Help! Which diet?

Welcome @hope2010

Why don't you have a look around on Diet Doctor to see what you think? https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb Or try the mediterranean diet?

To find out what works best for you, you'll need a glucose meter. Find the cheapest glucose test strips you can find and buy the glucose meter kit that goes with it. Test your glucose pre-meal and one and two hours post meal to see how your glucose levels rise and fall after each meal.

You could start in the 75 to 150 carb range per day and see what happens. Problem foods are sugar, grains, and fruit, also legumes and root vegetables.

A good place to start is to eat normally and track you glucose levels for a few days to see what your base line glucose levels are then start reducing the carbs slowly to see what happens.

Sorry got to walk out the door... Good luck!

hope2010 said:

Hi. I'm recently diagnosed. What is the best diet for us prediabetics? I'm so confused. Some say eat fat, some limit fat, some cut out practically everything. Please help! I just need somewhere to start. Thanks.

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Welcome, Yes it can be very confusing. Seems like the first step is to lose weight, even if your not overweight. For most people carbs seems to be the problem as they turn into sugar and you'll want to avoid sugar. I'm not good with counting carbs, calories or anything like that, some people swear by it, so I decided to avoid most stable carbs, like white flour, white rice, pasta, potatoes and sugar. It's not too hard if you buy a meter to check your glucose. Before meals, 2 hours after. This will give you an idea of what you can eat without your blood sugar rising too much, (eating by the meter) and it's very motivating when you really want something you shouldn't have. After 3-4 weeks your taste buds change and it gets easier again. I didn't start on Low carbs, High fat, (LCHF), but now I'm a fan, still struggling with eating fat, though, so I'm probably more low carb, medium healthy fat Add some exercise you can fit in your day. There's not one perfect diet for everyone. Cut out carbs, or some carbs, the fat is supposed to fill you up, so it's up to you how much fat you want. I started with low carb, low fat and lost weight pretty fast, but most do LCHF from the beginning. Others can advice you where to get the best meter. Look around the forum, there's heaps of good advice and friendly people

Well, it depends on your individual needs, but if reducing blood sugar and/or weight is the issue and you don't have other specific issues, then I think avoiding sugar and starchy foods as much as possible is pretty much the main thing you need to do: there's quite a good summary on the wiki page for Dr Bernstein- I include it below:

• Avoiding all foods with added sugar or honey such as desserts, candies, and pastries; all foods made from grains and grain flours such as breads, cereals, pasta, and rice; all starchy vegetables such as potatoes, corn, carrots, peas, tomatoes, and beans; all fresh or preserved fruits and fruit juices; all dairy products except for butter, cream, and fermented cheeses.

If you want 'named' diets, then Michael Mosely, Banting and Atkins might be worth looking into: the parts I like about their diets basically correlate with the Bernstein list above.

@hope2010 even though this forum is located in the UK, we have forum members here from many different countries. I forgot to ask which country you live in. I live in the US. I ask because it's helpful to know when making some recommendations.

I think it also might be helpful if you tell us a little more about your needs too. Not all type 2 diabetics are overweight for example.

Hi @hope2010 and welcome to the forum.

I'm tagging @daisy1 so that you'll receive the information sent to all new members on the forum.

I have found the low carb diet very helpful in reducing my blood sugar levels from what were very high numbers when diagnosed. I dislike weighing and measuring so am using broad principles - no sugar, bread, pasta, rice or potatoes. I also found by testing that root vegetables spike me, so those have gone too.

As others have suggested, take a look at the diet doctor websites for food ideas and test immediately before eating and again 2 hours after eating. You're aiming for a rise of no more than 2 mmols at the 2 hour mark.

@hope2010

Hello and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

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 147,000 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 free 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.

Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. They're all free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.

Hi and your quite right, everyone tends to recommend the diet that they use and there are as many diets as there are diabetics but the one thing we are all in agreement with here is that you should reduce the amount of carbs in your diet, by how much and whether you add extra fat is entirely up to you.

There is two ways that you can help yourself decide, you can eat what someone else tells you you should which might or might not work for you, or you can find out what works best for you and the way to do that is to test your blood glucose (bg) levels before and 2 hours after every meal.

