Newbie prediabetic.

DarbyPancho said:

Hello everyone!
I've just been told I'm prediabetic and so it's a steep learning curve for me right now.
I am a 58 year old man, 5 foot nine and and around 13 stone.
I'm slim build but with a lifelong pot belly.
I eat only once a day in the evening and try to keep my diet varied with usually a pudding of half a pear, half a banana, half a dozen grapes with mixed nuts and fruit, Lidl full fat greek yogurt with a sprinkle of granola.
My guilty pleasure is coffee (about 15 cups a day)
I like it creamy and use one trivia tablet as sweetener.
I was using whole milk but since my diagnosis I've noticed it has 4.6g carbohydrates which I'm trying to reduce.
I've tried the non dairy alternatives and they are nasty!
I want the creamy mouth feel but not the carbs.
Looking into it there are a few options:
1. Double cream
2. Single cream
3. Lactose "free" arla whole milk (expensive)
4. Lactose "free" Tesco semi skimmed milk (2.6 g carbohydrate ) with a splash of double cream.
I would like your input on what you think the best option is taking both the prediabetes and trying to lose the weight from my middle age spread into consideration!

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Lactose free milk isn't really lactose free, they add the enzyme that helps people digest lactose mainly. I use a pot of double cream a day in my coffee and I use a sweetener called Stevio. Without affecting my blood sugars. The higher the fat content the lower the lactose. Don't be afraid of saturated fats. Saturated fat have a low glucose response. Research low carb diets that will help control your glucose levels and lower your insulin resistance. You disease is not high blood sugars but your disease is insulin resistance and high blood sugars are a symptom of your insulin resistance.

I made the transition with double cream in my coffee - I drink a lot of it as well. I used to drink black coffee back in the day, and so just scaled back the cream until I was using so little it wasn't worth getting the spoon dirty. I do drink very good quality ground coffee, and also a couple of adaptogenic coffees most days, which might be worth you trying - the company I buy from has starter packs so not too expensive to try.

I have cream in my coffee at Christmas, but buy a small container and stop at one.

DarbyPancho said:

Hello everyone!
I've just been told I'm prediabetic and so it's a steep learning curve for me right now.
I am a 58 year old man, 5 foot nine and and around 13 stone.
I'm slim build but with a lifelong pot belly.
I eat only once a day in the evening and try to keep my diet varied with usually a pudding of half a pear, half a banana, half a dozen grapes with mixed nuts and fruit, Lidl full fat greek yogurt with a sprinkle of granola.
My guilty pleasure is coffee (about 15 cups a day)
I like it creamy and use one trivia tablet as sweetener.
I was using whole milk but since my diagnosis I've noticed it has 4.6g carbohydrates which I'm trying to reduce.
I've tried the non dairy alternatives and they are nasty!
I want the creamy mouth feel but not the carbs.
Looking into it there are a few options:
1. Double cream
2. Single cream
3. Lactose "free" arla whole milk (expensive)
4. Lactose "free" Tesco semi skimmed milk (2.6 g carbohydrate ) with a splash of double cream.
I would like your input on what you think the best option is taking both the prediabetes and trying to lose the weight from my middle age spread into consideration!

Click to expand...

Hi @DarbyPancho , and welcome,

Sorry about the diagnosis, but you're catching it early, always a good thing... And you're already used to one meal a day, which is really going to help...!Personally, I'd worry more about the pud than the coffee. Banana, pear, grapes, granola, and if you say mixed nuts and fruits, does that mean bits of dried fruit? Because all of that... It's basically a sugar bomb. Try testing around that meal and seeing what happens with your blood sugars. Try swapping some things out. Just a few berries in the full fat yog, (straw, rasp, blue, black, whatever), maybe a bit of walnuts, pecans, macadamia's, coconut shavings, cacao powder... The basis is fine, the yoghurt.... It's the stuff you dunk into it that might need some revision. As for the rest of your evening meal, what's in there? Who knows what easily made improvements could get you back into the normal range.

As for the coffee, I'm Dutch and I don't quite know what double or single cream is exactly, it's all a bit confusing, but if you can go for a splash of whatever you'd use to make whipped cream with? Just the thickest stuff you can find. You need less and it tastes great!

Even if you'd pour 100mls of milk into your coffee in a day, it'd be 4.6g of carbs... Where half a banana, depending on the side of it, would be somewhere between 10 and 15 grams of carbs, or thereabouts. Add in half a medium pear at about 8 grams, about one gram per grape etc... It adds up awfully fast. More than the coffee would. And I haven't even touched on the granola.

You're on your way, basically... Asking the right questions and willing to make adjustments. Excellent!
Jo

PS: The weight came on because of insulin resistance. You're quite likely to lose weight even if you have a higher caloric intake, as long as your carbs are low.

