Prediabetes No more bread, potatoes, rice, pasta :(

My cravings fade after just 3-5 days of low enough carbs.

But the trick is discovering exactly how low that is.

Some people are fine on 150g carbs a day. Others need to go down to under 20g. It all depends on our personal physical make up.

Although worth bearing in mind that different foods have different effects on each of us. Some ppl tolerate potato but not wheat products. While some can eat sweet potato but not potato... and so on.

worth doing some testing to find out.

Another thing to remember is that we all have to make this sustainable. For life. Absolutely no point creating some strict boring regime that sends you off the rails 6 weeks down the line. Make it interesting, enjoyable. Foods you consider luxurious (scrambled egg and smoked salmon? Steak and Stilton? Low carb 'Fathead' pizza? Learn which takeaway dishes are low carb).

Don't think of it as a diet. Think of it as a lifestyle choice of better, more nutritious, more enjoyable food options.

cocobee said:

If you too are on a low carb diet, how long does it take before you stop craving these foods? especially the bread, I will miss the bread!

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Not everyone will crave carbs. I think it depends on high carb-heavy your diet has been before making the switch to low carb. But take heart. There are also plenty of alternatives! I spiralize courgettes to replace pasta. Yesterday I bought butternut noodles in M & S.

As a treat occasionally for breakfast, I've discovered I can eat a couple of slices of Livlife bread (from Waitrose) with a lot of butter and a small amount of sugar free marmalade. Others recommend the high protein rolls from Lidls for sandwiches and toast

You can buy or make cauliflower rice. I don't miss potatoes but occasionally have potato skins by baking a jacket potato in the oven, scooping out the cooked flesh and giving it to someone else, and then crisping up the skins for an extra 5 mins in the oven with some olive oil or butter as a side dish, or filling them with tuna, chilli etc. You really don't have to deprive yourself by going LCHF, but you do need to think outside the box!

I too loved all those things but it's a new lifestyle now, it took about two or three weeks before the cravings disappeared for me but perhaps that's because I caught a stonking cold from someone at work and not being able to taste things properly made it harder I think.

Also, for me, initially some of the craving came from what I thought I was missing when I thought about food. That sounds weird but, when I just casually thought about food it was the things I had been in the habit of eating, it took me a couple of weeks of consciously thinking about different food to break that cycle.

I must say that after I bought my meter a couple of months after diagnosis I had a small portion of pasta to 'test' how I reacted and was amazed to discover how tasteless it was on it's own.

I'm on a diet to lose weight as well which has helped me bring my hba1c down and I don't miss rice or pasta at all. I still enjoy an occasional small roast potato and I can eat a slice of high seed bread or Lidl low carb roll but I don't 'crave' them any more and I've been happily surprised by how much more taste food has without all the carby filler I used to eat.

Loads of good recipe suggestions on the forum and loads of helpful support too

edited for dodgy spelling.

It will probably take a couple of weeks to get over the carb craving but after that you can just enjoy all the other great low carb things. I would recommend avoiding substituting things that are similar to the foods you should no longer have until you get into the swing of things. So maybe don't have things with sweeteners in or diet drinks.. After a year at this the weirdest things taste really sweet to me. regular full fat milk for example,. I think my palate has changed completely as well as my mindset. It has now become automatic to pass chips on to my hubby if I haven;t managed to substitute (or he wants more than one portion!).

For me the physical craving reduced after about a week, but the psychological craving to nibble and the habit of bread, potatoes, and my meals not 'looking right' is taking a bit longer.

I have found I can have some bread, but I make my own with stoneground wholemeal organic flour. Commercial bread is a no-no. So I suggest you test and find out what works for you.

It helps that my friend has become lactose intolerant, so we are helping each other, using the same approach as it is a similar thing, really, we both have foods which, if eaten, harm us.

It may be just a mental trick, but that approach works better for me than thinking in terms of deprivation.

I am/do find it as hard as giving up smoking though.

If there is a Lidl near you, they make fresh high protein rolls that are very low carb, full of fibre, and in my opinion delicious toasted. Many of us here buy them. They look disgusting in the bread basket section, but do try them. They are triangular and dark brown in colour.

I have never really suffered with carb cravings, but I took it slowly at first by reducing my carbs bit by bit over a few months. I certainly didn't go cold turkey.

poshtotty said:

Not everyone will crave carbs. I think it depends on high carb-heavy your diet has been before making the switch to low carb. But take heart. There are also plenty of alternatives! I spiralize courgettes to replace pasta. Yesterday I bought butternut noodles in M & S.

