PreDiabetes Help

MrBlueyezz · May 11, 2018

Hi

Im a newbie to all of this,I was diagnosed with PreDiabetes about 3 weeks ago.

I've taken it upon myself to change my lifestyle by eating healthier, cook more healthier things and take up exercise.

I've seen lots of people mention Blood Glucose Test Kits/Machines?? Is this something I should invest in? All I was told by my GP was to lose weight by eating the right things and get some exercise.....so im slightly confused as to how I should go about things.

Any help will be much appreciated!

vanillapie · May 11, 2018

Hi MrBlueyezz Like you I was diagnosed with prediabetes a few weeks ago and I am still relatively new to all this. I find having a blood glucose monitor very useful, as it tells me exactly what happens to my sugars on eating and tells me what foods to avoid. The cheapest one I think is the SD Codefree, which you can get on Amazon. Test strips do become expensive, but it's well worth it to know what's going on.

Ideally, you want to test before a meal, and two hours after. This will tell you what the food you eat does to your sugars. Ideally you want a rise of no more than 2mmol/L - anything higher and it's a food you should avoid.

I would also recommend looking into a low carbohydrate diet, as it is generally carbs that cause sugars to rise.

Good luck

MrBlueyezz · May 11, 2018

Hi vanillapie!

Thanks for your help thats very much appreciated! I shall take a look at these SD Codefree Monitors! Everything is so mind boggling isn't it but im sure ill get there eventually!!

Bluetit1802 · May 11, 2018

Hi and welcome,

Yes, you do need a meter, otherwise you are working blind and guessing. If you buy one, we will help you use it to your best advantage.

The most popular meters for self funding T2's are the Codefree and the Tee2 because the strips are much cheaper than other meters, and you need a lot of strips. You can't buy them in pharmacies.

Try here for the Codefree meter
http://homehealth-uk.com/product-category/blood-glucose/blood-glucose-monitor/

and here for the extra strips
http://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/sd-codefree-test-strips-to-be-used-only-with-the-sd-monitor/

There are discount codes if you buy in bulk. (applied at the check out stage)
5 packs 264086
10 packs 975833

The Tee2 is here and the meter is free.
http://spirit-healthcare.co.uk/product/tee2-blood-glucose-meter/

Don’t forget to check the box that you have diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for either meter)

MrBlueyezz · May 11, 2018

Hi Bluetit1802!

Thankyou very much for your help, ill take a look now!

Orangeteddy · May 12, 2018

I find testing is a good motivator and keeps me more focussed. I like to see the evidence of what is otherwise invisible and find it helps to see what I can and can't have.

MrBlueyezz · May 12, 2018

Hi Orangeteddy!

Thanks for the info,I've ordered one now so hopefully will receive it next week

Winsor · May 17, 2018

vanillapie said:
Hi MrBlueyezz Like you I was diagnosed with prediabetes a few weeks ago and I am still relatively new to all this. I find having a blood glucose monitor very useful, as it tells me exactly what happens to my sugars on eating and tells me what foods to avoid. The cheapest one I think is the SD Codefree, which you can get on Amazon. Test strips do become expensive, but it's well worth it to know what's going on.

Ideally, you want to test before a meal, and two hours after. This will tell you what the food you eat does to your sugars. Ideally you want a rise of no more than 2mmol/L - anything higher and it's a food you should avoid.

I would also recommend looking into a low carbohydrate diet, as it is generally carbs that cause sugars to rise.

Good luck

Hi All ,
I am 73 and was surprised to be diagnosed as prediabetic 3 months ago. I have always been fairly active , so looked at my diet . I decided to opt for a low carb diet and my weight has dropped off me , losing 10 Kg from 91 Kg , now having a BMI of 24,4 . I cut out bread , potatoes , rice and BEER . ( I make my own bread using coconut flour ) . I eat less but never feel hungry and never snack between meals . I take a fasting blood glucose 2 or 3 times a week . These vary from 5.5 to 6.5 mmol / l but I can never predict what it will be based on the previous days dinner . Tomorrow I plan to take 6 readings , before and 2 hours after each meal , to check variation during the day . I also take a ketone reading , which is either 0.2 or 0.3 .. I try to do 10,000 steps a day too. A low carb diet is a life changer without a doubt ,

Winsor · May 18, 2018

Winsor said:
Hi All ,
I am 73 and was surprised to be diagnosed as prediabetic 3 months ago. I have always been fairly active , so looked at my diet . I decided to opt for a low carb diet and my weight has dropped off me , losing 10 Kg from 91 Kg , now having a BMI of 24,4 . I cut out bread , potatoes , rice and BEER . ( I make my own bread using coconut flour ) . I eat less but never feel hungry and never snack between meals . I take a fasting blood glucose 2 or 3 times a week . These vary from 5.5 to 6.5 mmol / l but I can never predict what it will be based on the previous days dinner . Tomorrow I plan to take 6 readings , before and 2 hours after each meal , to check variation during the day . I also take a ketone reading , which is either 0.2 or 0.3 .. I try to do 10,000 steps a day too. A low carb diet is a life changer without a doubt ,

