Newcomer - late to the game

welcome @3lli077 If you haven't got a Blood Glucose meter, I suggest you get one, and take a reading just before you eat, and again 2 hours after you took the first bite. You're target is a rise of <2mmol. We are all different, so that is the only way to find out what foods you can tollerate without raising your blood sugars to high. If the rise is >2mmol then you have a bit of homework to do

3lli077 said:

Evening All

I was diagnosed with pre diabetes with a Hb1ac reading of 54 back in Sept. I have had very little will power and am now only starting to take this seriously. Late I know!!

I have been reading around myself and with the forum have read the information that gets sent to new comers which was helpful.

I am trying to follow a low carb diet and have started eating about 80g of carbs per meal is this too much? And have started drinking more water.

I am teacher and have found it difficult to be able to design meals for a short lunch period and what snacks do people eat?

I was also told a year ago I had fatty liver and was put on orlistat but a month or two down the line they weren't prescribing anymore. So I had to have a low fat diet then but now I'm told to eat a high fat diet to lower my LDL. It gets quite confusing.

I have also started walking at least 20.mins after I get home from school usually before or after my dinner.

It does feel with it carbs it's hard to eat.

Any info support would be helpful.

Thanks in advance
3lli077

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A carb intake of 80g per meal at 3 meals per day equates to 240g per day. Compare this to the government's recommended intake of 250/260g and you can see that your diet is not really low carb. Some forum members are on 20g per day which is very low carb. I provide this figure for information only.

The important point is that you have to decide what the right intake level is for you to keep your glucose levels under control. You may not want to cut down your intake so severely with immediate effect but look at where you can reduce your portion sizes.

3lli077 said:

Evening All

I was diagnosed with pre diabetes with a Hb1ac reading of 54 back in Sept. I have had very little will power and am now only starting to take this seriously. Late I know!!

I have been reading around myself and with the forum have read the information that gets sent to new comers which was helpful.

I am trying to follow a low carb diet and have started eating about 80g of carbs per meal is this too much? And have started drinking more water.

I am teacher and have found it difficult to be able to design meals for a short lunch period and what snacks do people eat?

I was also told a year ago I had fatty liver and was put on orlistat but a month or two down the line they weren't prescribing anymore. So I had to have a low fat diet then but now I'm told to eat a high fat diet to lower my LDL. It gets quite confusing.

I have also started walking at least 20.mins after I get home from school usually before or after my dinner.

It does feel with it carbs it's hard to eat.

Any info support would be helpful.

Thanks in advance
3lli077

Click to expand...

Oh you do have my sympathy! When I was teaching lunch was a pot noodle or cheese and pickle sandwich and cup of coffee (wasn't diabetic then though).
Now if I was back in shackles I'd be thinking about a flask of veg or veg and chicken soup and ryvita with a cholesterol lowering spread, with tomato and/or soft cheese or an apple. My wife makes me no-sugar jellies with small quantities of fruit in tupperware type containers - one of these might be an occasional treat.
If do don't already have it, "Reverse Diabetes" by Doctor David Cavan available through Diabetes.co.uk is an excellent read. I received it today and am half way through it and finding it just great for explaining the effects of diet and the complexities of the functions of the organs of the body related to diabetes. It draws together much of the information I've gleaned from this site, but in a form that's easily accessed, and one can read in bed!

I'm fairly new here but a Hb1AC of 54 represents a diagnosis of Diabetes not pre Diabetes (42 - 48).

Most of my snacks come from the 'high fat' bowl - pork scratchings, nuts, individual cheese portions and avocado.

Like others have said I think you need to look at your Carb intake, seems high to me but as others have also said it is an individual thing.

welcome here 3lli077

well I think it is very possible to bring low carb foods with you in daily life , you just have to think out of ordinary boxes lunchboxes...

I usually bring with med a handfull of nuts some tomatoes and half a cucumber... abd if I want bread it would be seedbread...
and then maybe mayonese and ham on top of it or eggs and mayonese...or cheese with lots of green pepper...

everyone have different taste so what one would like to bring is different, but I would advice to keep away from most bread types because of the very high amount of carbs...

if wanting to go low carb and aiming for a normal blood glucose and there by avoiding the scary bad prognosis it would be more sensible to start with all in all 100 grams of carbs a day, and then tirade up or down untill one reach the blood glucose numbers one is aiming for..

Hello @3lli077 and Welcome to the Forum .

I remember only too well the short breaks scrambled during the day at school. Try to batch cook soups and vegetable stews at the weekend, try to use lots of vegetables from above ground, then freeze to take out during the week ahead. Fats are a problem but look for the 'healthy fats' like fish and olives. Do get yourself a meter and test when you are able, I soon got the hang of it, and you will soon find what your body can tolerate. Try to cut back some more on carbs, use cheese portions and eggs as snacks. Well done on the walking, it shows you are not so weak willed as you suggest.

Are you sure of your HbA1c level and a diagnosis of pre-diabetes? The rule is 48 and above is full blown diabetes. (Pre-diabetes is 42 to 47)

240g carbs a day is a lot! Personally I eat around 30g a day, although this is my personal tolerance level. Any more and my blood sugars go up. Other people may be different. A meter will help you work out how many your body can cope with by testing before and 2 hours later. Meters are our most essential tool in fighting this disease.

Has someone told you that eating fats has caused your fatty liver? I would suggest it is eating carbs that did that. The more carbs we eat the more insulin our bodies produce to deal with it. Insulin that isn't used or is rejected by the cells (known as insulin resistance), is stored as fat. That is a very basic explanation.

Any packed lunches I have are generally some protein such as mashed up tinned salmon or 2 boiled eggs with real mayo (not low fat mayo) with some cherry toms and a small amount of cheese. A piece of celery is nice to satisfy the crunch urge. You could also have any cold meats, nuts, pieces of avocado, whatever you fancy that has very few carbs in. A full fat yogurt sweetened with a couple of strawberries is nice aswell.