Prediabetes

[Justhere65]

I have just had a text from my (wonderful) GP to say that blood tests show that I am pre diabetic. I know I am maybe 2 stone overweight but have struggled to lose weight since going through the menopause.
Has anyone managed to reverse their pre diabetes? I feel quite desperate.

Don't worry unduly, it can be reversed easily by lifestyle changes and tweaks to your diet. Perhaps you could ask your GP if there is a diabetes prevention programme running near you, or if not, could you make an appointment with the practice diabetes nurse, who would be able to give you advice on healthy eating for pre-diabetes.

General advice - reduce the carbs you eat, and increase vegetables, cut back on alcohol, and cakes, sweets, chocolate etc. It is important to get a good night's sleep, and see if you can get more exercise built into your day. Even a short walk around the block is great.

Oh yes, I forgot - don't bother with low calorie versions of cola, lemonade etc, the chemicals fool your body into reacting the same way as if they contained sugar.

I signed up to the Second Nature app. It’s free in some areas with an NHS referral code. I lost a stone in 12 weeks and was no longer pre-diabetic. That was three years ago and they still check me every 12 months but I’ve had normal results since then. Good luck!

I had Pre diabetes that turned into diabetes type 2 within a year .
18 weeks on mounjaro and l have reversed it completely.. gone down much more than l expected.

Thank you for your replies. What is depressing is that I rarely eat cakes, biscuits, crisps etc and hardly drink alcohol so I’m finding it hard to cut down. Maybe increase my exercise?

What about potatoes, bread, pasta, rice, couscous, noodles? All of those are carbohydrates, and all of them break down into sugars.

Just reduce your portion of those things by about a tablespoonful, and have that much more veg. They say that at every meal, your plate should be 25% protein (meat, fish, eggs etc), 25% carbs (brown rice, skin-on potato, wholegrain bread etc), and the remaining 50% of the plate should be vegetables/salad/fruit.

You aren't cutting things out, you are just switching portion sizes around a bit.

Thank you … that is good advice.
I do eat pasta and rice so maybe it is portion control. I do feel very depressed about it though as I thought I ate healthily.

My understanding is that excess fat from any source increases liver fat and then pancreas fat, and once you are at that level and you develop insulin resistance, your body is unable to metabolise carbohydrates normally.
Fat deposition varies from person to person. Some are on the slim side, but the way their body stores fat causes them to become diabetic. Others are very overweight and do not develop pre-diabetes because their body doesn't store fat in organs. You sadly, do not seem to belong to that category. It might not have been caused by excess carbohydrates, more excess calories (from any macronutrients, carbohydrates, fats, proteins) , but the consequence affects the carbohydrates at this point.

The good news is that by cutting carbohydrates and losing the excess weight, pre-diabetes and even type 2 diabetes is totally reversible if you take actions.
It starts with diet, so make vegetables your main but do not have potatoes or other tubers. Leave bread, rice and pasta, cereals out for the time being until you are back to normal glucose metabolism or have very low amount. I believe it is easier to cut out than reduce.
Your body can't clear blood glucose normally at the time being, so you need to help it by not eating them and that include alcohol as well. You can help your body clear glucose by exercising and even going for a walk after your meals.

To lose the weight in addition to low carbohydrates, you will need to lower the calories to slim down your liver and pancreas, and get back to normal.
I know Christmas is coming, but do the change today. Don't add sugar to tea, don't have a biscuit, even a low carb biscuit, be mindful of the very sugary fruits so bananas, grapes and avoid them, every morsel counts, so make the choice of helping your body, not harming it more . Will your body be able or struggle to clear the food in your plate?

It is not forever that you need to avoid foods you enjoy. Consider is like a broken leg. Whist it heals, you can't run and jump. Whilst your liver and pancreas heal, you can't have those food. Later, when you have reversed pre-diabetes, you will be able to enjoy them as part of your normal diet, avoiding the excess body fat that cause it.