I have been busy pricking my finger today.. and gardening in between . 8.30 , before breakfast FBG was 6.0 mmol/l and 2 hours after 5.7 . Prelunch it had dropped even further to 5.3 and a big surprise , 2 hours after lunch only 4.9 . Before today I had only taken readings pre breakfast . Breakfast I has 2 boiled eggs with 2 slices home made bread and 2 cups milk tea , no sugar . Lunch , my favourite , 2 mackeral fillets with salad and 2 glasses no added sugar squash. My wife has just made me coffee and has forced a slice of her low carb baked cheese cake on me .. ( base made with coconut flour and topping quark ) .. big dinner later with some red wine.. results should be interesting ... will let you know

derry60 · May 18, 2018

Winsor said:
I have been busy pricking my finger today.. and gardening in between . 8.30 , before breakfast FBG was 6.0 mmol/l and 2 hours after 5.7 . Prelunch it had dropped even further to 5.3 and a big surprise , 2 hours after lunch only 4.9 . Before today I had only taken readings pre breakfast . Breakfast I has 2 boiled eggs with 2 slices home made bread and 2 cups milk tea , no sugar . Lunch , my favourite , 2 mackeral fillets with salad and 2 glasses no added sugar squash. My wife has just made me coffee and has forced a slice of her low carb baked cheese cake on me .. ( base made with coconut flour and topping quark ) .. big dinner later with some red wine.. results should be interesting ... will let you know

Loved the way when you said that your wife forced a low carb homemade cheesecake on you..Now that is what I call "Cheesecake Harassment" lol

Alexandra100 · May 18, 2018

Winsor said:
I have been busy pricking my finger today.. and gardening in between . 8.30 , before breakfast FBG was 6.0 mmol/l and 2 hours after 5.7 . Prelunch it had dropped even further to 5.3 and a big surprise , 2 hours after lunch only 4.9 . Before today I had only taken readings pre breakfast . Breakfast I has 2 boiled eggs with 2 slices home made bread and 2 cups milk tea , no sugar . Lunch , my favourite , 2 mackeral fillets with salad and 2 glasses no added sugar squash. My wife has just made me coffee and has forced a slice of her low carb baked cheese cake on me .. ( base made with coconut flour and topping quark ) .. big dinner later with some red wine.. results should be interesting ... will let you know

To further your investigations, I suggest that you try to pinpoint the time when your bg after a meal peaks, and when it has fallen back again. To do this you would test just before eating, then at 1 hour and 2 hours. If your bg rose at 1 hour and then fell by 2, fine. But if you see no rise or even a fall after eating, as you describe, it may well be that your stomach was slow emptying. I suggest that in that case you retest at 3 hours and even 4. You will understand that if your pre-meal was 5.3 and the food you had eaten stayed undigested in your stomach, your bg would fall just as if you had not eaten.

This delayed stomach emptying is called gastroparesis and it is unpredictable. I suffer from it in a mildish way and it does make testing difficult. I have just bought two Libre sensors for continuous testing and am looking forward to using them to see exactly what is going on.

You can read much more about gastroparesis here: http://www.diabetes-book.com/gastroparesis-causes-effects/

Winsor · May 19, 2018

Alexandra100 said:
To further your investigations, I suggest that you try to pinpoint the time when your bg after a meal peaks, and when it has fallen back again. To do this you would test just before eating, then at 1 hour and 2 hours. If your bg rose at 1 hour and then fell by 2, fine. But if you see no rise or even a fall after eating, as you describe, it may well be that your stomach was slow emptying. I suggest that in that case you retest at 3 hours and even 4. You will understand that if your pre-meal was 5.3 and the food you had eaten stayed undigested in your stomach, your bg would fall just as if you had not eaten.

This delayed stomach emptying is called gastroparesis and it is unpredictable. I suffer from it in a mildish way and it does make testing difficult. I have just bought two Libre sensors for continuous testing and am looking forward to using them to see exactly what is going on.

You can read much more about gastroparesis here: http://www.diabetes-book.com/gastroparesis-causes-effects/

Winsor · May 19, 2018

Hi Alexandra .. that's a good idea .. will do . The full results from yesterday , before each meal and 2 hours after and also this morning were 6.0 and 5.7 , 5.3 and 4.9 , 5.7 and 6.0 , and 5,4 this morning . I use an Accuchek Mobile for BG and Caresens Dual for Ketone .. I blame the increase in the before dinner reading on my wife's low carb chesecake and I must confess I had cheese and biscuits ( high carb ) with a bottle of wine after dinner . So no surprise the post dinner reading . Happy to see the low result this morning although my weight has increased by nearly a kilo... but it is weekend !!!!!! Thanks for the suggestion , will do it mid week next week ..