As a treat occasionally for breakfast, I've discovered I can eat a couple of slices of Livlife bread (from Waitrose) with a lot of butter and a small amount of sugar free marmalade. Others recommend the high protein rolls from Lidls for sandwiches and toast

You can buy or make cauliflower rice. I don't miss potatoes but occasionally have potato skins by baking a jacket potato in the oven, scooping out the cooked flesh and giving it to someone else, and then crisping up the skins for an extra 5 mins in the oven with some olive oil or butter as a side dish, or filling them with tuna, chilli etc. You really don't have to deprive yourself by going LCHF, but you do need to think outside the box!

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Great idea for the potato skins!! Hadn't though of that, a great vehicle for yummy stuff. Fabulous

cocobee said:

I think this is what I have to do to get my blood sugars down. They always go way up high after eating bread, potatoes, white rice and pasta, all my favourites.

Doctor gave me a prediabetes pamphlet that included carbs in every balanced meal, even suggested baked beans on toast for breakfast! This made my blood sugars skyrocket and made me feel ravenous for the whole day.

I am prediabetic, no medications.

If you too are on a low carb diet, how long does it take before you stop craving these foods? especially the bread, I will miss the bread!

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Welcome,as you can already see, so much advice from very clever peeps. The message I got when I started LCHF was that we are all different and struggle or progress according to our own bodies and mindset.

I would urge you to remember not to beat yourself up if you find it difficult, you're here and that's a big step in itself.

Good luck, keep reading and posting.

I have found as long as you keep within the limitations you have set yourself that you can be relatively free to eat what you want if you want to blow all your carbs on a couple of potatoes that is your choice but if you do you have to remember that that is it no more carbs for that day and that can be tough.

I think it depends on how rubbish you feel when you start low carbing. The first time I started my BS was so high that the meter didn't give a reading - just said HI - and when I got to the DN on her meter it was 32 - and that was after eating a totally carb free diet for a couple of days while waiting for my appointment - heavens only knows what it had been before. I refused to go to hospital so the DN prescribed me slow and fast acting insulin and came to my house twice a day. I felt so ill that I just didn't want to eat at all and when I did start to eat my husband had done some research and started me off on a low carb diet. I didn't seem to crave carby foods at all at that time as I associated them with downstairs Thrush, dodgy eyesight and my hair falling out (among other things).

This is not to say that I've been an angel for the past 8 years. I have wandered off the low carb path a couple of times, usually at times of stress, and had one serious relapse when I changed jobs on to 4 on/4 off 12 hour nights and totally lost control of my diet (entirely my own fault) but after my BS going back up to the low 20s and all the nasty symptoms starting to make a return I got transferred on to days and finally got myself under control. Nowadays we don't have anything in the house that I can't eat - apart from Mr C's fruit which he's taken to keeping in the garage.

I do still (occasionally) fancy something which I shouldn't eat but as Mr. C won't buy banned foods for me it would involve a special shopping trip to the next village on a bus which runs once an hour to buy it - so I don't bother..

phonic2k said:

From my own experience, I found that cutting carbs do help, but the best way of keeping them down throughout the day and night,is exercise, as it really helps the body with insulin resistant.

Depending on your level of fitness and ability, try quick/slow interval walking, or running on the spot for 10 minutes before you eat, or 1 hour after you eat and monitor to see how it helps with your levels. As you get fitter, you may want to start running outside or join a gym. You will be surprised how little it takes, just lots of dedication.

I can know say, I eat bread now, and potato salad, etc, but I still exercise each day, to ensure my body does not go down the lazy path again.

Good luck! Once you start the healthy diet and exercise, you will wonder why you never eat like this before, and will not want to change back, as you will feel much better...

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I'm the @phonic2k I try and do around 6000- 10000 steps a day or equivalent . If I go off the rails with food ( I'm human) I know that I have to move to counteract it . It's a balancing act isn't it

I don't think I ever stopped craving chocolate but I found that I could have a couple of squares of very dark chocolate ok . For me the other trick is to be good to yourself , find something that you really like that is low carb and eat that . I love raspberries and natural yoghurt with a spoonful of Splenda instead of ice cream , yummy

phonic2k said:

I was never officially diagnosed with pre-diabetes, as the second test can back as normal, but I know looking at my blood back in January, they were not good with fasting in the high 5s and 6s. But the good news is quick weight loss(40kg) and exercise did the trick for me. Fasting always in the 4s these days, and if I do exercise these days, my blood sugar seems to struggle to reach 5s, yesterday after only 60 press-ups, squats, and 15-minute cardio, blood was 3.4, and struggled to go above 4.7 all day even after food, and was the same 4.7 this morning at 9am. Exercise is amazing!

So I would say keep at the exercise too, as it does seem to help not just as a temporary fix, but long-term with insulin resistance too.

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Sorry but 5-6 is perfectly normal for anyone

Jamrox said:

Sorry but 5-6 is perfectly normal for anyone

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well anyone without Type 2 you mean..

I stopped wanting to eat carbs in the second after the doctor said 'diabetes'.