Hi,
I am also thin and fit with a good diet (male aged 54, non-smoker, very moderate drinker, with no family history of diabetes). About a year ago my cardiologist told me that my fasting glucose had risen to 5.6 mmol/l and that I should take more exercise and cut down on carbohydrates. (I already ate muesli, fresh fruit, salads, fish, chicken, wholemeal bread and fresh vegetables, rather than processed food and sugary drinks.) I did as he said and my blood sugar fell slightly, but not enough. I redoubled my efforts, started taking at least one serious period of exercise every day and at least 15 minutes of good aerobic workout after every meal, and cutting out anything that might have too high a glycemic load. After all that hard work, I now find that my fasting glucose has risen to 6.3 mmol/l.
With my dietary changes and exercise I am losing weight, down to a BMI of 19.8 this morning. I am full after every meal and never hungry. I already add extra large helpings of olive oil to my salads and fresh fruit and nuts to my muesli to try and increase my calorific intake without adding to my glycemic load.
I really want to avoid getting diabetes; I have a thing called cardiac syndrome x (chest pain and abnormal ECG, but clear arteries). I also have very high homocysteine (a risk factor for everything you can think of except diabetes) and high LDL cholesterol (partly lowered with statins). I have just discovered that have lost 3cm in height, have arthritis and very bad osteopenia, and I am waiting for the results of a follow up test after having some protein in my urine.
Diabetes would make all of these problems worse. I am not resigned to getting it and would like to know what I can do to avoid it, but all the advice on diet, exercise and weight loss seems totally irrelevant to my circumstances.
You ask 'is there hope?' I would like to think so, but I don't know. My next steps are to get myself checked for type 1.5 diabetes and fatty liver disease, find out my HbA1c and buy a monitor to see how my blood sugar varies before and after meals, with or without exercise. I can only hope to find some clues from this information as to what else I can do.
Any advice from forum members would be greatly appreciated.
Alan