Insulin resistant but no longer diabetic, going on holiday what can I eat?

[BigBoysDontCry]

I know that sounds stupid, I was briefly diagnosed as type 2 a couple of years ago and I've followed a low carb diet since and had the diabetic marker removed from my health records. I'm not overweight and wasn't at the time of my diagnosis but have been in the past. My hba1c has been around 35 for about 18 months though I was last tested about 9 months ago.

I finger pick test from time to time just to keep an eye on things. I know I'm still pretty reactive if I eat a little more carbs/don't exercise a little after eating.

It's never super low. Not regularly under 6 before meals but not often over 8 2 hours after eating unless I've pushed it a little. Over 10 would be an unusual occurrence nowadays.

Anyway I have my first proper holiday in years coming up. I'm going to Greece and it will be more of a city break type holiday than a beach so I expect to be reasonably more active than I am in my desk job. I don't intend to go mad and will mostly stick to salad and meat but it's inevitable that I won't know exactly what's in everything and also that I might fancy a drink or an ice cream. I'll stay away from bread and pastries and the usual suspects but it would be good to just let go a little for a week. How bad would this be and any recommendations for particular dishes that might be suitable?

To add that I'm going with my adult sons and ds2s girlfriend who are all fussy/plain eaters so I can't always dictate where we go but I'd also like to be able to have a variety of foods.

I’d take Berberine and try to walk for at least 15 mins after any carb heavy meal. Apart from that I wouldn’t be going mad but I’d feel relaxed about eating more freely for one week in the year.

It will do you no long term harm to have a week of eating carbs even if that means that your sugars go a bit high during that period. You may not feel amazing, possibly a bit lethargic, moody/irritable while sugars are at the higher end, more frequent peeing, but it’s long term high sugar levels that causes damage.

Greek food tends to be more fish/meat/cheese and veg than high carb anyway, the Mediterranean diet so there should be plenty of delicious options available.

Out of interest why did they remove the marker on your records? Diabetes is not considered to be curable, you can put it into remission, but it’s always a possibility it will come back so have they made sure that you will be called at least once a year for HbA1C testing to monitor it?

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about-diabetes/type-2-diabetes/remission

Fish meat cheese salad baked veg - yum!

Thank you both. Yes, I don't intend going mad but I'd like to worry about what I'm eating a little less for a week. The walking straight after tends to be harder when you eat out as obviously it's more social to sit a little after especially if the younguns might want a dessert. So I'm thinking maybe a bit of frozen yoghurt when we are out and about already might work. I do enjoy meat/cheese and salad or veg, it's just a bit harder to have that on the go when it's easier to pick up a bread based snack.

I'm not sure why they completely removed the marker, she did ask if I still wanted an annual hba1c and I said yes but I'm not at a year since the last NHS one yet so not sure if I will be called for one or not. I can get a full blood test through work annually and I can order that in anytime from now. That includes a hba1c.

I actually made myself a bit unwell at one point with Keto and I lost too much weight and was struggling to eat at all but I'm fine now and eat a healthy low carb diet and I am a healthy weight.

It's been a long time since I've been to Greece but have been to Turkey many times so I'm thinking the food will be pretty similar. We have an apartment in Thessaloniki so will be able to prepare food ourselves too but I'd like a break from cooking really.

I'm not sure if it makes any difference that I've never been medicated at all. I've controlled it with diet and was literally only officially diabetic for a few months. It's a long story but essentially I did a random finger prick test and it was over 19. I immediately cut sugar and carbs and dropped from a bmi of about 24 down to 21. Then I started feeling really unwell and bmi kept dropping and I could barely eat, my resting heart rate was over 90. At that point I went to gp and got sent for tests and my hba1c was just over 40. My ketones were at a dangerous level so I started eating carbs, my hba1c then went up so I was officially diabetic. I continued with a low carb diet and it dropped back to 42 ( I think) a couple of months later. Next test was 36 and private test shortly after was 35. After the 36 NHS test the GP took the marker of my file. She phoned and told me.

Meant to add that I've dabbled in berberine and apple cider vinegar but I don't test regularly enough to really see if it makes any difference but it certainly doesn't do any harm so I'll do that too. Thanks for the reminder.

I found it helpful to wear a cgm to keep an eye on things x

Thanks for the reply. I had a lovely holiday but got a call from my GP on the 2nd day away booking me in for my diabetic assessment the day after I got home. Kinda put a damper on eating so I just stuck to meat and salad or veg but I did have a tiny frozen yoghurt one day.

Upshot is my hba1c was 38, not quite as good as last year but it's fine. I'd like it try a monitor at some point just to try a few things and see how my body reacts.

Greek food is easy. Grilled meat., fish and salad. Don't stuff your self with Gyros