I lost six stone and completely reversed prediabetes. I measured and recorded every calorie, followed a very low carb, low calorie diet and did 16/8 fasting. I got a finger prick glucose measuring device and checked before, and two hours after, every meal. And I massively increased the amount of exercise I was doing. There were two other side effects: my blood pressure and my cholesterol dropped to normal levels.

It's a disease of inactivity for many. Do more.

Eating to help in reducing insulin resistance is different from what you would call a normal low-calorie 'healthy' diet.

Basmati rice is better than ordinary long grain rice if you are pre-diabetic, for some odd reason. Eating low-GI helps too. I think the Diabetes UK website has some good information about pre-diabetes.

It's not just about what you eat, there are a lot of other lifestyle changes that help.

I am very active … I have a very active job (even though I’m 67)!
I walk several times a week, do exercise videos and my stepper.

Exercise can help clear the blood glucose but if you don’t lose the visceral fat you won’t solve the cause of high blood glucose.

Thank you so much for your reply. It made me feel quite emotional! My nephew is in hospital right now and may lose his foot due to diabetes. My mum had two toes amputated 😞. You have made it all seem so much clearer and I will follow your advice … thanks again x

I am sorry to read family members are already suffering the consequences of diabetes.
When they say, diabetes is genetic, they refer to how you store the fat, in your middle section on your organs or your butt far from your organs, not that it is inevitable that you will get diabetes too, or some eating patterns that are often shared in families.

You are already trying, by eating healthy - but maybe a bit too much of it - and moving. You already have the mindset, you just need to tweak your diet a bit.

Anything that has "sugar" in any form or shape written on a label, you do not eat. It doesn't matter if it is agave, honey, rice syrup, .natural, organic, pure, brown, maple syrup ... Sugar is bad. Then come the fast carbohydrates, which are the pasta, rice, bread, most cereal, and the very sugary fruits.

However do not cut ALL carbohydrates. You must keep the slow carbohydrates such as the chickpeas, lentils, beans, even carrots and pears. In other words, those that are whole and in their natural form. It is important to keep the insulin production because going too low carb might actually make insulin resistance worse, in a you snooze you lose (a function) kind of way.

Keep steamed and raw vegetables ready in your fridge. A whole cauliflower, green beans, sliced bell peppers, ... Have a container with quinoa. Have some seeds in the morning with yoghurt. Not too many, same with nuts, just a few as they are very calorific.

Keep your workouts. Abandon takeaways. Eliminate ultra-processed foods. Ditch everything that doesn't fit the optimal diet. Gift it to food bank if unopened. You don't need to keep anything in the house. Not for the kids/grandkids, not for your DH, they want something sweet or fried, they have it outside the house.

You and your health come first.
Use this thread for motivation and accountability. Report back from time to time, and we will keep you going.

@Justhere65 I hope you don’t mind me asking but do you have PCOS? I do and I have been told the insulin resistance meant there was a high chance of me getting diabetes.

I am type 2 and the one thing I wish had been available when I was pre-diabetic was Continuous Glucose Monitors. These are not cheap but even using one for 15 days gives you so much insight into how what you eat impacts your glucose levels. After talking to my Diabetic Nurse I decided to try the Freestyle Libre 2 - You can get the first one for free https://www.freestyle.abbott/uk-en/getting-started/sampling.html. I am not using them constantly but the information I get is so helpful.

The other thing I am doing is eating much more salad and veg with each meal. It’s the combination that helps slow down the impact.

As pp have suggested there are courses and Health and Wellbeing coaches via my GP/Diabetic Nurse.

I don’t have PCOS. Thank you for your advice on the continuous glucose monitor. I’ll definitely look at that.

What is your job, Justthere?

I am an administrator for the NHS, on a very busy ward. I usually do around 8000 steps on a working day. But at 67 I am thinking of retiring now. I have had a lot of stress in my life, I lost my daughter and having a busy work life has helped me cope.