Confused ??

Morning @Chromeautofill - A type 1 diabetic takes insulin to manage glucose levels, so can read the carb content of a packet and take the correct dose of insulin to manage the carbohydrate intake, hence why a type 1 can eat what they want. However if you're not on medication then managing fluctuating blood glucose levels can be a tricky business which is why paying close attention to the carbohydrate content of food becomes so important - however it is important for both types to understand carbohydrates and the management and impact of them. Learning about food and sugar is vital so if you get the book/app - 'carbs and cals' it will give you the carb content of foods so will help your understanding, you need carbs for energy but it's a personal choice as to how much you physically need.

Chromeautofill said:

Good morning all,
I was diagnosed impared glucose tolerance last December and the word prediabetes was also mentioned, its taken me until last week to finally do something about it, I work with a lady who has type 1 diabetes yet she eats crunchy nut cornflakes or coco pops for breakfast, and belavita biscuits sometimes too.
Yet walking round the supermarket last night and looking at the carbohydrates/sugars on the side of the packaging almost all cereal and breakfast biscuits are high in sugar contents, so what's safe for a prediabetic if a type 1 sufferer can eat food with high sugar contents ? I'm trying to cut my sugar intake but I don't know if your supposed to have some sugar in your system rather than none at all ?

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Hi @Chromeautofill,

A fundamental difference between Type 1 and Type 2, to my knowledge, is that Type 1 does not produce insulin and thus has to inject insulin to metabolize carbs, while Type 2 produces too much insulin, but the body is unable to use the insulin properly (--> due to insulin resistance).

Thus, it is beneficial for Type 2 to reduce the amount of carbohydrates we eat, so that we need less insulin to metabolize food, and thus hopefully lower insulin resistance. In addition, requiring less insulin puts less stress on the pancreas, thus hopefully saving beta cells from further destruction.

As Type 1 diabetics are usually not insulin-resistant, they need much less exogenous insulin to metabolize carbs than insulin-resistant Type 2 diabetics would produce naturally in response to carbs (provided that the pancreas still produces enough insulin). That said, there are some Type 1 diabetics on this forum that have also chosen a low carb lifestyle.

The good news is probably that as the modern diet is so laden with carbs your metabolism is probably overstretched.
By reducing the amount of carbohydrate - not just sugar - from what is recommended as 'healthy' it is possible to drop your blood glucose levels down to under danger levels.
I used my blood glucose meter to check that what I suspected was true - that all the foods which cause me problems with my weight were those which elevated my blood glucose levels.
There are no essential carbohydrates, so you can just pick those you really like and as long as you eat small portions - so as not to cause blood glucose to spike you should be OK.
Personally, as a full blown diabetic, I restrict my menu to foods under 11 percent carbs for everyday and pick the lowest carb options and small servings for higher value foods - berries and cream is my choice for dessert a couple of times a week, otherwise none at all.
It is something which is taken as gospel - that you need carbs for energy, but it is simply not true. You can chose what carbs you eat and when, and manage blood glucose levels very precisely, but eating low carb rather than no carb seems to be all that is required for most and the regime is even more relaxed for prediabetes.

Chromeautofill said:

Thanks for your replies folks, hopefully I'll get my head round all this carbs/sugar intake things soon, everything that I like are packed full of carbs and sugar, last night for my tea I had 2 skinless chicken breast with broccoli and cauliflower, without any potatoes it didn't fill me up, and because I've stopped eating chocolate I was feeling hungry before I went to bed, I had 2 slices of wholemeal toast for breakfast, but eating bread is meant to be a no-no, no bread, no cereal, because I work long hours its hard starting the day off feeling hungry, I'm just having a tin of tuna chunks for my lunch today, is there anything I can eat with it (not salad because I only eat lettuce on a salad) so I feel full ?

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Try adding some fat to your diet - in the absence of carbs, fat will help to fill you up. So keep the skin on the chicken, add butter to your veggies - or stir fry/sauté them instead of boiling/steaming. With the tuna, mix it with mayo. Add veggies rather than salad or add some cheese or avocado (if that doesn't count as salad).

It might be worth checking out some of the meal plans on dietdoctor.com or looking at the "what have you eaten today" thread on the low carb forum to get some ideas http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/what-have-you-eaten-today.75781/page-505

If it helps - we can live without carbs at all. I recently spent two weeks on a zero carb diet (just eggs, cheese, meat, poultry and fish) and, while it was a boring as hell, I am still here to tell the tale. You just need to eat enough of the stuff you can eat so that you don't feel hungry. An easy breakfast that can be prepared the night before is a couple of boiled eggs, cheese, cold meats.

