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Just Got my Casual "Oh your blood test showed prediabetes"

SargeMaximus said:
Bro stop with this paradigm. I’m not fat, I don’t need to snack because I’m fat, i need to snack because I can’t gain weight and it’s unhealthy
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Nothing and no one here suggested you are fat.

the suggestion was to reduce carbs and eat more protein and fat to gain weight. i would suggest swapping the snickers for some Brazil or walnuts and some cubes of cheese.

but if you choose to ignore the advice and carry on as you are it’s entirely your choice.
 
SargeMaximus said:
Ok a few issues here: I have a host of food intolerances which is gonna make this very tricky so bear with me. I'm not picking your suggestions apart and I'm not attacking you personally, I simply have food allergies, ok? :)

Food allergies: Nuts so that tanks most of my options here, gluten (so no wheat bran) I've also read that seeds and seed oils are bad because they leach nutrients from the gut so I would prefer to avoid them.
Is there a danger of eating too much fat? I don't mind eating pure coconut oil for example I'm just worried I might do damage to my arteries or something.

Today I bought some chicken that was on sale, cauliflower and cheese. I was gonna get bacon but all the ones I checked had sugar in the ingredients even tho the nutrition info said 0% sugar so it's sneaky.

What about dark chocolate? 90% or more?

Thanks.
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Just seen you are allergic to nuts. So I’d still suggest snacking on cheese, dark chocolate is good, ant pre prepared meats…ham, pepperoni, etc.
 
Two general tips I would give are:

1) I believe Canadian food labelling includes fibre in the total carbohydrate count (you'll need to confirm if that's correct, or maybe someone else here knows). If so, you'll need to calculate net carbs for intake, which is total carbohydrate minus fibre. You don't need to worry about fibre, as it's digested differently and generally doesn't get converted into glucose. It's the net carbs in this case that will cause blood glucose to rise.

2) As you're allergic to nuts, I'd strongly recommend avoiding anything advertised as "keto" or "low carb" when it comes to baked goods, or at least check ingredients very carefully. Most low carb bakery is essentially ground nuts, combined with something to make it all stick together. Some of these products are quite calorific, so may appeal to the eye if you're looking to gain weight, which is why I mention it specifically.
 
SargeMaximus said:
Doc said blood glucose was 6% and it was that hab1c whichever it’s called
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An hba1c of 6% (or 42 mmol/l in the units used in the UK) is exactly on the cut-off between non diabetic at all and prediabes, according to UK guidelines.

You may find you'll drop back into completely non diabetic territory even with only some small adjustments to your diet: upping the fats a little for satiety and to make sure not to lose weight, and dropping the biggest carbs just a bit.
 
Antje77 said:
An hba1c of 6% (or 42 mmol/l in the units used in the UK) is exactly on the cut-off between non diabetic at all and prediabes, according to UK guidelines.

You may find you'll drop back into completely non diabetic territory even with only some small adjustments to your diet: upping the fats a little for satiety and to make sure not to lose weight, and dropping the biggest carbs just a bit.
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This is fantastic. I do hope so. Which are the biuggest carbs? Probably the after work snickers?
 
SargeMaximus said:
Which are the biuggest carbs? Probably the after work snickers?
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That should be an easy one to cut out, otherwise it completely depends on what you eat and drink during the day.
From your posts it's clear you'd prefer making smaller changes than going all out, and with your numbers this doesn't seem unreasonable at all.
So what about substituting some things but not so many that it makes you feel angry with it and see where it leads you with your next blood test?

Oh, and I have fresh eggs from chickens/ducks/turkeys in the garden that absolutely refuse to be peeled, no matter what tricks I use. So I simply cut them with a knife, hard or soft boiled and use a spoon. But there's no need to eat eggs, you can eat a pork chop, a chicken leg or a can of tuna with mayo just as well.
 
Antje77 said:
That should be an easy one to cut out, otherwise it completely depends on what you eat and drink during the day.
From your posts it's clear you'd prefer making smaller changes than going all out, and with your numbers this doesn't seem unreasonable at all.
So what about substituting some things but not so many that it makes you feel angry with it and see where it leads you with your next blood test?

