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MrsMatt

Newbie
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi all, I turned 66 years old yesterday, 22nd, and have just started this journey. I was told I was pre-diabetic in Nov 24. In February this year I started group sessions, there are about 40 of us in the group. We were given a 'workbook' to complete each week, just like being back at school.

I have to admit that the group sessions are torture for me. I am a hands on type of person, I learn by doing not listening to lectures. I start work at 4am, have about half an hour to sort myself out to then get to the venue for 11.30am. 40 people in a small windowless stuffy room that is too warm, listening to a lady talk and looking at a slide show for 2 hours is not fun for me. Third session in and this week I am ashamed to say, that I kept nodding off.

I hope I can glean some knowledge from all on here to get me on the right track and sort myself out.
 
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KennyA

Moderator
Staff Member
Moderator
Messages
3,849
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi Mrs Matt, and welcome to the forums.

Some of the courses are better than others. Mine had all the above plus huge plates of biscuits, not ideal.

If you're practically based you will probably take to the idea of monitoring and controlling your blood glucose levels yourself by using a glucometer. Take a reading before you eat, and another at +2hrs, by which time your system should have cleared most or all of the added glucose from your system. You're looking, at +2hrs, to be within 2mmol/l of the baseline reading, and not above 8.0mmol/l. If the second reading isn't, there was too much carb in what you ate for your system to deal with properly.

Record the readings, record what you ate, and reduce or remove the foods that have too much impact on your blood glucose levels. That gives you a measure of short-term control over your BG levels. Over time - I mean around 8-12 weeks - you should then start to see a reduction in your HbA1c figures - which is a sign of longer-term blood glucose control.

That's kind of regime has worked for a lot of us on this forum. I'm one of them. I cut out all bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and other root veg, cereals, most fruit, all sugar. It's been over five years since I've had anything other than a normal blood test result.

I'd also advise reading around on the forum - the Success stories" section is a good place to start - and ask as many questions as you like.

best of luck!
 

MrsMatt

Newbie
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi Mrs Matt, and welcome to the forums.

Some of the courses are better than others. Mine had all the above plus huge plates of biscuits, not ideal.

If you're practically based you will probably take to the idea of monitoring and controlling your blood glucose levels yourself by using a glucometer. Take a reading before you eat, and another at +2hrs, by which time your system should have cleared most or all of the added glucose from your system. You're looking, at +2hrs, to be within 2mmol/l of the baseline reading, and not above 8.0mmol/l. If the second reading isn't, there was too much carb in what you ate for your system to deal with properly.

Record the readings, record what you ate, and reduce or remove the foods that have too much impact on your blood glucose levels. That gives you a measure of short-term control over your BG levels. Over time - I mean around 8-12 weeks - you should then start to see a reduction in your HbA1c figures - which is a sign of longer-term blood glucose control.

That's kind of regime has worked for a lot of us on this forum. I'm one of them. I cut out all bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and other root veg, cereals, most fruit, all sugar. It's been over five years since I've had anything other than a normal blood test result.

I'd also advise reading around on the forum - the Success stories" section is a good place to start - and ask as many questions as you like.

best of luck!
Thank you. I have literally just ordered a monitor. Just a basic one to see how I get on. I will have to make major changes to my everyday 'diet'. I eat a lot of pasta, rice, all root veg. I only eat bread occasionally. Well, here's to a new lifestyle.
 

KennyA

Moderator
Staff Member
Moderator
Messages
3,849
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Thank you. I have literally just ordered a monitor. Just a basic one to see how I get on. I will have to make major changes to my everyday 'diet'. I eat a lot of pasta, rice, all root veg. I only eat bread occasionally. Well, here's to a new lifestyle.
I'm still using the Gluco RxQ they gave me free in 2020.

On meals, I was much the same - pasta/rice/potatoes with each meal and forming probably about two thirds of it.
 
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VashtiB

Well-Known Member
Retired Moderator
Messages
2,375
Treatment type
Diet only
Hello and welcome @MrsMatt

You have my sympathies. Many of us learn better by doing than listening. You've taken the best first step by ordering a meter. That's the tool that will allow you 'to do'.

My diet had plenty of 'healthy carbs' in it before my diagnosis. In my view they contributed to the diagnosis. I found the change a bit challenging but certainly something that is doable. A diet I could sustain.

Good luck and welcome.
 

JoKalsbeek

Expert
Messages
6,590
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Thank you. I have literally just ordered a monitor. Just a basic one to see how I get on. I will have to make major changes to my everyday 'diet'. I eat a lot of pasta, rice, all root veg. I only eat bread occasionally. Well, here's to a new lifestyle.
Hi @MrsMatt ,

Sorry about the diagnosis, but you're well on your way, I see. If you have T2, a basic monitor is all you need to get started if you want to know how you respond to foods. The fancier ones have all sorts of bells and whistles, (sometimes, literally), but if you simply want to know what foods do what, and you don't have to take insulin jabs into account and whatnot, you're all set with a "basic" monitor. So excellent start!

The course sounds like a right nightmare, and I'd rather sleep through something like that too, than be aware and wakeful throughout, haha. Never did anything like that, though wasn't offered either... Just read books, watched youtube vids and visited websites, took notes, changed my shopping list a thousand times as I went along, and just experimented with food and finger-jabs.

By the way, we're on a lot about diet on here because it's something that affects blood glucose a lot, and it is something that is relatively easily changed around to suit our needs better. But I couldn't help but notice you start work at 4 a.m.? I take it that means you get up to get ready even earlier? Because quite a few people who do shift work or night work, and basically work against their circadian rhythm, can experience a rise in blood glucose as well. Normally I'd say, test around meals and see what suits you, but in your case I'd also want to know, if I were you, what your blood glucose does when you get up. Also, when do you eat your first meal of the day? Most of us experience a liver dump in the morning, where it releases glucose into the blood to help us start the day. If, for instance, you get up really early, get ready for work, work, and then have your first meal of the day hours later at the crack of dawn, your liver might've been pumping quite a bit of glucose into your body to help you out. It means well, but it might be more glucose than you can burn effectively. While I appreciate it might not be possible to change your job where you can work when the sun is up, if you don't already, you might want to have a bit of protein before your workday starts. Bit of cheese or something, so the liver thinks it doesn't have to be a busybody. It could calm your liver down some and make it release less glucose. Just wild stabs in the dark though. For all I know you start with a bowl of porridge at 3 am, which could easily be changed to eggs with bacon, and then bob'd be your uncle in the middle of the night.

Take some time to find out what your body is doing and why, whether there's a correlation only with high carb foods or also with what your day looks like. Doesn't have to be figured out overnight, if at all. But it's something that might help you get your numbers back into the non-diabetic range. If you're "only" pre-diabetic now, odds are just a change in diet'll get you sorted. But should you find it's not cutting it (it likely will, but no guarantees)... Your daily rhythm might need a little attention, and loopholes found so you can still do your thing. All in all though... I have a feeling you'll learn more here than you would at a boring course in a stifling room, when you've already had a workday behind you, and can't keep your eyes open!

Good luck,
Jo
 
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