No NHS support for prediabetics who are not overweight

sunspots

Well-Known Member
Messages
302
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Non-insulin injectable medication (incretin mimetics)
What sort of specifically low carb things do you eat?
I don't again now! My daughter is a recovering anorexic and couldn't cope with me altering my diet away from hers.

I was eating a max of 35g carb per meal but more or less normal foods, minus potatoes, pasta etc. When I was keto I got sooo bored of the same foods, even when cooked in different ways. After 2 or 3 years of it I got a carb creep and then gave up.
 

KK123

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,967
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
To summarise I am unhappy that the NHS is not embracing low carb diets and that they bracket all prediabetics/diabetics together under the same heading obese/must lead unhealthy lives/need to loose weight therefore low calorie/low fat diet recommended with exercise.

Hi there, I was exactly like you with regards to the so called lifestyle and was diagnosed as pre diabetic when I was 52 after a standard 'well woman' check. I recall them saying then that I didn't fit the 'profile' of a type 2 which unfortunately is as you state above and so they left it at that. Very gently I would say be careful of falling into the same trap yourself when it comes to stereotypes. 3 years later I became hospitalised with DKA and lo & behold, I had various tests done and was actually a slow onset type 1. They now think that the pre diabetic diagnosis was the start of that onset (of course it could have started years before for all I know). The problem with the NHS as I see it is that they do love to shove everybody sharing symptoms into the same category from the off, and even if they are correct much of the time there are still plenty of people of all types who do not fit the textbook profile, if I had actually been overweight and sedentary when being rushed into hospital I am sure they would still have been blathering on about 'type 2' and yet I was a type 1, no further tests would have been done and I would be in a very different position to now. I don't know if you've had all the tests available or not, but from the sound of your diet you clearly are low carb. What are your numbers like?
 

snametab

Member
Messages
18
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi there, I was exactly like you with regards to the so called lifestyle and was diagnosed as pre diabetic when I was 52 after a standard 'well woman' check. I recall them saying then that I didn't fit the 'profile' of a type 2 which unfortunately is as you state above and so they left it at that. Very gently I would say be careful of falling into the same trap yourself when it comes to stereotypes. 3 years later I became hospitalised with DKA and lo & behold, I had various tests done and was actually a slow onset type 1. They now think that the pre diabetic diagnosis was the start of that onset (of course it could have started years before for all I know). The problem with the NHS as I see it is that they do love to shove everybody sharing symptoms into the same category from the off, and even if they are correct much of the time there are still plenty of people of all types who do not fit the textbook profile, if I had actually been overweight and sedentary when being rushed into hospital I am sure they would still have been blathering on about 'type 2' and yet I was a type 1, no further tests would have been done and I would be in a very different position to now. I don't know if you've had all the tests available or not, but from the sound of your diet you clearly are low carb. What are your numbers like?
thanks for sharing your experience with me and your warnings. When you say numbers I only have one test result for a HA1c test (taken because I had a UTI). The result was 42 which I know is the entry point for prediabetic. I am going to buy a blood sugar monitor and ask for another HA1c test after 6 months of being on this low carb diet (April). I want to get a reading of under 42 and then I will introduce more carbs back to my diet, but will not return to my previous diet which was high in potato, rice, pasta and fresh fruit (had 5 pieces of fresh fruit every morning for breakfast with my soaked oats - a little over the top I now know) as I said sweet things not a temptation for me as I don't like them.

I had terrible stress for a sustained period of 12 years and believe that this may have caused the lead up to this. I have just started reading Dr Jason Fung's book 'The Obesity Code" (even though I am not and have never been obese) and then I plan to follow this up with his book on The Diabetes Code. In Dr Fung's Obesity code book he talks about horomones and how they regulate our body and so that is what leads me to believe that might be my starting point. I also had terrrible hormonal problems all my adult life from the moment I started menstrual to end of menopause.
 

snametab

Member
Messages
18
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Welcome to the forum @snametab and thanks @Lakeslover for the tag.

