Prediabetic diagnosis

[Pinkpeanut27]

Got a call from the dr receptionist at the dr on Xmas eve to day after routine bloods ( had gone to see dr about breathing problems recurring after covid ) I needed to see the nurse . When questioned she mentioned it was the diabetic nurse . Obviously not much anyone could say to me at this point but it was totally out of the blue .
Got my results sent over and I have a Level of 42 high I believe is pretty diabetic .
Only risk factor I have is being 51 and having had a large baby !
Any how I’ve gone totally to pieces and am practically eating nothing which is hard as house is full of snacks and carbs and Dh is leading the charge on eating them !
I need to know what a sensible days food looks like .
I usually miss breakfast but drink tea and coffee through the morning . Today I had cheese and salad( cucumber tomato and pepper ) with 4 tiny sour dough crackers from the psh box combined they were the size of a cream cracker.
I had a latte this after noon
For dinner we had turkey and ham pasta in a cream sauce . I had wholemeal pasta - about 3 tablespoons cooked . Managed to make a tricolour salad to go with it .

Don’t know what to eat , would normally have had a crusty roll with lunch and more pasta for tea , dh made garlic bread but I had non which was hard as I was hungry!

I did eat quite a high proportion of carbs in my diet but mainly savoury ones .

I’m
Now looking at every food as if it will kill me and feeling tearful ! Not helpful .

Sorry meant pre diabetic not pretty diabetic ,

Ok, take a deep breath, you need to have your appointment with the diabetes nurse who will be able to lay out for you what the plan is and how to monitor your sugar levels and plan your diet.

I had Gestational Diabetes and was advised that it's not about removing all carbs from your diet, it's about reducing and making sensible choices.

Look up low GI diet plans, that's a good starting point and will give you lots of ideas.

You need a decent amount of good fats (Avocado, olive oil, nuts) and protein.

I was told to always pair carbs with a protein and that carbs should be complex, so bread as dark and seeded as you can get like rye not soft white, go with full fat not 0% fat.

examples would be:

• Seeded whole grain toast with scrambled egg
• rye bread with cream cheese
• full fat Greek yoghurt with berries
• boiled egg with salad (lovely with a warm salad of steamed or roasted green beans, mushrooms, asparagus and baby corn)
• pork loin steak or chicken breast wrapped in bacon with roasted broccoli, cauliflower and green beans, or cauliflower cheese.

Don’t be fearful! You need to cut back on sweet/chocolate food, cut out any sugars/syrups in tea and coffee and cut back on the carbs a little, maybe add in some exercise. You don’t need to starve yourself just eat what’s good for you, home cooking is the best start. Pre prepared food has so much hidden sugar. If you can switch to sweeteners etc. 42mmol is only just slightly prediabetic from my understanding. Non diabetics have readings under 36. Per diabetes should be around 42 or
Under. 48 or more is diabetic I believe

This website has useful info on

www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/enjoy-food/carbohydrates-and-diabetes

Thanks
I always cook from scratch
Generally don’t have sugar in hot drink apart from low fat coffee mate in coffee once or twice a day .
My weight is low but my body fat is 30% so I’m
Not sure if that is an issue but I’m
Going to try to add muscle .
I do eat a larger proportion of white carbs that other foods I guess toast is my go to meal !

What are good things to eat ?
Lean meat
Whole meal carbs ( smaller amount)
Vegetables ?
Are any veg not so good ?
I’m struggling to find filling things to replace carbs . A handful of nuts isn’t working and I hate nuts !

I think it really helps to understand what your body is doing and why. I highly recommend life without diabetes - its read that explains very easily what's going on. I am only just getting to grips with myself a few years in because it wasn't well explained to me ( stretched NHS, not really ready to hear it) and this really turned me around.

@Pinkpeanut27 typically root veg have more sugar than others although sweet potato is less carbs than normal potatoes.

Lean-ish meat, pulses, dairy, whole grain pasta/bread, brown rice, veg and berries.

You still need all the food groups so please don't cut anything out completely.