The other thing that a lot of us can tolerate is Lidl High Protein Rolls (dark brown, triangular, in the open bread area) they are great for breakfast just toasted with butter.

Chromeautofill said:

I've never eaten avocado, it just looks gross, i'll probably end up in casualty with 'avocado hand' where I've chopped a couple of fingers off trying to get the stone out with a sharp knife, can you eat them raw or do they need boiling first ??

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You eat them raw.

My husband has 'hated' avocado for 50 odd years (without ever having tasted one) - but recently had one mashed on a Lidl roll with a sprinkling of salt - he's fallen in love with them and is now costing me a fortune in ginormous avocados which he takes to work, cuts in half, sprinkles with salt and lime juice and eats straight out of the skin with a spoon.

You might find the acid reflux goes when you start low carbing - I used to live on Gaviscon and haven't needed any for two years now.

Chromeautofill said:

I've never eaten avocado, it just looks gross, i'll probably end up in casualty with 'avocado hand' where I've chopped a couple of fingers off trying to get the stone out with a sharp knife, can you eat them raw or do they need boiling first ??

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You eat them raw - no need for cooking.

Edited to say posted before I saw @Chook's response.

Chromeautofill said:

Thanks for your replies folks, hopefully I'll get my head round all this carbs/sugar intake things soon, everything that I like are packed full of carbs and sugar, last night for my tea I had 2 skinless chicken breast with broccoli and cauliflower, without any potatoes it didn't fill me up, and because I've stopped eating chocolate I was feeling hungry before I went to bed, I had 2 slices of wholemeal toast for breakfast, but eating bread is meant to be a no-no, no bread, no cereal, because I work long hours its hard starting the day off feeling hungry, I'm just having a tin of tuna chunks for my lunch today, is there anything I can eat with it (not salad because I only eat lettuce on a salad) so I feel full ?

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I am a bit confused about you saying you cant have any bread or cereal at all. Can you get a blood glucose meter and start testing? That will show you how different quantities of bread, cereal etc affect you personally. You may find, like me, that you can have some bread. This will help while you are coming of chocolate and sweet things, as mentioned in your other threads.

Paging @daisy1 for her excellent advice post for beginners.

You can eat them on their own, or with anything you fancy. I'm having some tonight with smoked salmon and poached eggs. Sure it'd be fine with pork chops too.

I'm tagging @Kristin251 who is an avocado officionado. Hope you don't mind Kristin.

Chromeautofill said:

I'm avoiding bread, cereal and potatoes because they seem to be THE avoid, I rarely eat pasta or rice anyway, so I won't miss them, on a bread wrapper last night it said one slice equals 2% of the recommended daily amount of sugar, 1 loaf usually lasts me 5 days, I have to be honest I don't have a clue what the recommended daily amount of sugar I'm supposed to ingest ?? I don't take sugar in my tea either

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Have you had a look on this page: http://www.diabetes.co.uk/pre-diabetes.html It also has links to lots of other pages with info which will help you.

Hi @Chromeautofill

Since you are pre-diabetic and not full blown Type 2 you may well not need to go so hard core on the carb cutting.

A lot of what you see on the forum is about people who do need (or have chosen) to go pretty strict on the carbs, and it probably seems rather daunting.

There are several lower carb breads on the market. Lidl rolls (mentioned above) are low carb, then there are brands like Burgen which are in most supermarkets, I think. You may be able to tolerate them better than you think.

Do you cook? If so, the internet has a whole variety of low carb porridge and granola recipes you can make. My husband LOVES this one. http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/2015/03/06/grain-free-cinnamon-crunch/

The ingredients may seem a bit weird and wonderful to start with (I buy them online rather than expecting my supermarket to have them), but they are usually easy to follow the recipe.

We are having this porridge this week:
https://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/coconut-porridge

with regard to eating lower carb lunches at work, I find things like crustless quiches, hummous, cold meats and cheese, reheated leftovers from the night before, Lidl protein rolls, chunky soups with lots of veg and meat (preferably home made). Greek yoghurt with a few berries is fab.

If you like lettuce, you could try wrapping the sandwich filling into a lettuce leaf, and eating it like a wrap. That works really well, and is delicious!

Oh, and as for avocado, I am not really a fan of it cold in salads, but it is delicous chopped up, with salsa or tomatoes, with an egg cracked over it and baked in the oven until the egg yolk is done to your taste. Love that!

Chromeautofill said:

one slice equals 2% of the recommended daily amount of sugar, 1 loaf usually lasts me 5 days, I have to be honest I don't have a clue what the recommended daily amount of sugar I'm supposed to ingest ??

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With prediabetes... none would be the best option. Or at least as little as possible.