Here’s some info on UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.


HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews, links to the strips and the meter:

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/

There are also discount codes for when you come to buy more strips - "navii5" and "navii10" will give you 20% off purchases of 5 packs of strips and 25% off 10 packs of strips respectively.


Then they sell the older SD Code Free, details to be found here:

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/

Discount codes for the Code Free strips

5 packs 264086

10 packs 975833



SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + found here:



https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793

with the strips found here:



https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097

Some members have got a free Tee2+ by phoning up to order, with a large order of strips they often throw the meter in for free:

Phone number 0800 8815423


With more expensive strips is their Caresens Dual, this one has the advantage of glucose and ketone testing in one machine, it’s to be found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/collections/caresens-dual



If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.


Don’t forget to check the box if you have pre diabetes or diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)
 

snametab

Member
Messages
18
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Thank you for all that info sorry for the delay in my appreciation
 

MrsA2

Expert
Messages
5,575
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
@snametab Reading your food and your reading, I think you'd like Metabolical by Dr Robert Lustig. An endocrinologist, he goes even deeper into what food does at cellular level, and he hits out hard at Health systems (like the NHS) and at BigFood and BigPharma
I think its on special at kindle and audible at 99p at the moment. I'm halfway through the paperback version and don't regret paying full price, it's that good!
 

KK123

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,967
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I am going to buy a blood sugar monitor and ask for another HA1c test after 6 months

Hi snametab, that is a great idea, the numbers I meant being individual glucose readings before & after meals and when fasting, etc. The daily data from doing those glucose tests will be crucial for you to see what is going on real time. I wish I had done so when I got my 'pre diabetic' diagnosis, I think my hb1ac back then was 42 also. By the time I was diagnosed 3 years later (having shamefully paid no further attention to this 'pre' thing based on sheer ignorance on my part and no follow ups from the GP) my hb1ac was a 150 (!!) and I had virtually wasted away. It wasn't until my symptoms became impossible to ignore or explain away that I went to the GP. An hour later I was in hospital. You really are doing the right thing at such an early stage, so please let us know how you get on. If you find your numbers are high even when low carbing, ask them for a C Peptide test and an antibody test and don't take no for an answer. x
 

Rocinante

Well-Known Member
Messages
66
Hello. So I eat 3 meals per day and have found that those that I list fill me up and I find that I not really hungry by the next meal time. I include veg with every meal.

SOME BREAKFASTS: 200gms greek yoghurt+1 tbsp seeds +20gms of either walnuts or pecans nuts + 50gms blueberries OR 2 eggs + 100gms tomatoes+whole avocado OR scrambled tofu (half a pack of tofu fried in butter with my special mix to make it taste great*) + 100gms green veg like kale/spinach/brussel sprouts OR 4 slices of Mattesons sliced turkey +100gm of mixed beans *100gms nutritional yeast, 4 tsps kala namak, 3 teaspoons onion powder, 1 teaspoon turmeric and 1 teaspoon garlic powder - place in a jar and shake and then use when frying the crumbled tofu.

OTHER MEALS: I cook portions of meat or fish with a green veg or fried aubergine. I marinate chicken in yoghurt and tandoori mix or I coat raw chicken with a spice mix/rub and fry. I make mushroom stroganoff. Cauliflower cheese soup. Fried tofu mixed with pesto. I love a good lettuce (Lambs lettuce if you can get it) in french dressing (I make my own). Smoked salmon. Humous. Cheese and nuts. Ratatouie (Delia's roasted ratatouie is delicious). Roasted curried cauliflower.

I cook in butter to get the fat levels up and is also delicious. If I feel hungry I eat a piece of cheddar cheese and that seems to sort it or 30gms of nuts like brazils or pine nuts. I am using 'Prewetts ground golden flax seed' bought from Morrisons to sprinkle on some meals where I feel I need more fibre.

This sounds mostly keto to me... except for the blueberries! Sounds like good food in your house :)