...to think diabetes advice is confusing as h***? HELP!

[Amabitnewhere]

Who's REVERSED their prediabetes, pls? As in not just controlled their glucose numbers but got rid of the underlying insulin resistance. Should I go with low carb or Whole Foods Plant Based Low Fat (i.e. the Mastering Diabetes approach)? BOTH seem to have lots of science behind them.

So confusing!!

Hi op, you might be able to apply for early year pupil premium which would give the nursery an extra bit of funding per hour for your child.

Sorry wrong thread.

Diabetes mainstream advice can be woeful.

For T2 fasting and low carb/keto is the best therapeutic diet.

Jason Fung on YouTube will give you the information you need.

Two aunts reversed their T2 with his advice.

My diabetes nurse encourages low carb, says she’s seen the best results with this.

I was advised to look up Dr David Unwin and Diet Doctor on FB for advice.

Diet doctor is brilliant for recipes and advice.

Also look out The Fasting Method podcast.

My granny reversed my grandad's T2 diabetes by using a low glycemic load (rather than index) diet.

You can reverse prediabetes but the underlying tendency to diabetes will still be there and it will come back if you put weight back on.

I have reversed prediabetes and my hba1c numbers went right down but when I had further tests after I’d been eating lots of sugar (Christmas!) I was back up into the prediabetic range. Having said that, I’d also put some of the weight back on so that might be to blame!

I don’t think it matters how you lose the weight - I just ate ordinary ready meals that weren’t particularly high or low in carbs.

You have to find a way that suits you. It was losing weight that kickstarted the diabetes for me and I wasn’t overweight to begin with. I low carb band that really helped initially but isn’t as good anymore. Although I do avoid the foods that spike my levels.

Keto for 6 months to lose 3 stone worked for me, then LCHF to control it. Reversing it isn’t necessarily difficult but sticking to a regime where your intake is low enough on a long-term basis is much harder and success will vary from person to person; you also can’t always get rid of the underlying issue completely. As pp said, if you gain the weight back or go back to eating all the ‘wrong’ things (or two much of the ‘right’ things) you’ll be back in the trouble zone. I plan to keep taking a low dose of metformin to keep things straight in the background. Will have a blood test soon to check how I’ve got on since beginning of January.

(Keto was years ago btw, controlled it very well for a long time after that but last year went off the rails a bit. Back on track now with LCHF for life.)

Whole food plant based worked for my mum and she is fitter than she has been for decades now at 68!

nutritionfacts.org/video/the-best-diet-for-diabetes/
Dr Greger seems to have good scientific evidence behind this too.

My friend had pre diabetes very recently. She has changed her diet and lost weight so is ok for now. She went low carb.

Low carb, keto, LCHF, fasting, all work, Dr Jason Fung is on YouTube and makes it very easy to understand the role hormones ( insulin ) plays in weight gain.

I would recommend if you can afford to do so buying at least a Blood glucose monitor, a finger prick one works fine but I use a continuous glucose monitor which is so much better if you are testing daily and often.

Your GP practice should have a diabetes nurse that you could ask for a referral to as well.

My aunt is diabetic and their area has started a support group, run in a church hall with patients referred from several practices, by a GP who gives low carb diet advice and adjusts medication alongside it. It is the first thing that has ever enabled her to reduce her meds and she has had it for many years

I reversed my pre- diabetes by losing 20kg, changed diet to less carbs more protein and veg. Cut out biscuits and other snacks. Drank water and walked 5km virtually every day. Took 6 months and maintaining it now well over a year. I call it old fashioned common sense diet tbh - a lifestyle change rather than usual meaning of the word "diet". Used MFP to track calories & macros, educated myself on labels and made the appropriate choices which still left me room for a biscuit or little treat every day.

I have, dropped my hb1ac from 88 to 44 and kept it there for a year now. Low carb diet and gentle exercise

LCHF

No sugar.

How do you know if your prediabetic?
I keep feeling shakey after carb heavy meals. Could that be it?

Thank you, everyone! Really helpful answers.

I have used a finger prick blood glucose monitor for years and could see my fasting glucose creeping up. Never under 5 years ago, never under 6 recently.

Only started testing in menopause because I just felt so tired and was more thirsty and needed to wee more often. CGMs are so expensive, at over £50 for two weeks only for the Librelink (any others you recommend?).

@Lucylock you could start testing yourself at home and educate yourself on what’s normal etc. I’d do that with your symptoms just in case?

By way of update, after 3 days on whole foods I plant based low fat, literally on the morning of day 4 I got a normal fasting glucose, in fact a very good one at 4.5. I hadn’t seen that since childhood!! 4.6 and 4.8 in the following two days - still on day 6.

Am pretty mindblowm: I’ve been eating plenty of salad, greens, but also fruit including bananas, as well as chickpeas, quinoa and potatoes. That’s why it’s mind blowing: so many carbs but best glucose levels in my life!

Anyway, best of luck to everyone, whichever way you go about this.

But I am starting to think it’s true that it’s not the carb that causes the BG spike but the fat we eat that doesn’t allow the carb to be metabolised, like the book said.