DarbyPancho said:

I need coffee with cream all day!
It compliments my only other guilty pleasure; cigarettes!

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Extra reason to get blood sugar control: People who smoke, don't heal anywhere near as well as people who don't. Diabetics? We don't heal as well as people who don't have it, and we're prone to infections, if blood sugars are often high.

Of course, quitting the smokes'd be good, but I'm guessing you already know that. So if quitting's not an option for you, for whatever reason, getting blood sugar control to at least get less damage done, would be excellent!

Just saying, because, well... Some people have a hard time giving up certain foods and the like... It's a little extra motivation maybe? If you can't change one thing, focus on changing the things you can, which you are doing now!

DarbyPancho said:

Thanks Jo!

The pudding was a diet thing after putting a lot of weight on due to my huge sugar cravings following becoming sober and alcohol free about 5 years ago.
I was eating cake and chocolate in huge amounts every day which I'm sure has not helped with my diagnosis!
I still struggle with the sweet cravings and thought the yoghurt alternative with the dried fruit was a little more healthy!
I know I need to reduce my sugar intake further but it's really difficult.
It's already seeming like removing every gram of carbs in my diet is removing 10% of what little joy in life that I have
I'd welcome any ideas to satisfy my need for a sweet hit!!

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Well, if you eat fewer carbs, your palette changes... Even water'll taste sweet, after a while. The thing about craving sweet stuff, it really is just another addiction. Carbs/sugars trigger the same areas in the brain hard drugs do. And quite a few people here have gone through a sort of withdrawal when they went lower carb, encountering keto- or carb flu. (Headaches, nausea, joint pain, fatigue etc.. It really does feel like a bout of the flu!). Going virtually cold turkey (well, not no carbs at all, but decidedly fewer), would usually help with the cravings as well. My automatic response to someone who's mad about chocolate would be, just have extra dark instead... You need less than you would from the sugary stuff for the dopamine-fix it gives, and you'd still have chocolate, but some people don't feel it's very doable. Try getting yourself a 85% Lindt bar, see whether it suits. And if you think it may be too bitter, have a piece of walnut, pecan or a mouth full of cream to go with it. After a while of lower carbs, you'd likely find it sweeter than you did before. I know the 100% stuff used to make my toes curl and my tongue shrivel up, now I find notes of vanilla and red fruits in certain brands. And if fruit really is your thing: berries with unsweetened whipped cream or clotted cream would be good. The fats slow down the carb uptake so you don't spike as hard and fast as you would otherwise. Let me add in a picture:

That thing of beauty, is a dessert I had this weekend. Mind you, I can't have it often because I don't respond well to cow dairy, (makes my joints go "oof!"), but... Strawberries with whipped cream. And yes, there was sugar in the cream, but considering I walked an awful lot that day before and after the meal, I managed to walk it off. Not the best idea, but hey.... Sometimes you just need some strawberries and cream, right? It's not something I do often, but it does bring a bit of joy into my life, even if I pay for it in pain later. It's a choice I make. See my point? We make choices. And one day we may be a little more flexible than on other days, because we need a pick-me-up, we walk it off anyway, or because there's some special occasion. It's not like all the joy gets sucked out of life forever and ever. You just weigh your options. That said... You're prediabetic, and seeing your diet, there's room for improvement, and it probably won't need much tweaking to get you back into the normal range. If that's what you want. Some of us go all-in on dietary changes, some do a combo of diet and meds, some do meds only. That's entirely up to you. What and how you eat, how mobile you are and how much you want to work with that, whether medication is an option for you or no... Diet, hands down, is *to me* the best method... But that is what suits my life at this moment. That might change in the future. It might not. You decide what's right for you, in exactly the same way.

I used to, when I needed a sugar hit, just divert to something savoury, until it went away. Nice cheeses, olives, cold cuts... Meals became a little more decadent, adding in bacon for instance. Can't do potatoes, rice or pasta anymore, but cauliflower rice is ridiculously versatile, and lovely with cheese and whatever herbs/spices you like. It's a bit of my go-to, besides spinach and broccoli. And if you search the internet for keto bombs, you might find some things that suit, if you enjoy spending time in the kitchen.

You're just starting out, and you have time to find out what works for you. Rome wasn't built in a day.
Jo

Hi, not sure if I’m aloud to reply here. Thank you for sharing your story @DarbyPancho with the rest of us, much of what you said rings a bell with me too re fruit and sweet stuff. I’ve learnt a few things reading the messages and replies which has been very helpful. I’m still confused but will hopefully get the jist of it all soon. I’m a newly diagnosed prediabetic so on a mission now too. thanks.