And medics around? Question!

[ILoveHolidaysAbroad]

I was diagnosed as pre diabetic in June. Since then I have overhauled my diet, cut my drinking in half, cut out sweet things, cut out bread, cut out breakfast, and I've lost 18 pounds.

I am booked in for another blood test in December, but it's 3 days after I get back from an All Inclusive holiday, where I will be drinking every day and eating far more than usual, and will most likely be eating puddings, whereas I never do that at home!!

Will this mean my blood test results will be affected, or would it take longer than 2 weeks of over indulgence to impact the results?

I really wish I could get the test before we go, but there aren't any appointments.

I’d like to ask a similar question about a blood test to check for cholesterol level please!

It will have the most impact the closest to the time. Like if you went the next day your bloods would look bad. You could fast or do very low calorie for a couple days before the test and that will make it look better. It's really only a snapshot of the contents of your blood on that day.

Yes, your blood sugar is likely to be higher due to the holiday. You’ll have to work to get it back down to what it was pre-holiday if you are going to do the things that made you pre-diabetic. The stress on the body of travelling and heat and changes in diet, routine and exercise will all have an impact.

Not a medic.

Well (not a medic but I do know a bit about these things) if they measure your HbA1c then that reflects your sugar intake over the past 3 months, so a holiday spike shouldn't affect it too much.

Gah, I might just change it to a few weeks later then. I have been SO good at cutting out almost all sugar, but I am not going to diet on holiday!

Don't go too wild on holiday. Avoid sugary puddings and too much alcohol and you'll be ok. But yes it will affect your reading slightly as it's measuring 120 days of sugar levels. They were high at the beginning and have come down but you'll send them up on holiday. So you'll push the average level up again. You may well have cracked it with the weight you've lost but seriously do you want to put a lot of what you've lost back on? You've worked so hard. Try not to pike it back on on holiday otherwise you're back to where you started and you'll feel so fed up. I'm a yo yo dieter and my blood sugar levels are very borderline and I'm trying to get them down. I think we need to change our mindset about all inclusive and still make healthy choices. It's your future health that matters

The thing is, I will defo be drinking every day, and I won't be skipping breakfast like I do at home. My meal choices will mostly be healthy as that's my preference, but I might have a few puddings. And defo cocktails!!

I think I'll move it to January. I'll be back on course by then. Thanks so much for the info!!

You don't have to diet on holiday. I've now mastered the art of only putting on a couple of pounds on holiday rather than the 7-10 pounds I used to. Keep alcohol to within reasonable limits, eat protein breakfasts, scrambled egg, meat, I don't (can't)eat lunch on holiday as I'm full after breakfast so then have dinner and a starter but not a pudding. You should be thinking of this as a lifestyle change otherwise you are going to finish your diet then risk going back to old habits and putting it back on.
I'm 4 stones overweight and need to get my head round this too. It's hard but you've had a warning with your sugars so don't undo it all.

I don't mean to sound "holier than though and all smug" by the way I'm just putting on my common sense GP hat for your future. I'm no angel when it comes to food and drink but I'm 62 now and with my borderline sugars I need to take a lifestyle change. Not sure if I'll do it though. 😁

Thing is that if you can’t change your idea of treats from lots of alcohol and puddings long term you will yo yo around the pre diabetic state, gradually increasing damage to your body and your insulin system until the diet will no longer help

think perhaps one or two alcohol free days a week even on holiday as the new you

i am odd in that I find it easier to have less alcohol on holidays because it’s all such fun anyway. Try and find suitable days - arrival day for example if you are really tired go bed direct

If it’s an HBA1c test it gives an average blood glucose level over the last 3 months.

It's a bit more complicated than that. Your body produces about 2 or 3 billion red blood cells every day. Each RBC lasts 2-3 months. Glucose that isn't immediately used sticks to your RBCs. So the HbA1c test is measuring how much glucose is stuck to those RBCs present in your blood.

But at any one time, your blood will have some RBCs that are just about to be destroyed, some that are a week old, some that are two weeks old, some that are three weeks old, etc.

If you want the evidence of your holiday to be completely ignored, then you really need to wait 2 or 3 months from the end of your holiday.

But it might be worth thinking about the fact that the trend is more important than any one number, and that your levels will be slightly higher because you did relax your diet, but that they will still be lower because your diet is overall better.

Ah right okay. So it should be okay to have it done after holidays then. Thank you.

Enjoy your holiday and don't stress too much about your sugar level. The blood test shows an average blood sugar level over the last 3 months, so your holiday eating and drinking shouldn't have much effect.
Try not to overdo it though, as you've put a lot of effort into losing weight and you want that trend to continue.