Oh, and I have fresh eggs from chickens/ducks/turkeys in the garden that absolutely refuse to be peeled, no matter what tricks I use. So I simply cut them with a knife, hard or soft boiled and use a spoon. But there's no need to eat eggs, you can eat a pork chop, a chicken leg or a can of tuna with mayo just as well.
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Your eggs are too fresh.
Let them stand for a few days and they'll be easier to get out of the shells.
 
Crack them and peel them under running water, the water will literally peel them for you.
 
Don't think there's a type of food that hasn't had a negative review at some time or other. Think you've just got to 'choose your poison'. Choosing carb heavy foods such as Snickers is more detrimental to a diabetic challenged person than a lump of cheese ever could.

Once you've found a source of food that you trust, you'll soon build a menu that you're comfortable with, you'll have less anxiety around food and be able to kick back against diabetes. It looks like it's going to be a challenge to get there, but you will. Just be positive and don't slide into a pity-me, negative frame of mind. You've got a chance to nip this disease in the bud, don't let negative thoughts ruin it for you.
 
SargeMaximus said:
Yeah I’ve tried every trick in google. Eggs don’t work for me
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What works for me is this: Leave eggs in cold water until they are still barely warm. Then roll them on the counter to crack the shell. With a small spoon, find an entry point in the shell, and move the spoon around and the shell should come off. I got that off Google, so chances are you did too.
 
SargeMaximus said:
Ok a few issues here: I have a host of food intolerances which is gonna make this very tricky so bear with me. I'm not picking your suggestions apart and I'm not attacking you personally, I simply have food allergies, ok? :)

Food allergies: Nuts so that tanks most of my options here, gluten (so no wheat bran) I've also read that seeds and seed oils are bad because they leach nutrients from the gut so I would prefer to avoid them.
Is there a danger of eating too much fat? I don't mind eating pure coconut oil for example I'm just worried I might do damage to my arteries or something.

Today I bought some chicken that was on sale, cauliflower and cheese. I was gonna get bacon but all the ones I checked had sugar in the ingredients even tho the nutrition info said 0% sugar so it's sneaky.

What about dark chocolate? 90% or more?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I'd quit the Snickers as they contain nuts which can cause a severe reaction for those truly allergic to nuts.
 
Antje77 said:
That should be an easy one to cut out, otherwise it completely depends on what you eat and drink during the day.
From your posts it's clear you'd prefer making smaller changes than going all out, and with your numbers this doesn't seem unreasonable at all.
So what about substituting some things but not so many that it makes you feel angry with it and see where it leads you with your next blood test?

Oh, and I have fresh eggs from chickens/ducks/turkeys in the garden that absolutely refuse to be peeled, no matter what tricks I use. So I simply cut them with a knife, hard or soft boiled and use a spoon. But there's no need to eat eggs, you can eat a pork chop, a chicken leg or a can of tuna with mayo just as well.
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How often do I need to be taking blood tests for this now? Also I'd actually prefer to go all out. Not sure where you got the idea otherwise. I'm not married to any foods, my only hesitancy is last time I did keto I felt like I was dying and still believe despite what yall say that it would have killed me. My symptoms were worse than the normal keto flu symptoms.

As for eggs: lets just forget about eggs. I don't have the time to use a spoon to eat them. I have barely any time at all tbh so trying to get eggs to work is futile. I won't speak of it again. Hope everyone else sees this.

JenniferM55 said:
Don't think there's a type of food that hasn't had a negative review at some time or other. Think you've just got to 'choose your poison'. Choosing carb heavy foods such as Snickers is more detrimental to a diabetic challenged person than a lump of cheese ever could.

Once you've found a source of food that you trust, you'll soon build a menu that you're comfortable with, you'll have less anxiety around food and be able to kick back against diabetes. It looks like it's going to be a challenge to get there, but you will. Just be positive and don't slide into a pity-me, negative frame of mind. You've got a chance to nip this disease in the bud, don't let negative thoughts ruin it for you.
Click to expand...
That's what I've been doing for 10+ years. Now with this diabetes thing, there's even less I can eat. I'm down to: oils. I can eat oils.

Cheese makes my nose get stuffed with mucous. Despite that, yesterday I ate a lot of cheese (which is how I confirmed that. yay!) and went full keto yesterday with some dark chocolate here and there.