If your levels are more than 2 mmol/L higher after your meal then that meal contained too many carbs. So the next time you eat that same meal you should reduce the amount of carbs by half and test again, and keep doing this until you reach a point where your levels are within 2mmol/L difference after every meal. (It may help you to keep a food diary and note what you ate ie three potatoes, chicken breast, veg etc and the difference after the two hour period.)

Typically the type of carbs you should be limiting are bread especially white and wholemeal which are essentially the same when it comes to raising bg levels, potato, rice, pasta and anything made with flour ie pies and pastries etc.

I wont tell you what I eat as that would be a total wast of time because we are all different and what works for me is unlikely to work for you, you have to find out what is right for you and the only way to do that is to test, test, and test some more.

Good luck

Completely agree with Sid above that cutting down on carbs will help.
I think the kind of diet that suits you depends a bit on your personality.. I'm a bit all or nothing so found that severe carbohydrate restriction worked best for me as my mantra is "most carbs are poison" for me at least. Something that gets repeated by my other half whenever he eats them... so it's stuck.. although as he doesn't have Type 2 then he's fine. others find that cutting back a bit is easier for them.
Testing is also essential to show which foods raise your blood sugars the most and are best avoided. I also found that by not having breakfast I extended my overnight fast, avoided one of usually the most carb filled meals of the day and helped my weight loss along. When eating I follow a ketogenic diet with fewer than 20g of carbs per day.
Hope that helps a bit.
Also I would add don't be afraid of fat. If not consumed with carbs it can be your friend providing a feeling of satiety which last for hours. Butter, cream, are all good olives, avocados just avoid man made fats like veg oils.

hope2010 said:

Hi. I'm recently diagnosed. What is the best diet for us prediabetics? I'm so confused. Some say eat fat, some limit fat, some cut out practically everything. Please help! I just need somewhere to start. Thanks.

Click to expand...

hope2010 said:

Hi. I'm recently diagnosed. What is the best diet for us prediabetics? I'm so confused. Some say eat fat, some limit fat, some cut out practically everything. Please help! I just need somewhere to start. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Hi Hope! I am prediabetic myself (6.1 /115) and eat much of what I like but in smaller portions. You know-basically all diets work as long as you burn more then you consume. Do you try to engage in regular exercise?

Winnie53 said:

@hope2010 even though this forum is located in the UK, we have forum members here from many different countries. I forgot to ask which country you live in. I live in the US. I ask because it's helpful to know when making some recommendations.

I think it also might be helpful if you tell us a little more about your needs too. Not all type 2 diabetics are overweight for example.

Click to expand...

True, I wasn't overweight, but still had to lose weight to get rid of the belly fat. It's the deeper fat - called "visceral" fat - that may be the bigger problem, even for thin people. Supposedly it's worse being skinny-fat than overweight! Anyway, I'm in the South Pacific where 80% of the population is overweight and diabetes is affecting a lot of people here.

Hi @hope2010, welcome to the forum

hope2010 said:

Hi. I'm recently diagnosed. What is the best diet for us prediabetics? I'm so confused. Some say eat fat, some limit fat, some cut out practically everything. Please help! I just need somewhere to start. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Hi welcome. Everyone on here is so open and welcoming you are sure to find someone to answer your questions but I agree with the others in that it is up to you to find what suits you. It was easy for me as I found this site before I was diagnosed but after I guessed. The first principle I guessed was I had to much blood glucose, any more was really bad for me and glucose comes from sugar and starches. As soon as I followed the rudimentary principle of not eating those 2 food groups I felt better. Loads of people on here have much better results than me but for the moment I am happy with the way I am heading. You do need to do your your research and become expert in knowing what you need. I think this might help you on your journey. All the best

I do basic Atkins, as it is easy - no special mixes or drinks, advises fresh foods, it tastes great, and it made my BG and HBa1c drop - the only disadvantage is that nothing fits - my weight reduced and my waist reappeared - even my feet have shrunk. With Atkins you can tailor it to your requirements, weight loss is optional, just follow the numbers on your meter as you see how you react to different amounts of various foods. You can decide if you want to eat them or avoid them, knowing how you react to them.