Really bloody annoyed with pre diabetes/diabetes!! What am I doing wrong???

[icantwaitforsummer]

I am so pissed off with my pre diabetes diagnosis in November.

Nothing is working and I feel like I am heading toward diabetes and feeling really deflated. Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong, feel free to be really honest as I am getting so bloomin sick of it.

Yesterday I had a salad for lunch just chicken and leaves, for dinner made shepherds pie, full of veggies, celery, carrots, peas and made a thin layer of mash on top. With a side of broccoli, peas, cabbage and kale and gravy.

Walked on the treadmill, fast pace for 15mins straight after dinner. At 9pm I had a cup of tea with 1tsp xylitol sugar.

By the morning my blood sugar was 8.1!!

Tonight before dinner my blood sugar was 6:9. Had a roast with mounds of broccoli, kale, cabbage, some roast chicken from the air fryer and 1-2 small roast potatoes. Gravy.
Had 4 squares of chocolate after dinner. Ran on the treadmill for 16 mins. My blood sugar 2 hours after is 8.9!

I cannot get it below 6. I don't eat breakfast, I only drink green tea and water, very occasionally have a cup of tea or coffee with almond milk. Sometimes sourdough with avocado, mushrooms, egg, chia seeds. I feel like I live on salad and vegetables, celery, hummus and occasionally Greek yoghurt with nuts, but nothing is working!!!

I don't drink, don't smoke, since diagnosis I have lost a stone and will try to lost another 5-7lbs. But my weight is in the healthy range now.

After 3 months I feel ready to give up. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

@icantwaitforsummer I also only eat twice a day (mainly) between 11:30- 18:30. I also think this helps in curtailing blood glucose spikes.

But for many people little and often is far better way to stabilise sugars

It really depends person to person

Definitely ditch the potatoes, bread, rice and pasta. You really need to calculate the total carbs in your meals. Veg is healthy, but it doesn't mean that it is good for diabetics. If you're piling your plate high with vegetables, you're probably eating a lot of carbs. Google low-carb vegetables to get a list of what to focus on. Pulses and legumes like beans, lentils, chickpeas etc are really high in carbs too and should be limited. It's a pain in the ass and gets boring fast, but it's for your own good.

I second all the advice on potatoes. Some people do react quite badly to them. A few things I find help - cauliflower in a creamy sauce and then blitzed in a food processor is a good sub for mash. Also if you have an air fryer then you could use it to make chips with the likes of courgettes and okra. (Make extra to have with the celery and humus). Moussaka with aubergine slices is a good alternative to cottage pie/lasagne and there is also a good Hairy Bikers diet lasagne recipe that uses leeks instead of pasta.

My DS is pre diabetic and he found he can only eat carbs every third day. So if he'd had a thin layer of potato on a shepherd's pie on a Monday, he wouldn't have had any potatoes, rice, couscous, bread etc until Thursday. It's the only way he can keep it down. Also he had to cut back portion sizes. Don't forget there are carbs in some vegetables like swede and other foods like baked beans you might not have even thought of. At least you like green salad leaves.

I have cut right down on my carbs and do intermittant fasting - reading is usually about 5.5 first thing which l thought was a bit high. Maybe it's not

Why not have a word with the Diabetes Specialist Nurse at your GP practice OP?

They will point you in the right direction.

I was diagnosed as a MODY diabetic, after an initial incorrect diagnosis of Type 2.

Blood glucose levels in people with MODY are typically only slightly higher than normal, generally between 5.5-8mmol/l. You don't generally have symptoms of MODY and so it's often picked up through routine testing (eg during pregnancy).

HbA1c target with GCK MODY is up to 7.6% 60mmol.

Its quite rare, so a lot of medical professionals have never come across it.

OP - stick with the low carb. It took 6 months for my early morning blood sugar to come down.

No bread/ potatoes/ sugar.

Sweet potatoes are not healthier for pre diabetics.

Im trying to do lots of steps each day (ie more than 10,000).

I’ve been pre diabetic for around 5 years and feel glad I know - if not I could have done myself even more damage and been fully diabetic by now. It runs in my family too - and no - not overweight. My BMI is 22

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/for-professionals/supporting-your-patients/clinical-recommendations-for-professionals/low-carb-diets-for-people-with-diabetes
The position statement of Diabetes .org re Low carb dieting.

"Together with the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) we have released a report which recommends lower carb diets as a short-term effective option for adults with type 2 diabetes who have obesity or overweight. This includes low carb diets providing 50 – 130g of carbs a day. These diets can help with weight loss, glucose management and reduce the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease. So, we can recommend them for some adults with type 2 diabetes. But, there is no consistent evidence that a low carb diet is any more effective than other approaches in the long term. So it shouldn’t be seen as the diet for everyone. "

Thank you all for commenting and giving your thoughts.

I am reading it all and all the websites and you tube videos but it's the contradictions that drives me crazy. Is says co star ku that intermittent fasting is really good for diabetics as the body then uses the stored glucose.

BUT then there is a lot to say about having breakfast in the morning to reduce the dawn phenomenon. You can't do both, I can't fast and eat!

Average steps is about 6-8000 a day, and the treadmill is so I can jog and run, I'm doing about 1500 steps now on that too.

