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Prediabetes Sugar intake

gillyflower22 said:
I was really just concerned about the sugar
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I'm not sure if you realise (most people don't!) that all carbs transform into sugar once they touch saliva and are digested. The distinction that is made on labels "of which sugars" is quite useless. What counts is the number of grams of carb you will be swallowing, and luckily labels are very informative abut this.
 
gillyflower22 said:
Hi Bulkbiker, I'm going to try to reply again!
Thanks for asking. Not as strict as I maybe should be! HBa1c was 47 ten weeks ago. Since then I've cut out alcohol completely, eat very little bread, no added sugar, cakes and wheat products are out. I eat more oily fish and less meat, more green veg and hardly ever eat potatoes. I make fruit salads with melon, kiwi, pears and berries. I've lost over 8% of my body weight since the beginning of March. Had another hba1c blood test yesterday and crossing my fingers. I guess the proof of the pudding will be in the eating!! x
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Well done on the weight loss! From the point of view of weight loss, cutting out alcohol makes a lot of sense. However, diabetics do not have to cut out all alcohol in order to keep their bg low. Here is Dr Bernstein on alcohol:
"Alcohol can provide calories, or energy, without directly raising blood sugar, but if you’re an insulin-dependent diabetic, you need to be cautious about drinking. Ethyl alcohol, which is the active ingredient in hard liquor, beer, and wine, has no direct effect on blood sugar because the body does not convert it into glucose. In the case of distilled spirits and very dry wine, the alcohol generally isn’t accompanied by enough carbohydrate to affect your blood sugar very much. For example, 100 proof gin has 83 calories per ounce. These extra calories can increase your weight slightly, but not your blood sugar. Different beers—ales, stouts, and lagers—can have varying amounts of carbohydrate, which is slow enough in its action that if you figure it into your meal plan, it may not raise your blood sugar. Mixed drinks and dessert wines can be loaded with sugar, so they’re best avoided. Exceptions would be a dry martini or mixed drinks that can be made with a sugar-free mixer, such as sugar-free tonic water.
In small amounts, alcohol is relatively harmless—one glass of dry wine or beer with dinner—but if you’re the type who can’t limit drinking, it’s best to avoid it entirely. For the reasons already discussed, alcohol can be more benign between meals than it is at meals. One benevolent effect of alcohol is that it can enable some diabetics to consume one beer or one bloody Mary (tomato juice mixed with an ounce and a half of vodka) without raising blood sugar."
And believe me, if Dr B says you can have it, then you can! He is renowned for the strictness of his recommendations.
 
Alexandra100 said:
I'm not sure if you realise (most people don't!) that all carbs transform into sugar once they touch saliva and are digested. The distinction that is made on labels "of which sugars" is quite useless. What counts is the number of grams of carb you will be swallowing, and luckily labels are very informative abut this.
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Thanks. I did know but I keep forgetting... got to get my head round it!
 
Alexandra100 said:
Well done on the weight loss! From the point of view of weight loss, cutting out alcohol makes a lot of sense. However, diabetics do not have to cut out all alcohol in order to keep their bg low. Here is Dr Bernstein on alcohol:
"Alcohol can provide calories, or energy, without directly raising blood sugar, but if you’re an insulin-dependent diabetic, you need to be cautious about drinking. Ethyl alcohol, which is the active ingredient in hard liquor, beer, and wine, has no direct effect on blood sugar because the body does not convert it into glucose. In the case of distilled spirits and very dry wine, the alcohol generally isn’t accompanied by enough carbohydrate to affect your blood sugar very much. For example, 100 proof gin has 83 calories per ounce. These extra calories can increase your weight slightly, but not your blood sugar. Different beers—ales, stouts, and lagers—can have varying amounts of carbohydrate, which is slow enough in its action that if you figure it into your meal plan, it may not raise your blood sugar. Mixed drinks and dessert wines can be loaded with sugar, so they’re best avoided. Exceptions would be a dry martini or mixed drinks that can be made with a sugar-free mixer, such as sugar-free tonic water.
In small amounts, alcohol is relatively harmless—one glass of dry wine or beer with dinner—but if you’re the type who can’t limit drinking, it’s best to avoid it entirely. For the reasons already discussed, alcohol can be more benign between meals than it is at meals. One benevolent effect of alcohol is that it can enable some diabetics to consume one beer or one bloody Mary (tomato juice mixed with an ounce and a half of vodka) without raising blood sugar."
And believe me, if Dr B says you can have it, then you can! He is renowned for the strictness of his recommendations.
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A great read and oh how I wish I could. Thing is, I'm not a "just one small sherry please" sort of person, more a "hand me the bottle" sort of person. I used to drink gin and low cal tonic but am on a medication that only allows me one drink a day and I'd be wanting a second more than I wanted the first . It seemed to me best to give up altogether ... pretty sure it's helped with the weight loss too x
 
gillyflower22 said:
Help!
I'm following a strict low carb diet and am being told by the app I use that I've ingested an average of 36g of sugar a day. This seems very high as I've added no sugar to my food. The only way I could get that sugar is through the fruit I've eaten which isn't that much. I've already lost 8% of my body weight so something's working, but that's way over the recommended amount of sugar right?
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What app are you using?
 
Thank you so much everyone. You've really helped me to understand what in my mind, is a pretty complicated way of eating. My only difficulty now is finding something to eat with the steak and greens I'm going to indulge in! I'm trying to be good in avoiding potatoes, but they and bread are the things I miss the most. Not keen on sweet potatoes.
Thanks again for all your help, very appreciated
 
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