How Low Should I Go

[Listlad]

Hi I have prediabetes as diagnosed by my GP. I am trying to get to grips with managing it but finding it difficult to work out how far to go with carb suppression in the diet. Just now I have moved over to brown rice and brown bread, Jacket potato’s, mainly because advice that I read or received suggests I should do this. Am also using sweetener instead of sugar in everything I can possibly have a say in. And cutting out chocolates, cakes and sweets. I have also reduced the amount of dried fruits and fruit juice that I previously have indulged in.

I asked my GP to give me access to an NHS dietician but was turned down on the grounds of not being heavy enough.

I am due a 3 month non fasting blood test (HbA1c ?) in a few weeks and I too cannot remember my last test results but my GP assures me it is within the Prediabetes window.

My question is essentially, how low do I need to go with the the low carb diet?

 

[Goonergal]

My personal opinion is ‘the lower the better’. Since all carbs turn to,glucose in the blood, it’s not just the obvious candidates such as sugar that can send your blood sugar levels soaring.

However, while minimising carbs works very well for me (substantially lower than 20g per day), it’s not for everyone. The only way to know for sure what impact foods ate having on you is to use a glucose meter and test.

Getting and understanding your HbA1c result will be an important step in informing your next steps.

Has someone tagged @daisy1 for you? She’ll be along with some useful information. Have a read and ask as many questions as you like.

 

[Guzzler]

Hello and welcome to the forum. You can go as low as you are comfortable with. May I ask, do you have a glucometer at home? If not I would advise that you get one as this little gizmo can tell you exactly what the foods you are eating do to your blood glucose levels.

 

[Listlad]

Hello and welcome to the forum. You can go as low as you are comfortable with. May I ask, do you have a glucometer at home? If not I would advise that you get one as this little gizmo can tell you exactly what the foods you are eating do to your blood glucose levels.

Hi Guzzler. No I do not have a glucometer. Is that a device that takes a blood sample to arrive at a result?

I have been diagnosed as having prediabetes since early 2016. My lifestyle has altered for the last year where I have become more sedentary and so have been trying to compensate by focusing on my diet. Problem is my family don’t tend to like brown rice and brown bread etc so it is difficult to embark upon a diet that would be best for me without cooking food separately for my own consumption. At present I am trying to satisfy us all as a family aswell as reduce my carb intake. I do most of the cooking.

I assume knowing what my sugar levels specifically are would enable me to judge how far I need to adjust my diet without having an impact on family relations?

 

[Listlad]

My personal opinion is ‘the lower the better’. Since all carbs turn to,glucose in the blood, it’s not just the obvious candidates such as sugar that can send your blood sugar levels soaring.

However, while minimising carbs works very well for me (substantially lower than 20g per day), it’s not for everyone. The only way to know for sure what impact foods ate having on you is to use a glucose meter and test.

Getting and understanding your HbA1c result will be an important step in informing your next steps.

Has someone tagged @daisy1 for you? She’ll be along with some useful information. Have a read and ask as many questions as you like.

Thanks Goonergal. Yes I am due another HbA1C test in early Feb.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Hi and welcome,

As the others have said, a glucose meter will become your best friend and will tell you instantly what your food choices have done to your blood sugar levels, giving you the chance to lower your carbs to a level your body can cope with.

Do ask for print outs of your last test results, and the next ones and all subsequent ones. This is important and it isn't just your Hba1c that matters, it is also cholesterol, kidney and liver functions. You really need all this information. It is never wise to accept what a doctor or nurse says. Hearing things like "normal" or "fine" isn't good enough because you may be teetering on the edge of normal and need to know by how much. All you need to do is ring the receptionist and ask for them. If you are in England you can also ask if your surgery puts test results on line and how to register for this.

I personally would forget about brown rice and wholemeal foods. They have just as many carbs as the white varieties and will raise your glucose levels just the same. Same with fruit juices and especially potatoes, including jackets..

 

[HSSS]

Hi Guzzler. No I do not have a glucometer. Is that a device that takes a blood sample to arrive at a result?

I have been diagnosed as having prediabetes since early 2016. My lifestyle has altered for the last year where I have become more sedentary and so have been trying to compensate by focusing on my diet. Problem is my family don’t tend to like brown rice and brown bread etc so it is difficult to embark upon a diet that would be best for me without cooking food separately for my own consumption. At present I am trying to satisfy us all as a family aswell as reduce my carb intake. I do most of the cooking.

I assume knowing what my sugar levels specifically are would enable me to judge how far I need to adjust my diet without having an impact on family relations?

My family are not low carb. Many meals now I do the carbs on the side and either add extras of the rest of it for me or do an alternative side. Some days I’ll double cook a meal for me and do an alternative for them and have my left overs the following day too whilst they have another I don’t eat. Unfortunately if nothing changes in the meal prep then nothing much will change in the blood results either. My teenagers are slowly coming around to lower carb than before, mostly more veg and dairy. Remember to raise your fats as you drop the carbs to keep you satisfied and full and with energy.

The “brown” stuff often has as many carbs as the “white” stuff eg bread and rice so the sacrifice they are making may not be actually making much difference for you. It may give you a slightly slower and lower rise but it’ll possibly last longer instead.

