Newbie diagnosed with impaired glucose tolerance

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2
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
His, I'm a newbie to the forum. I was diagnosed with impaired glucose tolerance after two recent fasting blood tests showed levels of 6.8 and 6.2. I had an appointment with a dietician at my Health Centre today which was a miserable experience. I wondered what other experiences folks had with NHS Dietitians? Came out of the appointment feeling patronised, judged and wanting to lock myself in a dark room. Yes, I know I need to lose weight but don't appreciate being sneered at for my inability to like oily fish and told to eat carbs at lunch time with my salad. I'm trying hard, swimming twice a week and gym in between. The statement that you can't afford to eat what you like anymore just makes me miserable nd the advice seems confusing based on what I have read about carbs.
 

Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,796
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
Hi and welcome to the forum. One of the mods will give you a welcome
I would advise having a good read about all the relevant recommendations on food and exercise on the threads on this site. There are some wonderful experienced people who will advise you if you need to ask questions.
It is very confusing when first diagnosed but you have made the first steps.
We have all probably had bad experiences with our surgeries and have misdiagnosed like myself or found the advice given is outdated and not helpful to a pre diabetic like yourself.
You will never regret learning about the choices and lifestyle recommended on this site.
Let us know from time to time how you are getting on.
 
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Hi,
It is just impaired glucose tolerance or prediabetes and not even type 2 DM. Nice to hear that you are trying hard in improving physical activity. Try adding 2-3, if not 5 servings of fruits/vegetables/salads per day. Your body will take care of the rest. Keep yourself emotionally stable & you can definitely prevent diabetes!
All the best!! :)
 
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Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,796
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
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I do not have diabetes
Hi,
It is just impaired glucose tolerance or prediabetes and not even type 2 DM. Nice to hear that you are trying hard in improving physical activity. Try adding 2-3, if not 5 servings of fruits/vegetables/salads per day. Your body will take care of the rest. Keep yourself emotionally stable & you can definitely prevent diabetes!
All the best!! :)
If he has glucose intolerance the fruit part will have to be reduced as most fruits send blood glucose levels high!
 
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Hi,
It is the commonest of myths in diabetes, that fruits cause trouble in blood sugar levels in diabetes, it has been proven that it is not (Christensen et al., 2013) Fruits are not harmful when they are consumed as whole fruits.
 
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sally and james

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Let's try and remove some of the confusion: If you have impaired glucose tolerance, it would seem sensible to reduce the amount of glucose put into your body. In simple terms, glucose = sugar = starch = carbohydrates. In other words, they all end up as glucose, so all need to be avoided or, at least, reduced in your diet.
So, where are these sugars/starches/carbohydrates?
They are in flour and flour products, pasta, potatoes, rice, bread, breakfast cereal. Honey is simply tasty sugar. Fruit is "nature's candy", especially tropical fruits such as mangoes and pineapples. Bananas are little more than starch. Sugary drinks, cakes, sweets, biscuits are all obvious things to avoid.
So, what can you eat: Meat, veg. dairy produce, cheese, eggs, cream, fish, seeds, nuts for example.
The important thing is to get a glucose meter and find out what different foods do to you.
Sally
 
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Messages
2
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi,
I was told that I have pre-diabetes. The dietitian advised against eating too much fruit and spacing out portions of fruit. Very confusing. I already eat plenty of salads and veg, would rather have veg than some meats. I think the only bit of advice today that I found useful was about pasta portions. The comment about not getting away with eating what I liked anymore really made me annoyed - so a cake will never pass your lips again, have had no sweet things in three weeks, passed up dessert at my anniversary dinner and at work didn't have any of the home baking that had been brought in. I really have been trying hard and just felt put down and disheartened today. Why is it that when you're a bit overweight some NHS staff assume you trough on cakes and crisps all day.
 
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sally and james

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@yoga and diabetes wrote, "It is the commonest of myths in diabetes, that fruits cause trouble in blood sugar levels in diabetes, it has been proven that it is not (Christensen et al., 2013) Fruits are not harmful when they are consumed as whole fruits."

It is not possible to prove a negative.
Whole fruits would not be harmful if they remained whole. When I next see a whole pineapple in the lavatory pan, I'll let you know.
Sally
 
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@sally and james wrote "Whole fruits would not be harmful if they remained whole. When I next see a whole pineapple in the lavatory pan, I'll let you know".
That's so kind of you Sally, but 'no, thanks'. You can save it for yourself later. When I meant whole fruit, I meant 'as a fruit & not as juice'. Fruits have sugar, agreed. i.e fructose, it's GI is very less (< 40); fibre reduces GI and GL further. And, I am talking about pre-DM and DM prevention, not even diabetes. (BMJ 2013;347:f5001)
 

jack412

Expert
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5,618
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Tablets (oral)
as long as it wasn't the rough end first :) you aren't going to get much support with telling this mob to eat a lot of fruit

pick out what you think will help out of this :)
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf it’s a long page and a video
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarbliving/a/Food-Cravings.htm because carbs don’t give up easy.

testing
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045524.php
food count
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

