Newly diagnosed prediabetic, feeling bewildered

Atad heavy

Well-Known Member
Messages
405
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I have had a similar experience with same sort of blood sugar level. I was about a stone overweight so thought it a good idea to move away from sugary cakes and biscuits. I also took the advice to eat more whole grains - and I also just eat smaller portions of them. Although I wasn’t actively attempting to lose weight, I lost that extra stone in 3-4 months without any effort - including that I’m a lazy exerciser since having a frozen shoulder 2 years ago. My blood sugar is not massively lower so I’m not sure if this enough, overall. However, I feel a lot better. I had been experiencing dizziness and fatigue - which I now think might have related to blood glucose spikes and drops because I didn’t really believe that eating the odd sweet thing could have such an effect! But I get a lot less problems like that now.

I bought a meter to test blood glucose reactions to certain foods and times of day - although the nurse said they discourage it. But the more experienced community members on here seem to swear by it, so I thought it useful to at least try that and see how it might be useful. At the moment it’s helping me gauge what affects morning blood glucose levels, as mine are slightly higher than is ideal. Sleep/lack of and other stressors can affect levels too. But I’m monitoring what I ate the night before as well as that.

I have been attending the NHS national pilot course to help prediabetics and they give the same advice as for type 2 diabetics. It doesn’t differ hugely from what the nurse says, but we have had input from a variety of trainers, who all have their own ideas as well. I found that broad exposure quite useful, if a little confusing at first. It helped to realise that everyone with blood sugar issues is an individual and may react differently to different foods, or have different challenges 3 out of 20 of us on my course had shoulder problems for example - not unusual for diabetics apparently, as I understand there can be a chromium deficiency. But it meant that we couldn’t all just solve our slightly high blood sugar issues through normal exercise routines.
I thought your reply was very interesting especially about the chromium deficiency. A nutritionist advised me to take a chromium supplement - she said it helps regulate blood sugars, I wonder if this is common knowledge & also does it actually work
 
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DianaMC

Well-Known Member
Messages
147
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
@Atad heavy I don’t think it is common knowledge about chromium deficiency. It’s not something tested in the UK anyway, through blood tests. I was only alerted to it through visiting a chiropractor to help with frozen shoulder. He happened to use kinesiology muscle testing to work out the cause of problems. He also happened to have been through the prediabetic thing himself. He also advised me to try ALA to help regulate blood sugar - alpha lipoic acid. All I. An say is that I feel better for the supplements I’ve taken. I was also found to be low in vitamin d, by an endocrinologist, and now have that up to a normal level. I’m having fewer incidences of very low energy, at the least. And my shoulder is much better.
 
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Listlad

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Messages
3,971
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Well done for getting your HbA1c down, it’s great that you have achieved this through reducing but not eliminating carbs. I hope this tactic will also work for me!
Yes, I have had to nail the carbs right down though to between 30 and 100 grams per day.
 
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hazelzac

Well-Known Member
Messages
92
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Ideal situation would be when we know what amount of carbs our body would consume and not store it as fat


Hi can you please elaborate it further .How we can know that amount of carb
 

Listlad

BANNED
Messages
3,971
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi can you please elaborate it further. How we can know that amount of carb
You have to count the carbs you eat. That means checking everything to see how many grams they contain. It involves avoiding certain foods such as cereal, pasta, rice, bread etc. And minimising the number of grams you take in in a day. At first it is hard going but you soon learn. I aimed to cut right back to 30 to 100 grams per day. It works.
 
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