a child, I cannot remember anyone having this problem. It is now very real, and the theory is that at some stage expectant mothers stopped eating peanuts (maybe even before expecting), which meant that the foetus had not become accustomed to a potential problem food. I'm sure that as we know far more about diet, digestive disorders and medicine in general than 50 years ago, this has inevitably had some negative effects. People are living longer, but have to be propped up in so many invasive ways. As David Attenborough said, human beings have probably stopped evolving because science has given them everything they need to work round problems.

 

[Patrick66]

Really sorry to read of your struggles.

I empathise because I know temptation and now I worry whether I’m eating too much, too little ...the right things, the wrong things. I feel overwhelmed.

I hope you find your way through this. You can drink tea at least as you should never become dehydrated.

Good luck!