 

[Listlad]

Hi and welcome,

As the others have said, a glucose meter will become your best friend and will tell you instantly what your food choices have done to your blood sugar levels, giving you the chance to lower your carbs to a level your body can cope with.

Do ask for print outs of your last test results, and the next ones and all subsequent ones. This is important and it isn't just your Hba1c that matters, it is also cholesterol, kidney and liver functions. You really need all this information. It is never wise to accept what a doctor or nurse says. Hearing things like "normal" or "fine" isn't good enough because you may be teetering on the edge of normal and need to know by how much. All you need to do is ring the receptionist and ask for them. If you are in England you can also ask if your surgery puts test results on line and how to register for this.

I personally would forget about brown rice and wholemeal foods. They have just as many carbs as the white varieties and will raise your glucose levels just the same. Same with fruit juices and especially potatoes, including jackets..

Thanks for those tips. I will indeed ask for my previous results. I am in England and I am online via MyGP so I will ask about getting those figures online.

 

[Listlad]

My family are not low carb. Many meals now I do the carbs on the side and either add extras of the rest of it for me or do an alternative side. Some days I’ll double cook a meal for me and do an alternative for them and have my left overs the following day too whilst they have another I don’t eat. Unfortunately if nothing changes in the meal prep then nothing much will change in the blood results either. My teenagers are slowly coming around to lower carb than before, mostly more veg and dairy. Remember to raise your fats as you drop the carbs to keep you satisfied and full and with energy.

The “brown” stuff often has as many carbs as the “white” stuff eg bread and rice so the sacrifice they are making may not be actually making much difference for you. It may give you a slightly slower and lower rise but it’ll possibly last longer instead.

I see. I can identify with your situation. I am tending to have to approach meals in a similar kind of way.

The “brown stuff” argument seems to be that it reduces the spikes. But am not sure how beneficial that is?

 

[HSSS]

It’s more the low gi argument, or the eatwell plate argument, than the low carb argument. Better than doing nothing I guess, but nowhere near enough for many of us in here.

 

[Listlad]

Thanks for all your responses. I am finding it tough to make changes in my diet as a prediabetic. I imagine it is a lot harder for those that have full diabetes.

Should we consider prediabetes as a form of diabetes? Or is a distinctly seperate condition?

Something I should add is that I have always had a sweet tooth so, sweets, cakes, puddings, fruit I have eaten in copious quantities. I am hoping that I do not have to make too much of an adjustment to my diet except to cut the added sugar out and reduced my consumption of cakes, puddings and suites to next to nothing. I am using Truvia as a sweetener to help avoid added sugar at home.

 

[Antje77]

Hello again, @Listlad , good to see you've posted and very good to see you got a bunch of useful answers already
I agree with getting a meter (yes, you give yourself a finger prick to obtain a small drop of blood and the little machine tells you what your blood glucose is after 5 seconds. Very informative to test before meals and again about 2 hours after to see what your body thought of that particular food).

I only cook for me, most of the time, so that makes things a bit easier, but usually I eat the same as before, only with more of the vegetables and meat/cheese/eggs and less or no pasta/rice/potato, which is fairly easy to do without having to cook different meals. Adding some cream or cheese instead of the carby parts is a nice trick as well

 

[Bluetit1802]

I see. I can identify with your situation. I am tending to have to approach meals in a similar kind of way.

The “brown stuff” argument seems to be that it reduces the spikes. But am not sure how beneficial that is?

The brown stuff tends to have more fibre in it, so it is better for our general health, but has an equal amount of carbs as the white stuff. The only difference is the brown varieties are slower at converting to glucose. You will still see raised glucose levels, maybe not as high, but they will last longer, so you still have the same amount of glucose in your blood stream over a longer period of time.

 

[Antje77]

The “brown stuff” argument seems to be that it reduces the spikes. But am not sure how beneficial that is?

That's what the meter is for. It will tell you exactly if your body can handle it.

Should we consider prediabetes as a form of diabetes? Or is a distinctly seperate condition?

I'd say it's a form of diabetes but I'm not sure everyone agrees.

 

[shelley262]

Take a look too at
Www.dietdoctor.com
Lots of visual carb guides on the site as well as recipes and ideas to try. You don’t need to pay you can look at a lot of the material for free

 

[Bluetit1802]

Should we consider prediabetes as a form of diabetes? Or is a distinctly seperate condition?

Pre-diabetes is not a disease in itself. It simply means you are at risk of developing diabetes, and have a problem metabolising glucose. It is also called glucose impairment.

 

[Listlad]

I'd say it's a form of diabetes but I'm not sure everyone agrees.

I tend to view it that way. But my GP tried to persuade me otherwise.

 

[Listlad]

Take a look too at
Www.dietdoctor.com
Lots of visual carb guides on the site as well as recipes and ideas to try. You don’t need to pay you can look at a lot of the material for free

Okay thanks for that Shelley.

 

[Deborahdesylva]

I was told I was pre-diabetic like you and did a very similar adjustment in diet but it wasn't effective and I wish now I had got a monitor earlier. Got mine this weekend just gone and been on here asking advice ever since! it was £18 delivered with Prime and came with supply of testing strips. Worth it's weight in gold! I am finally seeing what various food choices do in my body!

 

[Antje77]

I tend to view it that way. But my GP tried to persuade me otherwise.

I think it doesn't really matter what you call it. In both cases your body has trouble with carbs, no matter what it's called.