Prediabetic

billsrule2015

Hi. I got my bloodwork. My glucose was 116. Everything else was fine. Little worried. Any suggestions to get it down, besides diet and exercise? Lower carb perhaps, or just a variety of calorie counting foods instead with weights and cardio at the gym?

ninerbuff

So your weight is fine? If so, then just lowering your carb intake would lower it.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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nvmomketo

This was my experience. I was prediabetic with very little weight to lose. I started trying to "moderate" my carbs but that led to eating to much and I was gaining weight. I found that going very low carb high fat was the best solution for my slightly elevated BG numbers, and for weight loss.

I bought Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. It's a great LCHF guide for any diabetic who wants to lower insulin levels and BG levels.

I also bough a glucometre. Those things are VERY useful in finding out what foods affect your BG the most, and how many carbs you can actually handle at one sitting without elevating BG readings.

Good luck.

billsrule2015

My weight isnt fine. 389 lbs but 6'5. Go to the gym and do cardio w weights. Want to be at 250 as a goal weight

crzycatlady1

billsrule2015 wrote: »

My weight isnt fine. 389 lbs but 6'5. Go to the gym and do cardio w weights. Want to be at 250 as a goal weight

Focus on the weigh loss, many find that becoming a healthy weight really improves health/blood work!

rhtexasgal

I was prediabetic before my weight loss and a healthier diet and exercise put me in the normal zone within a few months. With my diet, I boosted my healthy fat intake and upped my protein while lowering my carbs a bit (particularly the white starchy stuff like rice, potatoes and bread). Once I reached my weight loss goal and started maintaining, I eased up on the carb restriction a bit and can maintain a healthy blood sugar level, even eating a donut or two a week

FitRoberta

I echo the above poster about focusing on weight loss, based on my experience. I tested pre-diabetic 18 months ago. I was overweight, but eating healthy (just too much!) and exercising regularly. I lost the weight (portion control!) and my latest blood work (this week!) is normal. Good luck!

oocdc2

I just cut back on my sugar intake (30 grams/day, natural and added) and upped my protein and fiber. Eighty pounds later, not prediabetic anymore.

eissacf25

Sorry I'm jumping in here 10 days late! I assume this was your fasting at 116? Fasting is the most difficult to control (when you first wake up after sleeping for 8 hours). Having a healthy snack before bedtime helps mine, but everyone processes it differently so you'd have to do a trial and error. I find my fasting is best after having 1/2c of ice cream with almonds, or peanut butter and crackers. I recommend getting a kit from the drugstore to test your own sugars. That will help give you an idea of how your blood-sugar reacts to certain meals.

The key thing isn't to cut carbs/sugars, its to reduce them and be smart about it. Keep sugars around 8g per meal or less and make sure you pair carbs with protein. I find that a 1:1 or even a 1:2 ratio is the best for me. (1 protein = 7g & 1 carb = 15g). For example: I do ok with 1 protein to 1 carb, but I do even better if i double my protein (14g protein to 15g carbs).

Upping the protein and reducing carbs will also help with your weight loss and hopefully get your sugars back down to normal range. Also a good tip is to take a brisk walk, even if its 5 minutes around your office after eating; that can help reduce your blood sugar. Good luck!

fruttibiscotti

The advice you got from nvmomketo is outstanding. Certainly an LCHF eating plan has demonstrated the ability to help reverse your bio markers of diabetes.

Also, a bit of caution with the blood glucose reading. You didn't mention when it was taken. Fasted? Or not? Time of day? Several factors will change it. The blood glucose test is like taking a photograph. It's the reading at that very moment in time.

A better reading is the A1c test. It provides a composite reading of what your average glucose is like over a couple of months.

billsrule2015

I had it done while I fastes at 7:00 AM. I am wondering if anyone has sustained a low carb, high fat lifestyle, or is it too hard? I know Atkins worked for me in the past, But I got too bored And overwhelmed with lack of choices and being Italian, I quit.

albertabeefy

billsrule2015 wrote: »

I had it done while I fastes at 7:00 AM.

FYI - I would STRONGLY encourage you to get an HbA1c test done (as fruttibiscotti mentioned) in addition to the fasting blood glucose test you had done. Unfortunately the FPG (fasting plasma glucose) test is simply a BAD screening for diabetes/pre-diabetes for several reasons:

• It's the LAST thing to go. While fasting your body has HOURS to achieve homeostasis, so elevated plasma glucose slowly goes down while fasting. Even people with full-blown diabetes are not always detected by FPG testing until months or years after they have the disease.
  
