After tests done through the NHS 5 year health check it seems I am pre diabetic with my HbAc1 result of 42mmol. I am Sandra 63 years old and want to do everything I can to improve this. I had surgery for a pelvi ureteric junction obstruction of my kidney in February so I wasn't prepared for having to deal with another completely unexpected health issue quite so soon. Although I exercise, not overweight and eat a balanced diet it seems I am going to have to review all of these things. I have ordered a glucose monitor. Making diet changes the thing that concerns me is feeling hungry and what if anything is suitable to eat between meals. I suspect stress isn't helping matters my husband has advanced Parkinson's plus other medical issues for over 10 years (been in care home now for 3 years) and no local family support as daughter lives away. Trying to focus time and energy on myself is not easy.
-
Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »
Hello, I am new here
- Thread starter SRDO
- Start Date
Hello and welcome! Do have a read around - there is so much helpful information here from real people with real experience. I assure you that you do not need to ever feel hungry and that there is a vast variety of diabetic-friendly healthy foods for you to have. Whether or not you eat between meals is entirely your choice. What you eat will change a little - foods that are healthy for non-diabetics are sometimes off the list for us.
Stress and illness both raise blood glucose - that is its job after all - and your readings are pretty close to non-diabetic - so you will probably only need to make a few small changes. Please ask anything you are not sure about - no question is stupid or irrelevant. There is a lot of support here.
Stress and illness both raise blood glucose - that is its job after all - and your readings are pretty close to non-diabetic - so you will probably only need to make a few small changes. Please ask anything you are not sure about - no question is stupid or irrelevant. There is a lot of support here.
Thank you for your very reassuring reply. I need to remind myself I am lucky this problem has been picked up so I can start to make changes as early as possible.
JoKalsbeek
Expert
- Messages
- 6,724
- Location
- The Netherlands
- Type of diabetes
- I reversed my Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
Your numbers are at the exact starting point of prediabetes... You are indeed catching it early, and I could just about kiss you for going for a meter and taking this particular bull by the horns. So far, basically, you're doing it all right: You're going to be measuring, and you're asking questions, willing to learn and try stuff out, see what works for you. Excellent!
So, yeah, @Outlier is entirely right. Hunger need not factor in at any point, you're going to eat different foods, not less, per se. Kind of like someone being allergic to peanuts, just not having peanuts. You don't process carbs well, so you don't have them (as much as other people do). No need to not replace them with something else, to keep a full belly. As for snacks, no need to quit those if you snack wisely. Stress doesn't help, no, but when some factors can't be helped, you grab on to the ones you do have influence over. That's basically your diet. And just a few tweaks should get you back into the non-diabetic range quickly.
It's the carbs we can't handle. Not just the sugars, but the starches will raise blood glucose too. So cut down or out, anything grain-based (bread, cereals etc), rice, corn, that sort of thing. Underground veg often is carby, but the above ground stuff is low in carbohydrates and should more often than not, be fine. Fruit can be quite problematic because of all the sugars in there, but berries are usually okay (especially with cream or full fat greek yoghurt!), as are tomatoes. Focus on the fats and protein, those'll keep your blood sugars happy: meat, fish, poultry, eggs, full fat dairy... As for snacks, you might want to gradually get used to extra dark chocolate (I often go for Lindt 99 or 100%, but most start at 85% for instance), as a square'll go a long way in scratching the itch, should there be one. Other snacks could be nice cheeses, olives, pork scratchings, cold cuts, boiled eggs, whatever... All those things are low in carbs and filling.
As for testing, test before a meal and two hours after the first bite. You're looking for a rise of 2.0 mmol/l or less between those two, which means your body could cope with what you put in it. Mind you, that way you miss the actual spike from the meal, should there be one, but the two hour mark lets you know whether a meal is safe to repeat, or whether it needs nixing or adjusting. That does mean a lot of testing when you're starting out, but eventually you know you don't need to test around eggs all the time, for instance.
https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html might help some too.
Good luck!
Jo
- Messages
- 4,145
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Diet only
Hi and welcome. There is a level of inaccuracy in the tests so it's possible your actual blood value might be a little lower or higher. That said, the normal range for blood glucose for non-diabetic people is 36-41 - the graph attached shows that nearly everyone is in this narrow range.
All the advice above is excellent, and I won't repeat. The one thing I would underline though is that whatever you read about this being a progressive condition that you can do nothing about, and it's an inevitable slide into symptoms and complications, is plain wrong. Many of us here have made huge changes to blood glucose levels by following a few simple low carb principles.
I'd also advise you to try to forget everything you think you know about "healthy eating". The standard NHS advice introduced in the 1970s and 1980s, the stuff that's usually parrotted in the media and online, is to base all meals around starchy carbs. The low-carb approach has been around since at least the 1800s and was standard health advice up to around the mid 80s. Cut back starches and sugars - that means reducing carbohydrates.
Best of luck, have a good read round on the forums and ask as many questions as you like.
[edited to attach graph]
