Diabetes, sugar, ETP, and MFP

taunto

please read the tl;dr version at the bottom if you prefer. This post gets drifted a bit

I met a dear friend of mine who I have known from US. He is a big fan of ice cream. He is actually the one who I can blame for my addiction of ice cream. However this time when I met him, after eating the main course, I started going towards hagen-daz stall for both of us and his wife (who joined us later). He said only to get ice cream for myself and his wife. This was shocking. I found out that he was diagnosed with diabetes.



How could it be? I know he likes to eat and was a bit on the chunky side but I wouldn't call him obese. Him and his wife are both doctors and so I know he gets regular checkup etc. Selfish self-centered person that I am, I made this news of his diabetes all about me.



What chance do I have? After all, diabetes runs in my family. My father had it. Honestly, this is the first time I am actually concerned about this. I was told that I was borderline diabetic many years ago while I was still in US. I took control of my life and started working out and eating moderately but the whole mantra on MFP about eating everything (which, btw, I love that mantra. It has helped me stay focused and helped me lose inches on my waist) has me eating sugary substances all the time. I eat ice cream and other sugar heavy items regularly and while I stay in my caloric budget, sometimes I just say screw it all and overeat on candy, soda, ice cream etc. Ramadan was specially hard in that term. So the main concern is... should I be watching my sugar intake given the diabetes history and my addiction of sugar?



tl;dr: should we track sugar intake?

PS. The reason I am not asking this question to my doctor is because the doctors here are very avid bro scientists. I mean I have been told to not eat ANYTHING for 40 days and that "human body can survive 40 days without eating, easily".

evedroid

if this question has already popped up in your head and you have already been told previously that youre borderline diabetic, i would definitely suggest, yes.
especially after you stated youre aware of your 'sugar addiction' and you tend to have blow outs.
im all about iifym, but if i were you, i would pay a close attention, at least to, per say, refined sugars. (i know. 'but sugar is sugar'.)
some wouldnt agree with the 'addiction' part, but i can say from personal experience, that the more sugar(y stuff) i eat, the more i crave them, thus i cut most of it out from my diet. sugar, honey, jam, fruits, they all trigger my cravings, so i found myself better of without them. (yes, without fruits.)
sweetener baked goods might be fluffier and less dense than others, but i still find them satisfying, and after a slice i dont feel the need to devour the entire cake. however, after eating a banana, i feel like showing ten more in my face.

(edit: im not saying you should cut out this or that. im saying thats what worked for me. bottom line: yes, monitor your sugar intake)

junlex123

Regardless of how bro-sciencey your doctors are, they should be able to do blood tests to see how close you are to being pre-diabetic/diabetic. e.g. testing your hbA1c levels. If you've not actually developed diabetes it's more your body fat percent that you need to keep in check to prevent developing it, rather than worrying too much about sugar levels. It's not sugar as such that causes type II diabetes but too high bodyfat %. Your ethnicity/genetics will also play a part; e.g. East and South Asians with a BMI (assuming a non-athletic body comp) of 23 or higher are considered at risk while Western ethnicities of 25+ are considered at risk. If you've got family history you really want to keep the body fat under control, but this doesn't necessitate cutting out sugar completely.

taunto

Thanks for the suggestions. I will definitely get a full checkup and see if I can get my bf%