• It can be deceiving. The longer you fast, the more likely your liver is to dump a large amount of glucose into the system. As we awaken we get secretions of both glucose and certain hormones, so depending on when those hit and when you're tested, there's huge deviations in 'normal' fasting plasma glucose levels.

HbA1c is a longer-term (~3 month) look at your plasma glucose levels. It's a MUCH more accurate look at where you actual blood glucose levels have been. It's slowly being accepted as the standard screening test for diabetes/pre-diabetes by more and more physicians in more and more countries. It's cheap, it's fast and it's accurate.

If you want to know how you're really doing, get one asap. If your particular physician thinks the FPG is fine ... ensure they see THIS LINK - that's the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists position statement on use of HbA1c for the diagnosis of diabetes.

billsrule2015 wrote: »

I am wondering if anyone has sustained a low carb, high fat lifestyle, or is it too hard? I know Atkins worked for me in the past, But I got too bored And overwhelmed with lack of choices and being Italian, I quit.

I've been doing it for six full years now. I'm not as "low" as many people - but that's because I tend to exercise nearly obsessively. The more you look into recipes and vary your diet, the easier I find it is.

fruttibiscotti

billsrule2015 wrote: »

I had it done while I fastes at 7:00 AM. I am wondering if anyone has sustained a low carb, high fat lifestyle, or is it too hard? I know Atkins worked for me in the past, But I got too bored And overwhelmed with lack of choices and being Italian, I quit.

I've been doing LCHF (low carb high fat) for approx 3 years now. And I'm Italian. So, yes, it can be done. And I love it!! Do you need help with web sites with great recipes? I absolutely love the way I eat...eggs fra diavolo, cotoletti al limone, osso bucco, porchetta Toscana, zucchini ripieni, caponata, etc.

I find that Atkins was a bit too protein rich. I think a few decades ago, there was a fear of eating fat, so people ate high protein with low carb and low fat....that's a big mistake. The better way of eating is moderate protein and low carb, with high fat. I personally don't exceed 0.6 g protein per kg of lean body mass. And I make sure I get lots of natural good fats, like extra virgin olive oil from Italy, pasture raised eggs, grass fed butter and cream, full fat cheeses from Italy (mozarella di buffula, parmigiano reggiano, montassio, provolone, ricotta, etc). I also eat lots of pancetta (bacon from free range pigs), oily fish, sea food, etc.

I observe the way my family in Italy eat, and they also eat moderate protein and high fat. They are lucky, owning an olive grove and pressing their own olive oil. They practically drink it...all their food is literally swimming in olive oil. So delicious! They are all very svelte, and they have the most beautiful thick, shiny hair. Their skin so smooth like butter! It's gotta be the olive oil!!

vingogly

You can find whole grain pastas that have lower carbs -- and you can reduce portion sizes on the pasta, have more veggies and sauce and protein and good fat. I just had a small amount of pasta with meatless meatballs, spicy marinara, and some spinach for lunch -- and it was as satisfying as if I'd had a big plate of pasta. You can change your taste buds to be satisfied with less. Part of it for me is: eat small amounts of good tasting things, really taste them and enjoy them, and go back later for a little more if I really want it (usually I don't).

If it were me and I were 389, I'd check with the doctor before starting an exercise program. I started at 265 and am now 185, and my doctor told me to focus on the calorie reduction rather than the exercise. I lost most of it with just walking. The weight loss is going to take you time (at a pound and a half a week, from 389 to 250 should take about a year and three quarters) -- be patient and don't try to rush it. You're in it for the long haul.

Atkins was a bit protein rich for me, too -- I'm on blood pressure meds and was getting fairly frequent gout attacks on Atkins. I've done what I'd call a reduced carb diet instead: small amounts of whole grains, drastically reduce sugars and refined carbs, more veggies and fruits, reasonable amounts of protein, good fats like olive oil.

Look at it this way: you're probably going to be making changes you need to live with for the rest of your life. It's not just about weight loss. Are you really going to be able to keep up weight lifting forever? If you give up pasta will you be able to do so for the rest of your life?

This article might be helpful -- it says one study found that prediabetics who lost 5-7% of their body weight (20-27 lbs in your case) reduced their chances of getting diabetes by 58%:

http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/features/prediabetes-diagnosis-what-to-do#1

So you might see positive results from losing weight faster than you think. Hopefully you're discussing this all with your doctor(s) in addition to looking for ideas from folks online.

billsrule2015

vingogly wrote: »

You can find whole grain pastas that have lower carbs -- and you can reduce portion sizes on the pasta, have more veggies and sauce and protein and good fat. I just had a small amount of pasta with meatless meatballs, spicy marinara, and some spinach for lunch -- and it was as satisfying as if I'd had a big plate of pasta. You can change your taste buds to be satisfied with less. Part of it for me is: eat small amounts of good tasting things, really taste them and enjoy them, and go back later for a little more if I really want it (usually I don't).

