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Hello and welcome to the forum @Tracy17871 - I'm tagging @daisy1 for our new members information which is a good starting point, also have a look round the site, there's a wealth of information here to help as well as many friendly folk to help

Hi and welcome,

There is a lot to learn, but this forum is the best place to be for that, so great that you have found us! We are all diabetics of one sort or another, with a massive amount of experience between us. You have every chance of turning your pre-diabetes round.

I am now going to confuse you even more. Your nurse is wrong to tell you about the green and red traffic light labels in the nutrition guides. They contain the sugar amounts, but not the carbohydrate amounts. You need to look elsewhere on the packet and find the main nutrition label that gives the amounts of all the nutrients. This will tell you all you need to know. Look for "total carbohydrate", which will be listed as an amount per 100g of the food. It will also say "of which sugars" but you can ignore this because sugar is a carb and is included in the total carb amount. The lower the amount the better, and preferably stick to under 10g per 100g. (unless you only intend eating the tiniest portion, such as with a condiment)

All carbs turn to sugar once eaten, so it isn't just sugar we need to look at. It is the total carb content.

Have a good read round and ask all the questions you want.

It never helps when you don't get the proper information to explain the problem.
Basically, the modern diet contains far more carbohydrate than the body of most Homo sapiens sapiens, Mark one, can cope with.
You need to step back from the foods which are basically the same as used to fatten up farmyard animals.
Bread, potatoes, rice - all cereals really, starchy vegetables and sugary foods, even high sugar fruits are all going to be made into things which will either raise your blood glucose levels or be stored in your liver or close to it, making the region more equator than waistland.
I set a limit of 10 percent carbohydrate on most foods I eat everyday, but do allow for chocolate if it is the high cocoa sort. If you use your meter and identify meals which cause your blood glucose to spike then it becomes quite easy to get control. Swapping courgette, celeriac or cauliflower for potato is usually a good start. Some people can eat sweet potato, but they cause me to spike even higher than normal potato - we have to plot our own way through the maze to find what we can and can't eat with safety.
If you get your own testing meter - there is one available mail order which is not expensive to use, you can see if the nurse is correct about artificial sweetener or not.
Personally I avoid aspartame as it makes my brain feel strange, but other flavoured drinks seem fine. I like flavoured teas- mint and licorice seems a good one, warm in winter and chilled in the summer, but I look for low carbs all the time as products appear and vanish again for no apparent reason.
Finally - don't worry - with luck in six months you will wonder what the fuss was about.

@Tracy17871

Hello Tracy 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 need to 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 235,000 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.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are 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.
  

"need to learn the basics first like what are the daily limits of sugar "

Hi Tracy,
The recommended amount of sugar for a non diabetic woman is 25 grams per day, that's about 6 T spoons if that help.

A packet of crisps can have as much as 6garms a McVities chocolate digestive is 4.5grams a spoon full of tomato ketchup 4grams so you can see how quickly it all adds up.

A packet of Chinese stir-fry sauce, can be as much as 60grams. you can see how easy it is go over the limit with out meaning to. This is why people recommend cooking things from scratch because food companies put sugar in almost everything, and it's the best way to limit your sugar intake.

" I couldn’t drink diet drinks any more or use sweetners."
I use them every day.

Hi Tracey
Perhaps you could tell us what you eat now. It may seem overwhelming so make big changes all at once so perhaps you could start with just 1 meal. If you are a simple eater as you say this may be easier than you think! Good luck and take a look at all the success stories; it can be done!

"thank you I’ve now booked an appointment with the right diabetic nurse at my doctors for Monday so fingers crossed il get some proper advice" OK is just me that cant use the quote button today or what.

Sorry to say Tracey but you probably won't.
The health service works for the government and they have to give you the government recommended advice even if they don't believe or agree with it. (This is not a conspiracy theory it just the sad truth. They are handing out the wrong advice. )

That advice is eat lots of meals every 4 hours and have carbohydrates with every meal.

Have a read of @daisy1 welcome pack post the very first thing is about understanding eating less carbohydrates is better for you. I don't think of the 1000's of members on here you will find 1 single person who disagrees with this.

And that's the advice your about to be given eat more carbohydrates more often.
Don't argue with them about it just smile politely and say thank you. Then come back on here and speak to the people who know what there talking about because they live with it every day.

Sorry don't mean to be a Debbie Downer.

With the right advice and a few simple steps you can easily and quickly go from pre diabetic to not at all diabetic blood levels in as little as 8 weeks. This is not some big secret eat better and exercise more is as complicated as it gets.

We can break it down to the medical science as to how and why this works but its your first day and there is no point in bombarding you with complex jargon and over complicating things for you.

Cutting out sugar if a great first step.

Tracy17871 said:

Thank you

thank you I’ve now booked an appointment with the right diabetic nurse at my doctors for Monday so fingers crossed il get some proper advice

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I would like to think so; but I didn't myself, unfortunately. If you are pre diabetic or diabetic type two you have blood glucose levels which are generally too high. The NHS solution to this problem is to tell you to eat lots of lovely carbohydrates, which will increase your BG levels. A five year old would see a problem here.