Hi,
My name is Tracy, im 54 and newly diagnosed this week with prediabetes. I change my doctor and they did a health check as well as my yearly liver and kidney function blood tests to do with my epilepsy. My blood pressure and cholestrol are pretty much perfect she said but the ha1c was 47 then I was given the diagnosis and pointed to Diabetes.co.uk. Told to cut my sugar down and that was pretty much it. I have to go back for another HA1c test in 3 months. Ive been eating chicken and salad, live yogurt, porridge and cheese for the last two days as i was told these were safe foods. Ive dropped 2lbs, i have a problem with food and find it hard to try new things so im a bit lost and I have no idea of who to turn to. Having epilepsy and eating so little over the last couple of days, i feel so unwell. I just need to know what i should and shouldnt be eating and if i should be checking my blood sugar levels, would it help? I feel so scared, depressed and unwell i dont know where to turn. Really hope that i dont sound like im looking for sympathy i just need to know where i go from here.
Tracy.
Hey Tracy, and welcome,
By the time I'm done typing, I'm sure someone els will have tagged
@daisy1 for her info pack, but that's a good place to start. She'll be along soon, if she hasn't responded already. Another one is this: you'll be okay. I desperately wanted to know if I would be, and no-one could tell me. I got a lot of static on that point, and I was a full-fledged diabetic at the time, in an equally full-fledged panic. Your numbers aren't ideal, but you'll soon be back in the non-diabetic range. Breathe, you'll be fine! It can be done, and through diet only, if you choose to go that route. The perks of tackling through diet: diabetes is a progressive disease if only treated with medication. Diet is the more powerful method that can put T2 into remission, or stave it off in prediabetics. You're at the upper end of prediabetic, but as you seem rather motivated, and I do believe your next HbA1c can be firmly in the non-diabetic range. I'm not a doctor though, but I'm just trying to give you something I didn't have when i started out: some hope. And a bit of empowerment. You can do this.
So, foods. As a prediabetic you're unable to process carbs effectively. All carbs, not just sugar, are turned into glucose once ingested, so the fewer carbs you eat, the better your bloodglucose will be. So yes, I do advise getting a meter. NHS won't fund one, sadly, but it is rather invaluable when trying to figure out how certain foods affect you. (To make things easy: Check before you have a meal, and 2 hours after first bite. If your reading didn't go up more than 2 mmol/l, that meal was perfect for you and can be safely repeated!). So, what to avoid? Anything starchy, sugary... So that includes bread, potatoes, cereal (sorry, porridge too...), rice, pasta, corn and all fruits save for berries, in moderation. More importantly, what can you eat without getting too big a rise in bloodsugars? Eggs, cheese, butter, double cream, full fat greek yoghurt, leafy greens/above ground veggies (save for most beans), avocado, meat, fish, olives, extra dark chocolate and nuts. That doesn't seem like a whole lot, but meals could look like this: Eggs with bacon, cheese, mushrooms and/or a few cherry tomatoes. Believe me, after 3 eggs, you're full. Or you could go for a handful of berries with walnuts in cream or full fat yoghurt. Or just have a coffee, if you don't like eating in the a.m.. Lunch could be a salad of leafy greens, a can of tuna, mayo, capers, olives and cubed avocado. (I never can figure out when they're ripe, so I get them from the frozen food section. I'm not ashamed of cheating!). Dinner could be meat or fish with cauliflower rice, which is rediculously versatile. Broccoli too. I usually toss some cheese and bacon in there was well.
The porridge you've been having isn't doing you any favors, as that's carb heavy.... And I don't know exactly what live yoghurt means (I'm dutch, don't know the term), but some yoghurts have sugars added or a lot of lactose (milksugars), so do check the packaging to see how many carbs are in there. Keep in mind it is ALL carbs, not just "of which sugars" which you're looking for, because as I said, all carbs are turned into glucose once ingested. The chicken, salad and cheese are perfect, but you're going to need a little more food and variation to keep going.
If you go the diet route, keep in mind that this is for the long haul. If you start eating carbs again, your HbA1c will most likely rise. We're genetically predisposed that way, so keep that in mind. What is also important: Find things that are both low carb, and you LIKE to eat. If you don't enjoy your meals, a diet can feel like a prison, and no-one can last long voluntarily imprisoned. When I just started out it seemed like all food was poison and I was afraid to have a bite. You can eat. Better yet, you can eat a massive plate full if you so choose. Just make sure there's very few carbs in there, and Bob's your uncle. Diets work a lot better if you're not hungry all the time and you're enjoying what's in front of you.
You can do this. You'll be fine.
Good luck,
Jo