If it were me and I were 389, I'd check with the doctor before starting an exercise program. I started at 265 and am now 185, and my doctor told me to focus on the calorie reduction rather than the exercise. I lost most of it with just walking. The weight loss is going to take you time (at a pound and a half a week, from 389 to 250 should take about a year and three quarters) -- be patient and don't try to rush it. You're in it for the long haul.

Atkins was a bit protein rich for me, too -- I'm on blood pressure meds and was getting fairly frequent gout attacks on Atkins. I've done what I'd call a reduced carb diet instead: small amounts of whole grains, drastically reduce sugars and refined carbs, more veggies and fruits, reasonable amounts of protein, good fats like olive oil.

Look at it this way: you're probably going to be making changes you need to live with for the rest of your life. It's not just about weight loss. Are you really going to be able to keep up weight lifting forever? If you give up pasta will you be able to do so for the rest of your life?

This article might be helpful -- it says one study found that prediabetics who lost 5-7% of their body weight (20-27 lbs in your case) reduced their chances of getting diabetes by 58%:

http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/features/prediabetes-diagnosis-what-to-do#1

So you might see positive results from losing weight faster than you think. Hopefully you're discussing this all with your doctor(s) in addition to looking for ideas from folks online.

Very good points! I need to think of this as a long-term goal and stick with reducing carbs and sugar. I have spoken to my Dr. And he feels a lower carb diet would suit me best. I am an "O"'blood type, so I am a meat eater.

lorrpb

Diet and exercise is the key. I turned around my borderline diabetes in a couple of months with walking, 2 personal training sessions per week, and about 25 lbs weight loss. I was still 125 lbs overweight, but the changes were enough to get the glucose under control. (Have successfully lost that other 125 now.)

billsrule2015

lorrpb wrote: »

Diet and exercise is the key. I turned around my borderline diabetes in a couple of months with walking, 2 personal training sessions per week, and about 25 lbs weight loss. I was still 125 lbs overweight, but the changes were enough to get the glucose under control. (Have successfully lost that other 125 now.)

Did you lose the 125 lbs by eating carbs, or doing low carb instead like the atkins diet?

ClosetBayesian

billsrule2015 wrote: »

vingogly wrote: »

You can find whole grain pastas that have lower carbs -- and you can reduce portion sizes on the pasta, have more veggies and sauce and protein and good fat. I just had a small amount of pasta with meatless meatballs, spicy marinara, and some spinach for lunch -- and it was as satisfying as if I'd had a big plate of pasta. You can change your taste buds to be satisfied with less. Part of it for me is: eat small amounts of good tasting things, really taste them and enjoy them, and go back later for a little more if I really want it (usually I don't).

If it were me and I were 389, I'd check with the doctor before starting an exercise program. I started at 265 and am now 185, and my doctor told me to focus on the calorie reduction rather than the exercise. I lost most of it with just walking. The weight loss is going to take you time (at a pound and a half a week, from 389 to 250 should take about a year and three quarters) -- be patient and don't try to rush it. You're in it for the long haul.

Atkins was a bit protein rich for me, too -- I'm on blood pressure meds and was getting fairly frequent gout attacks on Atkins. I've done what I'd call a reduced carb diet instead: small amounts of whole grains, drastically reduce sugars and refined carbs, more veggies and fruits, reasonable amounts of protein, good fats like olive oil.

Look at it this way: you're probably going to be making changes you need to live with for the rest of your life. It's not just about weight loss. Are you really going to be able to keep up weight lifting forever? If you give up pasta will you be able to do so for the rest of your life?

This article might be helpful -- it says one study found that prediabetics who lost 5-7% of their body weight (20-27 lbs in your case) reduced their chances of getting diabetes by 58%:

http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/features/prediabetes-diagnosis-what-to-do#1

So you might see positive results from losing weight faster than you think. Hopefully you're discussing this all with your doctor(s) in addition to looking for ideas from folks online.

Very good points! I need to think of this as a long-term goal and stick with reducing carbs and sugar. I have spoken to my Dr. And he feels a lower carb diet would suit me best. I am an "O"'blood type, so I am a meat eater.

The "blood type diet" is pseudoscience (woo). There is no scientific merit to it.