Snacks I like which fit with when I had GD and now when I'm dieting:

• pepperami / couple of slices of cured meat, very flavourful so don't need to eat that much to feel like you've had something substantial

• cheesestrings/babybel/ cubed cheddar
• pistachios in shell, takes longer to eat your portion so feels like a bigger snack
• pretzels
• chopped up veg raw with hummus
• Greek yoghurt
• beef jerky

The totally resolvable with low carb / Keto OP. You can replace pretty much everything you like eating with a Keto version. Add in intermittent fasting and you’ll be 👌

Salted popcorn is a good wholegrain carb to snack on to replace things like crisps and crackers.

I was diagnosed insulin resistant (pre diabetic) in 2012. Like PP have said a low glycemic index (low GI) diet is the best one to follow. There’s some good books on Amazon.

You don’t have to give up carbs all together just swap them for wholewheat and wholegrain carbs instead. I even make my own pizza on wholewheat pitta and make my own fish fingers with wholegrain bread.

I lost nearly 3 stone on low GI. It took a year cos you lose weight slowly. And I continue to eat low GI as I don’t want to become diabetic and it makes me feel healthier with more energy and I also sleep better.

42, although pre diabetic, is not terrible and you should be able to bring it back into the healthy range with low carbing.
I have managed this by replacing savoury carbs with veg so I don’t have rice with curry, I either have cauli rice or extra veg, and have stir fried cabbage instead of cabbage.
Get yourself to the diabetes.co.uk website - lots of good advice on their forums. Diabetes U.K. pushes nhs eat well plate which wouldn’t work for me....

I'm prediabetic. And check my blood sugars regularly.

Wholegrain carbs raise blood sugar too. Just sayin'

Also sweet potatoes have more carbs in than regular potatoes - top tip - don't eat potatoes, pasta or bread. Pop corn too.

I tried smaller portions of wholemeal carbs, and despite losing weight, my blood sugar remained high.

What I eat in a typical day

Breakfast - 2 rashers bacon plus 2 eggs / or cheese and mushroom omlette

Lunch - Tuna fish salad with dill, full fat mayo dressing, radish, cucumber, celery, tomatoes, small amount bell pepper, maybe a bit of cheese chopped up into it.

Dinner - Moussaka made with aubergine and rich tomatoe sauce/ or a spag bog with courgette instead of spaghetti/

For something if still hungry - full fat greek yoghurt with walnuts and cinnamon. Or 85% dark choc (small amount) with teaspoon of peanut butter.

My DH was found to be pre-diabetic - followed the Newcastle diet (Mosley has a book!) to the letter and reversed in 8 weeks! Obviously eating habits at home are pretty carb and sugar free and 3 years on is in excellent health.

Thanks , can’t do the 8 week diet as bmi is too low but am looking to find some ideas from there .

As for carbs I’m really struggling with this and have reduced right down but I’ve lost 4 lbs in 7 days and am feeling really shakey . Need to keep
An eye on my cholesterol as it’s borderline . I’m going to see a dietitian for more ideas . I know I’m being difficult but I’m trying .

@Pinkpeanut27 if you're BMI is low and you're losing too much weight then I would recommend you add in some good healthy fats and complex carbs to your diet. This will help regulate sugar/insulin without dropping weight.

Rye bread with avocado
Brown rice with salmon, olive oil/pesto dressing
Cottage cheese or humus as a snack with ryvita
Trout, mackerel or sardines on whole grain toast
Cheese chunks with fruit or nuts
Greek yoghurt
Eggs - I love them scrambled with finely chopped peppers, chillies and a little hot sauce but a nice chunky veg omelette is a great filling lunch too, mushrooms, onions, peppers, tomatoes and some chicken chunks too if you like.

Thanks that gives me some hope ! I’d given up all carbs . Don’t like fish or nuts but I sound like a kid! I will have a go at eating them and try seasoning them .
I had a small bowl of porridge this morning and I felt so much better which means it was probably a bad thing . Had to force myself to eat a small lunch ( carb free of course )

Nothing wrong with oats! DH has porridge most mornings!

Hmm oats not good for me as they spike my sugar levels - I tend to go down the egg or Greek yoghurt route for breakfast ....