Newcastle diet aims in 8+ weeks, to mimic the gastric surgery rate of ~80% T2 remission
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/
http://www.diabetesforecast.org/2010/mar/weight-loss-surgery-and-type-2-diabetes.html

http://diabeticmediterraneandiet.com/low-carb-mediterranean-diet/
http://www.lowcarbdietitian.com/blog/carbohydrate-restriction-an-option-for-diabetes-management

http://www.homehealth-uk.com/medical/blood_glucose_monitor_testing.htm
if you buy extra boxes of strips there is a discount code
5 packs 264086
10 packs 975833
 
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Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,796
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
Hi,
I was told that I have pre-diabetes. The dietitian advised against eating too much fruit and spacing out portions of fruit. Very confusing. I already eat plenty of salads and veg, would rather have veg than some meats. I think the only bit of advice today that I found useful was about pasta portions. The comment about not getting away with eating what I liked anymore really made me annoyed - so a cake will never pass your lips again, have had no sweet things in three weeks, passed up dessert at my anniversary dinner and at work didn't have any of the home baking that had been brought in. I really have been trying hard and just felt put down and disheartened today. Why is it that when you're a bit overweight some NHS staff assume you trough on cakes and crisps all day.
Once you start getting control there is nothing stopping you experimenting with lower GI carbs or even have a treat now and then. Control is the key in being prediabetic. Have a look at the recipes and all the fry ups you can have!
I once got told to diet by a GP because I was having sleep disruption! I had been on a diet for at least five years before!
You need to relax and there is no reason to over worry this. Yes it is not nice, and it is a wake up call. But with control you may never be diabetic with all the trials that may bring.
Best wishes mate!
 

douglas99

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4,572
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I reversed my Type 2
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There is no way to know how you personally react to a particular food without testing with a meter.
The NHS will not provide one, but it's worth buying your own, then checking after you eat, to see what foods cause your BS to rise to an unacceptable level.
Then you can create a diet that suits you, and that you will be happy on.
 
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NoCrbs4Me

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His, I'm a newbie to the forum. I was diagnosed with impaired glucose tolerance after two recent fasting blood tests showed levels of 6.8 and 6.2. I had an appointment with a dietician at my Health Centre today which was a miserable experience. I wondered what other experiences folks had with NHS Dietitians? Came out of the appointment feeling patronised, judged and wanting to lock myself in a dark room. Yes, I know I need to lose weight but don't appreciate being sneered at for my inability to like oily fish and told to eat carbs at lunch time with my salad. I'm trying hard, swimming twice a week and gym in between. The statement that you can't afford to eat what you like anymore just makes me miserable nd the advice seems confusing based on what I have read about carbs.

Not to nit pick, but it sounds like you have impaired fasting glucose (IFG) rather than impaired glucose tolerance. Hopefully they ran your HbA1c as well. The only way to know if you have impaired glucose tolerance for sure is to do the glucose tolerance test, which involves having you consume a drink with 75 g of glucose in it and measuring your blood glucose afterwards. :pompous: However, as stated above, you may just want to get your own blood glucose meter and test yourself. That will show how high your blood glucose is going after meals.
 
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Brunneria

Guru
Retired Moderator
Messages
21,889
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
His, I'm a newbie to the forum. I was diagnosed with impaired glucose tolerance after two recent fasting blood tests showed levels of 6.8 and 6.2. I had an appointment with a dietician at my Health Centre today which was a miserable experience. I wondered what other experiences folks had with NHS Dietitians? Came out of the appointment feeling patronised, judged and wanting to lock myself in a dark room. Yes, I know I need to lose weight but don't appreciate being sneered at for my inability to like oily fish and told to eat carbs at lunch time with my salad. I'm trying hard, swimming twice a week and gym in between. The statement that you can't afford to eat what you like anymore just makes me miserable nd the advice seems confusing based on what I have read about carbs.

Hi and welcome!

I so agree on the nagging, bullying about diet and weight.

When I was told I was prediabetic (10 yrs ago ish) I was sat down and handed a badly photocopied diet sheet telling me to stuff myself with brown rice and bread, base my food around carbs, and lose weight.

Gosh. How silly I had been! I had stopped eating those things because they made me feel ill, and put on weight.
Clearly, I should pile those pounds on! NHS orders!
Ridiculous. I smiled sweetly and threw that diet sheet away.

This year, 300 miles away from my previous surgery, the very overweight nurse handed me exactly the same diet on an equally scratty bit of paper.

And I'm still ignoring the advice. And feeling very good on the diet I do follow. :)

Regarding the fruit thing - get yourself a blood glucose testing kit. Eat fruit. Test to see what happens to you. It really is the only way to find out.

Me? Fruit does terrible things to my blood sugar. No fancy study result is ever going to persuade me to go against the evidence of my blood glucose meter. Extensive testing has shown me that I can eat berries, a few cherries, and very very very small quantities of apples, pears and kiwis without my blood glucose spiking. Every other type of fruit (except tomatoes and similar 'vegetables') sends my BG sky high.

Since you are prediabetic, you may have much more leeway than that, but it's probably still worth checking... :)
 
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daisy1

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Hi Feeling judged and welcome to the forum :)

Following the information given in this basic information for new members will help you to keep things under control. There is also lots of good advice in this thread for you and I hope you will find all this helpful.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 100,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 
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Hello and welcome to the forum :)