Prediabetes Honey

With diabetes, our bodes struggle with all carbohydrates - sugar, pasta, potatoes, honey...
Our body cannot really tell the difference between honey or sugar, I am afraid.

Gustavski said:

I have been told that I am well on my way to getting diabetes.
I have been told to cut down on sugar, which I am sure you will all be familiar with.
My question is... can I use honey as a substitute?
Is so, how many teaspoons daily and which honey variety is best.
Thank you in advance for an answer, and may I add that I am pleased to have joined your forum.
Gus

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Firstly welcome to the forum , there is a wealth of information and people ready to offer help.

The real answer is if you are trying to stop going from pre diabetic to diabetic presume Type 2 and you want to follow a lower Carbohydrate diet to do that then you want to start to understand Carbs per item also ask question on this forum.

Great App to help is Carbs & Cals

A low Carb diet can vary per person under 150 Grams per day is very doable but a lot of people go a lot lower than that

For example
6 Grams of Honey = 5 Grams of Carbs
5 Grams of Sugar = 5 Grams of Carbs
15 Gram of Rice = 5 Grams of Carbs
1/2 a thin slice of Bread = 5 Grams of Carbs

All the best

Low carb on this site is usually below 130g, and many need to go lower to get into remission.
All carbs should be counted, and 'brown' carbs are the same as white, so eat loads of good quality fats and proteins along with green veg instead.
I use erythritol sweetener or a stevia mix such as truvia.

Honey is pretty well 100% glucose, glucose is sugar so no you shouldn't.

I miss eating honey, but as others have said it's on the no go list.

Our favourite honey is /was native bee honey here in Australia out of all of the other honey that is available.

I notice from your profile that you are 83. Just my opinion, I don't believe at that age one should consider any food to be absolutely verboten. However, be cognizant that carbohydrate rich foods (sugar in all its forms, rice, potatoes, pasta) can play havoc with your metabolism and energy levels.

Gustavski said:

Good Lord above, I can see that I am going to have to watch my eating habits.
So, tell me this, am I going to stop eating lots of things or just cutting down on them.
Rice, potatoes, pasta etc'
Which foods are absolute verboten apart from sugar and honey.

Gus

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Hi, I would suggest download Carbs & Cals app or get hold of a paperback of it about £ 10 new on Amazon.

It is the smallest investment you can make in your journey.

With it you can start to understand what Carbs is in what in what portion size or weight.

I am Type 1 who likes to keep my Carbs lowish below 150 Gram but I am also a endurance athlete. As you will see on other post Type 2 remission will probably need to be lower more like below 120 Gram per day or less depends on each person.

Somedays I feel like a piece of Toast so I have it very thin and half a slice, but I put a lot of Butter, Cheese and yes 2 Grams of Honey on it and enjoy.

Same goes for Sweet Potato I will have some but a small portion, but I weigh my portion so I know exactly how many Carbs it has.

Good luck, this is a Marathon not a Sprint

At 83 I would say reduce potatoes, rice, pasta etc., use a meter to test before and after meals to see the effect of the food and cut out those which raise your blood glucose too high.

There are lots of alternatives to rice, potatoes and pasta.

Below is my high protein healthy fats and safe carb (Brussels, and Cauliflower Rice) dinner.

jape said:

I notice from your profile that you are 83. Just my opinion, I don't believe at that age one should consider any food to be absolutely verboten. However, be cognizant that carbohydrate rich foods (sugar in all its forms, rice, potatoes, pasta) can play havoc with your metabolism and energy levels.

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Well. I'll be 80 next summer and I believe that high carb foods are definitely verboten for me, I see no reason why my poor ancient pancreas and liver should have to work overtime on my behalf just so I can stuff my face with high carb foods when I can manage very nicely on a low carb normal full fat diet . I was able to reduce my glucose levels from diabetic at diagnosis to pre-diabetic in a few months with very little effort by cutting right down on high carbohydrate and sugary food. And by doing this I no longer need any medication to control my diabetes. If I want sweet, like @TriciaWs I'll use erythritol and stevia - on their own or combined. In some ways what I eat now is closer to what I ate when I was young - remember war-time rationing, @Gustavski??

But I too would recommend getting a meter so that you can discover how well your body is able handle carbs.

@Gustavski I have noticed a considerable physical improvement since following low carb consistently. I am stronger, have more stamina - even my defunct thyroid - which went out decades ago, seems to have revived and I have had to reduce the Thyroxine dose.
I eat proteins and fats, lots of fresh low carb veges and berries, and frozen ones when I don't have the fresh ones. I don't eat grains, potatoes, no high starch or sugar foods - though I will have Yorkshire puddings once in a while, with lots of eggs and cream rather than milk, diluted with water to make it pourable.
You might find that you tolerate carbs better than I do - so you can pick your carb sources, there being no good or bad carbs.
I might have a normal ice cream if I am out for the day in the summer - but that would be maybe four in a year, a similar number of dinners with Yorkshire puddings, as those are the dinners with my daughter and son in law.
I can definitely tolerate the carbs now after 5 years from diagnosis, but it then takes some time to lose the weight I put on overnight.