Freshly Diagnosed

[irish19]

Hello all.......i am looking for some tips on where to start with controlling my prediabetes diagnosis (5.9). I have read alot of stories where people are able to reverse prediabetes.

I am going to follow my Dr's advice and try and lose some weight. I am 6'2 250 lb male. My goal is to drop 30 lbs.
I am currently active at least twice a week.....so i plan to increase that going forward.

I also smoked for 30 yrs and in the last 6 months have been down to 6 smokes/day. I am happy to report that tonight is now one week without a smoke (big accomplishment).

My biggest hurdle from what it sounds like will be the eating part and avoiding carbs???
I have incorporated intermittent fasting over the last week and find it manageable. It makes sense to me so i will keep doing it.

So....i'm open to all advice on this.

I am quite shook by this as for the last 49 yrs i thought i was bullet proof!! lol

Thanks in advance.

 

[May Mic]

I'm new here too. First of all, congratulations on the smoking cessation! It's not easy, but so worth while for your health. From what I understand smoking can interfere with the tiny blood vessels in our bodies, I.e. eyes.

I have been prediabetic for years , but due to being rather cavalier about it, it is progressing. My last A1C was 6.7. So now I am being more serious. No eating after dinner, smaller portions, fewer carbs. But I could still do better. I have a blood test again at the end of December so I am " studying " for it. I.E. with the fewer carbs and at least 30 minutes of exercise most days. My cardiologist bluntly told me that I was diabetic, even though my own Dr. did not say as much.

I'm sure others will have lots of advice for you. Being prediabetic is giving you a chance for a course correction, take it.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Hello @irish19 and @May Mic ,

You've both made a step in the right direction, seeking knowledge on how to tackle all this. https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html this link might help a little get off to a good start. Irish19, I'm a former (chain-) smoker myself, so excellent job on quitting. Diabetes can do damage to veins and arteries as well, so you're tacking two possible causes for complications later on in one go.

May, I am really, really bad with conversions, (I measure HbA1c's in mmol/mol, I still don't quite know how to get 6.7 sorted), but if I'm reading this chart right, you're technically just over the diabetic diagnostic threshold. But just barely, and if I'm reading this right, that means you can still get in top of this in absolutely no time at all. Weeks, not months.

Both of you are off to a good start, being willing to attack this thing before it gets out of hand.
Good luck, and if there's any questions, there's always someone around with answers!
Jo

 

[Outlier]

I agree - congratulations to both of you for getting into the vibe with tackling this, You will be heartened and amazed at how you can improve what must have been daunting information at first. Read around here and ask anything - many of us have been deeper in that you are now, and all of us are supportive.

 

[Paul41]

Hello all.......i am looking for some tips on where to start with controlling my prediabetes diagnosis (5.9). I have read alot of stories where people are able to reverse prediabetes.

I am going to follow my Dr's advice and try and lose some weight. I am 6'2 250 lb male. My goal is to drop 30 lbs.
I am currently active at least twice a week.....so i plan to increase that going forward.

I also smoked for 30 yrs and in the last 6 months have been down to 6 smokes/day. I am happy to report that tonight is now one week without a smoke (big accomplishment).

My biggest hurdle from what it sounds like will be the eating part and avoiding carbs???
I have incorporated intermittent fasting over the last week and find it manageable. It makes sense to me so i will keep doing it.

So....i'm open to all advice on this.

I am quite shook by this as for the last 49 yrs i thought i was bullet proof!! lol

Thanks in advance.

I don’t think I’m qualified to give advice but I can tell you what I did.

I can relate to your feelings of shock and not knowing what to do , I think we all can.

FYI I’m a 65 year old 1.82 metre bloke and was 102 kgs in July. Since then I’ve lost about 14kgs by going low carb and walking more. I’m going to try and get down to about 80kgs, we will see.

I started by reading everything I could on the subject , it’s bewildering and confusing but this site and the advice given is brilliant.

Have a look at some of the work by Dr David Unwin he has an excellent website including lessons and recipes.
There are others and many inspirational stories , including from members past and present from this site.

Basically I learnt that whilst we all might share the same problem ( pre diabetes) what you can / cannot tolerate eating is different to me. For instance I can eat beans and I’m enjoying them. I cannot eat any flour based foods though , this means no pasta , pastry and only certain breads are good.

The key to knowing what you can / cannot eat is testing. Many use a finger prick test ( cheap as chips and available all over) and this can give information on how YOUR body reacts to different foods. Before you know it you have a set of foods that do not spike your BG and life becomes more relaxed.

So now I’m at the “ normal “ blood glucose level according to the testing that I’m doing ( I used another form
Of testing a CGM) and it’s comforting. Now I’m actually enjoying the ride and learning as I get healthier.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[rexonaut]

Hello all.......i am looking for some tips on where to start with controlling my prediabetes diagnosis (5.9). I have read alot of stories where people are able to reverse prediabetes.

I am going to follow my Dr's advice and try and lose some weight. I am 6'2 250 lb male. My goal is to drop 30 lbs.
I am currently active at least twice a week.....so i plan to increase that going forward.

I also smoked for 30 yrs and in the last 6 months have been down to 6 smokes/day. I am happy to report that tonight is now one week without a smoke (big accomplishment).

My biggest hurdle from what it sounds like will be the eating part and avoiding carbs???
I have incorporated intermittent fasting over the last week and find it manageable. It makes sense to me so i will keep doing it.

So....i'm open to all advice on this.

I am quite shook by this as for the last 49 yrs i thought i was bullet proof!! lol

Thanks in advance.

Quitting smoking is a good start. Great. I got pre-diabetes 1,5 years ago. I use sensor to follow BG after every meal. Bodies are different. I can’t eat oats, rice, gluten. Few types of beer is ok, dry white wine is ok. Fatty meat is out. Limited hard cheese is ok. Some cognac is ok, gin tonic completely out.

Use sensors to find out your body.

 

[andromache]

Well done, quitting the smokes. For a month or two I just had to take it on trust that life could be worth living without them. (Plot spoiler: it was/is.) There’s no single bigger thing you can do for your health. And once you’ve done that, well basically you know you can do anything.