I didn't mean to type protein bar earlier it was meant to say how can a roast with veg and chicken be so bad? And that I ate more chicken than I usually do.

I have ordered a CGM should be arriving any day now and I'm very excited! As I'm going through the strips so quickly.

I have a follow up appointment with the diabetic nurse next month so I will ask about the dietician advice. I'm hoping to see a change in my blood, there has to be surely??? If they say it's still not good, you are eating too much kale and to many peas I'm actually going to laugh because that is ridiculous!

I know I have no choice and I'm just having a strop about it, but I have to make this work as it (along with other health problems I'm sure stem from diabetes) took my parents too young and my sister is really struggling with ulcers/absences from it. I know where this is going, so it HAS to work. 😭

Another contradicting website that says the diabetes in china has only happened after the last 10 years as the rice consumption has dropped.

It also says eating protein (and uses chicken as an example) alongside carbs actually spikes your blood sugar more.

So looks like we all need to eat only 100% kale, as dairy, carbs, AND protein spike your glucose. Marvellous.

Oh dear. It’s all so confusing, isn’t it?

I’ve been pre diabetic for years. Only once has the doctor taken any time or trouble to say I need to do anything about it. She recommended intermittent fasting. I’m quite angry I’ve never been offerered advice or help other than that.

There isn’t one at my GP practice.

BUT then there is a lot to say about having breakfast in the morning to reduce the dawn phenomenon. You can't do both, I can't fast and eat!

Of course you can. Fasting is just the length of time between meals. If you eat nothing after 8 pm then have breakfast at 8 am, that is a 12-hour fast right there. Breakfast is called break-fast because it breaks your overnight fast.

There are plenty of low-carb veg other than kale. You just need to be moderate with the higher-carb stuff.

@icantwaitforsummer Im type 2 on insulin and meformin. I was suddenly diagnosed 2 years ago and straight on insulin, so never went through prediabetes. My HAb1c has been 39 and 42 since by following the dietician advise ie wholegrain, eating fats, fibre with carbs and only 25 gms of added sugar a day.

It is really interesting that i am on holiday this week and i decided to use a CGM. I got a virus or food poisoning on Monday night so was sick all night. So tuesday i only ate brown bread , drank a little coke which i never do any more. and a little soup, then nothing from lunch to breakfast the next day, all i have had today has been toast , an egg, for breakfast, a lttle coke and again just bread and soup for lunch and cheese and bread for tea and my bg has been 5 or 6 all day, the graph has been a very steady line.

be nice if they read any of the current research which shows low carb is the best way to manage diabetes.

OP the CGM should really help with sorting out what is going on and what triggers you. The worst part of diabetes is that it really is different for everyone and the CGM is the best tool for figuring stuff out.

Any chance of seeing a dietician who specialises in low carb dietetics?

You think Diabetes.org dont know the current research?
The people who claim low carbing is the best diet make money out of selling low carb diets ie Diabetes.co.uk which is a private company or selling books.ie professor Upton?
Low carbing is no more effective than any other diet, as any form of weight loss works, its a quick and easier fix but is less sustainable and not particularly healthy.

There is no formula that works, everything is so contradictory, even in these posts people say avoid carrot as it's a starchy carb then someone else says replace mashed potato with mashed up carrot and sweet potato. Those are both stretchy carbs?

Carrots are starchy carbs yes, but they are less starchy than potatoes. Most, if not all, foods have a mixture of nutrients. You need to find the ones you can eat.

As I said I follow low carb but not no carb

Are you diabetic T2? If you are, how are you managing your diabetes? Medication? Insulin? Diet? Do you do regular blood glucose testing? Keep a food diary? What are your levels? Your HBa1c?

Diabetics are not on low carb diets to lose weight, we use low to manage our blood glucose levels. So squawking about losing weight on a low carb diet in relation to using low carb to manage BGL is a bit silly isn't it?

I was pointing out the advice from Diabetes.or
Yes type 2 on insulin and metformin. I was diagnosed straight on to insulin and metformin, i ended up in hospital with DKA without A and serious infection 2 years ago.
my last Ha1bc has been 39 and 42. since diagnosis and have halved insulin .Got told i was being too good. I follow Nhs dietician advice of balanced diet ie no more than 25gms added sugar, wholemeal grains instead of white and snack on nuts etcNot eating carbs by themselves Occasionally tiny portion of cake .
I know i need carbs because of the insulin. but everytjing ive read is about type of carbs and how you eat them in a balanced diet.
Edited to add, my dietician said to me when he heard my Ha1bc was 39, you actually listened to what i said! I got the impression it doesnt happen very often. But then told me i didnt have to be 100% good, just 80%
Tbh everything tsstes too sweet to me now

I see you have many posts above & I confess to not having read the whole thread. However, you ask what you are doing wrong & my honest response to this question is:
•Ditch the xylitol and train your tastebuds to accept less sweet food and drinks.

•Swap 4 squares of chocolate for 1-2 squares of minimum 85% cocoa solids dark chocolate.
•Eat breakfast, then space your 3 meals a day 4-5 hours apart.
Other things affect pre-diabetes too. Stress levels, amount of sleep and drinking enough water for example.
It sounds like you are eating exactly the right foods, so well done & keep this up!

Forgot to say GP sent me on Empower course for Diabetes , which was after my first year so a little late, but it confirmed everything i read.