3 bigger meals and nothing in-between or 5-6 smaller meals a day to reverse pre-diabites?

[blackmarker]

Hi, M46 just diagnosed with pre-diabetes, should I eat 3 bigger meals a day and nothing in-between or a few smaller like 5-6 meals a day to keep lower blood sugar. Could you advise me, please

 

[KennyA]

Hi blackmarker and welcome

Actually I wouldn't advise you to do either of those things.

Prediabetes means that your blood glucose level is no longer in the normal range, which is around 36-41. My opinion is that being out of normal range means something needs to be done, imstead of waiting until it gets worse (I wish I'd known when I was in the same position).

The thing that has the biggest impact on your blood glucose levels is the carbohydrate in the food that you eat. All digestable carb is digested to glucose. Some way behind that is your liver, which will dump glucose into your bloodstream when your liver thinks you need it - usually connected with adrenalin.

So it follows that if you restrict the amount of carb you take in, your system has less to deal with and (asuming it's reduced to where you can cope with it) you could find that the amount of glucose left in your blood goes down. You find out what the glucose level is by using a glucose meter and testing your blood before and after meals.

I dropped carbs almost completely over four years ago. I don't eat potatoes, bread, pastry, pasta, rice, sugar, fruit any more. Because most of what I eat now is meat, dairy, and green veg I find I only want one meal a day - and I'm not hungry. Wouldn't eat more if you gave it to me.

It's worth reading around on the forum to see what other people have done. It can all be a bit confusing at this point, so do not worry about asking questions. We've all been there.

 

[KennyA]

Meant to post this, which is a great introduction written by one of the members here.

The Nutritional Thingy

There’s a few things you should know. 1. Practically all carbs turn to glucose once ingested , so not just straight sugars, but starches...

josekalsbeek.blogspot.com

 

[aylalake]

Hi, M46 just diagnosed with pre-diabetes, should I eat 3 bigger meals a day and nothing in-between or a few smaller like 5-6 meals a day to keep lower blood sugar. Could you advise me, please

Good question!

Many of us do OMAD - One Meal A Day - and reduced carbohydrates, and have successfully brought our diabetes down to manageable levels.
For me personally, as a Type 2 diabetic, a number of meals a day would possibly affect my blood glucose adversely and I would find it hard to keep my carbohydrate intake below 25g a day which is what I need to do.

 

[lovinglife]

I’m keto and I eat 3 meals a day, no snacks except my evening square of 95% chocolate. I eat 20g carb over the 3 meals n more than 7g carb a meal. I know I couldn’t do OMAD or fasting. This is a lifestyle change so not a diet but for life so you have to find what works for you and is sustainable long term.

The best way to find out what works for you is to test and see what either 3 meals or 6 meals does to your BG - I’m willing to bet that the 3 meal no snacks will be far better for your BG

 

[HSSS]

Another factor to consider is insulin. Every time we eat we stimulate insulin production. Constantly circulating high insulin adds to insulin resistance. Type 2 are inherently insulin resistant (I personally strongly suspect those that aren’t have another version of diabetes that gets lumped in with type 2 and there’s support that type 2 is a mishmash of all those not classified elsewhere, currently). Allowing the longest gaps possible between feeds (whilst still getting your nutritional needs met) allows those levels to drop off back towards baseline before topping them back up.

So my vote between the two options is 3 meals and no snack rather than grazing.

 

[Outlier]

I do intermittent fasting on a keto diet. Normally I don't want to eat until 2pm, often later, and so I have a small amount of food and my main meal at 6pm. I didn't intend to fast that long each day, but I don't eat until I feel hungry, and that's what happened once I cut out carbs and sugars. I don't do longer fasts as once I am hungry it doesn't go away until I eat, and I like an easy life.

That's a long-winded way of saying "listen to your body". Not mine, anyone else's, or a made-up version written by a journalist. Recognise when you are hungry - not bored, annoyed or any other emotion that can be soothed by eating - respond to actual real hunger. Then eat. You'll be amazed how your body responds once you listen to it.

 

[blackmarker]

Guys, thank you so much for all your replies, I will google about cutting carbs and increasing protein intake.

Also, I have bought a glucose meter, but when I check, sometimes on 1 finger shows 6.9, while on the other hand finger shows 6.2... seems to me quite a difference...

 

[HSSS]

Also, I have bought a glucose meter, but when I check, sometimes on 1 finger shows 6.9, while on the other hand finger shows 6.2... seems to me quite a difference...

Not really. The rules allow some variation and it’s bigger than you’d expect.

“Under the new standard, meters will need to meet the accuracy guidelines 95% of the time: Within ± 0.83 mmol/L of laboratory results at concentrations of under 5.6 mmol/L. Within ± 15% of laboratory results at concentrations of 5.6 mmol/L or more.”

I can get two different readings (like yours) from the same drop of blood. Just look at the whole numbers (or round to the nearest one) and look at trends over time or jumps more than a mmol at that sort of level.

Unless the number looks unexpected (in which case retest after washing hands) just take it for what it is. After all insulin users use these numbers to inject potentially lethal medication so it’s good enough as a guide to what foods work surely.