Newbie with a question.

Lanky lady

Newbie
Messages
2
As my husband and I have both been diagnosed with prediabetes and are anxious to rectify that, we have already made several adjustments to our diet and lifestyle, including purchasing a low carb cookbook from you (not yet received). One of our main difficulties is going to be breakfast because we're both big cereal fans but we're invesitgating. Husband has porridge but has noted that on the oats package, it says 'Carbohydrate 28 g of which 0.5 gms are sugar.' Surely that means that the sugar content is low? Can anyone help with advice.
 

Goonergal

Master
Retired Moderator
Messages
13,466
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Can anyone help with advice.
It’s total grams of carbs that are important as they all turn to glucose in the blood.

The only way for your husband to see the impact on his blood sugars would be to test before and after eating it. An alternative if he wants porridge would be a low carb porridge - I’ll tag @Rachox who has one daily. An egg based breakfast would be a safer bet in terms of blood sugars.

You may also be interested in these infographics which show the impact of common foods on blood sugars in terms of 4g spoons of sugar - very eye opening: https://phcuk.org/sugar/

These visual guides from dietdoctor.com are also useful: https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/visual-guides
 
  • Like
Reactions: hatsoff and ziggy_w

Ronancastled

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,236
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Forget sugars, it's all about carbs, they turn to glucose in your bloodstream.
So 28g of a 100g bowl of porridge is carbs.
So a 200g bowl would be 56g & so on.

Next step is to get a meter, eat that bowl of porridge (if you wish) & see what it does to your glucose levels, test every 30 mins to get a good idea.

The rules for prediabetics are the same as for full blown T2s, reduce the carbs in your diet to get you blood sugar back to normal.
Many studies on how weight loss & exercise can reverse prediabetes.

Consider yourselves lucky, it's estimated that a 3rd of Americans have prediabetes & 90% don't even know it.
Now you've a chance to act.
 

MrsA2

Expert
Messages
5,574
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Eggs, in lots of forms do well for breakfast
Yoghurt with seeds or nuts and perhaps a few berries
Meats or fish

I find protein satisfies me for far longer than any form of cereal does. All cereal cause me severe sugar spikes.

Welcome @Lanky lady , there's lots to learn:)
 

VashtiB

Moderator
Staff Member
Messages
2,283
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Hello and welcome @Lanky lady

I agree that acting on a diagnosis of pre diabetes is a great idea and I wish I had done so also.

So as people have said it is the amount of carbs that is important not just the amount of sugar. Testing using a meter will allow you to see the effect of different foods on your levels and allow you to calculate what amount of carbs your body can tolerate.

As @MrsA2 suggested eggs and other forms of protein are a great way to start the day with lower carbs than porridge. Now that it's winter here in Australia I do occasionally miss porridge but as a pre diabetic it may be that your body can tolerate it. Testing is the way to make sure.

Good luck!
 

Lanky lady

Newbie
Messages
2
Thanks, everyone for your very helpful replies. As it happens, the Diabetes low carb cookbook landed through our letterbox today (with a thud!) and some of the recipes in there, including the breakfast ones, look very interesting. Going to be quite a journey, I think!