I’m Now looking at every food as if it will kill me and feeling tearful ! Not helpful

Sorry you are so distressed, I understand this is upsetting news. But don’t panic - you can find low carb meals and snacks quite easily. There’s lots of websites and a whole board on MN devoted to low carb high fat lifestyles . You can join a support group, a new one will probably start in January.

Here’s an easy swap - Change your teas and coffees with milk or powered milk for black tea / coffee / herbal drinks / coffee with cream. There’s lots of carbs in low fat milk so avoid that.

It’s good that you don’t eat breakfast so if you can cut out the carbs in drinks then you will be fasting every day from dinner time until lunchtime.

It sounds like you eat a lot of pasta and I’m Afraid you need to cut this out completely for now, not substitute with tiny amounts of whole meal carbs. Same with the bread and rolls.

You can substitute bread with keto bread but TBH it’s better to find new meals that are not bread based.

To be blunt - you need to accept that the “ eating savoury carbs instead of sweet carbs “ plan isn’t really working for you. Nor is the “ starving yourself by eating a tiny amount of high carbs foods and feeling hungry and tearful “.

So you don’t need to change your jam roll for a tiny whole meal cheese roll with one lettuce leaf and pretend it’s a salad. You need to have decent sized soup / salad/ omelette / other veg and protein based meal instead of a carb based meal.

It’s easy to replace rice with cauliflower / broccoli rice and have with a veg or meat curry / spaghetti Bol / whatever.

It’s much better to have a huge plate of low carb veg ( Salad, mixed stir fry, broccoli with cheese, courgettes etc ) with a big piece of fish than your tiny portion of tuna pasta.

And why are you forcing yourself to eat lunch if you are not hungry ? That sounds bonkers !

Don't have much to add but I also hate nuts. However, if you chop them roughly, mix with a bit of olive oil and pop in the oven for around 10 mins or so, they are lovely! It's the only way I'll eat them (other than covered in chocolate)

I've done this with hazelnuts, pecans Brazil's so far. All very good!

Also had call from surgery 45 and now on the NHS course. Have to give up white bread and everything nice to eat fibrous veggies and seeds. Despite being slim active with a diet of lots of fruit and veg. Not good enough! Everyone I speak to seems to be pre-diabetic apart from the diabetics. Obviously NHS is on a mission to change a lot of peoples' diets.

My OH has just had a call to say pre diabetic his level is 48, which really is on the cusp pretty much nearly diabetic from what I understand, he had high sugar levels a few years ago and got the level down with diet. He also has slightly raised cholesterol so have to keep an eye on replacing crabs with higher fat protein like cheese. He is just recovering from Covid was hospitalised and didn't really eat for 2 weeks and now trying to put on weight so has been eating a lot of Christmas cake. Does anyone know if Covid can raise blood sugars? He's also got to have more tests on his liver as there are issues with this to now, maybe its Covid after effects? Will follow these diet tips with him (as I do the cooking!)

Christmas cake is not the way to put on weight for someone who has insulin resistance !

Yes infections tend to increase blood sugar levels and taking steroids can raise blood sugar levels as well. Did he receive steroids whilst in hospital? Do you know what his liver issue is - fatty liver is often associated with diabetes and can be reduced / reversed via low carb/intermittent fasting.
The 48 which will be his HB1AC which is an average over the last 8-12 weeks so his blood sugar levels may have been a bit high pre Covid anyway.
Hope he is on the mend.

Connie just to clarify he wasn’t eating Christmas cake when he knew he had high blood sugar he was eating it along with other nutritious foods because he had had 2 weeks of eating very little with covid and had lost a stone in weight - but I get what you’re saying - not a great idea - it was what he fancied

@TheStirrer thanks for your comments yes he had steroids and antibiotics on IV and has never had liver issues on any previous liver function tests. The hospital had only requested liver test 2 weeks post hospital but they decided to do his 5 year bloods at the same time - which now doesn’t seem very wise. They’re revisiting his sugar test in 3 weeks and he has more bloods snd a scan for his live, weird it’s like this when he’s just had 4 weeks off alcohol because of feeling so rotten !