Prediabetes Help Needed

Hi @Sheilaelizabeth
Confusing I know. So I’m tagging @daisy1 for some info.
Well done on trying to help your husband before it gets out of hand. Cutting carbs does not have to mean weight loss.
You go on carb value, not the sugars.

Welcome to the forum @Sheilaelizabeth. Starchy carbs especially bread, potatoes, rice and pasta turn quickly to glucose/sugar in our bodies so should be avoided or limited as much as possible by pre-diabetics and Type 2 diabetics. You need to look for the total carbohydrate content in nutrition information on food items.
Have a read around the forums and Daisy's information when she posts it and ask any questions you want. The people on here are friendly and supportive and you will get a lot of good advice.

@Sheilaelizabeth
Hello and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it both interesting and helpful.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 220,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

Sheilaelizabeth said:

My husband has just been diagnosed with prediabetes, he’s only one point above the maximum reading for this. He’s tall and slim, can’t afford to lose any weight and I’m worried that by limiting carbs he will lose weight, any advice?

Also I’m confused re carbs and sugar content of processed food, should I be going off total carbs per 100 grams or “of which is sugars” per 100 grams?

Advice seems to be conflicting: don’t have white rice, bread, pasta etc, then I read recipes that include these foods. I am being thick or are these common problems? I really want to get this right and stop my husband from becoming a type 2 diabetic if I possibly can. His father died from a heart attack related to diabetes at 61 and his mum was a late onset type 2 so it’s in his genes.

Any advice and help would be very gratefully received by a confused wife wanting to help her husband.

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From my recent experience weight loss can be regulated by the level of fat intake, while eating less carbs. I stand to be corrected on this though.

You can ignore the 'of which sugars' part of the index. Sugar is just another carbohydrate and we are all confused at first when looking at carb content. To make up for carbs (which are a fuel) your hubby would be wise to raise the amount of healthy fats (another fuel, and a better one than carbs) such as real butter, olive oil etc. This may sound counterintuitive but fats do not make you fat, carbs can make you gain weight and raise blood glucose levels which is what causes complications further down the line.

Welcome to the forum and Well Done on being proactive. It is a learning curve and one of the best ways to learn is by using a glucometer at home. This nifty bit of kit will teach your husband which foods to cut down on and which foods he can happily munch on all day long.

If he limits carbs and does not replace them then he probably will lose weight.
(I made this mistake - I am Pre-diabetic) when I started low carb - and I lost weight I didn't want to lose)
The key is upping fat - cheese, greek yogurt, meat, eggs, olive oil, nuts, avocado etc
I had to make an effort to do this as I didn't feel hungry, but found that the body adapted

edit to add
Look at carbs figures, not sugars
Getting a glucose meter is good advice. Check the cost of the strips, as this is the main cost in the long term

I agree with the other replies.

Cutting down carbs is essential, and replacing the lost fuel and energy with good fats is also essential if your hubby is to maintain a healthy weight and lower his blood sugar levels.

The main culprits in raising blood sugar levels are the starchy carbs of any colour - bread, rice, pasta, potato and all cereals. The wholemeal varieties have the same amount of carbs in them as the white ones. Fruit is also a difficult thing as it contains a lot of sugar and fructose, so best to chose the fruits with the least amount of these - such as raspberries and strawberries. Tropical fruits are very sweet, particularly bananas, pineapples and so on. Dried fruits and fruit juices are also danger foods, the same goes for milk, which needs to be taken in small quantities, say in a cup of tea. Cream is an excellent choice to replace milk, particularly in coffee!

Your best bet would be to buy him a blood glucose meter with plenty of test strips. He can then test immediately before he eats and again 2 hours after first bite. That will show him instantly what that meal has done to his levels, and give you the opportunity to tweak things. Using a food diary and recording these levels alongside will help enormously. We can help you with all this.

In a nutshell it appears to be:

Replace carbs with fat and protein
Exercise to turn protein fat into muscle

No doubt someone will correct me?

Sheilaelizabeth said:

Thanks very much everyone for your help and advice, it’s helped to make things much clearer for me. You all sound such a friendly lot!

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We are a friendly lot. If you have further questions, just ask, and perhaps point your hubby in our direction. He should benefit from the advice.