Winsor · May 19, 2018

derry60 said:
Loved the way when you said that your wife forced a low carb homemade cheesecake on you..Now that is what I call "Cheesecake Harassment" lol

Hi

derry60 said:
Loved the way when you said that your wife forced a low carb homemade cheesecake on you..Now that is what I call "Cheesecake Harassment" lol

Hi Derry , being married to someone who likes cook and baking makes keeping to a low carb diet difficult . The cheescake turned out not to be as low carb as I though ( although it was a massive slice ) as my blood glucose went from 4.9 two hours after lunch to 5.7 after cheesecake and pre dinner. This morning it has dropped to 5.4 mmol/L . Bad news is , there is still cheesecake left but its too good to give to Hungry Herbert , our waste food bin . I think will have to look for a different recipe .

Alexandra100 · May 19, 2018

Winsor said:
Hi Alexandra .. that's a good idea .. will do . The full results from yesterday , before each meal and 2 hours after and also this morning were 6.0 and 5.7 , 5.3 and 4.9 , 5.7 and 6.0 , and 5,4 this morning . I use an Accuchek Mobile for BG and Caresens Dual for Ketone .. I blame the increase in the before dinner reading on my wife's low carb chesecake and I must confess I had cheese and biscuits ( high carb ) with a bottle of wine after dinner . So no surprise the post dinner reading . Happy to see the low result this morning although my weight has increased by nearly a kilo... but it is weekend !!!!!! Thanks for the suggestion , will do it mid week next week ..

Encouraging results. I sometimes enjoy a few walnuts with my cheese instead of biscuits. As well as being relatively low in carbs, they are said to be super-healthy! As far as the wine goes, 1 glass is supposed to be OK, but I'm not clear if you REALLY drank the whole bottle??? If so you might be heading for other problems on top of pre-diabetes!

Alexandra100 · May 19, 2018

Winsor said:
Hi

Hi Derry , being married to someone who likes cook and baking makes keeping to a low carb diet difficult . The cheescake turned out not to be as low carb as I though ( although it was a massive slice ) as my blood glucose went from 4.9 two hours after lunch to 5.7 after cheesecake and pre dinner. This morning it has dropped to 5.4 mmol/L . Bad news is , there is still cheesecake left but its too good to give to Hungry Herbert , our waste food bin . I think will have to look for a different recipe .

Could you interest your spouse in the challenge of low carb cooking? Lots of suggestions lower down on this site.

rab5 · May 19, 2018

If the wife is cooking with high carbs she is trying to kill you!

derry60 · May 20, 2018

Winsor said:
Hi

Hi Derry , being married to someone who likes cook and baking makes keeping to a low carb diet difficult . The cheescake turned out not to be as low carb as I though ( although it was a massive slice ) as my blood glucose went from 4.9 two hours after lunch to 5.7 after cheesecake and pre dinner. This morning it has dropped to 5.4 mmol/L . Bad news is , there is still cheesecake left but its too good to give to Hungry Herbert , our waste food bin . I think will have to look for a different recipe .

Those numbers are good though, especially after eating a Cheesecake

Winsor · May 21, 2018

rab5 said:
If the wife is cooking with high carbs she is trying to kill you!

Maybe you are right and I have to be more careful.. In fairness to her , she did make the cheesecake using a recipe I gave her . It was delicious and that is the problem..

pollensa · May 21, 2018

Winsor said:
Hi All ,
I am 73 and was surprised to be diagnosed as prediabetic 3 months ago. I have always been fairly active , so looked at my diet . I decided to opt for a low carb diet and my weight has dropped off me , losing 10 Kg from 91 Kg , now having a BMI of 24,4 . I cut out bread , potatoes , rice and BEER . ( I make my own bread using coconut flour ) . I eat less but never feel hungry and never snack between meals . I take a fasting blood glucose 2 or 3 times a week . These vary from 5.5 to 6.5 mmol / l but I can never predict what it will be based on the previous days dinner . Tomorrow I plan to take 6 readings , before and 2 hours after each meal , to check variation during the day . I also take a ketone reading , which is either 0.2 or 0.3 .. I try to do 10,000 steps a day too. A low carb diet is a life changer without a doubt ,

Well done congratulations on your change of lifestyle, did the same my self at the ripe young age of 68 and I am now one year down the line, and still normal normal normal ranges. Its all about low carbs, exercise, and no bread, potatoes pasta and rice, and intermittent fasting one or two days a week, so simple.

PreDiabetes Help

Newbie

Well-Known Member

Newbie

Legend

Newbie

Well-Known Member

Newbie

Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Member

pollensa

Guest

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency