I was diagnosed with Prediabetes a week ago. The result was 47mmols. I have cut back on all my sugar in drinks. Porridge without sugar and no more sweet snacks. I feel ok at the moment. Will this be enough. Plus smaller portions. My partner is a vegatarian so tend to eat his type of diet. And this suits me. Am I going along the right road in what I am doing. I am 59 and weigh 10 stone. 5'6, in height. Any advice would be great
So confused
- Thread starter Tana123
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Hi Tana, welcome to the forum. Speaking from experience, you've found a wonderful resource here.
Firstly, well done on taking some positive steps so far, that really is half the battle. Just to clarify, all carbohydrate causes an insulin response and blood glucose to rise, not just sugars. This means bread, pasta, rice, noodles, potatoes and so on. As an example, rice actually raises my blood glucose levels more than milk chocolate.
Portion control with higher carb foods can really help, which you've also said you're doing.
What do your meals tend to be on a typical day?
Firstly, well done on taking some positive steps so far, that really is half the battle. Just to clarify, all carbohydrate causes an insulin response and blood glucose to rise, not just sugars. This means bread, pasta, rice, noodles, potatoes and so on. As an example, rice actually raises my blood glucose levels more than milk chocolate.
Portion control with higher carb foods can really help, which you've also said you're doing.
What do your meals tend to be on a typical day?
Hi. Thanks for your encouragement. Porridge without sugar. No sugar in my morning tea. Lunch is a sandwich with wholemeal bread. Spinach leaves. Soft cheese and Tomoto. Teatime is a quorn meal. As my partner is vegatarian. Fillet with peas and potatoes. No sugary snacks in the evening. It's been a week now without my snacks etc.. I feel ok so far.
For your hba1c result, 47 is right at the top end of a prediabetes result. 48 and above would typically indicate T2 diabetes. Therefore, it's important to take steps to lower your average blood glucose levels, and ideally you want to get under 42 for your hba1c result.
I don't have experience with a vegetarian diet, however some of the items you've mentioned are very high carb, especially if combined. Just in case you haven't found it already, there's a forum area for vegetarian diets here - https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/category/vegetarian-diet-forum.71/
Beyond that, do you track your food on an app, or on paper? Doing this would allow you to see how many grams of carbs you're eating per day. It would also allow you see where to substitute higher carb foods, such as potatoes, for lower carb options such as cauliflower or brocolli.
catinahat
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Try not to think in terms of sugar, it's glucose that comes from carbohydrates that is our main problem., sugar is just another form of carbohydrate.
For example , a teaspoon of sugar = 4 grams of carbohydrates.
One slice of bread (the colour ie, brown,white , wholemeal, makes very little difference)
Is often around 20 grams of carbohydrates.
As you can see from the numbers, a spoon of sugar in your tea is not much of a problem when compared to the bread in your sandwich .
Two slices of bread = possibly 40g of carbs , the same as 10 teaspoons of sugar
For example , a teaspoon of sugar = 4 grams of carbohydrates.
One slice of bread (the colour ie, brown,white , wholemeal, makes very little difference)
Is often around 20 grams of carbohydrates.
As you can see from the numbers, a spoon of sugar in your tea is not much of a problem when compared to the bread in your sandwich .
Two slices of bread = possibly 40g of carbs , the same as 10 teaspoons of sugar
Hi Tana.. Great start.. two more things to consider.. alcohol is a good thing to get rid of.. and will help if you can.. soda type canned drinks are really bad for anybody.. and low calorie/low sugar things do have sweeteners which don't help sugar levels and are not healthy.. and secondly exercise is the biggest help.. movement uses up glycogen .. so the more exercise you do.. less build up of sugar in the form of glycogen in the muscles. keep it up.. the body has a great way of reacting to good measures.
I have sensor for more than 1 year. Measuring my blood sugar after every meal. I can eat few suhi’s and 1-2 spoos rice. Eating more, sugar is going high. The same with oats. Normal beer is out. Bottle of Japanese beer, ok. Dry white wine is ok, red is rising.
Reactions are individual. Test your menus with sensor.
Even following my usual menu, I get time to time short hikes, what can’t be explained. Combination of good?!
Glucogon is supposed to be stored in the muscles etc, type 2s problem is that with Insulin resistance, the Glucose cannot get into the cells to be stored as Glucogon. That means it's got to be peed out, or converted to stored fat, to get it out of the blood stream. If it goes into the cells properly, then you are not diabetic.
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Hi and welcome. I'd strongly suggest you have a read of this.
https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html
Almost all non-diabetic people have blood glucose levels in the range 38-42mmol/mol, shown by the HbA1c test (graph attached). The issue for anyone with insulin resistance (diagnosed diabetics and those on the edge of it as well) is that we can't properly utilise carbohydrate in the diet. Digestable carbs (from potatoes, rice, pasta, pastry, bread, sugar, fruit etc) are all converted to glucose by the body.
If our insulin systems aren't working as they should then the glucose will tend to hang around longer in the bloodstream, instead of being used for fuel. It's also more likely to be converted to bodyfat. Chronically high blood glucose levels, which is the symptom resulting from insulin resistance, does physical damage to the body, particularly to nerves and capillaries.
If you want to approach this by reducing carbs, then it's probable that you will have to reduce the starchy carbs you're eating as well as reducing sugar. Reducing sugar is a start, but you need to think about the foods you eat in quantity as well.
What worked for me was reducing my intake to around 20g/day (the equivalent of one apple) but others have found that they can have success with somewhat higher levels. GI simply isn't useful - for me anyway. I have been eating this way for a little over four years and in that time my highest A1c has been 38, lowest 34. I've lost about 70lbs and almost all my other diabetic symptoms have gone.
Best of luck. Ask as many questions as you like.
