Hi everyone, and thankyou for reading.
Got a generic letter delivered to me today, telling me the worrying news that I'm pre diabetic. Kind of surprised that I didn't get a call from the surgery to talk through the results but there you go.
I know this is down to my own poor food choices - Chocolate being my vice, and I am just eager to hear from others who have found themselves in my position. I'm a 43 year old woman, not particularly overweight, vegetarian who eats only occasional dairy, very active (I'm a cyclist) very rarely drink alcohol. Thanks in advance!
Hello Dominy, and welcome,
Even at the best of times, most GP's don't handle this sort of news-breaking well. Forget it in this Corona-era. The crazy thing is, you are actually lucky to have been told you're prediabetic at all. At least you get a chance to head it off before you get to full blown diabetes with complications to fix and whatnot. Quite a few of us never got that chance, yours truly included. So hard as it may seem, try to consider this as good news. You're catching and tackling this early!
Another bit of good news: extra dark chocolate, say 85% and up, is still on the table. Not many carbs in that.
Which brings me to the bad news; vegetarian and vegan ways of eating are indeed carb-laden, and it's the carbs you can't process. There are people who manage it, if you search the forum you'll find a sub header for that way of eating, but it is extremely restrictive. A lot of your usual choices in fruits and vegetables would be nixed. I'm sorry. Just delve into what low carb eating means and figure out how to apply it to your life and principles. Of course, you could go for medication, but the drawback there is that you'll need ever increasing amounts and the diabetes will be progressive, resulting in complications down the line. Combining a moderate diet with medication can make a difference there though. So those are some of the options you can look into:
-low carb, high fat and vegetarian
-low carb, high fat omnivore
-either of those in a moderate amount with medication
-medication only
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/ will give you some of the basics you might want to know about T2/prediabetes and how to test effectively, but it does include foods with faces, for which I apologise. I wrote it with omnivores in mind.
All in all, you've got a lot of reading to do and choices to make, but from what I gather, there are people here who follow a vegetarian/vegan low carb diet, so it can be done. Just doesn't leave you with as many food choices as you had a week ago. Just remember, you need to find what eorks for you. For your health, your ethical outlook and your lifestyle. It's not a one-size fits all. For me, as it now turns out, well... I got the diabetes in remission with low carbing. But I had so very many other issues, most of them resulting in chronic pain and inflammation... Turns out, plants don't agree with me at all. Having spent years eating salads and veggies like they were going out of style, I miss them quite a bit, but my body seems to prefer meat, fish, poultry and eggs. Basically, the carnivore diet. It's inconvenient, very restrictive and expensive, but I do feel better over all. But that is *me*. I can tell you that this is the holy grail and whatnot, but that might not apply to you at all! So whatever people tell you: walk your own path. There's but a few universal truths in this condition. Practically all carbs turn to glucose when ingested. That's the main one. The second: trust in your meter. (Yes, get one!). It won't try to sell you on one diet or another, it'll just let you know without bias whether a meal agreed with you or not. No hidden agenda or desire to sell you slimming shakes. Between those two things, you'll find what works for you. Might take a little time, but yeah... You're going to be okay.
Good luck,
Jo