My breakfast this morning was: 2 Chicken drumsticks, Cauliflour


LeafyArts said:
I'd quit the Snickers as they contain nuts which can cause a severe reaction for those truly allergic to nuts.
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I'm not deathly allergic, they just affect me badly in large amounts. But it's a moot point since I can't eat carbs anyhow. No more snickers
 
SargeMaximus said:
Bro stop with this paradigm. I’m not fat, I don’t need to snack because I’m fat, i need to snack because I can’t gain weight and it’s unhealthy
Click to expand...

What leads you to think that not gaining weight is unhealthy? Some people are always going to be thin, unless they get fat. They are ectomorphs. It sounds like you are one of them. I envy you - you are built for hill walking, which I love and which I am not.

However, with an HbA1c of 6% - 42 mmol/mol - you are also on the verge (in UK terms) of being pre-diabetic. Some countries use different criteria which would make you diabetic.

Sugary snacking will lead to you putting fat on, not gaining weight in a healthy way, and will make do your prediabetes no good at all.
 
A few ideas:
Hard boiled eggs can be cooked and shelled before going to work - It takes almost no time to open a box, take out a hardboiled egg and eat it - even if you eat it in 3 or 4 bites!

It is quite hard to get enough fats/ traditional oils to help you gain weight unless you can either eat A). High fat nuts (like macadamia, brazil, walnut), B). hard cheese, cottage cheese, full fat plain yogurt, butter C). Avocado or olives (or some other fatty low/medium carb fruit/veg), D). Fatty cuts of meat (bacon, pork belly, beef, lamb, turkey with skin or chicken with skin - they are both too lean unless you eat the skin, fatty salami or ham etc.

Most of what I mention above has the advantage of being good for protein as well as being a good source of non UPF fats/oils.
 
Breakfast update:

In addition to the bhicken drumsticks and cauliflour I had this morning

Just now I had: Cheese, Coffee with less than 1/4 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup diced avocado, coconut oil, butter,

ianf0ster said:
It is quite hard to get enough fats/ traditional oils to help you gain weight unless you can either eat A). High fat nuts (like macadamia, brazil, walnut), B). hard cheese, cottage cheese, full fat plain yogurt, butter C). Avocado or olives (or some other fatty low/medium carb fruit/veg), D). Fatty cuts of meat (bacon, pork belly, beef, lamb, turkey with skin or chicken with skin - they are both too lean unless you eat the skin, fatty salami or ham etc.
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You don't need to tell me, I been trying since 2012. I have food intolerances, what can I do?
 
CatsFive said:
What leads you to think that not gaining weight is unhealthy? Some people are always going to be thin, unless they get fat. They are ectomorphs. It sounds like you are one of them. I envy you - you are built for hill walking, which I love and which I am not.

However, with an HbA1c of 6% - 42 mmol/mol - you are also on the verge (in UK terms) of being pre-diabetic. Some countries use different criteria which would make you diabetic.

Sugary snacking will lead to you putting fat on, not gaining weight in a healthy way, and will make do your prediabetes no good at all.
Click to expand...

To add: at 6' tall and 150 pounds, your BMI is just over 20. It's very slightly below the middle of the healthy BMI range. Yes, BMI isn't always the best way of determining if someone is the right weight or not, but it's quick & easy and works well for most people. So in my view there is absolutely no need for you to gain weight.

If you want to gain muscle then you need to do weights, and eat plenty of protein.
 
@SargeMaximus , for ideas, have a look at the Two Sleevers website. She has loads of low carb and keto recipes, which can be filtered to accommodate a gluten-free lifestyle. Portion size is entirely up to you.

twosleevers.com

Recipe Index

twosleevers.com twosleevers.com

I'm not suggesting for an instant that you become a slave to recipes, but she has some great ideas and her flavours are excellent, and a big plus us she is an enthusiastic Instant Pot user.

Don't forget you are only on the cusp of pre-diabetes, so there is unlikely for you to go full-on, Ninja keto, or low carb for that matter, but cutting back on the bread, rice, potatoes and pasta would be a great help.

Again, nodding to your desire to gain weight, just up the proteins and fats a bit and ride it out. Aside from all else, a slower burn approach to weight gain is more likely to lead to more muscle gain. The last thing I'm sure you want is to gain weight and it be a belly. Mid section weight is not the friend of anyone living with or at risk of T2 diabetes.

Stick around, there are plenty people here keen to help.
 
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